time management

This week I have discovered the beauty of organisation. For those of you who already understand this, please bare with me.

Having two interns is, for the present time, incredibly time consuming. Every spare lesson I have I seem to be discussing classroom management, lesson structure, activities, and general health and well being.

My correction is WAY off kilter. I had this amazing idea that I would collect student written work early in the semester and have the work completed so that the run to the end of the year would be quite practical. Truth be told - this is an impossibility.

I have realised that I will leave a lot of the written work until the beginning of the next term. My classes for the time being will be more practical in nature where I can assess the students processing the work that is set. The written needs to be much later when some sort of routine returns to my world and I am not dealing with two young teachers.

This week I have also come home unbelievably pooped......so I have now made a few meals up and popped them in the freezer so I can come home, re heat and relax.

I know that it will calm down over the term. Once the interns have relaxed a little....one will need to relax a lot. I need to get the two of them to a stage where they feel confident that if they make a mistake that it is ok. You unpack what happened and then you rebuild. It is not worth having kittens over.

If I am not blogging a lot then I am rather exhausted. Also there is not a lot that I have to say. Actually there is another reason....

For some reason or other my blogging has reached a point where I am looking at it from the time management point of view and what I actually get out of it. I know a few people who say that it is a good thing for me to do - cathartic even. But I really am not putting a great deal of myself here - I don't mention people's names, dates etc so that means that I am rather restricted in what I say and how.

There is also the idea of who my audience is and, more to the point, do I have one. As I know some of the people who read this personally, I have restricted the way I write - one to protect them and two to protect myself. People may say 'stuff that' but can I really be bothered.....I have lots to say and I think I would prefer to say it out loud........

I will be here....but infrequently......

So now I am off to relax with friends before the craziness of the week ahead.

a week in review

Last weekend I spent the weekend at a conference for music educators. Some of the stuff I heard was fantastic but one workshop was a complete waste of time......but you do get that.

The good stuff - I did a couple of workshops with a great Choir director and learnt a few things. I heard an amazing lecture from a band director about leading an ensemble - and how this applies to your teaching etc. But I did an amazing workshop with a regular teacher from the other side of Melbourne which focused on ways to teach improvisation. It was fab.

Whilst I gave up 90% of my weekend I did get to see the latest Harry Potter and enjoyed it by and large. There were things I raised an eyebrow to - but how do you cram all of a book into a movie anyway...

On Sunday I saw Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders which was okay, not brilliant, maybe it wasn't worth the amount that they charged......My personal feeling is that Dawn French is a much funnier comedian than Jennifer Saunders. Others may disagree with this and that's ok. I would've loved to have heard actual stand-up material.....there was a lot of scripted skits which were funny, but I would've liked to have heard some less scripted sounding ideas.

Since last week work has been hectic......my interns are getting there. One is very, very good and the other is earnest.......she will get better - I hope.

sleep time yet?

I have been back at work two days and I need another holiday.

I have two interns (slightly more experienced than a student teacher) with me this term.......one rang me on Sunday to tell me she was sick. She's been away two days now. What this meant for me was that I had to leave her classes something to do as this is something that she is unaware of what to do at this stage. (note to self - teach this immediately on Thursday when they are back.....)

Then today another teacher in my department was absent so I prepared his work for him too!

The front building has been knocked down and I teach at either end of that 'void'. I have a feeling I am going to lose a lot of weight walking between my classrooms. If I go out the front of the school it takes about 4 minutes to get from one end to the other. If I go through the carpark, round the toilets, through the corridor, across the quadrangle it takes closer to 7 minutes. I know which way I will be going - but then you have to make sure you don't get stopped by a big truck entering the site.

Monday is a relatively light day - only 3 on! Tuesday I have all 6 on! Today we had general assembly and we had a staff meeting after work. Now I am tired. Tomorrow I have 5 on and choir practice.....

It's 6.30 and I have been in my pyjamas for 45 minutes...........

this is cool......

I was sent this. I am not a big choir person - which is funny seeing I run the school choir.

