...and the wisdom to hide the bodies...

Had a situation today where, looking at decimals, I asked the class to stand up if the answer was greater than a number and sit down if it was less.

At one point, there was precisely one child who remained standing (sadly, incorrectly). I asked him to explain his thinking and he quickly realised his mistake. That should've all been fine, except for the prat who then decided to laugh at this one child - who immediately, of course, shut down for the next 15 minutes of the lesson.

I did, unsurprisingly, tear a strip off the prat for his behaviour. I pointed out that more than being simply ill-mannered, by his actions he had actually managed to mock the one person who had shown a willingness to have their own opinion. Without having to look and see what their friends were doing first. Without having to just copy everyone (a beat behind) in order to fell that they blend in. I commended the first child's bravery and the fact that they were prepared to take a risk on *their* answer being the right answer in spite of considerable opinion against them. And I hope it not only rebuked the prat but help build-up the risk-taker.

Because it struck me that, no matter how hard we try to make our pupils willing to take risks, it only takes that one stupid outburst to knock them right back again into their comfort zone, unwilling to gamble some of their self-respect to stand up on their own in a class of their peers. I hope some of the class find that willingness to be wrong again, soon. We need more of it.

"They said thank you!" *chop*chop*busy*busy*

How often do you get told you are "very good"? As an adult, probably not that often. But today I was observed by my head teacher and that was the outcome... which doesn't necessarily sound inspiring, but she was assessing against OFSTED criteria and the only criterion higher is to be "outstanding" (so yes, that's what I'll be aiming for next time, those of you keeping score).

I should point out that this was a particularly stressful (and important) observation - the head had observed me last term (before Christmas) and had said that although it wasn't bad it wasn't what she would have expected, so she wouldn't enter that one as the official assessment and I should consider it a "dry run" in readiness for a further one. Hence the further observation this term.

You can imagine my joy.

Having said that, even before today's observation she had expressed her level of confidence in my teaching by offering me a contract for a further year next year. And while I accept that that should've helped me, I was still terrified this morning. Once in the lesson, most of the worries disappeared (as you would hope) and I knew I was going to be okay when she left only half-way through the lesson (if she's still there at the end, panic!) with a cheery wave.

So now my target is to further challenge the higher achievers in the class, to motivate and inspire them and teach them things above and beyond the primary curriculum (sounds rather fun, actually) with a view to them then leading one lesson per week (or so - maybe a fortnight). Then, once I've got that licked, I get to extend that to a weekly club for the whole of KS2 higher achievers.

*Yay, me*

Result!

Bit of a result, at least - I've been offered another year's contract at my school.

I am, needless to say, chuffed to bits - it's quite a validation, really, especially considering how far I think I've come since the start of the year. There was a sticky patch in the first term, my initial observation wasn't brilliant and I had warning shots across the bows about the classroom - but I was assured that I have now more than proved my worth in the school and the head was delighted to be able to offer me a contract for a further year (there was a permanent post going, and there was talk of how to decide between us - the head wasn't wanting to do a further interview as they felt they'd be going in with pre-conceived notions - so the P&P committee eventually decided that it would go to the one that had scored higher on the original interviews, which wasn't me). Things should be even more interesting next year as I will be the ICT co-ordinator, too (no surprise, huh?).

I'm especially pleased as it's still quite a tricky class (albeit now slightly reduced in number) and yet I feel I'm on top of the whole situation now - the class looks excellent (for which I thank my TA) and we have our routines all in place to try and keep them suitably occupied so as to distract them from any mischief. This was particularly drawn to my attention as on Thursday I had a course for the day (year 3/4 mathematics and how to make it fun at "The Village" in Chilwell, which was fabulous, inspiring and fun) and they had a supply teacher in instead. I got back yesterday to find out that, although they'd been okay in the morning with my TA there, in the afternoon they'd been a complete nightmare for PE; football chants (that the head had to go in and settle down) and then children climbing the walls (literally - up the frames in the hall) and balancing on stacks of chairs. The head did point out that she wouldn't be looking to have that particular teacher back on supply :)

But yes, I am gainfully employed next year again - still in Y4 (so with this year's Y3) with the same TA (because we're apparently making a great team). Yee-flippin'-ha!

