Not such an 'easy day'.

So...I was back at the Stanthorpe school today and it looked like a pretty easy day since I only really had them on my own until 11.00 after which they had Computers, P.E and the Arts and the real class teacher normally has non- contact time.Being the 'nice guy' I am I reluctantly pointed out that I would be getting paid for nothing for most of the day and asked if they wanted me to help somewhere else during that time and I was told that perhaps I could go with them to 'The Arts' and help out. I didn't press them on the other times.At first I thought Titty N wasn't going to turn up but like a bad penny he did.....late. Z promised me he was going to be good today and bless him he was. The only other worry in that class is Bunny (not his real name) who was fine yesterday but I have seen him at his worst on other days in the school.The morning went well up to Morning Tea and while they were out I nipped over to the Staff loo. Coming out I was greeted by the Secretary..."Bad news I'm afraid, there is no ritalin for Bunny. I have rung Mum but she is at the Police station reporting a theft and can't find the prescription so he will slowly go off the rails."'Marvellous!" I thought.After Morning tea we had computers with Mr C. Bunny was already bouncing about in the line and the rest of the 'easy day' was not looking good. I took the class up there. I had experienced this lesson before and was not looking forward to it again. Mr C arrived and told us to wait outside until he had set out all the laptops on the tables then we were allowed in and they all had to sit at a laptop (there were 19 children aged 6 and 7).They had to log in with a certain ID and password which was written up on the board. Then they had to pop in their pendrives and navigate to their previous work folder. Of course there were some that could do that but many who could not. I went round helping them sign in and find their work. One laptop wouldn't switch on and another just had a blue screen and it was pretty much chaos.By the time we were all set up and ready to begin the lesson 20 minutes had passed. They were working on a powerpoint project and they had to add another slide and then minimise it, navigate to another folder, choose a picture, copy it, paste it back on their new powerpoint slide and write a sentence under the picture.But....there were two different kinds of laptops in use and some were working on small laptops and some were working on big laptops and Mr C had to show two different ways to navigate to the correct folder. I was rushing about like a loon trying to get everyone to the right place and some computers were logging off while we were waiting for others to catch up and I was having to re-sign them in again.Finally we all got to the folder with the pictures in..."Click on the folder that says 'Digital Technologies'" said Mr C. (Yes, it was child friendly!)Suddenly Mr C said,"Hey! Where has that folder gone? It was there a minute ago.""You don't think someone has deleted it by accident?" I said helpfully.He want pale. "I hope not."He could not find it anywhere."Well, thanks a bunch whoever deleted that!" He said exasperated."We can't do the picture now so we will just have to go back and do the sentence. I rushed about again getting the children back to the right page....remember, each of these tasks I was pretty much repeating 19 times to try and help them keep up.Finally we, well I, got the sentence done and the lesson was over and they had to save their work, remove their pendrives and leave for P.E.  Amazingly Bunny was perfectly well behaved throughout the whole lesson and I only had to have words with Titty.The P.E teacher was already outside waiting for them and I was looking forwards to a quiet 45 minutes in a darkened room alone until Mr C tapped me on the shoulder and said"You wouldn't mind helping me with the next class would you?"So I had another 45 minutes of the same computer hell to endure before lunch.After lunch it was 'The Arts'. There was a supply teacher taking that because the real teacher was in town, with some of the school children, at the Eisteddfod. I told her about the Bunny situation and suggested I come along to help which she was grateful of.We walked over to 'The Arts' room and she said "Today we are going to do 'Drama'."I felt I had already had enough of it but there was nothing I could do about that.In the end it was more a return to 'Digital Technologies' as they were making scenes and models and creating characters from playdough and taking pictures of them with Ipads to make little animations. They were basically playing for an hour and they loved it.The lesson over ran and I could see the cleaner hovering outside ready to come in. I was willing 'The Arts' teacher to end the lesson so we could get back to class before hometime and finally she did though I had to march a class of hyped up children and an over excited Bunny past rows of waiting parents.The bell rang and I released them back into the wild with a huge sigh of relief.

Storm brewing.

