GTCS

Life after the Probationary Year

LES Fulton — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:48:00 GMT

Although I have no permanent job I think I have been relatively lucky with supply work.

Since the start of term, after a VERY slow start, I have had 4 single days work and a 2 month contract which ended at Christmas. During my 2 month stint I was turning down loads of other work - I work for Falkirk council.

No two single days of Supply work are the same but they are fascinating for a variety of reasons:

I have had head teachers welcome me personally with kind words, a map of the school and a brochure of the main things a Supply teacher needs to know.
I have been to schools where staff could not have been more helpful
I have been to schools where I have been completely ignored in staff rooms
I have been to schools where I have had detailed plans left for me
I have been to schools where my 14 year old daughter could have left a more helpful plan
I have been to schools where I have had to deliver my own pre-prepared plans

As a Supply teacher you only get paid for 5 hours (not even 9 till 3), so.....

As it is impossible to prepare, teach and mark in 5 hours, my advice is get in early (if you have enough notice), stay on a bit after the bell, in order to do your own marking, and always leave a note for the absent teacher.
Others will tell you to turn up at 8:59 and leave when the children leave, after all that's what you get paid for. Well it's up to you, but doing it my way is more likely to get you repeat business - it certainly did for me.

Obviously not everyone can afford to live on scraps of supply work like this and it is accepted, even by Mike Russell, that some people just have to chuck it, because the COSLA deal he supported was so weak, nearly as weak as his proposal to train more teachers - not to fill full time posts you understand, just to fill the supply posts.
(It's a bit like Manchester United training more youngsters, not so that they can actually play for Manchester United, but so that they can sit on the substitutes' bench in case anyone gets injured.)

Anyway, tomorrow is a new term. I shall be dressed and ready to go from 7:30, waiting for that text or phonecall to arrive, and if it doesn't? Well, my garage needs cleared out.

My First Blog

Fiona Stirling — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:26:00 GMT

Hello my fellow probationers! I doubt you will even have time to squeeze in a read of this blog but if you have managed to find a 25th hour in the day, its nice that you've stopped by to have a look.

So, where to start? I don't know about anyone else but I feel like I've been teaching for years now. Time is flying by so quickly and I'm distrubed to see tinsel is already in the shops. I can't spare any time for Christmas! All I'm planning at the moment is 3 weeks of sleep. Ah, sleep, remember that? The thing where you close your eyes and relax for more than a couple of hours? Good times.

Anyway, I know this is a VERY short introduction but I'll be back, hopefully with a more interesting post.

They think it's all over..............it is now.

LES Fulton — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 09:31:00 GMT

Friday was my last day as a probationer. As a teacher in Bo'ness the year alwasy finishes with the Children's Fair Day: crowning of a Queen, procession through the streets etc. It was a really nice way to finish the year.

When it was all over I didn't feel sad, or unduly happy, I just felt contented that I'd done the best I could.

My top tips for any new Primary probationers are;-

Get in early and leave late. You can work 9 to 4 when you're older.
Attend PTA meetings, discos, Fayres, anything extra curricular. Get your face known.
Start a club - homework, knitting, ICT, netball, savings, craft......... anything
Write to your class's parents in the first week about what they can expect of you. Tell them about yourself.
If your school doesn't already have one, arrange (with permission) a 'Meet the Teacher' day where the parents/carers can see and talk to you.
At Parent's night, have (at least) a full A4 typed sheet of paper for each child - they appreciate it.
Don't get involved in gossip.

Everyone else will tell you to "have fun and enjoy yourself", which I always think is the most pointless piece of advice ever given. Having fun will be a consequence of working hard and being well prepared. You can't dictate it.

It was one of the hardest year's work I have ever done, but easily the most rewarding.

I'm off for one or two of these ..

YOU are Sepp Blatter

Mr P — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:55:00 GMT

[please note that all references to Mr Blatter are in a light-hearted manner in reference to moderately recent media speculation. In the word of Have I Got News For You: "allegedly"]

When running peer assessment, it's common for the class to give a few "bonus" marks to their friends. I recently got a class to criticise each other's computer presentations and give them each a mark out of five. Of course, I also wanted to ensure that the genuinely best pieces of work bubbled to the top.

Using SurveyMonkey I drafted a quick questionnaire which allowed each pupil to give a mark to everyone else in the class after they'd seen all the presentations. The software collates the results and gives an average for each piece of work. There was no surprise to see that the boys dominated the marks as the class is roughly a 25/75 split favouring the male gender.

