Good Morning Class

... a whole three weeks til the next holiday - how will I survive?

I made it through the long weekend with surprisingly little boredom and felt a lot more refreshed today than I usually do on a Monday. However, the real benefit isn't mine. To all those who resent the holidays teachers get (which we still have mountains of work to do during - I have to point out), I would ask them to remember it isn't for the benefit of the staff. coming up to a holiday, even a long weekend, the pupils are tired, lethargic, unmotivated and more prone to temperamental outbursts. After an extra two days off they return refreshed and ready to get back to it. Their moods and their productivity is highly improved.

Another complaint is often childcare. At the risk of sounding critical - school holidays have NOT increased. The 8 - 10 week summer holiday has been spread throughout the year for two reasons, resulting in 5 - 6 weeks at summer. The first is that pupils work better if they have periodic rests - which generally coincide with public holidays which many adults get or are recompensed for. Secondly, parents demanded the shift when women increasingly moved away from the home and into the workplace - stating it was easier to find childcare for a day here and there than something for 8 weeks solid.

Anyway, rant over. I am refreshed and so are my classes. I did a lot of work and a lot of thinking over the weekend and am using these to try to improve my teaching and my learning. So nyah nyah to those working.

I still don’t know how I’ll manage to have so many holidays when I’ve been used to the bare minimum and no more. And it doesn’t matter that I still have planning and things to do because I only ever took holidays to do a show anyway. But I suspect that just dealing with them as they come along will help. I am really looking forward to not having my alarm wake me up in the morning. I’m going to tidy up, then go to the gym and I’ll even have time to lounge in the spa before heading home – not like my usual in again out again weeknight sessions.

Feeling both more calm and more apprehensive this week – for all its shorter. Firstly, I tried a new approach to classroom management. Firstly I’ve stopped responding when pupils ask irrelevant questions or carry on talking. I just stop everything until their all silent. I used to use this all the time in Community work but have always felt to constrained by time and by the feeling of having to ‘get through’ things no matter what in the classroom. But apparently that isn’t as true as I’ve convinced myself and was told to take more time if it was necessary to get a better atmosphere and more productive work. I feel much better.

On the other hand, everyone is now starting to talk about observations. Somehow I find the whole concept scarier than crits. Possibly because I at least felt that I could make mistakes as a student but still feel as if I shouldn’t as an NQT. Although that is ridiculous and I know people expect me to have problems and offer support when I do.

Maybe I’m not alone and every other NQT feels like this. Or maybe I’m just crazy!

Still, I have a weekend of the gym and spending time with my lovely man and cuddly animals to look forward to!

It is Monday! For many a day for groaning and depression but not for me.

I drag myself out of bed at 6 to get ready for a job I have only been doing for 3 weeks - so the glow hasn't had time to go off it for me. I enjoy my job. But that isn't too unusual. I loved being a care assistant for 8 years and had to be dying before I was off. Being a pupil support assistant was equally enjoyable. So hopefully I will have many years of being enthusiastic about getting up for work (although it's still hard when it's pitch black outside and it feels like the middle of the night.)

The only blight on my horizon is Mime. I'll be honest - I can do it, but I'm not great at it. I don't really value it as an art form in itself (sorry to all you mime artists out there) but as a means to an end. But for my S1s I have to be really enthusiastic and look like I know exactly what I'm talking about - a real test of my acting ability. Still, I'm halfway thorough it so next week I'll be on to something else.

On the other hand I'm also doing Shakespeare who I love! So not everything is hopeless.

And in a totally un-education-related incident, I lost 4 lbs over the past two week so that makes almost a stone since January.

No wonder its a happy Monday.

Be a Teacher!

Here I am, one month into my induction year as a newly qualified teacher.

I finished off my teacher training year confident that I was ready to do it for real.

However, as the summer holidays wound their weary way through my impatient life all that changed. I began to worry a bit.

Perhaps I wasn't prepared enough.

Maybe I would mess up and be laughed out of town.

What if I forgot everything I ever new about drama, teaching or just talking and feeding myself without dribbling?

By the end of the summer I was a nervous wreck.

Then I came to my probation school. The staff are lovely - supportive and understanding And the pupils are pretty nice too.

So I intend to chart my journey. For my own benefit and for that of any others who may pass by. Although in the interests of being employed in future some of my true feelings may be

And so the journey begins...