Day 195 - Seven Bridges of Konigsberg

Wednesday October 28th

Spent all day on my University homework. As is my wont, I left it to the last minute and received a chastening email from my tutor reminding me of the deadline. It's not my fault, it's in my blood. That's why I was always good at exams. Managed to get it all done, including a quick timeline of key mathematical discoveries and a starter based on Konigsberg's Bridges.

Cooked fajitas for dinner and they were fabulous

Day 194 - 3 For 3

Tuesday October 27th

Caught the bus into Southampton and sat my QTS Skills Tests one after the other. These are tests to check that we have the basic numeracy, literacy and ICT skills to become teachers. I got through them in 2 hours and passed them all. Tick that one off.

Got home feeling a little tired but then finished off the skirting boards in the dining room. Made a few minor errors on measurement (I blame the apprentice I used to measure everything up) but then Mrs N used her considerable spackling expertise and they look brilliant. Another tick.

Off to track and some speedwork before going out for a pint and bite to eat with my new running buddy, Neil. He works in the wine business and offered me some reasonably priced damaged goods. This is how karma works - we are running out of wine from our stash and boom, some cheap wine turns up.

Day 193 - All In Double Digits

Monday October 26th

Alice turns 10 today and I'm not at work....brilliant

I can't quite believe that all our children are now in double digits and in January we will have two teenagers. Before we know it they'll be gone but my cunning plan to see them more often is working.

Got a call from Ted's coach saying he had been approached by another club to sign Ted. Ooops. It wasn't meant to work like this but we talked it through and agreed to hold off until Christmas. Now we just need to agree transfer fee and signing on bonus.

Mum came over for the day so we made Delia's Christmas puddings and went for a walk into Winchester. The weather was fantastic and we showed Mum the flats in Peninsula Barracks. I got my pension letter through from Diageo and it kicks in from 2029. Twenty years til I can retire to our cosy flat there and rock gently back and forth with my pipe, slippers, blanket and a good book

Day 192 - Farmers Market

Sunday October 25th

A glorious, glorious autumn day and we walked into Winchester to visit the farmers' market. Wow! the scale and variety was astonishing, especially compared to Hastings. Meat, dairy, veg, fish, baking, beer, wine, craft, garden.....there was loads to enjoy. We bought a piece of pork with crackling for later.

I then watched Ted play against Littleton and he had a very good game. They lost 0-3 and are still searching for that elusive goal but were desperately unlucky. Two of the team have now stormed off so this would not be a great time for Ted to leave. The Compton manager was there to watch him and definitely wants him to join.

I think we may have turned the corner with Ellen. She had 9 friends over today, 3 girls and 6 boys, all very presentable. She has the whole week planned out and not much mention of Hastings at all. Fingers crossed

Long run (10 miles) with Neil, roast pork and then relaxed in the glow of no school tomorrow.

Day 191 - Fantastic Mr Fox

Saturday October 24th

Haven't been for a run since Wednesday as my legs still feel like lead, probably a combination of fatigue and head cold. Wrapped up warm and headed out into the wind and rain to watch Compton FC play over in Bishops Waltham. A very pretty village but the football wasn't pretty in the weather conditions, although the team is a step up from Wyvern.

Alice had 5 friends over for her birthday party and we went to see Fantastic Mr Fox. I loved that book as a kid and Dahl is such a good writer I can still vividly remember it. The film was not what I expected but very good all the same.

To cap off a great day, I settled down to watch QPR v Derby on TV and watched us come back from 0-2 down to win 4-2. Come on you RRRRRRRRRRs. Premier League here we come.

Day 190 - I Made It

Friday October 23rd

Got my head together and headed in. First up was rehearsal for Year 10 Assembly. Not brilliant but first rehearsals never are. I think it will go well.

Next up were my Year 11 retakes. Surprisingly, they were not ecstatic at the thought of Maths standing between them and lunch but I managed to get Emily to not only laugh but then admit it was the Maths that made her happy. Result.

