Although I can usually find someting about my job to moan about, I make no secret of the fact that generally I enjoy it. I teach at a tough school, and the department I’m running has been neglected for a number of years due to staffing problems – but I made huge progress last year, which I know was greatly appreciated by the head and the other senior staff at the school. I know I’m doing a damn good job, and I feel that I’m at last working somewhere where my contribution is valued and where I’m pretty sure there are good promotion prospects for me as and when.
BUT…
I’ve just sat and spent an hour marking some year 9 books, and I wonder what the hell I’m doing? The majority of this class can’t follow a simple instruction and rarely finish a piece of work. Some of them just open their book and write wherever it opens, so the work (when there is any!) is all over the place. Sadly, this isn’t unusual.
I’m sure their maths books don’t look like this. Yet another depressing reminder of how my subject is perceived by pupils.
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September 26th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Honestly? My students in English do much the same. That is when they remember to bring their books, pens, notebooks. Half the time half of them don’t have that with them. Then comes the fun part when they try and find where they left off last time. It isn’t just in your subject. Promise.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Oh, most schools in the UK don’t trust their kids to remember books any more, so they don’t take them home. I think it’s stupid – I can understand why, because of course these days most of them wouldn’t remember to bring them in at all – but it does mean that setting homework can be tricky, especially in my subjects when the kids are unlikely to have anything at home (like a French dictionary!) to refer to.
But I hear ya on the pens… I keep a boxful in my desk and sell them at 10p apiece and use the money to buy more…