Today I didn't turn up to a class I was supposed to teach - I didn't realise we were on week B. I just assumed the kid that told me we were on week A was right. Sadly, they weren't.
I had to shout at several times today - kids are just so damn rude. Some of them seem to start talking as soon as I do - its like they think I can't hear them and don't mind talking quietly.
I really enjoy teaching stuff, but find it hard to Ctrol kids. I feel I need skills here!
The husband is a woodchopper, you know the ones that cut through logs in seCds at the country shows, and wear white trousers. Tonight he went to a meeting and got himself registered for the year. He took the senior son, who was given a chopping singlet. And it comes to his knees. He got home at 8.40, and he wanted me to chop the bottom off and sew it up RIGHT NOW. But no, I wouldn't, and he is now sleeping in a nightie
I floated an idea past my year 11 class today, that if they do their homework they will get an A, no matter what else happens. They think this is a grand idea - just grand. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually make it. Csistent work like that over a long period of time will be quite a new experience. And a good one. I haven't lied to them either - I've said if they do all the homework but behave like a prat, I will give them the A and also say something like they have behaved like a prat in class.
Staff ( and students ) are very welcoming. And if i am not careful i will have two more classes. Must say NO.
Had the new neighbour's boy over today so had a happy productive day. Arapeta and c played together really well, and so I didn't have to be chief entertainment officer and got to do other things, including playing with the baby.
First day at a new school tomorrow, should be interesting at least. I feel seriously underprepared, but I have discovered that briefings from teachers are pretty useless, and I need to find out from the kids what they have actually done.
Weekend of solo mumming went pretty well all told, as long as i don't expect to get anything done and have low expectations of having any time to myself they are okay. Otherwise I get terribly frustrated with getting nothing done for myself...
We went up to Auckland and saw the family and friends up there. We haven't been to Auckland together for a very long time, like about 5 years. Its definitely bigger, and they have been building a lot of roads. There are a lot of cars on the roads. Auckland seems more like a real city now, while before it just seemed like a big city. I'm really glad I don't live there. Here is much more relaxed.
My tummy is sore. I ate black bean sauce flavoured beef with too much red capsicum last night, and I still hurt. Its the capsicum.
The leader has been offered a six year extension on his army service. This is quite a compliment, because the letter has come early and because it is a long extension. I don't think he wants to do it because he is a grumpy person and thinks that saying no will be like giving the army the finger. I would like him to take it because we could take lots of money from the army for a while, and that is kind of like giving them the finger, but we get something for it. It would be great to be on two large incomes for a while. Who knows what he will do? Hopefully the family does weigh slightly on his thinking!
Got briefed on the students I will be teaching for the rest of the year, and the median student would be described as a nice person but lazy. So I expect to feel like I do a lot of work to not much point for the rest of the year.
It raises a few questions, what has been done. There are about five students who are genuinely likely to pass level 3 bio, but to do so they need to have done five topics, and the teacher has decided to only do four in class. This is because the rest of the class is not keeping up so rather than lose all of them he slowed down to try and get as many of them as many credits as possible. This has penalised the top kids as they now have to do a whole topic by 'correspondence'. Its done now and can't be changed, but its a fundamental question in such a mixed group. Do you teach to the top and look after the students that get the most from the course, or teach the majority?
Today was the first day of the holidays, and c's first day of genuine school holiday. And actually we had a pretty good day. We were home till about 10, then went to the library. They are running a school holiday programme, and today was make a book box. It is sortof a treasure box, with a book cover and made of photocopy paper. There were LOTS of kids there - about twice as many as the library expected, and we were late so had to wait for the jammed photocopier to stop feeling so nervous, and spit out some templates. Cn was great about waiting, and h didn't destroy anything. We then made the box, I got a book and Cn chose me another - he got the largest book in the shelf next to him which happened to be about the Last Tsar (the other book I got was about the extremely spartan Shakers of America, so something of a Ctrast). h by now was hungry and tired, and beginning to think about screaming. Cn then chose Very Large Format books to take home, which are designed for teachers to read at assembly, as I reckon I could see the pictures from the far side of the road...
Imagine trying to carry 4 large books, two of them heavy, a handbag and a screaming baby, with a small boy carrying other books, and a box that Must Not Be Crushed round the side of the Sargeant Gallery, cos it was the closest park i could find! Getting home and having lunch was VERY GOOD.
Another highlight of the day was lying under the supertub in the laundry which is small and uncomfortable and having both the kid and the cat decide to just walk over me.
Never yell in a Supertub, the echo is something else.
Fortunately the neighbour came over in the afternoon when I was losing any patience I had left and played with the kid, then took him back to her house. Then we went off and I had adult Cversation while he watched a playstation game.
Tonight's meal was deep fried tofu in a sauce with mushrooms and walnuts, on rice noodles soaked in a salty mix of soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil. The baby liked it, the boy wouldn't touch it, almost wouldn't look at it!
One day down, ten solo parent days to go. And the new pipes in the supertub - yup, they leak.
Today we:
Vacuumed the whole house
Bought 3 scoops of mushroom compost
Spread all that compost on the front garden
Folded washing
Kept baby very happy
Kept senior son happy
Ate sensibly and regularly
Washed dog
Went for a long walk together as a family
Played a long game of hide and seek
Talked to my parents for a long time too
Arranged accomodation in Auckland
Got kids in bed in time
Boy, I bet I'm not the only one hanging out for the end of term.
I met most of my classes today and they are a mixed bunch. i think I am going to have quite a lot of trouble with the year 11 classes, and rather a lot of fun with the hort class. We'll see.
Not looking forward to my last class of the term, but needs must!
Couldn't blog yesterday due to the baby attacking the key board of the computer, and scoring some kind of direct hit on the thing. Result: no function keys, no ability to open links in the same window in the browser, caps lock reversed and to top the whole thing off, can't turn it off either.
Culprit: me.
Method: jammed alt key.
Solution when tired and no longer thinking well - turn off at the wall.
Interesting essay on school life: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html
Have to admit I didn't care much about my popularity or lack of it, I was too busy to care. Sounds exactly like this essay. Heh, must be true, cos its what happened to me.
Only have to teach the rude and obnoxious class once again. Praise be.
At work there is a magnet i would like to have: Organised people are just too lazy to look for things. Its superimposed over a classic messy desk.
I started recording the relief work I was getting, and so when I was underpaid by one class, I knew it, could inquire about it, and now I am going to be paid for it next cycle. Normally I wouldn't have had a clue.
Started to tidy up the PILE of Cn's pictures that we have been meaning to put into a scrap book. Thought it would take about an hour to sort into the throw out and the stick in piles - took less than ten minutes. Why have I been procrastinating about this??? Mind you the sticking is taking a while, and it certainly isn't scrap book style sticking. Just grab the top picture, tape it and bang it on the next page. Still, he likes looking at it already.
Man, there is a tonne of dirty washing around in the laundry, two loads so far tonight, and there wasn't any to do on Saturday. WWT?
It seems really pointless teaching a class on Friday afternoon when half of them have just come from PE and are hopping round like loonies.
It also seems pointless to go out to the mess and then find there are two groups there and one of them is you and your husband. It would have been more pleasant to drink at home!