Online Timesheet Query

Wednesday, 03 February 2011

M

y agency has finally switched to online timesheets, at least year after other organisations. Having worked on Tuesday 1^st February for half a day and Wednesday 2^nd February all day, I sat down on the second evening to complete the new form, but could not determine how to enter all of the expenses. Wednesday’s were straightforward, but the page would not take the details for Tuesday morning. Not working on Thursday, I telephoned the office mid-morning to ask why this was the case. They said they were: encountering teething problems with the new system, it was being trialled at their office and ‘they’ were probably being stricter with expenses. Finally, she told me she would mention it to the technical people at the head office. This did not explain the inconsistencies and I pondered the situation during the day and eventually telephoned the ‘umbrella’ company to ask if they could help. Thankfully, they told me unequivocally that the problem was due to the taxation law, which states that it is not possible to claim for anything other than travelling for a half day.

Originally posted on Thursday 3rd February 2011

A Half Day Becomes a Whole Day

Wednesday, 02 February 2011

M

y assignment today was for a morning with year 3 in a familiar local school. The class teacher appeared disorganised and despite arriving early, I was still not entirely clear about the work when I had to go and collect the children from the playground. Part of the problem was that the work took the form of Active Primary flipcharts on the interactive whiteboard and I could not load two for separate lessons simultaneously. As is always the case, I did not know the whereabouts of the files on the server. He informed me that he was leaving at half-term and the children were very unsettled. One boy in particular was ‘terrible’.

The first lesson was maths and the projector would not work, so I had to manually write and draw the maths on a very small whiteboard. Fortunately, the class had a good knowledge of finding and labelling a half on a plane shape and it was possible to proceed with the lesson. The children had shapes on worksheets on which they were to find and label halves and quarters. Since the same shapes were repeated, it seems they were supposed to find different ways of finding the fractions, but this was not pointed out to me and I had not the time to notice between being given the sheets and the start of the lesson. We managed to track down the teacher, who was in school, and get the projector working for the second lesson, English. Here I had to show the children a list of six words to begin asking questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. Using a device on the Active Primary flipcharts on the interactive whiteboard I partially revealed an ancient Egyptian picture on a piece of papyrus (bit-by-bit). Again, fortunately, the children were good at coming up with questions, such as, “Why are there birds at the top of the picture?” In groups the pupils, were required to list half a dozen questions beneath pictures of ancient Egypt. Apparently, these were to be later used as part of a ‘British Museum’ competition on writing an information leaflet for year 2 visitors, although I am not sure if this was real or imaginary. 

At break, I could explain to the teacher that the class were not noisy as he had stated – he had earlier claimed they were, “Lovely, but noisy.” One child misbehaved and had to be warned, with his name on the board, according to the school policy. This, I was told, was likely to make him worse. After play, consisting of finishing-off tasks, the situation would change. A checklist of four tasks was to be photocopied for the children, but I did not receive them at all, so I wrote them on the whiteboard. The children were slow to organise themselves, used delaying tactics, quarrelled and claimed to have finished. At the centre of these, was the aforementioned boy, who reached his three crosses next to his name. Inflaming him more and contrary to my understanding of the school policy, this class used pegs instead of crosses on the board. By the time he was standing in the doorway, gesturing to me with his fingers and declaring his intention to leave the room, the class teacher appeared and took him away. In the subsequent calm, one of the girls apologised for his behaviour. Another advised me to, “Just ignore him.”  A third said, “I don’t think you should have to shout to be heard over our noise.” Agreeing with all of them, I reassured them that it was not their fault, explained that I could not ignore the defiance and admitted that I could hear my own voice getting louder.

Debriefing with the classroom teacher, he agreed with the crosses and said he would have sent for the head teacher if necessary. I described the rest of the class’s maturity in understanding the situation. In the midst of these events, the secretary asked if I could stay on to work the afternoon in year 6. Of course I accepted and she said she would arrange a school dinner as a duty meal. A little girl from the previous class invited me to have my lunch with her and we discussed her visit, last night, to her mother in hospital.