Often the arrangements that are out there for choirs are a bit naff......I have started creating my own which proves interesting.....sometimes they're good and sometimes they're shocking. Not all arrangements suit all types of choirs - take my school choir. Many of the kids are there cause they have to be. So I have to choose music that is a little challenging (not too much so or they will run away.....) and interesting for me, a large group of male and female teenagers and the general public (often made up of mums and dads.....)

Anyway this is a particularly interesting arrangement of a rock song. I love the opening which has nothing much to do with the music that follows.....





If I had the time, and inclination, I would run a community choir that would produce stuff of this standard. Maybe I should get out there and see if there is one local......

update

Interesting developments in the tooth and pilates department

Tooth - now I have an infection in my jaw...... I'm back to the dentist on Thursday. The doctor has given me a course of anitbiotics with the instructions to tell the dentist (as if I wouldn't)......and then the dentist needs to state if I need to have a repeat. I have had huge issues with pain in the nerves in my mouth near my ears. Hopefully this will sort itself out soon! meanwhile, more pain killers are the go.

Pilates - through the course of todays session I got to being able to do a situp from lying down with straight legs. Now while this doesn't seem that exciting, I find it amazing. We tested from the beginning to see what my ability to complete a sit up with straight legs. No chance at all. I was very sad. But we did lots of exercises to engage the abdominals and by the end of the time I was able to sit up with straight legs.

Now I am sure there is the question about why the focus on being able to complete a sit up with straight legs.......well I found out today that if you have bent legs you don't engage all the abdominals that well and you start using the hip flexors......this is generally what you want but when your core muscles are pretty stuffed you want to be able to learn how to engage them properly.

So there you have it. I am still on operation 'Fix the Widget' these school holidays. The back is in much better condition, the core muscles are engaging - I can roll over in bed without having to wake up to do so. So annoying. My tooth is fixed and once the infection is gone I am sure I will be much, much better.

By the way, I'm reading Gilead at the moment and I am wondering why it won the Pulitzer Prize. If anyone has read this book and LOVED it can you let me know why. I am finding it 'nice', which, in my humble opinion, is not a good recommendation for a book. I am struggling with it altogether, but will perservere as it is for one of my book clubs.

What big cat are you?

Thanks Scott! I like what I read - and I agree, it wasn't that scientific......

You Are a Cougar

You have more strength than most people, and with it, the ability to inflict a lot of harm. Your power gives you confidence, and you find leading others to be easy. You believe that you need to the best, and you are very driven to excel. Most people immediately admire you, but some people feel very envious of your abilities.

What Big Cat Are You?

midweek

It's Wednesday of the first week of my holidays. What have I done?

Monday - Pilates with the physiotherapist. All to reform my back that I re-damaged last holidays. I also caught up with a couple of friends about 1hour drive from my place. Great night. We watched the latest Red Dwarf episodes taken from Dave TV. For those of you not aware of Red Dwarf - I love it, enough said.

Tuesday - Had my tooth rebuilt at the dentist. My jaw still hurts. All that chiseling, drilling and tapping......at least I didn't have a massive headache. Then I saw the osteopath to clunk out the clicks in my back......

Wednesday - walk along the beach. Nice but cold. Legs defuzzed and I feel like a new woman......

In amongst all of this I have done very little. Knitting, reading watching crap tv.

Speaking of crap tv - I turned on the tv today and saw an episode of Days of Our Lives. I was fascinated by the lack of facial movement on the top half of the face of most of the men. Weird! Well I think they were botoxed into position.......

There were a few characters I recognised - Bo, Patch - from 17 years ago when I last saw it. Most characters I had no idea about.......then there were all these strange stories going through which were vaguely familiar to what I had seen 17 years ago. Someone was dealing with a child who was not completely right, someone was being told to stop engaging with another person or else, another had been charged with some sort of crime which they are innocent of.....same old, same old. I wonder how I had been addicted to it!

I have watched a few other bits and bobs on tv but nothing as 'interesting' as days......actually I lie. The awful saga that is the aftermath of Michael Jackson's death. What is it with that family? The story that is unravelling is quite bizarre and I feel sorry for his kids - but then that's the latest ...... are they really his kids?

Enough.....time to go and knit or read or catch up with friends.......