Dancing with a gorilla
I heard the phrase ‘dancing with the gorilla’ at the one of the many CPD sessions I have been to this year. It sums up exactly what I am trying to do at the moment. All at once I seem to be receiving a visit from HMIE (tomorrow at Uyeasound), being observed by the Quality Assurance team (in 2 weeks at Baltasound), as well as trying to get my S4s through their speaking exams. Somehow, during all of this I am also supposed to be applying for permanent jobs for next year! Why do they have to start recruiting in possibly the busiest month of the school year? And why do some local authorities (namely those around Glasgow) start the process now, while others (namely Shetland!) are waiting until after Easter?? Surely this means that Shetland, and others in the same position, will end up losing out on some probationers who just want to secure permanent work for next year as soon as possible. As far as my next move is concerned I’m trying to keep my options open at the moment, but don’t want to tempt fate by talking about it too much! (Those years in Italy made me very superstitious..)Aside from all the work I’ve just mentioned, life has been much the same here lately. The days are getting longer and we’ve had some truly beautiful weather lately – touching lots of wood as I type. Rumour is we’re due a cold snap though – we didn’t really have the great ‘plump’ (Shetland term) of snow that many people in the rest of the UK had last month, much to the pupils’ disgust – so we may be snowed out of school yet. I just hope that it doesn’t coincide with potential interview dates. I don’t suppose I would stand much of a chance if I was a day late to an interview because of bad weather!We had the French Standard Grade prelim last week, which coincided with my birthday. It was stressful and exhausting (the prelim not the birthday!) – I seemed to be far more nervous about it than the pupils. One of the downsides of being the only subject teacher is you do feel quite responsible for the subject as a whole. I know it’s not as simple as ‘good teacher, good results’ but it often feels that way. They all did pretty well though, so everyone was quite cheerful when we had our first lesson back together yesterday. I quickly put paid to that by bringing up the speaking exams! Many groans and ‘oh Miss do we have to?’s. Unfortunately, followed by ‘fraid so’s from me. I have to say that I’m not looking forward to teaching S4 for the next couple of months. They’re a lovely bunch, most of the time, but it’s going to be speaking practice followed by reading and listening practice, what fun. Need to think of ways to inject some fun into procedings, if at all possible. (Obviously, since it’s S4 I will also have to disguise the fun. Some are too ‘cool’ for fun. I have to admit that I am tempted to do something like head, shoulders, knees and toes with them, just to see the reaction!)Best sign off for now and go back to preparing for the HMIE. Roll on Friday afternoon.
UpHellyAa
Last Tuesday was Lerwick UpHellyAa – according to the visit Scotland website, ‘the biggest and most spectacular fire festival in Britain’. My colleague Elaine, our PE teacher, is from Lerwick and her family are very involved in the festivities. (Her dad is going to be next year’s Guizer Jarl.) So we headed down with her after school on Tuesday. Charlie, a local bus driver, kindly gave us a lift as he was going down to drive a squad around for the night.
We arrived at Elaine’s granny’s and headed out to watch the procession. There were around 50 ‘squads’, all dressed up in a different theme. The Jarl squad are the chief squad and dress up in traditional Viking-style dress. At the start of the evening procession all of the squads line up. A flare is let off signalling the start of the procession and all of the squad members light their torches. It was a pretty cold night and the heat from the torches was very welcome!
The Jarl squad lead the procession with their galley – which they’ve spent the year making and decorating. The Guizer Jarl stands in the galley as it passes. All of the squads follow through the streets of Lerwick to a piece of parkland. Here the galley is set a light, first with the Jarl’s torch and then all of the other squad members throw in their torches as well. The whole thing finishes with fireworks, singing and a lot of cheering.
