Nearly the weeknd - goody goody

Well, the week is nearly over and I shall not be sorry to see the end of the working bit of it. My year 9s were great today and very funny and the year 12 speeches were very entertaining ( a weird mix of stirring/emotional and nearly fall of my chair laughing). But I still have my dreaded year 11 class last thing this afternoon - yucky.

I seem to have the 'crazy' 201 English class this year, which is fine because I'm probably the crazy teacher. One student did an amazing speech on her father's death which needless to say was very emotional. She spoke about the things she did as a result - how she became depressed and sucidial, then tried to be a 'bad' girl and got into lots of trouble as a way of hiding her sadness. Her visual aid (it is a requirement that they have a visual aid for level 2 speeches) was a serious of cartoon drawings of facial expressions. It seemed like a cheesy idea - demonstrating how a person may look one way on the outisde but really they are feeling something else but she explained it very convincingly and it seemed sincere rather than tacky. I'm always impressed by people who can talk about really tough experiences they have had in a sincere way and without seeming to indulge in self-pity. The whole speech was very moving and a bit of a tear-jerker really. It was the second to last speech and it was followed by a rather cheeky young chap in my class. His speech was about himself and how he was going to change the world because he was going to recreate the Village People for the 21st century. It was hilarious - he even had a visual aid of himself dressed as one of the village people and had also photo-shopped himself and his friends into a picture of the Village People. Very funny.

I gave my Year 9 class a quick team quiz at form time with the senior peer leaders helping. They became very competitive and had a good time. Some of them actually have very good general knowledge - impressive.

In ESS (English and Social Studies) we had been looking at the census results and making predictions about the changes in NZ society over the next 50 or so years. Things were getting a bit boring what with all the bar graphs and pie charts (I'm not really a Social studies person and graphs aren't my thing - even Stem and Leaf graphs left me cold). I decided to SF my class up a bit. I got the class to start making future predictions about various things - technologies, education, environment etc. they then had to write a short story set in NZ 50 years in the future. Some of the students (especially some of the serious girls) felt that few things would change dramatically. The boys, however, went crazy-nuts with their predictions. Hover-craft rugby, and virtual reality sports and games. Many of the boys felt that schools and teachers would become obsolete* and that necessary knowledge would just be downloaded via brain chips or plugs**. Another common belief was that robots would be readily available to do all the crappy work and chores, freeing up more time for the VR games. One boy became very excited at the prospect of people not having to walk anymore or do anything, and that people would just become really fat and sit around all day. Another boy thought that through the wonders of genetic engineering people would get crazy animal parts like kangaroo legs and be able to jump everywhere. Weirdness.

* I faked looking sad at the prospect of becoming obsolete and not having to work anymore but then they reassured me that I didn't have to worry becuase I would be dead long before the 2050s! Hmmpphff! I said that I would only be 72 in 2050 and intended on living well into my 100s.

** The plugs would be at the back of the neck, like in the Matrix, and would also allow for awesome VR games.

Thursday Weirdness

 It has been a very random day today. Well, not random really so much as messy. It has left me feeling somewhat flustered and a little frustrated. Mostly in a blah way but I'm home from school now so things should pick up.

I had my not-so-random-and-becoming-ever-more-frequent surprise relief sprung on me again today. Bother, I say to this business of not getting much desired non-contacts. Hang relief. (I read some Wind in the willows (the bit where Toad has an intervention and the others try to break his motorcar habit) in order to cheer myself up. It made me more jolly but I have had WITW speak running through my head all day.)

The only good thing was that it was running a PAT so I got to do some reading. Unfortunately it was relief for a disorganised person. There weren't enough copies of the answer sheets and there was no roll, so I had to run off and do photocopying and find a roll before I could start. Most annoying. At least I get to feel superior as my classroom is always organised to the point where a reliever could find the roll!

My period 2 class was interrupted by a particularly loud burst of rain. It was weird. The day had been overcast and a little windy but still fairly warm. Then, out of nowhere, it started raining. Not in the short shower kind of way but in a massive storm, ridculously heavy rain bucketing down and thundering on the roof way. Very noisy and fascinating to the kiddies. You would have thought they had never seen rain before.

My seniors seemed to be distracted and particularly dim today. Asking stupid questions and whinging a lot. Not good.

