It's Friday!!!!

Hello All,

It's been a while since I've been able to say..."Yay, it's Friday!!!"

Yesterday, I only had to teach one class (as my year 7s were in this full-day presentation called "Humantopia" - I think it's a way to try to connect students to see that bullying is bad and to try to bring about empathy). However, when I would normally teach that class, I had cover. I did cringe when I saw that the class I was covering was Year 11 - especially since my bothersome students were in that class - but was pleasantly surprised to see the make of the class changed (especially as the ones I worried about weren't there..they were doing their art exam). Anyhoo, that class began with their teaching coming in and REAMING her students for their poor behaviour and use of time last time she wasn't there - telling them there were no excuses - they had 1hour to complete their essays and they needed to use that time wisely!

As soon as the teacher left, they let out a sigh of relief that she was gone and went on to complain to me about her moodiness. I told them I didn't want to hear anything bad about another colleague. They soon got to work. About 5 minutes in, students asked if they could listen to their iPods. I said it was fine as long as they were working quietly and they realized that if a teacher came in, it wasn't my fault if they got into trouble. They were shocked to be allowed to do so, and listened to their iPods while working quietly. Five minutes later, their teacher walked in...saw the students with their iPod and were about to confiscate them when I explained to her I had given them permission (I am SURE I will be the topic of conversation with the staff at the next department meeting...oh well). Either way, after she left again, the students worked solidly and quietly for the rest of the period (only having to hide their earphones away again when the VP walked in looking for the teacher and found me there instead). It was a good class!

To top it off, I had the year 8s (which have become my least favourite class, even more disliked than the year 11s) period four, but because we needed to test them for the school to have an accurate record of their ability, they were forced to work quietly for the whole period completing a surprise test. It was heaven as this is the first time that students worked so much and so quietly in the time they were with me. Who knows if it will ever happen again, but it was a good day! (I felt like giving them a treat next week then realized that they are SUPPOSED to work in my class...why should I reward them for doing something they are supposed to do?)

Next, it was the day of year 10s today. It was amazing! The students were sitting in groups again (as we did last week and it seemed to work well). Also, we were able to get through most about angles and I got a lot of work out of them. Did I mention I only had 8 students in my class (as the rest of them had to be out to do an art exam)? It worked well, and I ended my week on a high note - who'd have thought.

There was, however, a weird moment when Diane (the VP) saw me in the hallway and said that she had been talking to others in the department and they were saying what a great job I was doing. It was so random, I wasn't sure how to take it - and those of you who know me, I don't really take compliments well. Either way, I did say "thank you" and I went on my way. I think she's just trying to butter me up to make sure I return after Christmas - since they are worried others will leave like Chris did in Science.

Tonight, we are making pancakes for a family dinner (LOL), then watching a movie Mel got for her birthday (UP). Tomorrow, we will be picked up at 8am by Dee and we will be going with her and her husband to London - they've been wanting to take us for some time, and as our school trip got cancelled, we still wanted to go. Let's hope the weather holds - they call for rain though :(

Interesting stories:

Who knew...there are some...

1) I, again, got reprimanded by my students for calling their bag a purse. To them, "purse" is the equivalent of a coin-purse or woman's wallet. A wallet is only carried by a man (this they are VERY adamant about).

2) I told one of my students they would have to sit on their larry - and the student who had originally used that term in my class laughed and said that she had made me cool - as she had introduced me to the term and I finally used it in her presence (I had to get a laugh out of that).

3) Our school is now paying for a police presence in the academy and have already had to use their service - as a student has to be escorted to the restaurant for meals by this officer. (What we want to know is if it's for the child's protection, or the rest of the students. Another thing we'd like to know is if it's for the protection of others, then why is he still allowed to use a knife???)

4) I had a year 11 student have a conversation in my class which ended with "I wanted to tell him to suck my balls". I stopped what I was doing and sternly told him to leave my classroom and to return when he could speak like a gentleman. He left directly after the order. About 20 minutes later, he popped his head back into class and asked if he could come back in yet. I asked him if could behave and speak like a gentleman, and he agreed and came back in. (I had to chuckle with that one...He admitted that he was waiting for me to speak to him about his behaviour.)

5) After school yesterday, there were a group of students who were ushered into my room to do their learning catch-ups (2 for a half-hour; 2 more for 1 hour). When I asked the one student why he was in for an hour, he told me it was for kicking another student in the balls. Nice to know that the penalty for that is staying behind for 1 hour after school. It was later explained that he got off that easy (as opposed to being placed in our school's "exclusion room") because it was his first offense.

6) Speaking of the school's "exclusion room", this is the place where they put students who are behaving too poorly in classes or have done something (like fighting or constantly abusing others) instead of expelling them or suspending them for a day, week, etc. The "funny" thing is, when I was doing that cover class on Thursday, we were working quietly and I swear I could hear people sounding like monkeys and being completely off the wall. I turned to a student in the class and asked where the noise was coming from. Surprise, surprise...from the very room they put these students for poor behaviour. (That's right, put all the criminals together...I'm sure they'll learn their lesson).

7) On three separate occasions, I received compliments and questions about my hair. This is a warning to me that I am due for a hair cut soon. (My previous experience tells me that when I get compliments, it is weeks before I have an appointment to get my hair cut). The stranger thing is that a lot of the compliments came from the boys in my class...yikes!