Year 6 was straightforward, the main miscreant having been ‘kicked in the throat’ during a playground football match after lunch. When it was explained, in front of the class, that he had gone home, I had to control myself by not shouting, “Yippee!” The task was to make a view finder to position over one character, in a reproduction of a Henry Moore painting, and to reproduce/enlarge this by sketching in an A4 sketch book. I was able to demonstrate the making of the viewfinder, cut, with an aperture, from half a sheet of A4 and show the class an example of the finished sketch from another class. I understand these were to be used as the basis of later creating a wire sculpture. The children did very well, although, as is so often the case, many drew an excellent sketch that was far too small. It’s not easy for them to reproduce and enlarge at the same time. My fear was that the class would finish too early, doing a superficial sketch and saying ‘finished’, so their teacher agreed to return for the next stage, but it was not needed. If they did finish they could get a laptop and complete a comprehension task in the ‘Whizz Kids’ software. I had to remind some boys of the task and not to download music! By 3 o’clock we were sitting in an assembly. Someone pointed out that the class had to sit boy-girl, boy-girl until half term, if this was not satisfactory they would be positioned in front of year three. Surprisingly, the boys welcomed this, but, understandably, the girls were reluctant. Mostly, they were co-operative.

Tuesday, 01 February 2011

I

 had been with year 4, in the same school, in the previous morning, having received a late call at around 08:30am. During the dinner register, one of the boys burped loudly, looked at me, laughed and drew a round of laughter from those around him. I spoke to him in no uncertain terms and he lost his bravado. A deathly hush subsequently filled the room. The class worked hard on writing the first part of a story from a storyboard created on Monday. Continuing a story, like finishing-off, is not one of my favourite tasks, because I do not know the story.  How many times do you hear, “They know what to do.” As if pupil or teacher are reliable and you share that confidence. Maths consisted of converting data from a tally chart, created yesterday, into a bar chart and a pictogram. A reasonable task made awkward by the fact that the projector did not work, leaving me without a full size whiteboard or one with squares. Forgetting the sequence, I got the class to construct the pictogram first, but they made a fair effort and demonstrated a good knowledge. After play, the class joined the other in the hall to practise a year group assembly, so I was a spare part in crowd control. 

Originally posted on Wednesday, 02 February 2011

Next Week's Prospects for Work

I

 telephoned an agency to ask what the work prospects were like for next week. She said, “It’s still dire and we’re struggling.” They are the sole agency for one school where I work, but they have cut back. Another regular school of mine had taken on one of her supply teachers directly for PPA and this person was therefore picking up all the supply work as well. However, not long after hanging up, the agency called me back to say they had got work in a year 3 class on Monday all day and Wednesday morning. I accepted them both, including the morning. At one time I would never have taken half-days from agencies, but as this is nearby and things have been quiet, I decided against holding out for a full day. Calling an agency on Friday afternoon also goes against my better nature, but I feel there is no other choice at the moment. Eventually, things will change and improve; I just keep hoping they do so sooner rather than later. Visiting the library this afternoon, I borrowed a book called ‘Start and Run Your Own Business: the Essential Guide to Planning, Funding and Growing Your New Enterprise’ by Jonathan Reuvid and published by Kogan Page.  

Originally posted on Friday, 28^th January 2011

The Last Day of January 2011

An hour later, the agency called to say the school secretary had cancelled Monday, saying it was entirely her mistake. Knowing the school, I think the secretary, seeing an absence, had booked supply, but someone had later said they would cover the non-attendance. The agency thanked me for my undertanding, but I was annoyed at losing Monday. They said they were on standby for redirected calls over the weekend, but I did not find this very encouraging.   

Updated Monday, 31st January 2011

Mr Gove's Education Bill

E

ducation Secretary Michael Gove said Ofsted will get powers to put schools into special measures based on their disciplinary record alone. If the school does not improve, they could be shut down. The plans will be included in an Education Bill published today (27th January 2011). Mr Gove said UK classrooms faced a "discipline crisis". He added: "It's the main reason teachers leave the profession, and many good graduates don't become teachers." Ofsted currently grades schools on teaching, leadership and exam results.

Mr Gove intends to allow Ofsted to assess school disciplinary records. Those faring "particularly badly" on discipline may be taken over by a better performing local school or an academy with "a strong record on discipline". The Bill will also enable teachers to seize pornography, mobile telephones and video cameras from pupils as well as give detentions to pupils without parents getting the current 24 hours' notice.

