Day 244 -Christmas Lunch

Wednesday December 16th

Good day at school today and it even snowed a little.

I learnt that solving equations is a whole lot easier than creating them. I set my 8.1.3 class the task of creating 8 linear equations in pairs, and then creating a Tarsia puzzle. Tarsia puzzles are great - different shapes that you can create from a template piece of software, print out, cut up and then hand out for them to solve. You can use them for anything and can last for 10 minutes or a whole lesson. This was meant to be a whole lesson to create and then solve. They only got through the creating but it was good as it got them to think about algebra from a different perspective.

Had my first school Christmas dinner in a fair few years. If anything defines the difference between celebrating the Holidays in New York and Christmas here, it's the Christmas lunch served at every school and office canteen around the country in the lead up to the big day. Turkey breast, roast tatties, sprouts, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy all washed down by Christmas pud and custard. School lunch was exceedingly good, especially for £2.

Day 243 - The Noughties

Tuesday December 15th

The theme today was the last decade. It's gone very quickly for me. At the end of the last decade, I was 32, with a new baby, a toddler, a 5 year old, a large mortgage and struggling to grow into my responsibilities as a husband, father and senior manager. 10 years later, I'm still learning but I no longer fight so much, principally because I've found some peace in my change of career but having three kids who are 15, 12 and 10 is slightly easier on the mind and body than 5,2 and 2 months.

I don't under estimate the impact of my running either. I've stuck at it for a couple of years now and proved that with hard work and focus, I can achieve big things, like taking 18 minutes off my half marathon PB in two years. I had lost sight of this a few times over the decade, especially in the context of work. The effort I was putting in didn't seem to be achieving anything of worth, so I stopped trying. Once you stop believing you can make a difference, the ground starts to open and swallow you up little by little.

Day 242 - A Week Too Far

Monday December 14th

This term is definitely feeling like a week too long. I took BYS advice and went easy on 9.2.2 this morning, relaxing a little. They were a lot better than last lesson. I must use praise more and, in some cases, lower my standards a little. DVS and I struggled through a final box plot lesson with 10.2.2, most of whom look dead on their feet.

I've started to help some of my tutor group find work for their summer work experience. I got lucky with my first attempt, getting a provisional yes from a marketing agency for one of the girls. I've also tried Hampshire Cricket Club for another lad, and now have a contact to try after Christmas. I enjoy this part of the job - I know I have the experience to guide children in figuring out what kind of thing they might like to try once they leave school.

I have been thinking quite a bit about what I want to do come the summer and the end of my contract. The school has indicated they want to keep me, although there isn't currently an opening in the Maths department. I like the idea of trying a split timetable with Business Studies or trying my hand at Economics at a sixth form college

Day 241 - Ted In Mid Season Transfer Shocker

Sunday December 13th

A day of rest....went for a really good run this afternoon, just before Ted's final game for Wyvern. Managed a solid 7 miles in the bitter cold. I got a bit lost on the back roads but eventually made it back.

Unfortunately the game was more of the same and I ended up sitting in the car towards the end. Some comedy defending and too few boys willing to stand up and be counted when it mattered. They lost 1-7, not a great way to go out although Ted got the man of the match. In the land of blind men......the transfer is going ahead, with large amounts of cash changing hands and a bung for his agent. In January he'll be a Compton player.

Day 240 - Cauliflower Ears

Saturday December 12th

Took Ellen off to rugby this morning while Ted went off to play a friendly for his new team. What a fantastic experience. They have been doing tag rugby every Friday since half term and tried tackling two weeks ago. Today they played a full contact game against Perrin's school. They were magnificent and Ellen, after initial nerves, made a couple of decent runs and tackles on the wing. As you can see from the photos, some of the girls are a little scary so I was very proud of my little girl.

It has been a challenging few months with Ellen, walking a tightrope of teenage behaviour and moving back to the UK. On the whole I think Mrs N and I have handled it OK but she has the capacity to wind us up to snapping point every now and then. Today proved that she is capable of so much more than sitting in her room swapping vacuous texts and iChats with all her 700 best friends.

Day 239 - 3 Cans Of Boddingtons

Friday December 11th

So so day. Yet another observation with Year 11 GCSE group this mornng with the Deputy Head. I tried something different, creating a boardroom style table and used mini whiteboards. It worked for 45 mins or so before they got bored with it and started misbehaving. Fortunately, she had left by then and scored myself my second "Very Good" of the week. Tssssssss. On fire.

World Cup draw live on TV. We all got very excited about England's draw. This is concerning, being this excited before a ball is even kicked....disappointment can only follow. I also realised that having agreed to go to Space Camp next summer, it falls in the week of the QFs and SFs. Dilemma.