Made it through 9.2.2 (painful) and 8.1.3 (fun) before packing everything up, coming home and collapsing. 1/6th of the way through. 9.2.2 troubles me as I put together a fun lesson that obliquely got them into algebra. They did not appreciate it and messed about the whole time. Chatting to my mentor afterwards, she suggested that I legislate for the fact that it is Friday afternoon and go easy on them with a few games. PAH! wouldn't have happened in my day.

Day 189 - Running Out Of Steam

Thursday October 22nd

Definitely flagging today with the onset of a cold and the thought of three more lessons on Friday. Thursday is an odd day as I only have one lesson and yet the day gets away from me and I never manage to get any of the Friday lessons planned before I go home. This leaves me a mountain of work to do on Thursday night when I am meant to be training with WADAC.

So I get home feeling tired and a little under the weather, crawl up to bed and spend the next 5 hours sweating over 3 lesson plans for Friday. Worse day so far without question BUT more driven by fatigue and poor planning than anything else. Got it done and fell into an uneasy sleep

Day 188 - Early Departure

Wednesday October 21st

Another big day today as I had another 3 lessons to deliver. It started well with my final Year 7 lesson before they go into their sets after half term. We were in the computer room and had some fun with Autograph. Metric Measurements was not so much fun with 8.2.4 but I persevered although still too much talking from me.

8.1.3 was observed by our Deputy Head and I almost had a coronary when she departed halfway through with what looked like a sympathetic smile. I carried on but had this awful feeling that I had screwed up in some major way. It turns out that she had planned to do that and was pleased with what she had seen. I relaxed a bit after that.

Took Alice up to football practice and went for a run but the legs still feel heavy. I managed some hill work and about 5 miles

Day 187 - Swans

Tuesday October 20th

Started to feel tired this week and I can't figure out whether it's the running or the 6 weeks of intense teacher training I've experienced. On the surface, my new job is a 50% timetable that goes from 8.45 to 3.15 every day. Underneath, I'm definitely in swan territory - serenely gliding along while my skinny little legs are thrashing frantically around trying to work out which way is forward.

I really am getting the hang of working at school - getting to know the staff, getting to know the kids, being prepared for everything on time...just. The two areas I feel tentative in are the big ones - consistent, strong behaviour management and the effective teaching of Maths. The former is all about suppressing the liberally minded 'que sera, que sera' in me, the latter is fundamental and will take time. I may be able to do this stuff myself but getting it across to 30 individuals is one beast of a professional skill

Day 186 - Transfer Speculation

Monday October 19th

Mixed bag this morning. Announced to 10.2.2 that they were having a test tomorrow and they were not happy. One happy lad grumbled that it was against his statutory rights to only have 24 hours notice to revise. Followed up with a poor lesson with 9.2.2. Can't seem to pitch this one right as we started on algebra. I gave them an easy set up with BODMAS, which went really well, lulling me into a false sense of security, and then they came crashing down with algebra. Who would have thought the simple substitution of letters for numbers would stump them so much?It's really hard for me to crack this as I find it so obvious.

Took Ted up to Compton to train with a different team on a bitterly cold night. He enjoyed it and I discussed terms with the manager. Ha Ha.

Day 185 - 16 Miles

Sunday October 18th

I ran 16 miles with Neil today. Never done that before me and two things struck me. One, I can run 16 miles at a brisk pace and if I trained I could probably do a marathon in 3:10-3:20. Two, the countryside is beautiful around here. We ran out of Winchester towards Eastleigh, through Otterbourne and Shawford, along the River Test. Legs felt OK and we even picked up the pace a bit towards the end.

Cooked myself an outstanding bacon and egg sandwich with lashings of HP sauce and then sat on the sofa and watched the world go by.

Last week before half term coming up and I'm looking forward to the break. Teaching 10 lessons a week is only half a timetable but when you add a couple of hours either side for planning and marking per lesson, that's a minimum 30 hours a week.

Day 184 - Voluntary Work

Saturday October 17th

Sat and marked books during Ted's practice while the Mums discussed childbirth, bullying and bad teachers. I kept my head well down.