So I fudged them. A couple of percentiles here, a swapped digit there, a quick re-sort of the Excel spreadsheet and *voila* the top three made their way to the top of the list. Also, the bottom handful who'd not received very good marks at all found themselves far closer to the rest of the pack, although still in positions justified by their efforts.

In other words - it's my class, they're my rules and I'll adjust them so that the team I want to win gets the prize. I *am* Sepp Blatter (allegedly).

Think of those coming next...

Mr P — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:01:00 GMT

It may not be the case for all of you, but my position is being filled by another probationer next year. Even if this isn't what's happening to your role as the year comes to a close, have a thought for whoever is taking over your classes if you're not being kept on.

Remember what it was like the first time you took that fourth form, not knowing who was being quiet because they were shy, and who was quiet because they were secretly plotting how to blow up the lab and blame it on someone else? Who would hand in one A-grade assignment after another simply by being provided with the syllabus and a handful of notes, and who would need sat over constantly to get so much as their name on a piece of paper?

Think how much easier things could have been if someone had given you a register, a seating plan (so you could recognise faces straight away and ensure they were sat where they were meant to be) and a quick rundown of who/what to look out for.

Now, spend an hour or so doing just that for the person filling your shoes, boots, high heels, loafers, etc. With a bit of luck and some karma, this may come back to you in kind!

Seems you can't even buy a job. What's the world coming to?

LES Fulton — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 10:40:00 GMT

At the weekend I reminded a colleague (who has been fantastic for me) that when I started my probationary year last August, she welcomed me with the words,

"We had two fantastic probationers last year."

"No pressure then." I replied.

I asked her if she could greet next year's probationer with:-

"We had a fantastic probationer last year. He asked if he could stage a production of Bugsy Malone for the upper school pupils, something the school had never attempted before. Working with the Primary Six teacher, he arranged to have it staged at a local theatre where it sold out both nights. It was amazing. It received rave reviews in the local newsapaper and from parents and teachers alike. It raised over a £1,000 for our school. He still didn't get a job though.............. What can you do?"

Producing that show nearly finished me off. There were times I couldn't see it far enough. And for what? No extra money, no job, a few thanks and some chocolates from the kids.

If I had to do it all again.........................I wouldn't change a thing.

I'm doing it all wrong!

Mr P — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:53:00 GMT

A comment I overheard between two pupils this morning made me realise I had been concentrating my efforts in all the wrong places if I want my classes to like me as a teacher.

They were examining their new timetables and comparing staff when I heard the following comment:

"She's great - her room always smells dead nice."

So there you have it. If you want to be a success with your pupils, forget all those silly teaching methods, varied lesson plans and rewards schemes. Just get some (non-allergenic) perfumes in there!

All fun and games

CHRISTOPHER Hume — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:29:00 GMT

I've been making use of some 'fun' activities with the younger pupils this year and thought I'd share some of my experiences:

Firstly there are Maths board games which my department had in the store cupboard. I had used some of them as a student teacher and thought I'd give them a go. Some are really good, but there are a few which are just too complicated for the kids to get their head around. Fear not, though, these can still have their uses! If the game itself is just too complicated, you can take the questions and use them in your own made-up game with simpler rules. Additionally, the questions are usually short and thus lend themselves well to making up a set of Learner Response Questions or something similar. Saves you a lot of work later!

Another useful resource are online Maths games sites. There are millions of sites out there providing every type of game imaginable. While a few have only tenuous links to Maths (the bird-catapulting one springs to mind!) most are very useful. Countdown is always a favourite, as is 10 Quick Questions, and with new and more stylish games appearing all the time, this can be a great way to get the kids learning on that tricky last period on a Friday. The chances are they won't even realise they're learning - they'll just think it's all great fun.

Finally, you get the subscription websites where you buy a licence to access online games and competitions. This has probably been the most successful 'fun' activity I've used all year. I'm probably a bit biased, because I'm the one who arranged the purchase of the licence, but I think this type of site can be really great educational resources. Since you're paying good money for them, they know they can't afford to fill their sites with pointless rubbish (and bird-catapulting is strictly frowned upon). I also think the kids love being able to compete against others from their class and, indeed, from across the world, as they challenge other users who are logged on at the same time. The one we use is from the World Maths Day folk. It's great and very varied, but with just one setback - the kids tend to pick the easiest difficulty level so they can get nice easy questions and beat whoever they're playing against. However, it does allow you to sit back smugly and watch as they get beaten by a six-year-old from Azerbaijan.