Mr Gove claims that teachers, accused of inappropriate behaviour by pupils, will be granted anonymity unless they are charged. He said, "The whole trend in the last 25-30 years has been away from respect for teachers and towards pupils saying, 'I know my rights'. I want to restore respect for teachers. The public are clear that we need to improve behaviour."

The Bill will also set out plans for free schools and a curriculum review. Teaching unions and Labour are opposed to the changes.

Originally posted on Thursday, 27 January 2011

Mr Gove's Education Review

 

E

ducation secretary Michael Gove is launching the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition government’s review of the primary and secondary school National Curriculum today Thursday, 20 January 2011. The review will examine what core facts schools should be teaching, and what flexibility to give to teachers to set courses. Mr Gove said that history and geography lessons should emphasise the learning of facts and equip children with essential knowledge. He attacked the last government for removing "actual content" in favour of a more thematic approach. Ministers are also concerned that the geography curriculum does not identify any continents, rivers or mountains or name any countries apart from the UK – although, they note, it does mention the European Union. The government says the music curriculum makes no mention of individual composers or pieces of music.

Mr Gove told John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "You (should) have a curriculum, which instead of telling people how to teach, tells them what to teach in certain core subjects.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: "This is a pointless review when ministers have already determined that children should have a 1950s-style curriculum."

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, pointed out that, "The subjects and skills taught in schools should not be based on ministers' pet interests. It remains to be seen whether teachers, in Mary Bousted’s words, will, “Be allowed to decide the specifics of what is taught, in partnership with employers and the local community, within a broad and balanced centrally agreed framework curriculum.”

Written on Thursday, 20 January 2011

Originally posted on Thursday, 27 January 2011

Floating

Tuesday 25^th January 2011

I

f I have a spell of inactivity, it usually makes the teaching more difficult . . . when it eventually arrives. Certainly, I felt cautious about approaching yesterday’s assignment, but I need not have worried as the classes mostly worked well for me. This was ‘floating’ in a local school, where I have worked previously.

In the morning, I was with a year 4 class that I knew, but had not taught since the last academic year. They settled quickly to the early morning task and the start of the first lesson, English. Here, the children read an extract from an ongoing text, in turn, which we discussed and found it was about Kitty who felt that being small was unfair. She learned that, while her brother was also small, he did not mind comments as long as they were friendly. Another child in the playground, Tom, she discovered, had his good features (he was tall), but was worried about his negative aspects (his ginger hair). Following a sentence task, the children had to produce a piece of writing in which they were required to imagine that kitty was approaching yet another child and asking them what they would change about themselves. It was also important to describe that child’s good features. Nevertheless, when I marked the books, I found myself writing the same comment, ‘Don’t forget their good features.’   

Next lesson was maths. My instructions were to ensure the children finished sheets on halving and doubling, which they started yesterday. They were also to complete corrections, and could not move on to the next stage (quartering and multiplying by four, ie. halving and halving again/ doubling and doubling again), without doing so. Normally, I do not like finishing-off tasks, but this went fairly smoothly. My only real problem was that I was asked to explain the next stage to children individually, which goes against my instinct because you end up repeating the same thing over and over. That is what happened here and I was spread too thin. As a result the children became noisier and more unsettled.

During these two lessons, one child was chattier, more distracted and therefore more disruptive than anyone else. My frequent requests for co-operation were largely ignored. I found him irritating. At break I asked the class teacher, also the deputy, if she also found him irritating and she replied, “No, because I like him.” That was the end of the conversation, so I suppose the moral is: do not broach a child carefully, explain how he prevents you from teaching.    

After play was ICT. The children were to draw a butterfly or landscape using the reflection in-one-plane feature of Revelation Natural Art. The class teacher explained this at break, adding, “Although they are familiar with the software, the children will ask pointless and repeated questions, because that is what they are like.” I found this a strange juxtaposition with her request to explain the maths individually and her previous comment about the child she liked. As it happened, most of the class worked hard on the activity and did not ask too many questions.  

