Sick Again!

Had enough of my whingeing yet? No, I didn't think so, else you wouldn't be reading this would you? Well I've managed to steer clear of illness since about March I think, but it was just too bloody much to ask that I last until after tomorrow, which is the last day of Uni until next year. Not only that, but I thought that I might just skip tomorrow, because it's a long enough day travelling into Aberdeen in the best of health. Doing it while ill would be slightly sado-masochistic. Then I remembered those GTCS forms and disclosure that I was talking about yesterday. They have to be handed in, which means that I have to go in tomorrow.

Yeah yeah, laugh it up, enjoy my suffering, but remember "What goes around..." Well I suppose it could have been worse. If I'd been ill on school experience or while writing my assessment, that would have been more than a nuisance, and anyway I can console myself with the fact that it's the last day, and I have until January 7th to recover. I suspect I might also have other sel-inflicted ilnesses to recover from before that time!

Oh, and I see some great news from Labour this morning. Ed Balls, has decided that all new teachers should be educated up to Masters level. That's nice of him, I've just spent 4 years at College and Uni, and just as I'm about to make a little bit of money, someone thinks that I should start teaching and undertake a Masters at the same time. Genius idea, but why? A teacher should know all they need to know with a degree and a year's teacher training (plus another probation year before becoming fully registered). If they still can't teach, then how exactly is a Masters going to help, there's not going to be anything in a Masters which can be passed on to the pupils, so what good would it do?

The only good that could come from being a teacher with a Masters, is that it would give you a way out of the profession, probably into much better paid work. Yes, teacher's are reasonably paid, but not nearly as well paid as they could be elsewhere. People teach becasue they want to, it's certainly not for the money. If you were to do it purely for the money then you'd be a nervous wreck!

Class of 47!

Now don't say I'm not good to you. I'm sharing a video with you today, which was recommended to us students as part of our Teacher Training. It shows a US Maths class from 1947. Demonstrated are the wrong way, followed by the right way to get the best from a class. Basically, how not to deal with misbehaviour! The whole thing's totally staged and fairly cheesy, which makes it so worth the watching. What's really strange though, is how the problems teachers face today, haven't really changed that much in all this time.

I am a little concerned by the lack of belting that occurs in this video. When I was in secondary in the 80's I got belted, and my father has told me some terrible stories about kids getting belted around the head and stuff back in the late 50's. Obviously the belt was banned here in the UK in the late 80's, but I have no idea how it featured in education Stateside. Perhaps someone would like to supply that information?

Ther message of the video is, that pupil misbehaviour stems from teacher inadequacy, or teacher failings. If you tell the pupils how bad they are, and how they're all going to fail, the likelihood is that they will be bad, and they will fail. The teacher told them so, therefore that's how they see it panning out. The teacher has that power, I know. My kids have had teachers in Primary School who in my opinion often demonstrated poor grammar, spelling and lack of basic knowledge, and yet ask my kids about the teacher at the time, and they think their teacher knows everything there is to know, the font of all knowledge. That's the perception they have, the teacher is omnipotent, power for good or evil, success or failure, in the palm of their hands!

I Got Me Some Bargains!

I picked up a couple bargains this morning, when the wife and I went on our bi-weekly grocery shopping trip to Elgin. I always look at the book section in Asda's because quite often they have some decent novels for £3.50 ish. Harking back to my Italian holiday in July, if you were keeping up, then you would remember that I read "The Tower" by Valerio Massimo Manfredi while I was there, and that I promised myself to buy his other books once back home in Scotland. Well I did have a look on ebay, but then the focus went elsewhere and I forgot all about it. Anyway, there I was this morning, looking at the books in Asda's when I saw "Spartan" by Manfredi for £1. Woah... bargain book buy or what? So, I snapped that up and "Wolf Of the Plains" by Conn Iggulden for £3.50. That's a novel about the life of Genghis Khan. Yep, you're starting to see just what type of novel I go for, aren't you?

Following that coup, we had to go and try and get some music book for my daughter, for flute, which of course wasn't in stock. They never are! My wife decided to look in some clothes shop and waved me off to Ottakers book-shop, although I wasn't really intersted, but then I found the best buy of the lot, despite costing me £10 this time. I looked under education, you know, just on the off chance that I might see something worthwhile buying, when I spotted a book called "The Trainee Teachers Survival Guide" by Hazel Bennett. After 2 or 3 minutes flicking through it, I relaised that this book might just save my life. Not only has it a wealth of pointers on all aspects of Teacher Training within the Uni, but it also has lots of helpful tips for what to expect and to do while on school experience. I should have had this book a few months back, but better late than never, as they say!