The start of the school year

I really shouldn't be updating my blog right now because it's nearly 8pm and I haven't done ANY of the work I need to do for tomorrow, but I wanted to talk about my first couple of days at Danes Hill.

The first thing I have to say is that it's been absolutely manic - the pace of the school is intense!!! To give you a taster, this is what my day looks like tomorrow: arrive at school at 7:30am to prep for day's classes. First class at 8:30am in my room, followed immediately by another. Then I dash to the main building for Y4 English, followed by a mad dash back to my portable for tutor group, followed by another 2 classes of history. Short break, 30 minute lunch duty, 30 mins to collect myself together, then another dash back to the main building to teach Y4 history. 40 minute break, another class, then dash back to the main building to register another teacher's form, hand out notices, walk them to the pick-up place, then back to my room for a meeting with my Head of Department. Organise papers strewn all around the room, do some photocopying and planning for the following week, leave for home at, optimistically, 6pm. Whew.

I suppose the one good thing about the pace is that the day flies by because you're so bloody busy. The bad thing is that I keep forgetting what I'm teaching and to which class :D. They'll walk in, sit down, and I'll be like, "Err, this is....6AVH?"

There are loads of positives though. The kids are, for the most part, lovely. I'm in love with a few of my Y7s, my Y4s, and assorted Y5s, 6s, and 8s. They've already sussed out that I'm easygoing (translated: a pushover), so are...well, let's say they're lively! None of their liveliness is malicious, however, and a lot of the children seem very bright.

I spent the morning of my first day worrying about the children until, at break time, I sat down next to a form teacher who had spent all morning with her Y7s. She turned to me and said, "My class are already talking about you! They remember you from your interview lesson, and they keep saying, 'Oh, Miss Choi is LOVELY!' and how much they can't wait to have your class!" Needless to say, that made me feel good :). I was highly amused and pleased, therefore, when her class walked into my room later that day and, when I said, "I know you guys don't know me..." instantly raised their hands and told me that, actually, they did because I had taught them in my interview! haha. There are a few real sweethearts in that class and, being the Scholars (the brightest children who have been selected to go for the big academic scholarships), they're also amazingly talented. For example, I mentioned the year 1485 to my Y8 class the same day and got a bunch of blank looks and, "What happened in 1485?" The year somehow came up in my Y7 class and immediately there were exclamations of, "Oh, 1485! The Battle of Bosworth Field that ended the War of the Roses! It was fought between Henry VII and Richard III!" I just had to raise my eyebrows :D. They're definitely going to keep me on my toes!

There are some lovely children in my other classes too. Lots of the children are saying hello as I pass them in the corridors, though in most cases I have NO idea who they are yet - it's hard to place them outside of my classroom, for the most part! I'm working on names though, and have done a pretty good job. I've got nearly 200 pupils though, and a lot of them have the same names - think Henry, Joseph, Alexander, Thomas, Sophie, Eleanor, Georgina, Emma, etc. It's like being in a novel set in the 1930s! haha.

I overheard some boys talking about me today, which was sweet - they were saying how much they liked me :). And another boy in one of my classes told me, very bluntly, that I was one of his favourite teachers, to which I said, "Already? Is it because I haven't yelled at you yet?"

There are some cheeky/naughty kids though, mostly boys. I had one boy tell me the wrong name, but I caught him out on that and happened to mention it to my Head of Dept as we were chatting later. He found the boy at lunch and had a good yell at him (he told him that he either had to go tell the registrar he wanted to change his name, or he had to come apologise to me. Needless to say, I had a very contrite looking boy knock on my door at the end of the lunch break), and the boy's form teacher apparently also spoke to him at the end of the school day. I've also moved him to the desk in front of me and taken to calling him Freddie, which is the name he pretended to have. Consequently, he was sooooo well-behaved today in class. I feel a bit bad about it, but I'll give him another chance to prove that he can behave soon :).

Anyway, it's all going fairly well so far. I'm sure the kids will calm down a bit as soon as real lessons start, and I'll have to crack down on them a bit starting from their second lessons. I'm completely exhausted though, and there's so much work ahead! Roll on the weekend!!!!