When things dont go so well... blog

Had to get on here tonight for a bit of a reflection on my day. After being so positive yesterday, im feeling a bit down today, and i dont really know why. Well I do kinda...

Had a good morning. A second year class I had worked with last term first period - we started a trainer design unit. It seemed to really appeal to them so I think they'll get alot out of it. Last term I found this class quite unmotivated - I had been following a unit of qork which the teacher had wanted me to do last placement but this term Im doing my own unit of work - tat probably helps too. Then after that I had a class I hadnt had before - with the PT being off they've been a bit disrupted I sensed, so I tried my best to establish myself firmly. It worked well and I felt quite good after the period was over, because I felt I'd handled things well in a situation where I could have seen them trying to run rings round yet another 'supply' teacher. Anyway, I was off after that and spent a couple of periods panicing about my APD essay - I really am struggling to get to grips with it! I also had a period observation with a 3rd year class who were doing exam practice.

Last period, however, I had my first period with the class I'll have my crit with in two weeks time. A first year class who have also been affected by the PT being off. It was a bit of a nightmare to be honest - I felt so deflated after it, and i've let it eat me up all night. First off, being last period the kids were all a bit hyper. I should have made more of a deal of lining up quietly outside like i would normally do, but instead I just let them traipse in and moan about how hot the room was! (true enough, the room was like an oven, and with only two tiny wee skylight windows its pretty much gona be like that from now till winter!) It took ages to get them settled, partly because of their insistence to moan about the temperature (I realise now I should have tried some positive reinforcement - continuing to repeat what i wanted them to do, ignoring their moaning and focusing on the task!) Once all the folders were given out and the register taken I revised what we'd been doing last term and then invited them round the table for a demonstration. This is where everything goes downhill. The classroom is so small, and is set up with one continuous double row of desks - i really hate it, its so cramped. Finding a place where everyone can see and get round the tables is difficult so I spent a good couple of minutes ensuring they could all see (and more importantly that I could see them!) I could see they were all hot and tired, so it was like pulling teeth trying to get answers to questions. I explained and demonstrated todays lesson, but I felt no-one was listening. Of course when they went back to their seats, the hands went up and it was questions galore! Add to this, the air conditoning fan was then turned on, making being heard very difficult, as well as pupils competing with the noise. I isolated one girl for constantly talking after two warnings and kept her and her friend behind to explain why their constant chatting had been inappropriate. So many things I could have done differently. It would have helped if there had been a whiteboard or something in the class to have the task writen up on. Something which the pupils could have referred to. I think I was also concious of having a timeplan to stick to because of the forthcoming crit lesson, quite often I feel I'm cramming too much into a lesson, rather than doing something basic really well. Anyway I could go on and on... But I wont continue to analyse things any more.

Just needed to get that off my chest.