Month / March 2014

by sjashton

Success, Effort, & Luck

I suppose I should give myself a break. Got offered an early chance to run a class this week. And for the most part it went well. They learn, I learned, and I invoked both praise and repercussions. Two lessons later and their normal teacher & I feel like it is a different room!

Then today after an mock exam it was fascinating to watch them doodle on a sheet of spare paper and see the different things they did. A necessary reminder that they are all individuals. I just see them doing one subject.

Also had a great weekend at Uni – getting to know some fellow students and sharing information. And upsetting an OFSTED/Linguistics/Behavioural Expert – becuase I pointed out that an example she’d complied on an excellent EAL school was so visually disorganised as a native English speaker I was confused. I am a ‘Distractor’ (?) When she asked “What I got from the document/” She wasn’t expecting that as the answer. Maybe its the fact I mentioned i was watching her body-language and not her Use of Punjabi/English that didn’t help either

BONUS: Being offered written advice from a dyslexic PhD Proffessor – becuuase he could she how I made ideas, and understood how I would struggle with producing a Master/KS7 assignment that was worth my while!

PGCE/Teaching

  • Suitcase
  • Pencil Case
  • Magnetic Board
  • a4 Day Diary
  • Visualizer
  • Office 2010
  • Next Assignment
  • Make a network of colleagues

Gaming

Got down to gaming club a lot later than normal last week. Discussed gaming, modelling and got some freebies from the great ideas & modelling factory that is http://zinge.co.uk/ – as they are working on new bits

  • Destroy Old paints
  • Organise Orcs for modelling days on End of Term
  • Paint More Hordes
  • Consider Proxy Army for Hordes (Chaos 40K Modelling fun!!)

Beer Research

http://www.wigancamra.org.uk/

  • Titanic Brewery Trip 29th March
  • Maccelsfield & RedWillow Brewery 12th April
  • Huddersfield & Magic Rock & Hand Drawn Monkey 28th June

BONUS: Discovering a drunk note I left in in ‘Zly Casy’ Prague has made into onto their ‘Wall Of Fame’

Life

  • Reunion with Uni Mates – Stratford-Upon-Avon 21-23rd
  • Trip to Reading to to DIY/CatchUp/Gaming
  • http://beatherder.co.uk/

Laughter. Luck & Love. Its the key!

“If a theory is complicated, its wrong.”

– Richard P. Feynman

by sjashton

Wow. I just lost a month.

Whilst I have got SuperDungeonExplore primed and all built I had some great news at the start of February. I’ve started Teacher Training. (Finally). I think I may have to start using this to log teaching incidents. Won’t have time for much else for a while.

For example while learning simple shapes – it was amazing to see one challenging student take a good guess at a 12 sided two-dimensional shape being called a “Twelf-agon”. Sadly they don’t teach Ancient Greek to people any more.

Mostly though I’ve been teaching students some basic manners.
But treating them like an intelligent human seems to help. I think my wonky eyes, loud ties, and handlebar/mutton chops really helps put them off-balance too.

I’ve also been involved in one of the most successful beer festival’s we’ve ever had through –  http://wigancamra.org.uk/

Then at the weekend I get invited to a reunion with my Uni housemates – some of whom I haven’t seen since I first started working in pubs.

It’s nice to have these moments…