Barbaric Musings

Wild Warhol

2010-07-14T09:50:00.001+01:00

Had such fun with our Y1/2 class today.

First, let me remind you that that isn't my normal class. It's that time of year when we do class swaps and, as I'm leaving, I got to fill-in for one of the new teachers who couldn't make it in.

So, my basic premise for the day was "Going Wild". First, we watched an animated version of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things are" from YouTube. Then the children used the New York Zoo and Aquarium "Build Your Wild Self" application to generate their own "wild thing" which they wrote about, thinking about what they'd eat and also what they'd do all day.

Finally, for the end of the day I took a "Wild Self" that we'd all helped create, used Sumo Paint to reduce it just a black and white outline, then after showing and talking about a brief Warhol-style slideshow, the children picked 3 (sometimes 4) colours and coloured-in a picture each which I then mounted on a blind in the classroom (quick maths link - 24 in the class so, thinking about arrays, how can I arrange them into a rectangle?).

I had fun, I think they all did , too :)

All Change

2010-07-13T23:22:00.001+01:00

So... I just looked back over my last blog post. How things change. Through a combination of factors, some personal some professional, I've just never "clicked" at this school - so by mutual agreement I'm moving on.

I'm now looking forward to a new challenge - moving up to KS3 to teach ICT. Just a slight change from Y3/4 where I've been this year! My main advantage, here, is the 13 years of development experience which does help me just a little with the subject knowledge side of things. Of course, I now have to change my approach slightly, as I'm fairly certain that Y7,8,9 won't respond to exactly same sorts of things as Y3,4.

Such is life - should be a good year. I know I'm going to work on it :)

Pastures New

2009-09-18T22:45:00.002+01:00

So it's been a long while since I posted anything.

Just, then, briefly to think about where I've been...

After a fairly frustrating stint (personally speaking... the kids were great, I had other issues to contend with) I'm at a new school. All of the staff seem... open... which is fabulous. Enthusiasm is high (despite Ofsted looming) and now all I need to do is to get my head into the figures, as I'm maths co-ordinator just to top things off.

So, after two years of teaching I feel I'm finally in a strong enough position (in terms of experience) to start making the most of my IT background now, really trying to make good use of technology in whatever we're looking to do. To assist with that, I'm starting to make great use of Twitter - which is incredible as a resource - and look to other practitioners to see how they use technology in their lessons.

To sum up what I've found out... I've still got a long way to go. But we're going to have fun getting there :)

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

2009-01-08T21:29:00.002Z

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!" chopchopbusybusy*

2008-03-11T20:24:00.002Z

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!

2008-03-01T14:31:00.004Z

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

2008-02-08T20:49:00.000Z

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!

2007-11-15T22:14:00.000Z

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?

2007-08-09T15:42:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-06-27T21:21:00.000+01:00

...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 :)

And I thought I was busy before?

2007-03-08T19:31:00.000Z

Wow-ee! What a week! I feel confident in saying that even tho' it is only Thursday.

For starters, my class teachers has a little boy (who incidentally, as it turns out, managed to poke himself in the eye with his drinks beaker on Thursday with sufficient force to draw blood and to warrant a three hour stop in ED) who had been very poorly all weekend, so when their GP said to take him back to hospital, in case of further complications following his bang in the eye, she understandably went with him.

Which, of course, left me high and dry!

Thankfully, cover was found for the morning as we had an off-site activity (planting at a local park with the "Streetwise" council group), but it meant I had to lead the afternoon again (thankfully ICT and a story time) on my tod. Ah well - all good experience.

Turns out the little fella has gastro-enteritis (and a fairly bad bout, by the sounds of it) so my class teacher duly turned up again on Tuesday morning, back to a normal routine, so I got to observe an RE lesson and a literacy session on riddles (at Y2 they aren't very difficult, don't worry) then lead the afternoon for mathematics and another story time (yup, plenty of them, which is nice).

Wednesday was interesting again, however, as my class teacher's husband duly caught a dose of said g-e from their "little darling" which meant that my mentor (the head) had to take the morning session, then observe me teaching literacy after the break! Joy, oh joy! After feedback (best summarised with her quote "don't get me wrong, it was good - but we can make it very good") I then led science - an investigation into forces and movement - and my first ever "show and tell" (which was scary, but I escaped with only minimal maulings, thankfully).

This morning, still no class teacher - so the head once again stepped in and led the class in PE, then thankfully arranged for another teacher to come and assist for the rest of the morning (numeracy then break, followed by literacy).

*phew*

I was due to be "non-contact"this afternoon, which I had hoped to use for writing some of the assignment which is due in just under a fortnight, but after a quick meeting with my mentor I was "persuaded" to stay on the premises and catch up with the heaps of paperwork (lesson reflections, planning for tomorrow, etc) in which I had fallen behind.

The meeting wasn't bad - my mentor was concerned that I was lagging with the paperwork, feeling unsupported and generally having a miserable second placement. Thankfully I was able to then state my position and between us I think we both left the meeting content that the situation wasn't as bad as she might have feared.

I was able to mollify her further by pointing out that I knew I must have done better today as two of the children in my class came and gave me a hug at lunch time.

*sigh*

One week down - stress levels up

2007-03-03T20:17:00.001Z

Well, that was the week that was... interesting. And a little, um, rushed.