Headed into town with Ellen as she signed up for voluntary work at the Cancer Research shop. She's doing her Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and seems genuinely interested in it. I hope it lasts beyond the 10 mile walk they have tomorrow. I sense that she is reaching the point where new friends and interests replace the old. We are waiting for the day

Philippa's cousin Graham came for tea with his wife, Jayne. He's an interesting character and you can certainly see certain family traits between him and his cousins.

Day 183 - Space Camp

Friday October 16th

Today has been a bit of a whirlwind but I think I performed relatively well in the circumstances. First up was first rehearsals for our Year 10 Assembly. It's coming along nicely but needs a firm hand from Mr Nichols. Grrrr.

Next up was my favourite 11.2.4 and another formal observation. It threatened to kick off a bit with a couple of the boys but fortunately calmed it down and got on with it. After lunch I had 9.2.2 which was relatively straightforward as we were quietly looking through the topic test and then I finished with my first teaching of 8.1.3 which I did a little blind as I hadn't checked the scheme of work. I came up with a "It's a Knockout" style game with decimals and they seemed to like it. Whether they learnt anything is another matter.

School wants me to chaperone a trip to Space Camp in Alabama. This is a dilemma. On the one hand, I would rather have my balls chewed off slowly by a sadistic piranha than wear the proposed "Space Camp 2009" t-shirt on the way over. On the other hand, if I'm in Alabama, how hard is it to either get on a flight to New York OR invite the book club down to Talledega for a weekend of turkey legs, Bud and NASCAR racing? You see, it's a dilemma.

Day 182 - Getting The Pitch Right

Thursday October 15th

Teaching metric measurements to 8.2.4 today. It started well but I lost them when we got to conversion from one unit to the next. This is a big issue for me - what level to pitch each lesson at. It seems to change with each topic so you have to be ready for anything. My assumption was that it would be pretty straight forward BUT when we got to the number getting smaller as the unit of measurement got bigger, bang, lost them completely.

Tomorrow is my first 3 lesson day and I'm a little nervous about it especially as one of them is being observed.

Day 181 - Assignment Day

Wednesday October 14th

Day at Uni - bliss. Took the bus, did some marking, envied some students and then completely changed my assignment title. I loved the tutor who basically told us to do what we needed to do to pass and no more. I'm all for that

I haven't really shared experiences with my fellow GTP students yet so maybe that is still to come but it looks like I will be spending my second placement at a school that has lower academic achievements and you know what that means - some outstanding behaviour to deal with. Great

Day 180 - Treasure Hunt

Tuesday October 13th

Busy day today but prospect of a day at University to look forward to tomorrow so can enjoy it.

Had a good session with BYS and discussed my GTP assignment. This requires a 3,000 word paper on exploring an issue or opportunity in education. She rejected my first few ideas as being too philosophical and impossible to test or apply simply in the classroom. I think I have a good title with some excellent buzz words incorporated.

Had 10.2.2 in the computer room today and set them a task to plot Olympic medals on an Excel scatter graph. It ended up working very well and while very warm in the room, we almost finished on time. I followed that with a 7.2.1 Treasure Hunt around the corridors of Kings. I briefed them and sent them on their way only to find out that the Head and her team were walking the corridors. Fortunately they were all well behaved.

Ted had a Cup game for the school and won. What a contrast with his club team. He is now a regular starter so very proud of him for that. I went off for some hill work and mile repeats with WADAC. Hills felt good, miles less so

Day 179 - Scatter Graphs

Monday October 12th

Beautiful crisp morning as I walked to school. Breathe in, breathe out and enjoy.

New topic went well with 10.2.2 and we rattled through scatter graphs with my lesson plan working very well. Next up was 9.2.2 topic test when I got to sit behind the desk and do NOTHING. How hard can this be.