Went to Alice's football team Christmas party. Priceless. It was at the Conservative Club and featured a bar and DJ. The girls played some fun games, we won 3 cans of Boddingtons in the raffle and the U17 girls team sitting next to us were pounding pints of lager. Only in the UK.

Day 238 - Snow Flakes

Thursday December 10th

My first Christmas lesson with 8.2.4. They had to convert a fraction to a decimal and percentage, then cut out snow flake patterns and hang them on ribbon. They hate fractions. They are frightened of them and can't see the point of them in the outside world. I had to try and coax them into engaging.

This was not easy but by the end of the lesson I had about 10 of them up at the board teaching each other how to convert a fraction into a decimal - brilliant! For the first time with this particular class I felt like I was getting somewhere. The snow flakes looked really good as well

Day 237 - Teacher On Fire

Wednesday December 9th

Today was my external observation by the Head of Maths at another school. I wasn't that nervous but didn't feel like I was that well prepared. When the time came, I was pretty much flawless. It all went according to my plan, the class responded and the observer was very very complimentary. My first "Very Good" rating. One specific thing he said has stayed with me - "the children wanted to do well for YOU". I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day.

I was invited to the Christmas Tea at the boarding house so popped down there for a mince pie. It's a very small boarding house with about 30 kids in it. I got a guided tour and it didn't seem that different from my own experience of boarding for 10 years. I will offer to help there as I have an inkling of what it's like for them.

Day 236 - 101 Things To Do With An Interactive Whiteboard

Tuesday December 8th

Interesting day at university today - everyone was very tired and the energy levels were pretty depleted. I went to four sessions. The first was about different learning styles - really good session and a big theme for me as I try to understand how to spot and then cater for different learning styles. The second was about teaching able, gifted and talented kids. Another thought provoking hour or so, only slightly distracted by the fact that Ted and Ellen are both considered able....proud Dad but are they being stretched enough?

The afternoon was very very long. The first session was ICT and was very good as we worked with the interactive whiteboard and multimedia. There is so much I can do with the interactive white board and haven't got round to yet. The last hour on data was less useful and I was happy to depart for home.

It's funny that everyone was grumbling about a day of meetings that lasted from 9.30 to 4.15pm. Then I remember the average 8am to 6pm Diageo meeting with a working lunch.....

Day 235 - Child Protection

Monday December 7th

Exciting week ahead with university day and my external observation on Wednesday. As a result, my planning is pretty much under control and today I dragged 10.2.2 kicking and screaming through Box Plots before relaxing while 9.2.2 did a topic test. I noticed one of the girls had quite nasty burn marks and scratches on her arm during the test. I decided they weren't there by accident so I wrote it up and hope the child protection team can get to the bottom of it. That's all I can do.

Planned my observed lesson by the end of school and was home free all evening. Went out for a long run (8 miles) with Neil while Ted was with Compton. Felt it in the legs but happy to get out again after over a week's inactivity.

Day 234 - Dambusters

Sunday December 6th

No football today so headed up to the Goulds for Sunday lunch. The weather was foul on the way up but roads were kind to us. A shame it's a 2 hour drive.

Highlight was most definitely watching the Dambusters. There is something very special about a big roast lunch on a cold winter's day and then slumping in front of a black and white film for a couple of hours, nodding off every now and then. Nostalgia indeed. What I had forgotten was that Gibson's dog was called Nigger. We all squirmed a little every time it was on screen.

Also reminded me of a favourite ad for Carling Black Label. Great stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKHc-U2FNHk

Day 233 - Cup Nail Biter

Saturday December 5th

Doubleheader for Alice this morning as she had cup games for U10 and U11. Her U10 game was a nail biter and went to penalties. Her shot was saved but they emerged victorious. Much better than last game when they lost heavily to an over age Saints team and one of their players told her to f*** off. Classy.

The football has been sporadic since the beginnning of November and Ted hasn't played much at all. He has been training well with Compton so it looks like he'll move there in the new year.

Day 232 -Relentless Planning

Friday December 4th

The countdown is definitely on. I am tired and am looking forward to a break from the daily grind of planning. I'm enjoying being in the school but the planning is relentless. Next term I will be teaching 4 lessons on a Friday which will be quite a challenge from a planning perspective unless I am sufficiently organised to do some medium term planning ahead of time.

The kids have started to play up us well, especially on a Friday. It's a mixture of fatigue, lesson overload and growing excitement about Christmas.

Day 231 - First Term Report

Thursday December 3rd

My first term review is done and it's not bad at all - one down, two to go. Everyone seems very pleased with my progress and now it's a question of focusing on the areas of teaching I haven't attempted yet and/or aspects that I'm not that comfortable with.