It all started well, with an "inset" on Monday which saw me once more assuming a default position - in front of a computer! Tuesday went relatively smoothly - I had to cover story time at the end of the day, which went well (discipline is a lot easier at this level).

Wednesday was in college; a truly depressing lecture on applying for jobs. Basically, I need to be applying now and, in Nottinghamshire at least, the competition level will be high with some applicants being last year's batch of NQTs. Eep!

Thursday started well enough, the literacy lesson was okay (I missed out a section, but the children won't know as we covered it all in the plenary anyway) but the day ended with a particularly dreadful migraine. Ugh!

Friday was okay, I guess, with me actually managing to see my class teacher teach all morning before I then led the next literacy lesson and a further story time in the afternoon (as my class teacher had a review to attend in her role as SENCo).

So next week the fun begins in earnest!

On skiving... and weddings

2007-02-17T12:18:00.000Z

Bizarre feeling - I had a day off. During term time.

Thankfully, my boss was understanding (and being the trainee in the class helps, as my presence won't be missed as much plus there's no need to arrange cover) and I was not in school for the last day of the half term.

Instead, I was at the wedding of an old school friend (one of my oldest friends, seeing as I've known him since 1982) Jim to his long-term partner Jess, down in London. A lovely ceremony at the Old Marylebone Town Hall followed by a fabulous reception at the Amadeus Centre and a fabulous day for all (I trust). Photos from the day are up here.

To cap it off, three excellent, funny speeches from the father of the bride, Jim himself and (one third of the best man triumvirate) Bod - our best man back in 1998 and another of the same class of 1982.

Cheers all - and let's have one more toast to Jess and Jim... ladies and gentlemen; the bride and groom!

...and there's the half time whistle!

2007-02-16T20:29:00.000Z

Or should that be "half-term"? Both, I guess as this marks the half-way point of my! Eep! Where has the time flown? (Don't answer - that's a rhetorical question).

And so concludes the first part of my training. After half-term I'm working in an infants school (year 2) for four weeks, to fulfill the twin DfES requirement to have experience of two key stages (predominantly KS2 at my main school, KS1 in my second placement) and of two different schools.

It's been a roller-coaster of a start to a new career... and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm certainly not going back to office life (dull dull dull). There is a certain amount of trepidation regarding the second placement (being among the "little people" for starters) with the school being so much bigger (9 classes of just infants compared to my main school which has 5 classes for the entire primary school), but I'm continually being reassured by the staff at my main school that I'm doing fine and will continue to do fine.

So that's nice.

As a final "icing on the cake" moment, a few of my children had spent quite an amount of time - I've been aware they were working on something for the last few weeks in their playtimes - on a presentation, which was duly played at the beginning of my last lesson with them on Thursday. 41 slides!

Not quite "The Return of the King" (thankfully significantly less than the 251 minutes of the extended edition) but not a bad effort for a trio of 9-10 year-olds - obviously the sequence of work we did on multimedia (working up from posters to presentations) did pay off to some extent.

*sigh*

Book Review - How Children Think and Learn

2007-02-11T16:32:00.000Z

Gaaaaagh! Have finally (all but) waded through one of the hardest books I've ever had to read. Wood's How Children Think and Learn was the driest, most densely written texts I've ever had the misfortune to wade through. It was on our "recommended reading" list so I figured I'd give it a go... after the first chapter or so it became a matter of pride that I would finish the damn book! I'm glad I did, as it not only produced that wonderful quote about tribes in Papua New Guinea having a base 27 counting system but finally had some useful information (in the final chapter, wouldn't you just know it) for my assignment. But... at the risk of repeating myself... gaaaaagh!

I was eventually reading it section by section (no more than a few pages at a time) of an evening as I sat outside Ted's room while he settled. The last time I had to work so hard to read a book was for my OU studies (and that was Wide Sargasso Sea, if you're interested in knowing another book that I'd thoroughly recommend you avoid if don't absolutely have to read it).

Still - I did finish, and it did contain some useful information. *phew*

Progress

2007-02-09T22:18:00.000Z

Today was a definite milestone.

I'd asked my class teacher to assist in a particular part of the lesson as I'd had to miss a staff meeting the other week where our head (a literacy consultant in his previous life) was demonstrating a particular technique for getting children to think about what they're writing (he has them wear one of two hats - a "reader" and a "writer" hat - according to what they're currently doing, and then gradually gets them to merge the roles until the children become aware that they need to wear both hats at the same time, really, as they work).

Although my class teacher had tried to explain it through for me, I wasn't sure enough to stand up and try and teach it.

But, for the first time that I can remember, as I was watching them teach I realised I was also evaluating it and thinking how I'd have built on that, done it differently, and generally made it in some small, way, "mine". It's kind'f a nice feeling, to be aware that I'm starting to evaluate other teachers in that way and not just "soaking up" the experience.

*grin* A good day.

Book Review - Formative Assessment in Action

2007-02-07T16:04:00.000Z

A bit of a cheat this one, as I've not strictly finished reading it... but I've been finding it so useful that I've actually returned the library copy and bought Formative Assessment in Action: Weaving the Elements Together, by Shirley Clarke, for myself.

It's a wonderful book, demonstrating how to go about personalising learning for children (i.e. tailoring the meat of your lessons to their interests and needs) whilst still meeting the curriculum.