All change

Mr P — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:33:00 GMT

I'm finding this all very bizarre.

I was taught mostly in England. At the end of the year we left and when we came back, we were in the year above. Not so north of the border. It seems common practice to elevate the pupils a year at the end of the year before. This means organising resources, timetables and so forth during term time.

It also means a barrage of "are we getting you next year?" questions from S1 and S2!

The thing is, I know I'm not going to be at this school after the summer but I don't want to let this fact out to the pupils. So the S3 class I'll get from next week will be mine for less than a month before I have to archive and mothball their work for another teacher to take over after summer, without letting the pupils know that this will be the case.

But why not let them know? Well anyone who's covered a class will know the answer to this. If the class are aware you're only there for a short while, they're less likely to make any sustained effort to behave or work hard. Why bother? They'll be starting afresh wish some other person anyway.

Having said that, it's quite heartening to hear so many of my S1 and S2 pupils asking if they'll have me next year and hoping they do. I can only assume I'm doing something right.

Or perhaps I'm just too soft on them!

The Interview - Outcome

LES Fulton — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:56:00 GMT

Not at school today.

Stuck on motorway coming home.

Got in under an hour ago.

Interview result in.....................................no permanent job. Supply if I want it.

That's okay. Worse things happen at sea.

The Interview

LES Fulton — Sat, 21 May 2011 16:06:00 GMT

I was 1 of 112 people interviewed for 21 full time jobs (inc. 60 probationers). Actually not as bad as I had feared. The telling should start on Monday 23rd May. Everyone who was interviewed is at least guaranteed a place on the supply list.

The interview was fine: Four questions:-
- One about my own qualities and skills.
- One about assessment.
- One about collegiate working and
- I have no idea what the the other one was....I just can't remember.

I had a panel of three interviewers. They introduced themselves. I smiled and nodded. If the first question had been "Okay, we've just introduced ourselves to you - repeat our names." I would have failed there and then, so full of mince was my head.

When we got up and running
I spoke, they wrote;
I spoke some more, they wrote some more;
I continued speaking, they continued writing;
I kept on speaking, they stopped writing,
I stopped speaking.

Whether it was okay to occasionally shout out random words and phrases, irrespective of the question, like "GLOW.... National Assessment Resource..........., BTC5............, holistic approach............, achievement not attainment........, National Priorities.........coal not dole........" I will probably never know.

I was in for about 25 minutes. I guarantee for the next few days after, you'll just keep thinking "Damm, forgot to mention this, forgot to mention that". For example I managed to forget I was the only male Primary teacher in Scotland blogging on the GTC website. Maybe that was a good thing.

So, having completed the interview, having had my GTC profile accepted as "Satisfactory" it should be an easy last 5 weeks, yes? Sadly no. In attempt to raise my profile at the start of the year I said I would produce a school show (Bugsy Malone) for the primary 6 and 7's and stage it in a local theatre. Showtime is nearly upon us, yet I am costumes short, props short. One of my cast has disappeared. One of my cast is going caravaning on the second night of the show.

Hey ho.

And they're off...

Mr P — Thu, 12 May 2011 08:27:00 GMT

...for exam leave. We're now down to just S1, S2 and S3 as the S5 and S6 pupils joined their S4 brethren yesterday, heading off into the wild blue yonder with only a handful of appearances left before the summer break.

It was a moderately emotional experience. I only had one class of "senior" pupils, a mixture of S5 and S6, who I go on rather well with. It was a struggle at times getting them to finish the work set, but at the end of the day we got almost all of them through the NPA course with three complete modules.

I suppose one of the nicest comments I got was "I'll miss you, sir. You actually made this class bearable. Actually, I looked forward to coming to your lessons."

*sniffle*

Have standards!

Mr P — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:55:00 GMT

I'm currently finishing grading some past work for S1 due to the parents' evening coming up shortly.

Each pupil has a card which lists each module and the tasks within those modules that they have done. These get a mark out of 4 and the module assigned an overall mark based on that. Essentially:

Very good work
Acceptable
Just about ticks the boxes required and no more
Not good enough

Now this seems nice and simple until you're marking work that's partly creative. With a set of questions it's easy - 80% gets a 1, 70% gets a 2 and so on. But how do you grade a web page, or a multimedia presentation?

I guarantee if you go for gut feeling or impression you will have at least one cry of "how is that better than mine?"