I haven't really found my level on the behaviour front (or maybe I have). I do keep good control in my classroom and am happy to maintain uniform standards but in the corridor, with kids I don't know, I do not want my first encounter to be a petty conversation about top buttons or walking the wrong way along the one way system. I like to think I can deal with a serious behaviour issue in a calm and non-confrontational manner but having very little experience of it, my fear is that I'll bottle it. So far I haven't had to put it to the test but I don't know whether that's because I've been lucky or because the way I behave doesn't lead to escalation as much as some of the other teachers I can hear through the walls.

Day 230 - Amnesia

Wednesday December 2nd

Back to school and a busy day. I'm sitting here on December 17th and have no idea what happened on December 2nd. I am a little behind. I will catch up when school breaks up on Friday.

Day 229 - Kinasthetic Learners

Tuesday December 1st

24 days til Christmas and our first icy cold snap. I spent the day at a Maths course in a theme park. It was all about helping children with different learning styles to access Maths. This is a big one for me as I am very good at learning stuff by listening, reading, writing down and figuring it out through logic and practice. Therefore, that is how I teach.

This is OK for the kids who learn like I do but there are plenty who learn differently - they are much more visual or kinasthetic - they need to access through seeing and/or doing. The lecturer was very geeky but I thought very good and gave us some very good ways to teach a little differently. We used interlocking cubes, straws, pipe cleaners, an abacus, loads of different stuff that we can use in the classroom. I really enjoyed it and it gave me some ideas BUT it's still going to be hard for me because I'm still at the stage when, if I explain something clearly, simply and logically, and the child still doesn't get it, I think there's something wrong with THEM.

Day 228 - Data Handing Is Easy

Monday November 30th

A good day today. Kept plugging away with 9.2.2 on percentages and ratio and I seemed to have got the pitch right on this one. It really does make a difference as they stay on task and aren't so needy. I can praise them as well which they lap up.

10.2.2 was OK as well. We did cumulative frequency graphs and they settled down and got on with the work. Data Handling, as the whole area is called, is relatively easy for them to grasp as conceptually there isn't much to it - just learning a bunch of different ways of collecting, analysing and representing data. Easy.

I'm on a course tomorrow so no lesson planning. Glee. I did however lend a hand to my friend Vinay from Diageo days. He left over the summer has a mad scheme to get them to pay for him and his friends to travel around the world and drink Guinness. It might just work...

Day 227 - Cold, Bleak...the 70s

Sunday November 29th

My disciplined weekend continued with an early morning run in the rain (tick), some diy (tick) and some more work (tick). No sport as it continues to rain without interruption. I did some ironing and finally got to see The Damned United. Very very good, not only the acting but it captured the era (early 1970s) brilliantly. What a cold, bleak time in this country's history.

Three weeks left of term and I can understand why the experienced teachers say this is the longest and hardest term in the year. The kids are definitely tired and it is harder and harder to keep them on task. I am actually looking forward to the next few weeks and then Christmas with the Nichols family in our new house. Should be fun.

Day 226 - Clockwork

Saturday November 28th

Woke up with a bit of a fuzzy head to be honest. That hasn't happened in a long while! I was not to be deterred and managed to work for 6 hours today. I am quite proud of the self-discipline but a little perturbed at the need to do so. I have no desire to go back to the crazy hours of my previous job and even then I didn't work at the weekends. However, I am in training so everything seems to take that much longer. I'll also take a few hours over the weekends for a 3.30 finish time during the week

Day 225 - Bolt of Lightning

Friday November 27th

Today was an excellent day!

My final lesson with 8.1.3 was an observation by the MSN, head of our department. She had witnessed one of my worse lessons but this one went like a dream. I started off by getting them to stand in the corridor and hold a length of string that measured 10.4 metres, the distance that Usain Bolt ran in 1 second when he broke the 100m world record. The class were really engaged and it went well from there. She was very happy with me and gave me some really good feedback

It was such a good way finish the week. 3 weeks of term left. Went out for dinner at the Wykeham Arms with Kevin and Catherine. Good food and company. It's beginning to feel like we live here.

Day 224 -Beyond Salvage

Thursday November 26th

Is it possible that a child can be beyond salvage at the age of 13?

There is a boy in Year 8 who is a persistent issue for the school. He comes into school, which is a minor achievement, but when he is there he basically refuses to learn. He disrupts lessons, goes walkabout, winds everyone up and generally sticks two fingers up to school, teachers, adults and society. Why?