The book covers a whole plethora of strategies to use, from talk partners to questioning styles, through how to set "decontextualised" (ugh!) learning objectives (which, from my perspective as an ex-computer programmer, means "abstracted" - so the LO for the lesson isn't tied directly into the current topic in the children's minds) and success criteria, to self-assessment and even peer-assessment where the children learn, are able and profit from marking their own and others' work.

Funnily enough, it's not straightforward - but it is worthwhile. We've been using elements of it at my school, especially in literacy, this year (helped largely by the interests and leanings of the new head - an educational consultant in literacy in his previous role) - and the results have been excellent! The children are all thoroughly enjoying literacy, with some excellent work coming out of (very nearly) all the children - even the ones who, traditionally, haven't given their all to the subject.

All in all, thoroughly recommended.

Random quote time

2007-01-08T20:08:00.000Z

"Not all societies adopt 10 as the base for their numerical calculations. Saxe (1981) for example, cites a system used by the Oksapmin of Papua New Guinea which is based, not simply on counting fingers, but on many body parts (such as elbows) which are used according to a convention governing the sequence for counting (i.e. to provide a model) which goes from 1 to 27. When exposed to an imported currency system (based on 20 shillings to the pound, the Oksapmin adapted their system to create a base 20 counting system which utilized only the first 20 elements of their original one."

David Wood, How Children Think and Learn (2nd Edition)

1 down 2 to go

2006-12-21T21:25:00.000Z

So here it is, "Merry Christmas"... and that's one term down and two to go. I'm shattered, but in a good way trust me.

The school production took up the great majority of the final few weeks - lessons were fit around rehearsals, although the sequence on "The Charge of the Light Brigade" that I'd been working on was squeezed in a fair bit (along with a few maths lessons on negative numbers to be sure that the children had met their targets for the term) with the odd ICT lesson on posters and presentations.

It's so hard to know what to say, here. The situation has changed so much since I started, that I'm not totally sure which way is up any more. I'm petrified at the thought of qualifying, yet desperately concerned that I'll never be ready and so won't pass muster when it comes to assessment time. (This was mitigated to some extent when my mentor assured me that he still wasn't convinced he'd ever be ready by the half-term in the summer term of his PGCE training).

This has been a wonderful first term - the school is excellent, the staff supportive and helpful and the children... well, most of the time they're lovely, too.

Now, next term, I just have to get my head around all of the paperwork hoops through which I need to jump in order to qualify! Wish me luck... eep.

The force is strong in this one...

2006-12-07T22:53:00.000Z

Just a quick post (by way of a slight brag) as I had a cracking literacy lesson today... we're in the midst of a sequence on "The Charge of the Light Brigade" as an example of narrative poetry and I'm taking the class through creating a summary of the poem, so that they get a feel for what the story behind the poem actually is.

We got to the point where "theirs not to make reply/theirs not to reason why/theirs but to do and die" and I was trying to explain the whole "do or die" concept... and struggling a little... when I was struck by a rather odd thought... taking a deep breath I tentatively asked "who remembers that part in the second Star Wars film (episode 5) on Dagoba in the swamp with Luke and Yoda" and went on to talk about when Yoda basically says "don't try... do or do not" - and it worked! Pretty much everybody knew what I was talking about (with the exception, perhaps of my class teacher, who was rapidly reconsidering all the nice things she'd ever written about me) and we moved on.

But I finished the day on a complete high - not only had I managed to explain the poem to them, but I'd done it using Yoda! I even threw in a (lame) Yoda impression (always one to push my luck) when getting them to put their books away at the end... it was also well received.

*sigh*

Book Review - How Children Learn

2006-11-30T21:44:00.000Z

As a kind of sequel to "How Children Learn", John Holt's "How Children Learn" is another wonderful reminder of how children are, by nature, learning machines. They want to learn. They live to learn. All we have to do is be careful not to drum it out of them in school.

Again, an annotated collection of memos and journal entries, this takes us through a later period of Holt's life - after he's had much more experience running a scheme to assist parents in home-schooling their children - but no less fascinating. Again, Holt reminds us that children do wasnt to learn but that the worst we can do is to try and force that education on them - letting them elect to learn is the best way. Admittedly, this doesn't always fit in a school setting (I'm reminded of a pupil of mine who keeps wanting to read her book during lessons in which she thinks she's already suitably qualified) but nevertheless it's a wonderful read and inspirational, to boot.

Again, read it.

Mad (well, QTS) skillz

2006-11-24T23:42:00.000Z

So, after a full week (for me, that is... taught 4 lessons over the week - it'll be 6 next week) in school, I went and sat my QTS skills test. These are the only tests per se that I'll have to sit to qualify as a teacher and... well... frankly I felt almost insulted!

The three tests can only be booked at hourly intervals, the numeracy test is 48 minutes, the literacy 44 minutes and the ICT 35 minutes. Ultimately I walked out with 3 passes after about an hour.

The numeracy starts off with 12 timed mental calculations (something like 18 seconds per question), followed by another 16 questions (40 minutes, ish, but you can answer the questions in any order).

The literacy test starts off with a spelling test (all the tests are computer based and speak the words to you) and then the rest of the test is based around an extract (in this case from a report on an "alternative" curriculum - a skills based one - and its pilot scheme) and tests comprehension, etc.

The ICT test is a very simple test of basic computer literacy - can you send an email, format a document, re-sort data in a database.

So that's that. Job done. But I can't help but feel almost cheated at how quickly and painlessly it all went past.

