What a different.

Ok, so those pesky kids who were really hard to control wednesday last period (for my crit) - were really well behaved today!!!!! Typical. Three of the kids were missing today, so why could they have not been missing from my crit? It was not really the behaviour of the kids that made my crit go bad ( it never really went bad) - it was more of my content, but it would have still been a little easier had them behaved. But what a different in the class, without those three kids!!!!!!

and where did the children's manners disappear to????????

I gave out 3 top prizes (Dairy Milks) to the winners of my competition, and (through the inspiration from a certain Computing Teacher at Jordanhill) gave out Fredos to everyone else!!!!! Only maybe 5 said thank-you. I have a real thing about manners - seeing as I was brought up with them - so I said to them (as they did NOT say thank-you) "Your welcome". Do they think that teachers get a budget for prizes or something????? They did not appreciate the time it took me to decide what prizes to get!!!!!!! I orginally thought that I would do individual prizes, so last week I went and bought: 1 big bar of Dairy Milk, 1 big bar of Sainsbury's own chocolate, and 1 bar of Sainsbury's value chocolate for prizes. But, the caring person inside of me said that it would be fairer to give everyone something, so I had to decide all over what to give them. Now, coming from the MOST indecisive person EVER, this was a rather lengthy task.

I felt really happy after my class today. I actually got them working in silence for 10 minutes. I told them I was giving them out a worksheet, but I mentioned the word "Sort of a test", and then were quiet. I think I may use "Sort of tests" a wee bit more. One pupil asked me if there was a prize for it!!!!!!!


Anyway, I must go and get my face on, because I have a well deserved Christmas get-together with all the other Business Ed students. This should be good. :)


Miss Kettles

P.S I have changed my preferences so that anyone can reply to my blog!!!!!!!

One placement down........a life time of problems to come.

Phewwwwwww Glad that section of the placement is over (for this term at least). Today I had my last crit and I am so relieved that it is over.

I did not do as well as I hoped, but at least I passed which is the main thing. But it is really annoying and frustrating knowing that you could have done better. It was last period of the day, with a class that any teacher would have difficulty with. I am disapointed with my lesson content because I had spent ages on it and it did not go down as well as I had hoped. In actual fact, I thought it was utter crap and I am really disapointed with myself. On the positive side, my tutor did notice improvements in my behaviour management and ascertiveness, although they still need a lot of work. It is a good sign that I am showing improving, even although I never got any merits this time, it is always something to work on.

The things that I have learnt from this lesson are:

• To be more explicit with my instructions. Even 13/14 year olds have difficulty following basic tasks, so make sure you keep things simple.
• 13/14 year olds like competition.
• Try not to incorporate too many things in one lesson. Stick to one context, because anything more just confuses them.
• Keep them busy, idle minds makes chatty and distruptive children.
• I NEED TO BE THE BOSS.
• I AM THE TEACHER.

Another point today, my kids in a different class asked me my age. I lied and now have them thinking that I am a really young looking 29 year old. At least they think that I am much much older than them now. It really amused me.

The night before.......

Tomorrow is my last crit of my first placement, and I am surprising calm. Although this morning I was full of nerves, but I think I was more nervous for the computing student that is in my department, than for me. I have all my materials prepared but I just need to get mentally prepared. This should in theory be easy for me, seeing as I use to be a cheerleader at university - but when it comes to pepping myself up, it's a little bit different. The class that I have for my crit tomorrow is really quite tough, the majority of them are boys who constantly talk. Here's hoping that the content should be interesting enough to keep them on task, and behave for their teacher. I am having a competition towards the end of the lesson, so this may bribe them into doing some productive work. We are studying the topic of marketing, and I have decided to do promotion with them. I am introducing examples of how IRN-BRU promotes their product, so this should give them something to relate too. Plus IRN-BRU has a fantastic website, which should keep them amused. I am having a quiz competition towards the end of the lesson, which I have called Miss Kettles's Slogan Challenge.

Here's hoping I get "the buggars to behave" for me.