I am definitely feeling the effects of my run today as the limbs are a little weary. I have been asked to mentor a Year 11 Chinese boy from the boarding house. I am excited by the prospect as I want to see what impact I can have on the pastoral side of things. I think I've played football against him on my one indoor experience the other week

Day 178 - Butcher's Dog

Sunday October 11th

So, my new running buddy, Neil is running the Solent half marathon and I'm a little jealous as he is going for sub 90 minutes and if he does it and I haven't I will be very miffed. I decide to run a half as a training run and do it semi seriously. I do a warm up first mile and then run it relatively hard. I end up with 1:33, A PB by almost 3 minutes from Tucson last year....on a training run. I am VERY HAPPY with this and conclude I must be in very good shape. Neil narrowly missed sub 90 so we are all set for Gosport.

Legs felt tired but full of beans because of the run AND that Monday was a test for 9.2.2 so no lesson plan required. Took Ted to his Cup game and it looked ominous when the opposition's captain stepped up, all 6 foot and facial hair of him. They kept it to 1-0 in the first half and then wilted in the 2nd half, losing 6-0. A respectable performance and let's hope they carry that into next week.

Day 177 - Transfer Speculation

Saturday October 10th

Cycled over to Bar End for a morning of Alice football. She played U10 and U11, scoring a goal and playing her heart out. Meanwhile back in the States her old team mates were winning a penalty shootout to get to a final in a Columbus Day tournament. The standard is significantly better in depth here. Ted came back from practice and we watched some of his friends playing for Winchester FC....he wants to switch from Wyvern as they've lost all their games and not scored a goal yet. We shall see.

Alice got her new training top with initials but no logo. She's waited so long for it and now this. Turns out she will keep this one AND get a new one

Day 176 - The Final Cut

Friday October 9th

Having persuaded my tutor group to read Pink Floyd lyrics at their forthcoming assembly about Remembrance Day, I am now working with them to get ready for the big day. I can do this stuff so I am whipping them into shape. I think it's going to be pretty good if they can pull it off. It will certainly be a gauge of whether I can bring anything extraordinary to the school.

Another good day. Powered through revision with 11.2.4 and did not let up for the moaning, groaning and general indolence. I really just want to shake them vigorously by the shoulders and tell them to snap out of it, make the right choice, do some work, get a C and do something with their lives otherwise they'll just slip into an eternity of failure, self pity and numbing boredom. Instead I smiled indulgently at their childlike antics.

I really enjoyed my first foray into the Computer Room. who wouldn't when you can give them all work on the computer and take your time with helping individuals. I'm sure some of them were just playing games on line :-)

To cap off an excellent week, Mrs N and I went off to the pub and had a couple of drinks in The Queen Inn and the Wykeham Arms. Great pubs and way too long since we just spent time on our own.

I forgot these lyrics were on The Final Cut

When you're one of the few to land on your feet
What do you do to make ends meet?
Teach.
Make them mad, make them sad, make them add two and two.
Make them me, make them you, make them do what you want them to.
Make them laugh, make them cry, make them lie down and die.

Day 175 - Monster Spreadsheet

Thursday October 8th

Just the one lesson today and my karma is holding up. Had a good lesson with 8.2.4 and then spent an enjoyable hour with the other GTP students sharing experiences and evidence. It's obvious but we need to do more of this as we can draw strength and reassurance from each other. We briefly met the PGCE students as they are in school for the first time. This is good as I don't feel like the newbie any more.

Got some planning done after lunch including a monster spreadsheet showing some self assessment by 11.2.4. It colour coded how confident they all feel about all the topics in the GCSE re-take they have to do in March. It looks impressive and will be a fantastic addition to my portfolio. Whether the 16 year olds involved give a flying f*** or not remains to be seen. Left early and worked a little at home before heading off to track.

Neil is doing the Solent Half this weekend and I SO want to do it but will show restraint and wait for Gosport on November. Fast course, fast time. We zipped around the cathedral a few times in the dark. It was busy so a little hairy. I need to wear my miner's lamp

Day 174 - Winging It

Wednesday October 7th

Didn't go to track last night so punished myself with 5 quick miles today. Really enjoyed school today for some reason...just felt calm, relaxed and in control. Fun lesson with 7.2.1 and then a really good lesson with 8.2.4. They were pretty engaged in the lesson and learnt a bit I think.