So...this Thursday it is the Eisteddfod in Stanthorpe and the local school are performing poems and songs. Thursday is my normal teaching day at the school but with the day so badly disrupted by various year groups  being bussed off to the Eisteddfod I emailed wondering if they would prefer I swapped to a more normal day. The upshot being I am not working at the local school this week but doing two days there next week instead.I had already been booked weeks ago to work today at the school in the town but yesterday received an email from them saying they had been in contact with the local school and found out I was not working there on Thursday and could I do an extra day with the class I was taking today instead. I didn't feel I could say no despite my looking forward to having a Thursday off so felt a bit outmanoeuvred.I went today to work in a Year1/Year 2 class while the teacher spends the next two days celebrating her 98 year old mother's birthday in Goondiwindi.I had received all the planning and it was fairly straight forward and had been forewarned about the few miscreants in the class.I was on them before they even had sat down telling them I expected their help and that if they helped me I would help them and that it was much better to keep me happy than annoy me. One of the miscreants I was aware of and had met them before but I assumed it was in one of the classes at the Town school last year. I found out later in the day that he was from the village school near the cheese factory and was in fact one of the 'Two Titty's' who had made my days a misery there.All in all the day was not too bad with me keeping them all tightly under my thumb and not letting them get a word in edgeways with my constant over the top patter and performance so they never knew what to expect next.At one point the door opened and in came the Principal with a man in a suit. They smiled and said "Hello" and I immediately felt sick as it looked very much like an Inspection."Ooh! This looks official" I greeted them.The man came forward holding out his hand and he shook mine limply. He introduced himself but I didn't catch his name because I was a rabbit caught in headlights and still fighting the urge to flee."I'm just a stand in" I managed to say hoping that it would send him away."I know" he said "How long have you been in this area?""Just over a year" I replied, "I taught in the UK for 27 years before coming here and now just do a few days supply.""Well, the Principal says that you are very good, unless she was just lying.""Well, I hope I am good" I said, "I do try my best. ""Thank you for all you do, " he said, "It's good to know we have teachers like you to call on. "He left with the wool pulled firmly over his eyes.At Lunchtime there was a fuss out side with a teacher calling to a child to come off the climbing frame."Come here Zak, or there will be no computer this afternoon", "Get down Zak now", "No computer this afternoon Zak if you don't come now!"...the child blatantly ignored all the requests and carried on playing."Right I am going to count to 5 and I want you to come here" said the teacher,"1.............2..............3...............4.......................................f.........f............f.........................................5"The child still carried on playing oblivious.I didn't see the outcome but was thinking 'Heck! I pity the teacher that has to put up with that!'The rest of the day went well and the miscreants behaved themselves and I was given a picture by one of the girls."Do you remember last year when you used to call me 'Bob?" she asked. I called her that because she had a dreadfully short haircut which made her look like a boy."I do Bob, yes" I said.This was Bob's picture....I swear when I first read it I thought it said 'You are the bastard that called me Bob' but it actually reads 'You are the best teacher in the World"At the end of the day I nipped up to the classroom upstairs to ask a question about some work tomorrow. I will be taking this upstairs class for 8 days in July while the teacher extends her winter holiday by a fortnight. I did the same for her last year."How's it going?" I asked."Oh, I have a new boy." She said "  He has a Teacher Aid with him all the time but since he came everything has gone to pot.""He's not called Zak is he?" I asked feeling weak at the knees."Yes," she said.The clouds hovering above the eight days in July on the distant horizon suddenly became blacker and lightning flashed out of them alarmingly.

Visitors from the UK!

So...today we had visitors from the UK.Kath and her husband Steve are over visiting their daughter Clare who lives, coincidentally, very near to Tracy and Jen in Ashby by the mighty Clarence River. Kath and I worked together at Wigton Infant School and weirdly she also used to work in Heywood where I grew up. They popped up to see us on their way to Brisbane and we had a lovely afternoon at Frogknot showing them round before heading into town for a meal tonight.They were very taken by our home. Steve said he could live here and thought it very cozy. Kath said she was pleasantly surprised and that it was not as shed like as she had expected it to be.While showing them our toileting facilities I said "Can you imagine Anne Dixon sitting there?"Oh how we laughed.

Plans for a trip!

So...we are off on a very exciting trip at the weekend and much of today has been spent in researching it and finding accommodation for next Sunday night. It's going to be great!I cannot wait!

Poison!

There was another funny moment today at school when this afternoon one of the lovely Year 1 girls came up to me and said "Mr Allen, Z is writing on his tongue with a 'texter' ( felt- tip pen)."I looked over and sure enough there he was drawing on his tongue with a felt pen." Stop that!" I said but he shook his head and just grinned, awkwardly, with his tongue out and kept on doing it defiantly." Z it's poisonous!" I cried with fake concern and his annoying grin faded quickly."Wipe it off quick!" I cried adding a touch of hysteria.Z dropped the pen with fear in his eyes."Get a tissue quick!" I was on a roll now.Z rushed across to the tissue box, his tongue still sticking out and he grabbed a tissue and started wiping at his tongue."Wipe it off!" I cried with urgency.He wiped faster."Quick! Wipe it off!" My face filled with mock concern as I pretended I feared for his life.He actually whimpered and wiped frantically at his tongue with the tissue and I could see he was now actually utterly terrified. A crowd of open mouthed class mates had gathered around to witness his final moments on Earth." O.K " I said suddenly more calmly, "It's gone." I added a sigh of relief.He stopped wiping and looked at me, his eyes blinking on the verge of tears."Never, ever do that again" I said looking at him with all the seriousness I could muster whilst trying very hard not to laugh.He shook his head sheepishly and went back to his desk.He thought I meant never ever write on your tongue with a felt pen again but no, what I really meant was never, ever say 'no' to Mr Allen again.Those are the kind of lessons I like teaching. I felt very satisfied with the outcome and I believe it was a lesson that Z will remember for quite some time.