~ Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. ~

It's been an interesting week in the Land of Jon™ (yes, it gets a trademark!) Pensnett High School continues to be a source of much ambivalence on my part. The kids (apart from year 10 and - to a lesser extent - yr7, who are lovely) are a thorn in my side; the staff seem to be split and divided on a number of issues concerning how the school is run; and the general abuse I am receiving day to day would probably crush someone whose emotions are stable.

I suppose in a way the fact that Our Lady's completely crippled me emotionally has done me a favour here. I don't know whether its safe to do so, but in the face of aggression and anger from kids at Pensnett, I've just laughed at them. It seems so absurd to me now, getting upset by kids who aren't going to make anything of themselves in life. In days gone by I would have gone down the "Where do you expect to be in five years time with an attitude like that?" line - but it barely seems worth it now. Did I actually think of the future when I was their age? Does that line ever work anyways?

The answer to both is probably no. I certainly had no idea what I wanted to be until I was at University, and my decision to do a PGCE was based mainly on the desire to stick around at Lancaster to be closer to my girlfriend. Hardly the best decision of my life, but one I will undoubtedly repeat again. Just like the kids I teach, sometimes we don't learn from our mistakes. Not entirely anyways.

Next Friday I'll get 2 pay packets, as due to a mix up (shock horror) I didn't get paid for the work before half term. I've never been particularly good with money (just ask my mother ¬_¬) but to do want I want to do in the next few years, I've really gotta get my head straightened out. But first I need some new clothes and a holiday. :P

Everything in the media today, and my experiences teaching in the last five years, points to a steady (and in some ways rapid) decline in the British education system. Is it time to bail and persue another career, or do I seek teaching opportunities abroad? Decisions decisions.

Money abroad is good, especially in China/Japan where they pretty much pay everything for you. Kids tend to be more respectful, better disciplined, and in many countries there's none of this Sir/Miss nonsense (for the record, I would much rather be called "Jon" than "Sir" or "Mr Burrage") or any kind of school uniform/teacher dresscode. How awesome would it be to not have to wear a shirt and tie every day? Or to do lessons without kids coming in looking bedraggled messes to assert their individuality in an uncomfortable, poor quality uniform?

Maybe I'm a rebel? Or maybe I just believe that these things are unecessary burdens on the mind of the kids. Surely if they felt more comfortable in their own clothes, then learning would be easier?

Obviously I can see all sides to this debate - I have spent hours upon hours using the topic of School Uniform as an inroad to Writing to Argue/Persuade after all. But it is interesting just how well-put-forwards students points can be on this issue. Maybe they can argue/persuade after all. Maybe its worked on me :P

So yes. Working abroad. Teaching English as a Foreign/Second language. Could I do that? It'd be less about literature and more about communication skills. It would probably require a more intimate knowledge of the English grammar than I currently possess.

I shall have to look into it, I think, and see how it goes. I certainly don't see myself getting out of here any time soon. From what I gather, Pensnett will be needing regular supply teachers for quite some time. Suits me fine. Regular income is good. Gets me out of my overdraft quicker.

It is three weeks till Easter now. I still don't have any kind of definitive information about when this particular block of cover ends, as we don't yet know when the regular English teacher will be returning. I'd hazard a guess at after Easter though. Probably better to not come back for just a week before breaking up for two.

Easter itself should be interesting. The first weekend sees my sister's birthday (her...24th?) and also the birthday bash of Mr Southall, partying away into the early hours of the morning. Should be a laugh, and I'll actually have money to spend, which will be nice.

The middle weekend of the holiday I should be flying out to Denmark to see Amanda and get horribly drunk (good forward planning I know :P) as well as check out Copenhagen and get a feel for foreign countries (yes, while contemplating teaching abroad, I haven't actually been abroad since I went to Florence in 1999 >.>) I am expecting to have a great time there, full of much silliness!

Then the last few days I'll spend preparing myself to head back to work. Just don't know where or anything yet. I guess that is the beauty of supply, being on the move constantly, but it is also a curse.

When I first got this cover at Pensnett I was horrified. I didn't want, I thought, to do long-term cover. I didn't want the marking or planning. Fortunately I found 90% of the work already set and left for me, and was greatly relieved by the whole thing.

Yes I'm having to plan some lessons for year 9 next week, as their mock SATs are coming up; and it looks like I'll have to mark those, as well as moderate yr11's GCSE coursework. But the actual lessons are easy enough, and I *do* get PPA time. I've not been doing much at home, except for reading through materials or adapting the odd lesson to better suit the kids.

But now I've been here for over a month, I find that being able to teach a familiar class, whose names you know, is much easier than just going in blind. Perhaps I'd taken that for granted at Our Lady's. Either way, I'm sure I'll be a bit sad when the time comes to move on and teach different kids. But that's the nature of the beast in supply, and I best get used to it.

In Other News

This last week I've finally started redrafting Part 4 of my novel, as well as done some silly doodling (something I haven't actually done for years - its about time I went back to my daft cartoony roots). Both are slow going: I'd forgotten how much teaching saps your creativity, but at least it is a start, an inroads to finishing the novel. It has to be done. The story demands it, and I have some great ideas to fit into part 4 now to flesh it and its characters out, to bring order to its Chaos.

Odd really, that I wish to bring Order to something when I definitely fancy Chaos.

Maybe Euripides quote (the blog title) applies when talking to ones self?

~Jon