hello rover

at once tenuous and resilient
forever altering yet constant
the gift we've taken granted
fleeting and permanent both
certain end still surprises

well this week i learnt some more stuff. never turn your back for a second on any student, even if you think there should be no problems. in an outdoor prac we were drawing forest diagrams and one kid got into a scuffle with another, i heard a punch and turned around to see one kid disappear into the forest down a track. i called to stop but no response. other kids started off after him. i started off after all of them. i finally got ahead of the group about 300m down the track and stopped them. the student ahead had stopped running and i was able to talk to him and confirm that he needed a few minutes to cool off. i left him with another student to recover for a while and headed back with the other students. 8's are still scary and unpredictable. the only predictable thing is that they get into trouble all the time, somehow or some way they manage that every lesson. i haven't plugged all the options for them to be naughty yet. i've got a long way to go.
athletics carnival was rained out today and i took some supervision lessons this week with geography and business. apparently once i have taken metal work, food tech and phys ed i can qualify to be a real teacher.

and there in the path ahead lay a strange fox
sunning itself on a small green afforded by a break in the canopy
'foxes always seem to be sunning themselves' thought the little rover
the fox stirred at the rover's presence, glanced toward the rover and
disappeared into the cover of trees and shrubbery
'did i just see a fox?' the rover said to no one in particular,
'or did i see a four-legged mammal resting in the warm sun?'
'i wonder which is closer to the truth?' the rover thought
as it continued along the path, pausing a moment to bathe in some energising sunlight.

i have survived 2 weeks as a fulltime contract teacher. i was sick one day this week, i only missed my 12maths b class though, so there was no problems getting a cover to take my class for that one. but what really annoyed me about getting sick was missing my grad ceremony. i was really looking forward to this graduation. the journey to become a teacher has been seemingly long and hard, and it's clear that there is still a long way to go yet.
today i took my first supervision. yr8 english/sose. i was expecting the worst being period 4 on a friday, but it went so well i was laughing inside all the way through the lesson. we did some reading, taking turns, and that took an hour! the kids were surprised when they realised there was only 10min left and they had been quite well behaved all the way. then they got a bit restless and we did 20 questions and hangman for the last 10min before they left. i think they were actually scared of me, they're still innocent yr8's.
i wish my 8s were like that. today they were difficult for everyone, not just me. it was weird, something in the air perhaps. i'm still no good with the 8s, i seem to excite them too much or something, and then not hammer them hard enough to be quiet when they need to be. i have to change that. my other senior classes of course are great fun, i'm learning lots of new mathematics and integration techniques.
i didn't get so stressed out this week. i'm not taking anything the students do personally anymore which is good. i felt bad today though when one of my 8s complains that she can't work because there is too much noise from the loud students. she was right of course, i could hardly hear myself think at times. i'm working on changing that situation.
and, i have about 5 sanity crystals left this week. a big improvement. i'm liking this teaching stuff. it's a real challenge.

i survived the first week in my new job

my first day was ok, ending on a yr8 maths period 4 was hard
understandably they were almost climbing the walls
they were so excited to have a new teacher they couldn't control themselves
they have been in the habit of being extremely rude to new teachers, especially supply (i.e. substitute teachers)
the other senior classes have been fine, infact they've been fantastic, lots of fun talking about areas under curves and integrating, arithmetic progressions, house plans and the like.
thursday with the 8s was ok in period 3, period 4 was horrendous. i've never felt so stressed and exhausted before in my life. i was thinking i couldn't really be a teacher after all. i didn't seem to have what it takes.
but then today i had the 8s in p3 and having spoken to the hod about starting some behaviour plans, and their previous teacher about what i could do, we had two of the ringleaders removed for the lesson and a much better lesson was had by all. i was able to get through some notes that we'd been struggling through, and onto some good practice exercises. finally some of the students understood that i was not about to go away and was there to help them, and we got down to some work and helping them out with their understanding. it was wonderful. i felt like teaching again. i'm going to hammer them next week.

tomorrow i start my first paid teaching job. i'm still not certain what classes i'm taking, the only thing i know is that i will be taking some maths and science and i will find out more tomorrow. i'm a bit nervous. i'm sure it will be ok though. after all tomorrow is a student free day, how hard can that be? tuesday will be another thing though. i'll let you know how it goes.

a wise person once said (actually it was a bad guy in under siege 2)
"assumption is the mother of all fcuk ups"
and i've noticed that most assumptions i make are based on something communicated by someone or other. so i reckon the statement could be adapted to become
"communication is the root of all bad assumptions"

i say this because yesterday i made the mistake of interpreting a statement someone had said based on an assumption i made from a communique. the assumption was wrong, but a perfectly valid interpretation nonetheless. it makes me wonder how on earth i can ever talk to someone else and actually know that i was able to communicate what it was that i meant. then i realised i was a teacher now. and i'm going to be guiding people who are trying to learn stuff. and then i just re-read what i wrote and i'm not sure if it communicates what i wanted to say. life is beautiful in a strange and complex way.