*sigh*

The week in school went well, thankfully. I took my first literacy lesson (*gulp*) - two more next week - and survived. Literacy is the subject I feel most scared about - it's just such a "wide open" subject to teach... I just have to keep remembering to refer to the medium term plans to know how to constrain each week and/or lesson. I'm definitely getting there, 'though. And still loving it.

G'nite.

Business Enterprise Week

2006-11-17T22:09:00.000Z

Wow, what a week!

First off we had parents' evenings on Monday and Tuesday (for which I opted to attend, and even managed to throw in a few comments and suggestions here and there... maybe some were even helpful!) which got us off to a lovely tiring start to the week. Actually, it was quite interesting (only a couple of awkward points where parents don't accept that their little angel might actually be a right unruly little so-and-so in school) and definitely beneficial, in terms of experience and training.

On top of that we were involved in a (you may have guessed this from the title) "business enterprise week" which, for us, meant that we had some Y8 pupils from a local secondary school (with a "commerce and enterprise" focus) in to help with designing/building some calendars. Tail end of last week actually saw me walking around Bramcote with four pupils, taking snapshots of various landmarks in preparation. Then most of this week's literacy... and some numeracy... and pretty much any other lesson... was taken up with turning those into a calendar. Actually, in fairness, we made two calendars, but the class market research (a questionnaire was created and peddled around school) favoured the Bramcote theme.

Then, this afternoon, we took part in the final stage of the "BEW" which was a little competition of sorts with a number of other primary schools who had also been taking part. I took along four pupils to represent the school who had to give a short presentation of the calendar, why we made it the way we did, etc. Then there was a short "buying and selling" game where half the team went of to spend a virtual £100 buying other calendars and the other take orders on our calendars. Bargaining was encouraged.

Net result? We won... because we managed to sell a number of calendars yet still keep to within 82% of the RRP - other teams sold more, but made offers which meant that they were operating at less of a (theoretical, nominal) profit.

Yippee! Funnily enough, the pupils were rather chuffed and may even get their pictures in the local rags. And I? I got a "Head Teacher's Award" sticker from AO for my efforts. *grin*

Observed, moi?

2006-11-12T19:44:00.000Z

I survived! Yay!

Actually, it all went rather well, in the end. The lesson itself was much smoother than last week and in other areas my work seems to be okay, too.

My link tutor was, I think, rather impressed with the lesson content (she actually said she'd normally have tackled that sort of thing with Y6 pupils) and noted that I'd successfully explained the objectives and had challenged the higher ability children as well as keeping the others engaged... and also complemented me on my burgeoning class management skills (sink or swim does work as a learning strategy, y'see).

All of my notes and files are okay, although I need to start evaluating/reflecting on my own lessons (something I've been doing orally with my class teacher and mentor, but needs to be written in some form) and collecting the various bits of evidence that I've actually done all that I'm supposed to (which apparently consists of me getting staff to outline and sign bits of paper).

So I'm pretty happy, all in all :)

Late night nerves

2006-11-09T22:59:00.000Z

So here I am, the night before my first formal observation (by my link tutor) watching Grey's Anatomy (the episode with the unexploded bomb) and I'm starting to feel a little apprehensive about it all.

Ave caesar, morituri te salutant... in other words, wish me luck.

A ple... what now?

2006-11-06T22:10:00.000Z

Encountered a new situation today... the complete opposite of my last problem... I ran out of lesson! Yup - things went so well that I actually fell short.

It was in a numeracy lesson, the supply (my class teacher was out on a course for the day) who was a teacher at the school until last year (when she retired) had warmed them up for me, and kept them firmly and successfully in line. I had them up and about doing some "body maths" on sequences and suddenly realised that I was rapidly running out of lesson. So I extended the lesson to also explore some basic properties of numbers, in terms of odd/even numbers. Still falling short of lunch time, I, frankly, panicked.

I ended up playing a game of "buzz/beep"* with them and spent so long on that, that I then lost track of time and forgot to have a plenary!

I am assured that this is not the last time that something like this (or indeed, like Friday's ICT fiasco) will happen to me. In fact MB assures me that it not only will happen, but it still happens to her, too... and that is some consolation, because she is a truly inspiring teacher for me to be training with.

* Which, for the less "up" on modern classroom games is a way of testing times tables at the same time as practicing listening skills... two times tables are specified, the play starts with a pupil calling "one" and then moving around the class the sequence extended. Each time the number would be a multiple of either of the two nominated tables, the child must say "buzz" or "beep" (or "buzz beep" if the number falls into both camps).

Bad end to a good week

2006-11-03T21:30:00.000Z

Oh my... what a mess!

This last week I've been really diving into taking an active role in the numeracy lessons - I had to plan this week which I did, the week before half term. It was supposed to be a few days of co-ordinates, followed by the start of a sequence of lessons on, um, sequences. However, in the grand tradition of all best laid plans (see what I did, there?) it had to be amended on the fly. Between by MB (my class teacher) being impressed with how much the children were enjoying the main activity on Monday and then being in college on Wednesday the whole week ended up on co-ordinates (leaving me with only three days to plan for this week... which was nice).

Wednesday was... interesting... too. Seems the game is most definitely afoot now, with a great number of fellow students starting to come under varying levels of pressure. Some personal (a big blog shout out to Darren whose girlfriend has been rather unwell), some professional (again, a big blog shout of encouragement to Helen, who had a nightmare of a link tutor visit) but above all, mostly just stressful. Plus, between Darren and myself, I worked myself up into a "bit of a twizz" about my own upcoming link tutor visit (which between us we managed to bring forward by a week). And so I came back to school, still panicked, and it took me until lunch time to realise why I was feeling so jittery and get over myself.