Very strange the last few days as I've felt very calm and serene, very different to the same time last week. I think it's partly down to decent organisation and getting lessons planned when I have the time. It's also down to a little more confidence - you can plan so much and then you need to deal with what they throw at you. As I say to everyone, I used to do "winging it" as a full time career so should be pretty good at it.

Worked late and then met up with Ted on his way back from a school match. It was tipping down and he was shivering and soaking wet. Poor boy had a hot bath and then headed back out to another practice

Day 173 - A Major Contribution to Road Safety

Tuesday October 6th

Sat with Year 10 in their assembly and they had a talk about road safety. Scared the hell out of me but I'm sure didn't make much impression on the kids. The man presenting was from the Fire Department and was very good, with some viscerally effective TV ads to show. The trouble is, and I know we were all the same as teenagers, the kids believe it will never happen to them. You really want them to grow up and behave responsibly, and the majority will do, just as most of us have. 3 or 4 of them will be in a horrible but preventable car accident in the next few years.

I am now very mad - both Kevin and my brother have broken 20 minutes for 5k before me. I need to smash it now.

Day 172 - Triumph and Disaster

Monday October 5th

Ready for the fray today and had a formal observation from DVS. Now, the lesson was not great, in fact it was average and we didn't get through nearly as much as I planned. However, the important thing is that I didn't get upset by it. I just accepted it could have been better and moved on to the next one. The next one went really well so what's the moral here? I'm going to have good lessons and bad lesson, good days and bad days, but as long as I don't get too disconsolate or too giddy, I should be able to pace myself through the year without too much stress or shooting myself in the foot.

I think I've quoted this from Rudyard Kipling before, but:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Day 171 - Great Clarendon Marathon

Sunday October 4th

Picked up early for my first run in the UK, a marathon relay with Neil, Andy and Sue. The conditions were excellent but I was feeling nervous as we drove up to Salisbury. The course was beautiful, all rolling hills and classic English countryside. I ran the 3rd leg which was just over 7 and a half miles. The map suggested lots of hills all of which I took relatively easily and felt good as I handed over - 7:23 minute miles. The race ended up a Kings' School and we came 9th/90. Pleased with that.

I checked it against the Leatherman and was amazed to discover that this was longer, with more hills and my pace was significantly better. This was probably a combination of temperature and severity of hill...and being in better running shape

Leisurely afternoon other than pressure washing the dining room wash ahead of the blinds coming tomorrow.

Day 170 - Deep Philosophical Comment...Not

Saturday October 3rd

Today is much better than last Saturday. I am feeling quite relaxed about next week's lessons and whatever is thrown at me. I watched Alice's U11 team win 1-0 in between trying to prepare for next week.

Kate visited this afternoon and our kids entertained each other very nicely around the house and on the trampoline.

I'm happy I'm me. That's it

Day 169 - Hangman

Friday October 2nd

All relaxed today as no school just half a day at University with my Maths tutor. We got our GCSE papers back and I managed 92% (hooray) and 76% (boo). We raced through loads of material which was great. I now have enough starters to get through the next few months including hangman, word search, and a website called armoredpenguin.com. Odd.

Our assignment this month is to research famous Mathematicians and create a starter based on one of them. Euler will do for me as I have all that stuff from York.

Had a really good time and the time flew by. Students are back on campus now so it was very busy with Fresher's Week. That brings back memories from a long long time ago.

Day 168 - 824 Enigma

Thursday October 1st

824 are my enigma. Pitching work to them at the right level is proving hard for me as I seem to be getting it more wrong than right. I tried an off the shelf activity with them today on temperatures but they really struggled, didn't seem to enjoy it and therefore played up a bit. Adding and subtracting negative numbers is one of those things you get or don't get I suppose.

Thank God I have a training day tomorrow as I am very tired and not sure I could plan and deliver two lessons tomorrow. There is definitely a pattern to my week whereby I start of strong and then see to run out of puff by about Wednesday. Need to manage that better.

