Work Sunday 9th to Sunday 16th November 2014
Last Sunday was a productive day. The rain stopped and I got down and dirty in the garden, digging through the upper raised bed to remove all the stones and other detritus (including a complete hoe!), planting mum's tulip bulbs and starting to cover the 'lawn' with cardboard to kill it off over the winter ready for re-landscaping in Spring 2015. Â Added some more yesterday - it looks very Heath Robinson, but will hopefully do the job. Â Spending time outside getting my hands dirty was a tonic.
An early call from FRPS on Monday morning (the agency also called me just as I was leaving the house at 8.30am - too late). Â Back in class 13 - knowing the children and staff really helps and the day went reasonably well.
Tuesday was a planned day off (hilarious). Â Really useful meeting with AL at County Hall re: Adult Education Tutor post - it looks like it would be worth my while applying to their pool (application submitted yesterday, onlne). Â This was just what I wanted to do with someone from the University - a chat to establish what they were after and whether I might have something useful to offer - it's so frustrating that they cut me off so abruptly rather than agreeing to an informal chat.
Visited the Dr and was given antibiotics (without having to ask - result!) for my persistant head/face aches (sinusitus?). Â Met with Leisa and other Worcester Feministas that evening to talk about our forthcoming event next week.
On Weds and Thurs I covered Y2 at SRPS, Â The TA, J, was welcoming and really helpful (although I didn't have her on Weds pm) and the children generally amenable, although there was a trio of difficult boys. Â I got the perhaps faulty impression that I was expected to stick to the positive reinforcement road, rather than coming down strictly on unacceptable behaviour, and this set a limit on the extent to which I was able to deal with difficulties. Taking my cue from the TA, and lacking confidence in my own judgement, meant I avoided raising my voice and insisting on what I wanted. Â The SENCO came in to help out on a couple of occasions (taking one or more of the trio off to the 'Nurture Room'), but it was her tirade to them at the end of the 2nd day that cheered me most - insisting on their NOT interrupting when adults were talking, NOT shouting out, and paying proper attention with their eyes on her was so refreshing and much more in line with how I would have liked to have managed the class. Â Coming into someone else's class as a supply teacher feeds unhelpfully into my already shaky confidence in my own abilities/authority - don't really know what to do about it other than keep on trying not to be scared and have faith in my own judgement.
Working at SRPS is great in lots of ways - goodish money (better than agency); walking distance; part of the community and a really good mix of kids in terms of class, ethnicity and ability. Â Also, the more time I spend there, the more comfortable and hopefully confident I will become.
Mooncups on Thursday and a really fitful night's lack of sleep (spent most of the early hours listening to the wretched World Service). Â Was just contemplating a lie in followed by a lazy day at home, when I got a called from CP agency asking me to work in a Middle School teaching MFL. Â When it turned out it wasn't even in Worcester, but nr Evesham, I demurred, but they are such assertive salemen, these agency guys, I caved in and agreed, even though (a) it was miles away (b) I was teaching MFL (which I'd never really done before) and (c) I was going to be arriving late. Â Got up, brushed my teeth, failed to wash my face (water gone cold AGAIN), made a cup of tea and poured it into my NUT travel-cup and set off immediately in terrible rainy weather onto awfully jammy roads. Â My sat nav took me in the direction of and through Pershore and when it told me I was nearly there I couldn't believe it - I was in the middle of nowhere, there couldn't possibly be a school here. There was.
A bit of waiting around to confirm who I was (I forgot my CRB in the rush) then, having by now missed 1st lesson (arrived at 9.30am), taught the four remaining lessons of the day, all Y8 (obviously outside my comfort zone), first German (fine - biddable class, went ok); then PSHE in the Music Room (some troublesome characters, particularly a girl called A who was difficult from the moment she arrived). Â Marked over lunch, did some playground duty then French (OK) and German again, this time in the vast resistant materials room with the students spread out and pretty unmanageable (by me, at least). Â Last lesson of the day, in an unsuitable room, with a supply teacher - I was asking for trouble. Â They were chatty and loud and lazy and I was glad when it was over. Â After that I returned to the MFL room on the top floor and marked the work from French and German. Â Finished by 4.15pm. Â When I came down the office was closed and the school deserted. Â Of c.30 cars in the car park, only 4 were still there. Â Hilarious! Â Back home through the unfamiliar countryside in the dark, tired and very headachy. Â The students were so unlike any cohort I've taught before - homogenously white, middle class, apparently prosperous. Â Behaviour clearly generally very good, although perhaps not with the hopeless supply teacher (me), where some were snidey and rude and bitchy (laughing at my brother creepers and answering back). Â Lots of pretty skinny girls with long legs, short skirts and ballet pumps, and wholesome blonde boys with officer-class haircuts. Â None of them are going to Nat's school in Evesham for KS4 - all set on Prince Henry.
On Sat am I went round to Fran's for a morning cuppa and chat, and Nat came round early pm to mark, whilst I finished my application. Â Read the paper and watched TV and in spite of being invited out by Lu, stayed put.
Today I've delivered the strimmer back to Lucy's mum and dad, shopped at Lidl and written this. Â Am going to see Kate Tempest in Birmingham this evening.
Nervous about coming week, partic HGPS tomorrow where I feel I have to make a confident and authoritative impression. Â Then a day and half at a local RC primary school, a meeting at Jack's school to discuss long term supply (via agency CP) (nurture class), and another half day at SRPS. Â It's great to be getting out there and (finally) earning a bit of money, but constantly assailed by doubts about my ability/authority to teach. Â