The maths (I think we can call it maths again, as I've just noticed that the newly launched "Primary Framework" talks about literacy and mathematics) went well - very well, actually. My interactive whiteboard (henceforth, IWB) battleships was very well received, the use of the scale map of the acropolis that we've been using (note the cross-curricular links to the history topic) was suprisingly successful and the tangrams were rather fun (only one pupil managing to actually solve a tangram before we gave them the solutions so that they could do the actual co-ordinates work).

ICT on the other hand... eep! There I was... I'd been through the actual introduction, showing the children how to use the drawing package (OpenOffice.org Draw, actually, given that it's free) and then got them seated where we wanted (for the differentiation, don't y'know) and got to the first, brief, point of the main activity - get the children to copy the relevant file from the network into their local folder ready to start work editing... and... then the lesson ended. Yup. Th-th-th-that's all folks. So, just to spell it out, I spent about 30 minutes trying to coach 29 children into copying a file from a shared folder on the network. Aargh!

On the bright side, I have a perfectly good lesson plan for this next ICT lesson; which, given that I'm being observed, can only be a good thing.

*sigh*

Half time ahem term

2006-10-23T21:13:00.000+01:00

So here I am, on half term. For a break, I'm moonlighting back at my old company for the week (albeit on short days) to help with the luxuries in life, like paying bills ;)

It's been a fantastic start, all things considered; my class teacher is giving all the support I could wish for, my mentor (the school head, as it happens) is similarly positive and helpful. I've been observed leading numeracy "mental starters" (which, for those who don't know are the first 5-10 minutes of any numeracy lesson these days) and I'm comfortably leading lessons (I was going to put "confidently" there, but I don't want to stretch your credulity too far).

That's ahead of my expectations for the first half-term. Still, there's a looooong way to go from here - thankfully I'm really enjoying the ride.

Book Review - How Children Fail

2006-10-11T21:43:00.000+01:00

Well, despite a depressing start (see here) John Holt's "How Children Fail" this is a corking book for anyone thinking of being, or training to be, a teacher. Aside from the whole range of tactics displayed by children to avoid having to learn, this sows the seeds of how to go about trying to educate children in school.

Admittedly, the author, is mostly in of educating children at home, or in "free-range" schools (my words, not his) such as Montessori schools, but the point of all his musings (and such they are, the book being a chronological collection of annotated memos and diary entries) is that children need to be in an environment that they feel is safe and secure before they can even begin to learn. Given today's climate of school leagure tables and SAT exams for children at such regular intervals, this is definitely worth reading to remind you that there are children behind all those statistics - children who need personal attention (yes, even the gift and talented ones) in order to feel safe enough to learn.

Read it. Seriously.

A week of firsts

2006-09-29T21:29:00.000+01:00

So this week I not only led a (very small part of) the weekly staff meeting, explaining and demonstrating the use of shared folders on the school network; I also took my first class (in ICT, as I mentioned earlier) - which went as well as can be expected, all things considered.

There were, of course, things on which I could build. But overall, it was apparently quite passable. My dozen (or slightly more - who's counting?) years of experience as an IT developer do indeed help. Being completely at ease with the software does mean that I can concentrate on other things, like making sure the children are actually working.

So there we go. I survived.

Currently thinking...

2006-09-28T19:56:00.000+01:00

"So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it." -- Willy Wonka

So, where to start? Well, to kick things off, tomorrow I take my first full lesson - the whole class, the whole lesson. That's the bad news - I'm terrified - the good news is that it's in ICT (computing to those of you not involved in education at the moment) so I do at least consider myself somewhat of an expert in terms of subject knowledge.

Today marked my first planning session with my class teacher. Very productive, personally, although I don't know how much use I was to them ;) Also, I had my lesson plan for the afore-mentioned ICT lesson "vetted" - postive feedback, no amendments suggested - so that's all set for tomorrow.

Then, this afternoon, my mentor returns from a training session at the university (on how to mentor) informing me that the course co-ordinator (whom, I think, still forgets that they are no teaching a class of primary children when they deliver any kind of talk) is apparently very impressed with me... something about "intuitive" questions (and "insightful", I think, or was it "relevant" - as usual, when faced with any sort of compliment, I turn bashful and my brain shuts off all cognitive faculties so as not to let my ego cotton on to what's going on). I'm not sure how I get away with these things, but there y'go... intuitive questions, huh? I wonder what that actually means?

And now to go away an obsess about how much I do or don't know ready for tomorow.

*sigh*

Another day, another lecture

2006-09-27T20:13:00.000+01:00

Today was a college day (we're on the "one day per fortnight" routine, now) with a fascinating lecture on counting (and how hard it is to teach) from KD in the morning and then another fun and interesting one on how children learn DR in the afternoon.

Apparently counting is actually rather hard to teach, because it's hard to imagine not being able to count. So, for example, how can you imagine how a pupil feels who struggles to remember which way around to draw a "3"? Well, it turns out that a reasonable way is to have someone make you learn a new set of (patternless) names and symbols for representing the digits 0 through 9 in about two minutes, then test you on them. I, for one, got at least one symbol upside down... which does engender some form of sympathy with children having similar problems learning our own (patternless) numerical symbology.