The solution is simple - give quantitative targets. Also, if marks are to be lost for extra assistance from the teacher (which will affect them during practical work later in their academic life) ensure they are aware of that before they get the help.

So in the instructions ensure they know that to get a 1 they need to provide 5 pages (an intro, an index and 3 content), that the content must include X, Y and 4 Z, that they must use a template, that the same colour scheme should be used throughout, that at least one images should be on each page and that all page transitions should be done using animation... something along those lines.

That way you can reduce it down to the scores again, just like the questions. Tick all the boxes - 1. Most of them - 2.... and so on.

Using this, I've even had (not many, but some!) children offer to finish work in their own time to ensure they get the higher grade. It also helps stave off the problem of "favourites" i.e. nudging a mark up because the pupil happens to not annoy you, or marking them down because of behaviour - or even just because it's one of those days.

Active Spelling

LES Fulton — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:11:00 GMT

In the beginning I thought "Active Spelling? Spelling...active. Write it down, learn it and move on to the 3 times table surely".

Well let me tell you about SPARKLE. If you already know about it then move along, there's nothing to see here, however if you don't...........

Get the class to stand in a circle.
Teacher says "the word is (for example) dog. Jimmy you start"
Jimmy says "d". If he gets it wrong he sits down.
Pupil next to Jimmy says "o". If he gets it wrong he sits down.
next pupil says "g". If he gets it wrong he sits down.
Next pupil says "SPARKLE". If he doesn't he sits down.
But once SPARKLE is said in the correct place the next pupil sits down.

Being a good speller might keep you in the game longer but you can never guarantee you won't be SPARKLE'd.
I typically use Dolch's list of common words and drop in topical words we have come across, plus days of week and classmates' names which is always a good one, especially if you have someone called Ruairidh.

In the beginning there was a lot of huffing and puffing, or worse, cheering, when some children went out, so it was a good chance to talk about sportsmanship and respect.

In the end you are left with 2 children standing who are 'ping-ponging' the letters of the last word back and forth.

My class love it more than they love their parents.

Let me know if you have anything similar that has worked for you.

Cooperative Learning - a Probationer's tale....

CHRISTOPHER Hume — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:44:00 GMT

Hello folks, hope everyone has enjoyed a nice long holiday, time for the final term - I hope I can distract you from job-hunting long enough to hear about my experiences of coop learning.

When I started my Probation, something which was quite new to me was coop learning. I hadn't experienced much of it during my teacher training, and suddenly found myself in a school where it was in constant use across every department. How could I keep up?

Luckily, the school arranged some pretty comprehensive training, including a two-day course for all new staff (Probationer or otherwise) which showcased a lot of different techniques. Others I have picked up at in-service training, CPD or conferences. And of course, there's the good old "make it up" methodology which can be very useful for creating coop learning activities specific to your subject!

Here are a few activities which I've tried which have been successful (and a few which haven't)

Think-Pair-Share

One of the staples of coop learning! Pretty easy to adapt to any subject, just give them a question, let them come up with ideas, share these with a partner and then explain to the class or another pair. I've found this good with most classes, but sometimes with the more difficult ones, they'll talk about anything BUT the question. I think this is really one which works best when you can depend on the pupils to actually worry about being asked to explain their ideas to the class - if they're happy to say in front of the class that they don't have any answers / suggestions whatsoever, then this may not be too successful.

Gallery Walk

Basically the idea is to get them in groups making posters to display what they've learned. Then team them up so each team has one person from every poster group. Each team starts at a certain poster and the person who worked on that poster has to explain it to the rest of the team. After one minute, each team moves to a different poster and the process repeats. Thus everyone in the class has to explain a poster at some point. This works really well when you've got a topic with lots of different parts to it, so that different groups will have different ideas. It can be time-consuming to make the posters but I think it's worth it. Just avoid using with really short topics otherwise they all put exactly the same things on the posters!

Expert Groups

You split up a topic, and one person from each table has to become an expert in a certain part of the topic, then teach it to the rest of their table. They will team up with other 'experts' in the same area to learn their little bit and then return to their table to do the teaching. This has been a fairly successful activity for me. It isn't really suitable for teaching a topic for the first time (would you want your child being taught something new by another child?) but its great for revising a topic that hasn't been covered in a while. I have found this works great when you've got another adult in the room (eg a classroom assistant or, if you're lucky, a coop teacher) as you can dedicate even more time to each group of experts. A few pitfalls I've encountered are ending up with the least able children trying to teach the hardest part of the topic - you may need to do some crafty manipulation to make sure the ones who struggle most get an easier part to teach. Also watch out that you don't have too many expert groups or you'll never be able to help them all prepare.