Track again tonight and ran with my new team mates. Great Clarendon Run on Sunday - marathon relay with me on 3rd Leg

Day 167 - Decimals Are Boring

Wednesday September 30th

Last day of the month and taught a very quick 721 lesson which went well (particularly as it gave OSM back the time to do other stuff. Good call!)

Misjudged 824 today which I should have realised. I gave them back 3 bits of work and spent way too long talking about it. Move on!!!! We got on to some number work and decimal ordering. They looked a bit bored. I know I was.

Ted had a cup game today but started on the bench. I managed to watch the first half and they ended up winning 9-2. We walked back together sharing a bottle of Lucozade. Father son bonding moment.

Day 166 - Pentomino Surprise

Tuesday September 29th

In some ways I miss getting up at 6 to go running but given I finish work much earlier now (did I mention 3.15pm?), I'm not so exhausted that I can't run in the evening. More on that later.

Very good lesson day today. 1022 went much much better today as I took DVS advice and spoon fed them more of the work. This involved working through multiple examples of grouped frequency tables and then regurgitating them on the IWB. DVS is great as she gives me meticulous feedback.

Quick definition break:

1022 - this means Year 10, Band 2, Set 2. Each year has 3 Bands with Band 1 & 2 having 4 sets each, and Band 3 having 3, making 11 sets in total,all streamed by ability. So 1022 is the 6th set, bang in the middle, expected to get Cs and Bs at GCSE

DVS - all the teachers have initials. I am NCL. DVS is the main teacher for 1022

IWB - Interactive Whiteboard...lots of fun

My second observation was today with 721 when we worked with pentominoes (shapes made from 5 squares or cubes). I got a "good" from OSM so I'm now 2 for 2. Good feedback and areas for improvement.

Track work tonight and rattled off some very good speedwork. A good day

Day 165 - Toughen Up

Monday September 28th

Today was make or break with 922 after my too friendly approach on Friday. It worked. I read the riot act, gave a detention to the unfortunate child who had the temerity to stroll in as I was giving my soliloquy and was greeted with silence and good behaviour. Felt much more in control and much happier after that and the lesson went well.

On the down side, 1022 was not so good. I changed my plan at the last minute which didn't help but I get the sense that these kids are waiting for me to screw up and then they're going to devour me. Not today!

Day 164 - 14-0

Sunday September 27th

My Dad turns 75 today. No way he looks or acts 75. Couldn't get hold of him as they are off in Spain playing golf. Hope I get to enjoy my retirement like he has.

Long run today and managed 6 miles at goal pace (allowing for low bridges and tree roots). That got me in a good state of mind for the day and finished off a couple of lesson plans before watching Ted get annihilated 14-0. Poor Ted, he worked hard but the other team just ran rings round them all. The defence was nowhere to be seen and at this rate, they're not going to score a goal let alone win a game. Need to start looking for a team close to home.

Day 163 - Funk

Saturday September 26th

Couldn't shake the funk I was in after last week and that horrible beast, stress, started to rear it's very ugly head. I worked myself into quite a state during the morning and started on that downward spiral that was all too familiar from my old job.

I managed to calm down during the afternoon and Tony stopped by for a cup of tea on the way back from Southampton. Much calmer

Day 162 - Meltdown

Friday September 25th

Well not literally, but I think the week got to me today as I had a bad lesson with 922 and finished the week on a real low. I have taken on a lot this week and when 922 started to play up I wasn't ready for it and just let it go. My mentor came down hard on me so unfortunately I finished the week low on energy and confidence. Having high expectations is great but I have to realise how much I am attempting to take on.

On the plus side, my tutor group are going to read some Pink Floyd lyrics as a poem, my 11.2.4 group engaged in my Smarties lesson and I had a great night out in London with Geoff, Tony, Karen and Bis. On the minus side, my 8.2.4 class are behind where I would want to be, 9.2.2 played up a bit and I have a whole bunch of lessons to plan next week.