The afternoon kicked off in a most depressing way - with a video from a Panorama report of 1999 regarding children who have, to all intents and purposes, disappeared from the educational system. There was a happy ending, though, as we considered just how important it was (in terms of learning, at least) to have safe, stable relationships with adults (read: teachers, at least).

A great day of lectures - I'm really starting to feel like I'm getting a handle on things.

*sigh*

Book Review (the first of many, hopefully) - The Language of Discipline

2006-09-26T20:45:00.000+01:00

Finally waded through my first non-fiction book (completely, as in all of, as in from start to finish) in... let's see... um... ages. Definitely months. Almost certainly years.

I read a classroom behaviour management tome by Bill Rogers, "The Language of Discipline: Practical Approach to Classroom Management"; and a fine book it was, too. It wasn't all rocket science, by any means, in fact there were several parts which, as a parent, rang very familiar indeed. But even those ideas were expanded upon to make them relevant to a "whole class" scenario. Thoroughly recommended.

As a footnote, I'm starting "How Children Fail" by John Holt; so far, so depressing. All I'm being told in the opening pages is how many ways children have of pretending to learn wihtout actually learning. Way to go!

*sigh*

Residential Round-up

2006-09-23T20:53:00.000+01:00

What can I say, except that I am obviously not a Knerps!*

Just come back from a three day residential with class 5 (a mixture of year 6 and 5) in Northumberland. What a fantastic experience!

For starters, I now know another class (at least by first name) so that's 40% of the school covered. But mostly it was just a masterclass on how to organise; a trip, children, etc. The whole thing went of smoothly enough, no-one was actually travel sick (for which relief much thanks) and the few that were homesick were just that: few (and homesick, yes).

On the way up from Nottingham we called in at Beamish for a few hours. Most enjoyable, if utterly unrelated to the rest of the trip, and where I learned a golden rule of residential trips - don't let the children spend all of the day's money in the sweet shop! Thankfully nobody actually made themselves sick, as I'd been labelled person most likely to help clear up given that it was my group that had (by far) the most sweets.

The main part of the residential was based from the Once Brewed Youth Hostel - very nice, food very good - we called in at the Roman Army Museum and then Vindolanda and finally, next day, to Housesteads for a stretch along Hadrian's Wall. But the highlight had to be a presentation by Jeff (of Jeff's Roman Experience) - words cannot adequately describe how much fun this was, nor how much the children got out of it. Seriously, if you haven't seen him and you intend to take school children there for an educational visit, contact the guy.

Then heading back to Nottinham, exhausted.

* For which you have to understand that there was a marketing slogan, a long time ago, for Knerps umbrellas along the lines of "you can't k-nacker a k-nerps". Sorry.

Post Collegial Blues

2006-09-17T20:37:00.000+01:00

A couple of days of lectures ended the week nicely. A bit more on planning (which, actually, did help - and provided some useful outlines on what to put in a lesson plan), followed by what was possibly the most tedious ICT lecture I've ever had the misfortune to attend (and stuggle to remain awake for). At the risk of appearing in any way to be suffering from "professional snobishness" the lecturer was a classic case of the self-taught "expert", ie they'd dabble with computers from when they first hit mainstream, then his initial interests and requirements had been met by various bits of software... which they still use. For starters, having a presentation prepared on Microsoft Word (as opposed to, say, Microsoft PowerPoint) and not even neatly paginated, to boot! I mean, I ask you!

Friday's lectures more than made up for the drab end to Thursday, however, with an introduction to a series on numeracy by a truly inspiring lecturer - honestly, we all had fun doing some fairly elementary mathematical games. Well, I was inspired and that's what counts most for me. Then our final behaviour management lecture (a series I've enjoyed and which I find especially relevant given the "challenging" nature of some of the pupils in my clas) and a rather fun (more of a workshop than a lecture) session on voice management rounded us off nicely.

Ready for next week? Not 'alf!

Progressions

2006-09-13T21:44:00.000+01:00

Oh... where to start... where to start?

Well, I guess the very beginning is a popular place to start :)

Following a couple of INSET days (in which, amongst other things, we constructed a "snow den", for two small children to use, out of some bin bags, a bag of old newspaper and a roll of sellotape), we had some initial training in college. This included a cracking session on "Design and Technology" which culminated in a practical session using cardboard to build various mechanisms along with several introductory sessions on planning, behaviour management and what to expect from the primary experience as a whole.

Then, after a weekend to recuperate (hah!) it was time for some actual classroom experience. Monday was... let's call it entertaining. I'm training in a class that's... well... let me quote my head (and GTP mentor) when I call them "squirmy". But I'm getting my head around things, slowly. I think I've managed to learn all of the children's names, now (first name, at least) and I'm starting to get a firm grasp of the challenges ahead - now all I need is a little more of a grasp on the strategies I can use to meet those challenges :)

Three days in school and we're back in college for a break... *ahem*... for further training. More news from there over the weekend (hopefully).

Hi-ho, hi-ho

2006-09-04T21:06:00.000+01:00

...it's off to teach I go.

So - first day in the new job. A fun day - just an INSET day, I've not been let loose on any children yet - but fun nevertheless. I guess the highlight would be building a "snow den" out of newspaper, bin bags and sellotape, but I also began to get glimpses of understanding of the scope of the task ahead of me. Scared? Absolutely... but in a good way, and getting less.