Anyway, I hope this inspires you go go out and get the kids working together!

April Fool

LES Fulton — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:07:00 GMT

My April Fool went down a treat. I explained to my class that the council were considering opening schools on Saturday mornings, and as an experiment the first day for trial was tomorrow, April 2nd.

"I''ve got swimming.." says one
"I''ve got football..." says another and so on and so on
"Well school is more important" says me "Now draw a line in your jotters and write the date. What is the date?..."

Oh how I laughed. Might not be laughing tomorrow when 20 odd children turn up at the school gates though.

That co-operative learning CPD session was good. Pity it didn't arrive before my shambolic observed drama lesson. Never mind, we learn more from our mistakes. Jings I must have learned a lot!

Anyway today was the end of my second term as a probationer. I feel good. I can do this - not as well as some, but better than others........Gie's a job.

You can't beat a bit of variety

Mr P — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:17:00 GMT

So what's happened today? It's Monday, I have a short working day so plenty of lesson prep time and since the bell went at 8:30, I have:

1) Taken a register and had some banter with my registration group

2) Hurriedly drafted a Prezi presentation for my S5 class

3) Issued a referral to one pupil

4) Worked with a small sub-group of my "difficult" S4 class to get them through a NAB they missed while the rest got on quietly with written work - I'd not have believed this possible three or four months ago

5) Sat with the aforementioned S5 class and crammed a ridiculous amount of information into their brains which they took in good humour and fed back well on

6) Stood outside in the sunshine helping some P6 pupils at a nearby primary school learn how orienteering works

7) Had a staff meeting regarding a ridiculous array of topics, from post-mortem'ing a recent run of lessons to how we will fit in upcoming prelims before Easter while munching on cookies brought in by the PT

8) Worked on revision materials for S3, S4 and S5

I defy you to find me another job with this level of variety in a single working day.

Technology is a Probationer's Best Friend

CHRISTOPHER Hume — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:16:00 GMT

Hello folks, your newest Probationer blogger here.

I'm a Maths probationer, and I've decided to use this blog to talk about some of the tools and strategies that have helped me over the past 8 months - starting with some very useful bits of technology.

As a Probationer, one of the biggest challenges seems to be getting used to the many bits of technology used in schools. I think that there are so many systems to learn – email, registration, whiteboard software etc – that it could be easy to forget that the pupils should be making use of ICT as well. One tool which I have found very useful in helping incorporate ICT into lessons is the Learner Response Systems – individual handsets on which pupils can answer questions.

Learner Response Systems are really useful – you can shout out a question and your pupils can answer it on their handset, with the results being collated by your computer. Alternatively, you can display a question on the board. If you want to really go the whole hog, you can even have the questions appear on the handsets themselves (“self-paced questions”).

At first I thought these handsets would be difficult to use, but I soon learned that this isn’t the case – and I’d like to dispel the four myths which seem to frighten most teachers off:

Myth 1: I need an interactive whiteboard. Not at all! All you need is a PC with a USB port and the appropriate software (which will have come with the handsets). It is best if you have a data projector so you can display questions on the board, but if you don’t have this, you can still use the self-paced questions.
Myth 2: Pupils can’t be trusted not to break the handsets. While accidents are bound to happen, in six months of using the system, none of my pupils has ever broken a handset – maliciously or accidentally. You know your pupils better than anyone and will know which classes will be responsible enough.
Myth 3: Pupils will type inappropriate things. Of course you will have some immature kids who will try this, but you can control it easily – you can select the type of answer you want. You can set questions up to receive only ‘true’/’false’ answers, or answers which contain only numbers.
Myth 4: It takes ages to set up the equipment. It will take ages to set things up the first time you use it with a particular class – but by the second attempt, they’ll remember what to do, which buttons to press and how to get started. After all, they probably spend and inordinate amount of time doing things on their mobile, which isn’t so very different.

Anyway, I hope that this will perhaps encourage a few more of you to make use of this type of technology if you have it sitting in your department somewhere. Please feel free to leave some comments about your view on using this ype of technology in the classroom.

A little bit easier, a little bit tougher

LES Fulton — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:12:00 GMT

My blogs are now down to one a month as opposed to one a fortnight previously. This could be a sign of me finding it tougher now.

