Ooh, Halloween... creepy, no scary! Err, not really, try the prospect of teaching a class of 15-16 year olds, for the first time ever next Monday. Now, that's a scary prospect! This is what I have lined up; a 4 week block of teaching, starting off with just the odd class, and finishing with 13.5 hours teaching time in the final week. Unfortunately, that actual teaching is only a small part of what I have to do. I have to develop full lesson plans for each lesson, I have an assessment on learning theories which I have to tie into the teaching, I must tie it altogether with the Standards For Initial Teacher Education (SITE), I have school based study tasks to perform, and every lesson will be observed by a teacher, with one lesson in particular being observed by 2 University lecturers who will critique my peformance.
I tell you, this teaching lark isn't easy. Besides all the paperwork, the teacher's role is no longer simply to teach. There are pastoral duties, social and moral implications, inclusive practice, not to mention the fact that the whole education system seems to be on the brink of being significantly restructured. There seems to be a ground-swell of movement at higher levels away from the idea of assessment as a formal basis for education, towards an emphasis on process. I make no judgments on the rationality of this viewpoint. I'm only bringing you the news so to speak. I suspect however, that we will see an end to the Standard Grade format in Scotland, in the not too distant future.
Anyhow, if you're going out tonight, do not concern yourself with thoughts of evil spirits and the living dead. Just remember that there's nothing more dangerous than the people that you put in power, making political decisions based on their bizarre misguided beliefs, which may well bring us to the brink of Armageddon. See, the real monsters are grey-suited men, who believe they have a direct hotline to God, and that the message is, "Kill anyone who's not like us, but has stuff that should really be ours!" Ghosts and ghouls can only give you a fright, these monsters could plunge us all into a living hell. Sleep tight now, won't you?