Watch this space, I guess.

Watch this space

2006-08-11T10:24:00.000+01:00

I'm thinking I'll start posting thoughts, news and/or progress from my teacher training here. So, who knows, it may almost be worth reading again... nah.

Write out 100 times...

2004-10-29T10:53:00.000+01:00

"I must not forget to keep my blog current"

Joking aside, like has been incredibly busy. In between my work (which continues to consume more of my time than I'd rather), Nikki's studies (and the housework that I do in order to give her enough time to study) and Ted (who I listed thirdly only because he's the youngest) free time has rapidly vanished. I do miss being able to play on the PS2 or the odd PC game that I play (like Half-Life... I'm so looking forward to Half-Life 2... soon... soon...) but I simply do not have the time - I get the odd 10 minutes here or there, if I'm lucky, but nothing solid that would let me get back into a game properly (or at least not reliably). Shucks.

On the other hand, life is really good. Evenings aren't too bad (we're currently doing battle with the tantrum monster that is our 14 month old son) and weekends are an absolute delight (as I play with the lovely little toddler that is our son, by day). Musn't grumble!

How time flies!

2004-07-09T13:56:00.000+01:00

Our son (now 10 months old) has started crawling :) Nowhere in the house is safe (either from him, or for him it seems). Child locks lurk behind every cupboard door or drawer, gates impeded progress up and down the stairs... The upside is that he is soooo much more fun to play with!

Dungeons and what-now? Still?

2004-06-15T10:21:00.000+01:00

Just spent another weekend role-playing with some old university buddies (basically being playing with this group since we all graduated - at least 10 years ago, now).

We're still playing Dungeons and Dragons (now edition 3.5, as owned by Wizards of the Coast) but the technology has moved on with us - the party now all store their characters in PCGen an open-source character tool (with burgeoning aspirations for DMs, too).

On top of that, various members of the party have set up a wiki so as to be able to properly store the various facts/thoughts/theories as to what exactly the DM is up to.

Life can be good! :)

What a fabulous weekend

2004-06-07T08:35:00.000+01:00

Where we are the weather was good (mostly) and we had friends staying.

On Saturday after a morning of clearing up the front garden (chatting with the friend staying with us about his computer company (RealFlair.com - worth a look) we went to a mutual friends party and were rather delighted/surprised to find, unexpectedly, that our son's Godfather (well one of them) was there up from London for the day!

Then, on the Sunday, the couple staying with us (rather than come with us to church) offered to cook Sunday lunch! :) In the afternoon the weather was so good that Ted had his first dip in a paddling pool!

So much to say, so little time...

2004-06-07T08:33:00.000+01:00

Um, that's it, really. Sorry.

FolderShare

2004-05-13T08:44:00.000+01:00

Been introduced to a rather fab utility called "FolderShare". It's free, it's a file sharing/collaboration tool and it's available here.

...and a Happy New Year!

2004-01-21T09:46:00.000Z

Thanks to an update on the Blogger plug-in for GAIM (conveniently named gaim-blogger) I can once more burble into the aether with minimum effort. Ah, the luxury!

So - hope all and sundry had a fabulous festive season. Will burble more, anon.

Just idly thinking...

2003-12-16T11:46:00.000Z

I consider myself as part of the infamous "Generation X" - slacker ethic, the works... So will Ted be "Generation X+1"? If so, then what sort of messages will he pick up from his parents about work ethics? I am rather terminally unmotivated by work ambitions, but his Mum is a real committed worker (something I'm almost jealous of at times) - wonder which way he'll go? Hopefully not just the "path of least resistance".

A lovely weekend for all, I hope

2003-12-08T08:46:00.000Z

For our part, we went visiting Nikki's brother Pete. Had a fabulously relaxing time, in spite of Ted having a cold (we think) or at least some lurgi-or-other for most of the weekend. He rallied by the Sunday, when for breakfast he demolished an all-time record 10oz of milk! Normality resumed, smiles all around.

Sheesh, but I'm tired!

2003-12-04T09:31:00.000Z

Ted is still on his "3am snack" habit, and both his parents are starting to crack a little under the pressure - gradually, RL is taking a back seat until such time as he settles back into a more normal sleep pattern.

Hmm.. a total blank today

2003-12-02T17:16:00.000Z

I honestly can't think of much to say at all, really. I blame Ted - he hasn't been sleeping as well since his most recent injections and is also now apparently hungry at 3am every day. This is in spite of a healthy 8oz bottle at each of his other 5 feeds!

Nikki thinks that he is getting close to being ready for weaning, as he is quite a large baby for his age. Only thing is he is too young at present (14 weeks today) and so we're going to persevere until he is considered old enough to safely process solids (only another couple of weeks, in reality, thankfully).

All things aside, though, I am still amazed by the strength of feeling that is engendered just by Ted looking up at me and smiling. I'm such a baby's Dad.

Oh yes indeed

2003-11-28T13:10:00.000Z

Wow! That was hilarious! Sadly, as is so often the case with Eddie Izzard, I can't actually regale you with specific examples of his jokes... it doesn't work like that.