At lunchtime, I asked the head teacher where I was to be teaching, as he was conducting performance management interviews. He told me this was in both of the year 6 classes and gave me the sequence. The first teacher to be covered was present so she said she would explain the work. She was very vague and indecisive so this took about half an hour of the lunch break, which was less than an hour in any case. Eventually, it transpired that the class were researching WW2 from a prescribed website, with specific questions and writing the results in their topic books. I had to rush my lunch, while simultaneously marking books from the morning. The lesson with the first year 6 class was reasonable, although the boys seemed pre-occupied with listening to music with headphones that appeared freely available. In principle, I did not object to the music, but had to speak to them about the amount of time wasted on the music sites. Finding myself virtually taking the second year 6 class cold, I discovered they were drafting and producing neat copies of WW2 events for a class timeline. They were sensible, but had permission to go to the library, when they had finished and at one point there seemed to be more children out of the room than in. One child, a boy, managed to creep out without finishing, or having permission, but I managed to get him back.  

On my way out of the school, I called in to speak to the secretary and she was trying to use software for a new online timesheet system which she had received that day. On Friday 21st, I had spoken to the agency about my lack of work and they said they had sent a password and user name for the new system. This seemed odd because I had recently checked my emails and seen nothing. Checking again and still finding nothing, I called again to be told that the head office would be contacted. At home on Tuesday, I found that I had been sent the details for the online forms and, after several hours, could not get it to work. Resolving to phone the agency the next day (today), I abandoned my efforts. This morning, with the page opened on the screen in front of me, I did indeed phone the agency and got them to explain the process while I followed step-by-step. Hopefully this will be successful. Passing the head teacher’s office on my way to the door, I said goodbye and he replied, “We’ll see you again soon.” 

Originally posted on Wednesday, 26 January 2011   

 

    

Songs About School

S

chool and the education system has occasionally been the subject of rock songs, from Chuck Berry’s teenage joy to Roger Water’s bitter resentment. Here are the lyrics to a few of these:

School

Performed by Supertramp on Crime of the Century

Written by Roger Hodgson, Rick Davies

I can see you in the morning when you go to school
Don't forget your books, you know you've got to learn the golden rule,
Teacher tells you stop your play and get on with your work
And be like Johnnie - too-good, well don't you know he never shirks
- he's coming along!

After School is over you're playing in the park
Don't be out too late, don't let it get too dark
They tell you not to hang around and learn what life's about
And grow up just like them - won't you let it work it out
- and you're full of doubt

Don't do this and don't do that
What are they trying to do? - Make a good boy of you
Do they know where it's at?
Don't criticize, they're old and wise
Do as they tell you to
Don't want the devil to
Come out and put your eyes

Maybe I'm mistaken expecting you to fight
Or maybe I'm just crazy, I don't know wrong from right
But while I am still living, I've just got this to say
It's always up to you if you want to be that
want to see that
want to see that way
- you're coming along!

Notes: A track on the album Crime of the Century which was a hit in 1974.

School’s Out

Performed by Alice Cooper on School’s Out

Well we got no choice all the girls and boys
Makin' all that noise 'cause they found new toys
Well we can't salute ya can't find a flag if that don't suit ya that's a drag
School's out for summer school's out forever school's been blown to pieces

No more pencils no more books no more teacher's dirty looks yeah
Well we got no class and we got no principals and we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
School's out for summer school's out forever my school's been blown to pieces

No more pencils no more books no more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer out till fall we might not come back at all
School's out forever school's out for summer
School's out with fever school's out completely

Notes: Alice Cooper has said he was inspired to write the song when answering the question, "What's the greatest three minutes of your life?" He added "There's two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you're just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you're sitting there and it's like a slow fuse burning. I said, 'If we can catch that three minutes in a song, it's going to be so big.'" It was indeed a hit in summer 1972.

Another Brick in the Wall Part 2

Performed by Pink Floyd on The Wall

Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

"Wrong, Do it again!"

"If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you
have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"
"You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!"

Notes: A number one single bridging the end of 1979 and the start of 1980. Rebellious school children begin to rebel against their mocking teacher, who is sarcastic, critical and uses clichéd teacher phrases. Roger Waters (both of whose parents were teachers) believed he was tormented at school by abusive staff and this is part of an epic whinge, dragged out over a double album. Many people have to live with, or get over, their school experience. Not Waters, he has to inflict it on the rest of us.   