Advice and stage fright

Been more than a little busy recently, but have to share a couple of incidents...

Firstly, I was stopped the other afternoon by one of the mums. "Excuse me, " she said, "but do you have a minute?" Naturally, I did. "My daughter tells me that you've completed Zelda on the DS?" she continued, "and I'm stuck. I'm on the third trip into the Ocean King's temple and I'm stuck on how to transfer the seal to the map."

Thankfully, I could recall the answer to that one on short notice. So, today she was back asking about another section on the ghost ship. That one took a little thinking - she ended up bringing her DS in to class so I could see exactly which part it was.

Think I may have made a friend, there.

On a different note (pun intended) our school has been running a sort of "Britain's Got Talent" competition over the last couple of weeks and today was the grand final. They needed a short "filler" spot, so my head decided (in her usual wisdom) that the staff could perform a short "Grease" medley. It fell to me to be Danny for "Summer Nights" and that all seemed to be going okay.

Then, today, in our dress rehearsal I not only came in too soon (which threw both myself and "Sandy" off for the first verse) but then, instead of singing "she was good, you know what I mean" I sadly omitted the initial "s" and loudly and clearly sang that "he was good...".

Oh how we laughed. Asked by one of the TAs later whether there was anything I felt I needed to say by way of explanation, I merely replied that I felt that I had stated my position quite clearly the first time.

*sigh*

Fame!

Just a brief post (from out of the resounding silence that has accompanied my first term as an NQT - this is a reflection on the amount of work that I'm actually having to do... teachers? work? what's that all about?) to point out that some of you may have heard my school in the press over the last couple of days, or even seen me on the BBC news!

Yup, we've had reporters in over the last couple of days - the segment that was shown on the 6 o'clock news yesterday accompanies this BBC article. We also had articles in the Nottingham Evening Post (which is what started the media circus), The Times and the Daily Mail and were on Radio 4 and 5 live at some point yesterday. (Not to mention local ITN news and, apparently, Sky news - although I can't find links for them).

Today, to add to the chaos, we had Newsround in today and there was a segment this evening (some clips are on the site, but not of my class) - there was also an American reporter from a US magazine - Time or Times? Something like that. The head has been receiving calls from all over the world, she tells us.

And tomorrow, to help the children settle, is Children in Need day - so we all get to wear our pyjamas all day.

*sigh*

Summer holiday, you say?

So... here I am in the middle of the much-touted six week school holidays.

*yay*

And I'm back at the old company for the middle four weeks, to top up the old coffers (and hopefully finally afford that Nintendo Wii that I've had my eye on) and have some good old programming fun.

*sigh*

Turns out teaching is a much better profession for me - frankly, I'm bored. I won't be a complete ass and wonder how/why I did what I did for so long (13 years or so) - it made sense at the time and that's pretty much all that matters, "inna final analysis".

But by criminy I'm so looking forward to September by comparison! At my new school, each term is going planned from a single topic (chosen by the children) and for the first term it's a literacy-based topic. The children chose... Harry Potter! Whee! So I get to teach a term of stuff derived from Potter books... and they pay me for it!

*grin*

The light at the end of the tunnel...

...was thankfully confirmed a daylight and not the headlight of the an oncoming train.

Yesterday I endured a rather gruelling all day interview (I say "all day", in fact it was activities all morning followed by a formal interview after lunch... but it was gruelling) I finally got myself a job for next year (a year 4 teacher at "Robert Mellors Primary" in Arnold, Nottingham) and then today after a gruelling morning I also qualified as a teacher, so I can actually take the job I was offered yesterday.

Yay me!

Hopefully, normal service should now be resumed :)