Suffice it to say, that I was crying with laughter at points and occasionally had to be reminded to breathe. Only kidding - I did remember for myself... but only when my vision started to blur and fade at the edges. ;)

Time to laugh

2003-11-27T08:42:00.000Z

Off to see Eddie Izzard tonight with an old friend (who organised the tickets - thanks, Chris). Can't wait! *8^D

Sad old gits playing sad old games

2003-11-25T11:08:00.000Z

Just discovered that DOSBox has been updated and now has "basic 386 protected mode support" and also "a virtual modem to dial to TCP sockets" - this is a really brilliant project on SourceForge that provides a "proper" DOS emulation (for those of us not running MS-DOS... which is probably all of us) and thus a way for us sad old gits to play sad old games that we remember from our childhood/youth.

The concept of built-in virtual modem drivers to allow network play on these old games is fantastic! Just think - Wacky Wheels as it was meant to be played... with friends! Across the internet! :)

What a fab weekend!

2003-11-25T11:03:00.000Z

We had a full house on both Saturday evening and Sunday lunch time - it's what weekends (and friends) are for!

It was also a great opportunity to be proud parents, and Ted didn't let us down. He was as good as gold and slept remarkably well considering he was still suffering with his first cold. Ah!

Of films and babies

2003-11-20T10:38:00.000Z

Was supposed to go and see Calendar Girls last night (for the second time of trying) but due to Ted's cold, we didn't want to leave him with a babysitter (also, we didn't think it fair on the babysitter just in case he "kicked-off"). So that's "strike two" for the film so far... maybe we'll be seeing on rental instead!

The first time we tried, having dropped our son off with friends (our first evening out together without baby since the birth) we were standing in the queue when an announcement came over the tannoy that the showing [we were queueing for] had sold out. Bother! So, instead, we saw Finding Nemo - which was brilliant but in different ways, I imagine.

Given that we failed to make it to the cinema this time, and not wanting to break with tradition, we instead watched Enigma on the Sky movie channel last night. Again, very entertaining... again, in very different ways. I wasn't as gripped as I had been by the book (by Robert Harris - he's written some cracking books) but it was rather good, nonetheless.

Another week gone, huh?

2003-11-20T10:27:00.000Z

Where does it all go? I did actually try and blog something the other day but it coincided with a server down-time... and I lost the entry :( Can't even remember wot it was about now, tho, so doubt it was important!

Out son has his first cold! Aah! Poor chappie is all snuffly and snotty - thankfully he is taking it pretty much in his stride and he only woke up unahppy once last night (thanks, Ted).

Interesting how attitudes persist... my wife, her folks and my folks when we told immediately said "Aaah! Poor fellow... wouldn't u swap places if u could and take on his cold?" Which is lovely, to be sure, but not something that ever occurred to me to wish for... besides, given that he's living with us, chances are we've already had or will get the cold for ourselves soon enough ;)

Re-read yesterday morning's posting

2003-11-13T16:37:00.000Z

*Sheesh!* That sounds trite now. Ah well - put it down to a lack of sleep (been catching up while my wife is away with our son) and rest assured that such earnest topics will probably be the exception rather than the norm.

All work and no play...

2003-11-12T22:19:00.000Z

...makes Jack a management consultant - I can't remember who said that, but bearing it in mind (and with my wife away with our son staying with her folks) I felt a need... I need for... a dire film (more on the DFC another time). A quick trip to the local Showcase supplied the necessary fodder: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Ah... nectar of the gods of dire films!

Critically speaking, this film spent far too much time on the action and not enough on the storyline. Being a minor-league comic book fan I have encountered Alan Moore's work, albeit not this particular one. Surely he must have put more plot in the graphic novel than could be found in the film? Ah well. Still enjoyed it immensely, mind :)

A number of things have been on my mind recently

2003-11-12T09:17:00.000Z

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our new son (now 11 weeks) has taken a fair proportion of my attention. But also, my continued Bible studies have expanded horizons far beyond anything I expected when I attended an Alpha course just 12 months ago. The challenge here is one of balance; I could quite easily spend all of my time (or free time, rather, but that's a whole other juggling act given that I am quite attached to our house and need to pay the mortgage) on either pursuit, but I want to do both.

To those of you who have children - isn't it incredible just how much time can be spent simply gazing and watching them absorb the world around them? Ted is a joy. It took him a while to get the hang of eating - I was worried he wasn't my son for a while ;) - but he's definitely on top of things now and has grown at an astonishing rate. Last weighed at 10 weeks, he was the length of an average 17 week baby (and the weight of a 16 week one). Even a slight lactose intolerance didn't put him off his stride, although his new lactose-free "formula" has made meal times far more relaxed.

On the other hand... Since I came into faith just over 12 months ago things haven't stopped developing in that arena, either. Admittedly the nightly Bible reading has suffered while Ted settles into our routine (and we into his), but between helping with the Alpha course this time around at St Michaels and joining a Bible study group I find myself constantly wanting to learn and understand more.

Shouldn't complain, I guess. There are worse dilemmas with which to be saddled.

For those wondering...

2003-11-11T09:19:00.000Z

...why I use "the pseudonym of Fafhrd", I can do no better than to point you to Lankhmar - The Fritz Leiber Home Page and merely point out that I read the various "Swords ..." anthologies as a child. They obviously left an impression.

Good morning and welcome

2003-11-11T09:13:00.000Z

Of all the reasons to start blogging, I'm not sure that inadvertently messing around with the Google toolbar and seeing the "blog this" option is the greatest. But still...

Welcome to my blog. I can't guarantee frequency, regularity or even any noteworthy content in these postings - but they will be my thoughts, fwiw.

Enjoy.