   

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

Performed and written by Paul Simon on Paul Simon

The mama pajama rolled out of bed, and she ran to the police station
When the papa found out, he began to shout, and he started the investigation
It's against the law, it was against the law
What the mama saw, it was against the law.
The mama looked down and spit on the ground ev'ry time my name gets mentioned
The papa say "Oy, if I get that boy
I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention."
I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin',
I'm on my way, I'm takin' my time, but I don't know where.

Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard

In a couple of days they come and take me away
But the press let the story leak
And when the radical priest come to get me released
We's all on the cover of Newsweek
Well, I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin'
I'm on my way, I'm takin' my time, but I don't know where

Goodbye to Rosie, the Queen of Corona
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard
See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard

Notes: A hit single from Paul Simon’s first solo album in 1972. The song is about two boys who have broken a law, although the exact law is not stated. When "the mama pajama" finds out what they have done, she goes to the police station to report the crime. The boys are later arrested, but released when a radical priest intervenes. The central character in the song says goodbye to "Rosie, the Queen of Corona". It is possible, that this reflects the place where the events occurred - Corona, Queens.

Summer In The Schoolyard

Performed by City Boy on Book Early

In the summer of '63, it was so damn hot you could hardly breathe.
Kicking dust in the mission square, trace of perfume in the air.
Whatever happened to the calendar girl with the beautiful teeth? Does
she dream of me when she's sound asleep?

(Chorus)
When everybody sang 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah'.
That summer in the schoolyard
It was oh so hot.
That summer in the schoolyard
Everybody sang 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'

She was Marilyn, Tuesday Weld, we were just thirteen but what the hell? Let
me tell you how a young boy feels When he hears the clickin'of a girls hi-heels.
She wore a pin for a college boy, life's cruel to me.
She couldn't care for the kid with the dirty knees

(Chorus)
When everybody sang 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah'.
That summer in the schoolyard
It was oh so hot.
That summer in the schoolyard
Everybody sang 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'


School Love

Performed by Barry Blue

Written by Barry Ian Green

The only thing you learn in school is ABC
But all I wanna know about is you and me
I went and told the teacher 'bout the thing we found
But all she said to me is that you're out of bounds at

School love, school love
Even though we broke the rule
I only wanna be ruled in
School love, school love
You an' I will be together, end-of-term until forever

They never ever teach you in history
And yet we seem to learn about it easily
I went and wrote 'I love you' on the classroom wall
I wanted ev'ry one to know the way to fall in

School love, school love
Even though we broke the rule
I only wanna be ruled in
School love, school love
You an' I will be together, end-of-term until forever

After school, oh, I'll be walkin' you home
Just me and you - my very own - very own
School love, school love . . .

Notes: Barry Green was the original bass guitarist with Uriah Heep, but became a prolific singer-songwriter-producer of hit singles. In 1973, School Love was one of five hit singles he had as a solo performer signed to Bell Records.

School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)

Written and performed by Chuck Berry on After School Session

Up in the mornin' and out to school
The teacher is teachin' the golden rule
American history and practical math
You studyin' hard and hopin' to pass
Workin' your fingers right down to the bone
And the guy behind you won't leave you alone

Ring, ring goes the bell
The cook in the lunch room's ready to sell
You're lucky if you can find a seat
You're fortunate if you have time to eat
Back in the classroom, open your books
Keep up the teacher don't know how mean she looks

Soon as three o'clock rolls around
You finally lay your burden down
Close up your books, get out of your seat
Down the halls and into the street
Up to the corner and 'round the bend
Right to the juke joint, you go in

Drop the coin right into the slot
You're gotta hear somethin' that's really hot
With the one you love, you're makin' romance
All day long you been wantin' to dance,
Feeling the music from head to toe
Round and round and round we go

Hail, hail rock and roll
Deliver me from the days of old
Long live rock and roll
The beat of the drums, loud and bold
Rock, rock, rock and roll
The feelin' is there, body and soul.

Notes: Aka School Days, a hit from 1957 on the Chess label.

Originally posted on Monday, 24 January 2011