Having made it to Christmas reasonably comfortably and feeling pretty secure, (or is that 'developing' ), this new term is proving trickier. It's a combination of having to deliver my first ever assembly, (having never seen one before); 'dividing by 3'; my new topic and Bugsy Malone. In a moment of sheer madness, I offered to produce a show for the P6 and P7s. I bet Andrew Lloyd Webber would have had less success if he had to spend most of his day before rehearsals explaing to Sarah Brightman how the commutative law does not apply in division.

On the plus side I got a new pencil case.

Halfway house

Mr P — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:35:00 GMT

I've not done the maths, but I'm reckoning that this is around the halfway point in the academic year (just after half term of the second term). However, don't rely on the calendar to tell you when you should have things finished without taking into account all the other events that affect this.

Main amongst these, particularly in the upper school, are work placements and exam leave. Here, we lose our S4-6 for approximately two weeks for pre-lims, and then again a good period before the final exams in summer. This knocks a significant number of contact hours off the time you may otherwise expect to have to teach them.

More to teaching than teaching

Mr P — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:30:00 GMT

I'm going to delve into politics a little with this post, so do bear with me.

Recent decisions have been made, or at least proposals put forward to change the structure of education in the city in which I work. Obviously, this has fallen under the catch-all of "saving money" - obviously a good thing. However, the way it's being dealt with is horrific, inflamatory and badly thought out. In fact, many would go so far as to say that thought hasn't been a part of it.

None of the proposals make any sense to anyone within the teaching profession who I have spoken to. And you would think that the people who would know best about any potential effects on education would be those deeply involved with it. The ones who haven't been consulted.

The reason I'm writing this up as part of my blog is that it's something probationers and potential probationers need to be aware of. Your job isn't just affected by the kids in the classroom, the resources the school has to offer and so on. Other "powers" can change things radically - councils and governments are very much amongst them.

Don't assume that being a great teacher is enough. Councils simply aren't bothered about this. What matters to them is budget. Cashflow. Especially in these days of cutbacks and recession. The major issue with that is they then see fit to make cuts left, right and centre in areas in which they seemingly have no knowledge whatsoever. That's when you start introducing insane plans such as having heads of department who aren't trained in the subject which they will be overseeing.

Teaching is still a fantastic job. But there are challenges at every corner - within and without the school walls. Be prepared to deal with these as well.

Nothing funnier than a bit of dodgy spelling.

LES Fulton — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:27:00 GMT

We have been investigating the major body organs: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys etc. Homework was to tell me two interesting things about the lungs.

One child wrote: "We can breathe better if we have good lugs."

That'll be why the wee boy, with bigger than average ears, is good at running then.

Updates and apologies

Mr P — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:46:00 GMT

As the Christmas holiday comes to an end I realise I've not posted on here for some time. I admit it's been fairly low priority what with everything else going on so it's time for a quick catch-up.

Also, apologies if you have spotted your comment on an earlier post is missing. I've been having some dreadful problems from two spammers and in while deleting 100+ spam comments, I may have inadvertently removed a couple of genuine ones. I've also, as a result, closed comments on earlier posts as a couple in particular were being hammered repeatedly. As ever, the lovely Angela has done all she can to help - the spam protection on this system just doesn't seem to recognise spam - but hopefully new posts will be protected.

Anyway, where do we stand? One term down, the longest one coming up (I gather), though thankfully with more than a smattering of holidays involved. The problems seem twofold for the S3 and S4 classes - how do I ensure they cover all the material required, while at the same time leaving enough time at the end for revision? In some cases, the problem is the reverse. The Int 1 course is rather sparse - how do I ensure I fill the remaining space adequately once the material is covered?

I guess this information will come with experience. In the meantime I'll start digging for a variety of revision exercises!

The break has been good, but not entirely work-free. I've been tasked with drafting the next 6-8 weeks of S1 activity ending in a school-wide cross-curricular exercise. I've had a lot of help from one other department member in particular which has been invaluable. Thankfully she's the kind of person to volunteer her assistance!

My GTCS online bumph is pretty much all up to date, although I'm slightly behind on observed lessons due to closures and cancellations during the snowy period in December. I'll make that up in short order when we go back.

Well, only a weekend left and then one in-service day until the "young persons" return.

Fingers crossed...

New Years Day

LES Fulton — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:13:00 GMT

Pentagons..............I think.

Christmas Day

LES Fulton — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 20:59:00 GMT

This isn't natural...........
It's Christmas Day and I'm wondering whether Billy should be in the Pentagons or the Squares for Maths.