On the bright side of things, I have started re-reading Lord of the Flies. I first read it in high school (I think I studied it for sixth form English) and I don't remember particularly enjoying it all that much. However, I decided to teach it this year with my Year 12s (mostly because I'm enjoying LOST the TV show so much so I wanted to re-read LOTF anyway).

Anyway, I'm immensely enjoying it. Very cool. Firstly, there is the cool Enid Blyton type of speech. "Wizard!", "beasties" and the reference to "lashings of blood" when they kill the pig. Piggy is pretty much a Gamer type and his suggestions seem just like what a certain type of RPGer would do in a scenario. The language is fantastic the way it seems to instantly create English school boys of the era, both Public school types and lower class, through their speech and then has these amazingly beautiful descriptions of the island. It gets dark and gritty very quickly too. I think I missed the whole war-time paranoid atmosphere when I first read it, I think I just thought it was an accidental plane crash. Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish it tomorrow.

Hey! Where did my weekend go?

 Lightning fast weekend syndrome has struck already (and it is only Week 3 of Term 1). It is now in the latter half of Monday afternoon and my consciousness is still meandering around somewhere in the late Saturday morning region pondering what I should have for weekend brunch. I feel slightly dazed and confused and have had an unfortunate propensity for malapropisms all day*. I suspect I have also been wandering around with a slightly sad or confused expression. People have been asking me how I am all day sympathetically. Maybe I will have realise that it is the working week again by tomorrow and won't be stalking the corridors of school with a forlorn face and baffled mind. It is as though my brain doesn't want to be back at work, so it just refuses to fully engage with the reality that is at work. Denial, sometimes, is the only solution.

Even coffee fails to jolt me back into the real world. I guess it won't be long before I reach that grumpy stage of the term where you feel like work is not only ruining your Monday through Friday but it also encroaches on your Sunday evening where the dread of the following day prevents true relaxation and enjoyment.

I have devised a rough formula to work out the apparent length of any weekend.

Apparent length of weekend = 2 days - (desire to not go back to work on Monday x things you didn't get done over the weekend that you really should have)

It is kind of rough at the moment. I'm sure that "lack of sleep during the week" and "coffee consumed" should factor in somehow.

* The one that sent my Year 12s into hysterics was my example of a simile. "She is as fast as a lettuce," I meant to say "leopard" as generally lettuces aren't known for their speed or dexterity. At least you know the students are listening to you when they fall off their chairs laughing.

Slightly less hot day...

 Well, the incredibly hot weather seems to have given up a little. Phew! I don’t object to hot, bright summeriness during the summer holidays but hotness when one is already struggling with the hardship of returning to work is not fair. Especially when one must spent one’s day trapped inside a stuffy classroom with a bunch of dehydrated teenagers.

At last today is grey, overcast and not particularly hot – far more appropriate conditions for work. Whether the weather shall allow for Athletics day to go ahead on Thursday is uncertain at this stage. If it is on I shall endeavour to be running some type of sport or activity rather than being relegated to the misery of guard duty on the gates.

My new year 9 form class seem to be quiet, timid little hobbits. Most of them are quite literally 3 feet tall. Some are starting to show signs of personality but mostly they just sit there and quietly do what they are told. They appear remarkably keen in terms of homework. When asked to do any homework task such as writing a letter or an essay on NZ, they produce far more writing than my year 10s and 11s and decorate the page with lovely borders and fancy lettering! Fantastic! So far I haven’t had to give them a detention or anything.

My sixth form appear to be keen and intelligent. The years 10s aren’t fantastic but they are doing their homework and seem more competent than the infamously illiterate criminal-types I had last year.

On the whole my classes seem to be shaping up quite well. The only cloud on the horizon is my year 11 class. Some pretty lazy and arrogant types in there. However, according to the latest timetable there has been an additional class added so my class has been chopped in half. Woot! I’ve gone from 30 students to 17. Heh heh. I hope it’s true. 17 students would be sweet. I won’t gloat yet though or it shall get changed. Probably some oversight or mistake but hopefully if I don’t say anything noone will notice and I’ll get to have a tiny fifth form class.

Returning to teaching has been tiring to say the least. Yesterday afternoon had me ready for another weekend. My teaching muscles must have atrophied over the holidays. Writing on whiteboards and standing up all day has caused foot and lower back aching.

Bring on the weekend and more cool weather!