Just call me Mrs Relate!

I've always walked, well teetered precariously along a line between relating to young people as a teacher and as a youthworker. The two roles are pretty different in some ways.. but just occasionally you get a bit of cross over that makes you realise that teaching doesn't have to be all about achievement.

I had to give a bunch of year nines detention this week. Nothing massive, just constantly distracted and chatty (don't smile til Christmas!!!). So they turned up- on time- yesterday lunchtime. There were two form groups represented. And then it came out- unbeknown to me I had unwittingly put all three elements of a love triangle in one room.

With a little coaxing (and help from S) we soon got to the bottom of it- tension dissipated as the lads shook hands. The girl was happy that it was all ouit in the open and that she was less confused.. they left saying it was "the best detention ever".. should I be happy about that?

Ach well.. it was a nice moment before I fill out reports. Not only do we have attainment grades, effort grades and homework grades we also have to mark 1-12 on the following: resilience, resourcefulness, reflectiveness, reciprocity, written communication and relationships with others. Thats nine grades for 180 young people in the next week! Hmm..

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A Week Today

A week today, when all the furore has ebbed and the markets have bottomed out, our nation will awake to the sounds of bugles and church bells as we commemorate 100 years from the start of the Battle of The Somme. I am an historian by background, and the Somme for me is emblematic of a human tragedy that need never have happened. My reading of it is this: we began a war from a variety of odd alliances and murky motivations, capped off finally by a sense that no-one had the will to stop it. In order to give the war effort impetus, posters, propaganda began to be bandied around about the enemy, about what they would do to children and how they needed to be stopped. It worked as a recruiting effort- young men, boys, and women all joined the war effort. They joined as an act of patriotism, tinged yes with fear, but also a sense that it might be the right thing to do. They joined from across the country- but at the heart of the front line forces were thousands and ten of thousands...

Remembering What I Enjoy..

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Who will rid me of this meddlesome...

... piano? It occurred to me yesterday as i nursed ANOTHER bruise on my arm.. that I have had a piano sat in my hallway for 2 months! It seemed like such a good idea at the time but apparently is not... its stuck there and everytime I walk down my hall I have to squeeze past the darn thing- often not successfully! A number of options lie before me: -chop the thing into several hundred pieces -find lots of people who want to move it.. to where I'm not sure -sell it -give it away -pray it away It goes next weekend.. even if it kills me... which it might.. hummm

Jude Smith

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