Every cloud has a silver lining (or in this case two)
This week of teaching has been my hardest since I started my PGCE in September for one reason: flu. Last Thursday I woke up to a throat that may as well have been made of razor blades and it went downhill from there. Sunday saw my body heat run, screaming, from me and my housemates forcing me to take Monday off from work. Tuesday was a better day and, thinking I had recovered from a bad cold, I went back into school determined to teach. This was a bad idea.
Year 12 first lesson was fine: they sit silently as I explain things and I was feeling positive, but then period 3 I had a bunch of lively year 7s. You know the type...the group with 6 alpha males that you really don't want when you've been ill, and to top it all, my voice chose that exact moment to become a whisper.
I got through the lesson and sat in the office working the rest of the day (I had no more classes to teach) and, feeling better again, went in again Wednesday. Now this was a stupid idea if I've ever had one.
The school I am at has regular off-curriculum days where year groups see one or two subjects in the day and do something related to them that isn't on the normal curriculum. The idea (and often the practice) is that it sparks the kids interest and imagination. You can see now where this is going....Wednesday was one of those days....queue 5 hours solid teaching as one of the 3 strong RS department was off ill anyway. Well that was the end of my voice, quite literally. By the end of the day you couldn't hear me over the boiling kettle!
And so hear I am, feeling ok but with no voice, sat at home wishing I was work. Teaching is an incredibly addictive job and I love the kids I teach!
The upside of all this is a) my filing pile is now non-existant (any teachers reading will know how rarely this happens) and b) I taught some of the most amusing lessons this week. Trying to find ways around my lack of voice led to slamming the whiteboard to get silence (this works soooo well!), getting kids to shout instructions (they love this) and giving them more independent tasks. I even had one student come and ask me for homework because "RS homework is always much more fun than all the subjects", which, as you can guess, left me with a huge grin on my face :D
I love my job!
Year 12 first lesson was fine: they sit silently as I explain things and I was feeling positive, but then period 3 I had a bunch of lively year 7s. You know the type...the group with 6 alpha males that you really don't want when you've been ill, and to top it all, my voice chose that exact moment to become a whisper.
I got through the lesson and sat in the office working the rest of the day (I had no more classes to teach) and, feeling better again, went in again Wednesday. Now this was a stupid idea if I've ever had one.
The school I am at has regular off-curriculum days where year groups see one or two subjects in the day and do something related to them that isn't on the normal curriculum. The idea (and often the practice) is that it sparks the kids interest and imagination. You can see now where this is going....Wednesday was one of those days....queue 5 hours solid teaching as one of the 3 strong RS department was off ill anyway. Well that was the end of my voice, quite literally. By the end of the day you couldn't hear me over the boiling kettle!
And so hear I am, feeling ok but with no voice, sat at home wishing I was work. Teaching is an incredibly addictive job and I love the kids I teach!
The upside of all this is a) my filing pile is now non-existant (any teachers reading will know how rarely this happens) and b) I taught some of the most amusing lessons this week. Trying to find ways around my lack of voice led to slamming the whiteboard to get silence (this works soooo well!), getting kids to shout instructions (they love this) and giving them more independent tasks. I even had one student come and ask me for homework because "RS homework is always much more fun than all the subjects", which, as you can guess, left me with a huge grin on my face :D
I love my job!
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