6 Periods a day + register morning and afternoon....that's all the contract says.......LOL!!!
Below is a roundup of just ONE day (today in fact) of my life in school, it's much the same most days...apart from the fact that most days I have fewer 'free' periods!:
Morning Registration:
Arrive to find Sammy clutching a note and sobbing his heart out. Sammy is a little boy whose parents are semi-literate and who is severely emotionally disturbed himself, if he gets upset he will usually go outdoors and make a nest out of coats and leaves and curl up to sleep. The fact that he's actually standing outside the door crying is a miracle in itself! A neighbour has written a note to let me know that Sammy will be upset today because his dog had to be put to sleep last night. Calm Sammy down and manage to rally the class into supporting him throughout the day and understand and sympathise rather than laugh at him for crying.
Check uniforms and equipment. Take register, notice that the other severely disturbed child (Paul) is missing, deliver kids to assembly and go and phone Paul's Mum. Paul is trying to reintegrate into school after an absence of almost a year.Discover from Paul's Mum that he got dressed for school this morning andthen as soon as he arrived here decided that he had a tummy ache and couldn't come in. Tell her to turn the car around and I'll meet her outside in 20 mins. Paul's mum is very ill, possibly cancer and is not coping with her kids at present.
Collect kids from assembly and see them off to their first lesson of the day. Set up interactive whiteboard for deputy headteacher to use while in my room.
Period 1 (meant to be a free period):
Meet Paul and his mother. Unfortunately she has arranged for his father to be there too. Paul is curled up in the car crying and refusing to get out. Mum and Dad plead and beg for him to get out, then Dad threatens to carry him in as he has before. Suggest they move the car to the back ofthe school if that is what Dad is going to do so that Paul is not seen by the other kids. Mum moves car and Dad drags Paul out and starts to carry him in, Paul punches Dad hard and Dad almost drops him. At this point Mum flips out and starts crying and throwing things saying that she can't stand it. Dad goes after Mum while I sit on the grass stroking Paul's back and trying to calm him, finally he stops crying and uncurls....Mum comes back and he immediately curls up again. Mum pleads with Paul again and then shouts at him and threatens to have him put in a home, Dad joins in. Time to call a halt to this! I suggest Dad picks him up and carrys him in which he does. Ask Mum and Dad to leave and wait outside. Hand Paul over to support staff and go and see Mum and Dad. Dad leaves for work. Spend next 15 mins calming Mum down and reminding her that any phobia will only get worse the more you allow a person to give into it...also remind her that the moment she is out of sight Paul WILL calm down. Sympathise and tell herthat ALL parents lose it occasionally and not to feel to bad about getting upset.
Period 2 (I.T with Year 10 - 14/15yr olds):
Dash up to I.T suite to find that the photocopying I had been promised had been forgotten, thus completely wrecking my planned lesson. Teach 16 VERY difficult kids a lesson 'on the hoof'. All goes successfully!
Break(15 mins):
Visit Paul in Support room, now calm and playing computer games. Dash out and sit in my car to smoke half a ciggy. Find Sammy and check that he is still managing to hold it together over the loss of his dog....he is.
Period 3(French with Yr 7 - 11/12 yr olds):
The teaching groups are not yet set properly so we are teaching improvised fun french lessons. Lesson goes well and a good time is had by all.
Period 4 (meant to be a free period):
Write report on the morning's events with Paul. Go and check Paul is OK in Support room, he's fine but very busy 'hating' me now....LOL! Prepare lesson for afternoon. Do a pile of photocopying. Find and photocopy some information for a new teacher who doesn't know the system yet. Eat packet of crisps.
Lunchtime (45 mins):
Meet Paul's Mum and assure her that all has gone well. Paul is already in the car and has apologised to her and is phoning Dad to apologise. Have chat with Mum about arrangements for staff to be there to help her extricate Paul from the car on future mornings, she cannot cope alone as he hits and bites her. Find MY youngest son and give him his lunch money and P.E kit. Go to Pub and smoke 2 ciggies and drink pineapple juice, no time for food. Return to school and see department head about afternoon lesson. Forget essential meeting with Literacy co-ordinater about lesson that I am teaching on Monday....oops!
Afternoon Registration (5 mins):
Register kids and redistribute PE kits which they left for me to look after. Check that Sammy is OK and discuss him leaving some books at school in my cupboard, at present he is trying to carry ALL of his equipment and books ALL of the time, neither Sammy nor his parents are able to read his timetable and cannot pack his bag according to the day's lessons. Looks like Sammy and I will be packing his bag each morning in class!
Period 5 (meant to be a free period):
Finally manage to get hold of the resources needed for the next lesson, check that software is working. Laugh at IT technician who is desperately trying to get my interactive board working (for the teacher using my room) and is sitting there having completely forgotten to plug in the cables....LOL!! Make a mental note never to let him forget it! (My laptop has given me SO many problems over the last year that we are good friends now!)
Period 6 (I.T with Yr7 - 11/12 year olds)
Get 22 kids to enter their log on code for the first time, log in and change their password. None of them know how to do it without being taken through it step by step. Realise that it's getting rather warm in I.T lab, realise that A/C is broken yet AGAIN! Finally manage to get ALL kids logged onto system. Get kids to open a document from one server and save it into their own user area, swear inwardly at A/C. Get kids to work on newly saved document. Sort out crying child who realises that he has lost his new Student Planner. Grab passing adult student to go look for the Planner. Get kids to save work and log off, still swearing inwardly at A/C and sweating a lot by now. Start to get a headache.
School is over!....well, the kids are gone anyway!
Return to my own room and meet my son. Pack away computer and whiteboard equipment. Lend Charlie (from my class 2 years ago) 50p for his bus fare. See Roger (from my class last year) who is returning bus money that I lent him yesterday, he is no longer in my class but tends to still come and see me when he has any problems. Roger had a LOT of problems last year! Receive present from Roger, his Mum sent it into say thank you for all the work I did with Roger last year. Thank Roger and see him off on the bus.
Walk out of door and chat to students waiting for buses. Check that Sammy's Mum has met him, chat with her and thank her for the note. Go back to fetch library card for my son. Feel like sleeping for a long, long time!
You know....tonight I didn't stay back to mark any books, I just came home!
LSR - who intends to sleep in late tomorrow! You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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