I bumped into him today as he had been sent out within minutes of a lesson starting. I said I would sit with him and he disappeared. On the surface, he was playing the hard man. Underneath, he was a boy who was upset because the teacher had not listened to his request to sit next to a friend who helped him settle down and concentrate. It was fascinating to watch. Another teacher who knew him happened to walk by. We got him back into the class, he asked politely to move next to his friend, the teacher said yes and he behaved himself for the rest of the lesson.

A small victory BUT he will drop out and end up in prison or dead because no school can dedicate the time and effort needed to turn kids like him around.

Day 223 - Gifted & Talented

Wednesday November 25th

Helped BYS escort a small group of gifted Maths Year 10 pupils to Portsmouth this afternoon. We went to the Dockyards for a very short afternoon workshop. The kids were all from Ellen's class so I was very interested in what constitutes gifted and talented. As befits the state sector, there are specific definitions. "Able" means that the child has scored 120 or more on 1 or more of the three CAT tests every child takes. Ellen and Ted both scored 120+ in all three putting them in the top 2% of the population. "Gifted" means a child has a specific ability in an academic subject. "Talented" means a child has a specific ability in a sport or art. There is meant to be a register in every school.

Back to Portsmouth. it was short, interesting and not a whole lot to do with Maths. The kids seemed to enjoy it, partly because they were out of school and partly because they got to see a 60 pound cannonball smash a thick piece of wood in half

Day 222 - Stem & Leaf

Tuesday November 24th

This week is proving very turgid for some reason. I attempted a little humour when attempting to teach stem & leaf diagrams to 10.2.2 but it backfired on me, partly because it was bad humour and partly because some of the boys were more focused on leaving for a rugby match. What is the purpose of stem & leaf diagrams? They are absurd and I have never seen them used in real life. This is basically what I told the class and they nearly downed tools and refused to work. I won't make that mistake again.

On the plus side I had an observation lesson with 7.2.1 in the computer room and it went well. We did some sequences using excel. This works well if they understand how excel works but took them a while to get the hang of it.

My running has been terrible since Gosport. I didn't get out to the track again tonight

Day 221 - Teflon Man

Monday November 23rd

I think I got away with my weekend of indolence. Breezed through 10.2.2 in the computer room with some pie charts and frequency diagrams - they looked pretty good when they were all printed out. 9.2.2 was a little scary as increasing and decreasing by percentages did not rest easy with them. Bless.

By lunch, I was in the clear and managed to catch up with things by the end of the afternoon. I promised myself I would not let that happen again and committed to a more disciplined approach to some planning next weekend. Old habits die really hard, teflon man.

Day 220 - More Indolence

Sunday November 22nd

I actually think this weekend of rest has done me a world of good. I couldn't even rouse myself for a run. The guilt was there and it certainly puts pressure on me for the week ahead but I felt like I'd earned a break. Mrs N and the kids went to the Farmers Market in the pouring rain and I stayed back with great intentions to do some work. I was still lying on the sofa when they got home. Oops.

The weather has been terrible. It feels like it's been raining non-stop for weeks and any minute the Ark is going to arrive to pick everyone up. All football has been cancelled for the last few weeks so Ted has been bouncing off the walls

Day 219 - Indolence

Saturday November 21st

This was the start of my laziest weekend ever..or at least since I was an indolent student. Today, I did absolutely nothing. I watched TV, I read my book, I drank beer. That was it. Bliss but as usual felt guilty about it

Day 218 - Inches

Friday November 20th

Unscheduled fire drill this morning just as we were celebrating our Assembly triumph in tutor group. We were investigating a 24 hour ration pack to see what the army eats when they are in the field. Brought back happy memories of CCF at Epsom and cycling around the Dordogne with those packs and a gas burner.

Nervous day as I had a new Year 11 group who are retaking their Mod 3 paper in March. They were on their best behaviour but obviously thought I was lame. I showed them the clip from "Any Given Sunday" where Al Pacino gives his speech about inches and suggested that the difference between a D and a C could be the matter of a few marks here or there. We were together to find those extra marks. No idea what I was talking about

Watch Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_iKg7nutNY

9.2.2 and 8.1.3 were OK after lunch but nothing special. Very hard to keep them focused on a Friday afternoon so find myself working a little too hard and tired by 3.15. Always remember 3.15, not 8.15!!!!

Out to the pub for a couple of pints with Kevin. Tidy

Day 217 - Their Fate Is In My Hands

Thursday November 19th

Today I shadowed an LSA and had to set my first cover lesson.

The day itself was a bit of a blow out as the LSA wasn't really sure what she or I was supposed to do. I ended up observing a Year 7 and Year 8 Band 3 lesson in RS and English so it was OK but could have been so much more productive. My cover lesson went really well as I was there to set it up and they did more work in it than they have ever done for me!

I had to recommend 4 of the class to move up a set. Harder than I thought.