My description of the procession and galley burning doesn’t really do it justice. It’s quite an incredible spectacle and unlike anything I’ve seen before. It reminded me a lot of some of the many Italian festivals and celebrations which I have seen or read about. Siena’s palio, for example, with the different teams and incredible handmade costumes and flags. Or the many saints’ days in Italy and other Catholic countries where great effigies are carried through the streets. The semana santa processions in Granada are similarly spectacular and also run by ‘brotherhoods’. Although, I think the lack of religious meaning in the UpHellyAa made it an altogether more jolly occasion! Really the whole thing had to be seen to be believed, especially when after a year of painstakingly detailed and dedicated work in building the galley the whole thing was set alight and had burned to the ground in less than half an hour!! Now the next Jarl squad (Elaine’s dad’s) will start again from scratch.
With the processions over and the rain getting heavier by the second we raced back to Elaine’s granny’s to get changed for the dance. After the procession the squads go around a circuit of halls in Lerwick to perform a song or a sketch or something similar. We headed off to the hall where Elaine’s family were helping out.
The rest of the night was fairly bizarre! Some of the squads put on quite an impressive show – singing or playing a song, etc. Others were a little bit odd to say the least! Between squads there was dancing – most of which I’m a dab had at now, thanks to the pupils’ Christmas dance – and tea & cakes! The celebrations go on all night but we left at 3 to get a few hours shut eye before heading back to school on Wednesday. All of the schools on mainland Shetland are shut the day after UpHellyAa but we were open so had to struggle through on a couple of hours sleep. Great fun though and a must-do for anyone who finds themselves up here on the last Tuesday of January.
Will now attempt to upload photos!!
Here goes…
Ta very much Mr W!
Never one to shirk a challenge, here goes…
1) I am a French teacher here but my main foreign language is Italian. I have to be very careful that I don’t pass on my bad habit of speaking French with an Italian accent to my pupils! I find putting on the French pout helps, and playing down the flailing Italian hand gestures.
2) Prior to moving to Glasgow to do my PGDE last year I was working as a TEFL teacher in Pistoia, Tuscany. Living and working in Italy is probably one of the most enjoyable and frustrating experiences you can have. Robbie and I reminisce frequently about Italian life and hope to return one day. I just hope that global warming doesn’t take it’s toll on their wonderful agriculture.
3) I love tap-dancing but don’t get to practise too much up here! I managed to buy new tap shoes in Paris at New Year, after dragging Robbie around looking for the shop. I’m now living on my own in a house with hard floors in most rooms, so should really get practising.
4) I have no time for gossip magazines or tabloid newspapers. Not only am I not interested in them, they actually make me angry! How can anyone be that interested in catching a shot of some famous person’s armpit?? Where has all the glamour gone? I want to read about people I admire. One thing I love about France is their complete lack of interest in people’s private lives. Vive la France!
5) I am actually very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy teaching children and teenagers. I loved teaching adults in Italy but worried that I might not be able to relate to younger students. The fact that I get on with them so well is great, although it does make me wonder if I’m maybe not as mature as I thought I was! Oh and all of that ‘youth of today’ stuff really annoys me. Since when have teenagers ever done what they were told? They certainly didn’t when I was at school. The vast, vast majority of young people I’ve had the privilege to work with – both this year and in Glasgow last year – are respectful, polite, considerate and funny. I am sick of them being demonised by adults (especially when it’s done by teachers, aaargh).
There, fairly short and sweet, despite tendency to rant when talking about thinngs which annoy me.
PS Shut my hand in my car door at lunch time and it’s slowly turning a nice shade of browny-purple. Still, providing a great deal of entertainment for the pupils – every cloud …
Back to “normality”
Second day of the new term and I’m settling back in to school life. It’s strange to be doing my normal timetable again after the craziness of December – concert, school dance, staff do, etc. As fun as it all was, I’m quite glad to get back to normal. Saying that, it was quite difficult to come back up after a lovely Xmas break – 3 days in Paris over the new year and I was thinking through ways of moving back to the continent..
It seems that this time of year always plagues me with things not working – mainly my car. Last year we spent a small fortune on it over Christmas and now it seems to have given up again. Have had a couple of fun days of walking home in the pouring rain! I guess it’s just sod’s law that these things happen when the weather’s against me and I have no funds left after the festivities.
I moved the seats around in my classroom again yesterday. Last year different teachers gave me their advice on how best to arrange the classroom – sit pupils boy, girl, boy, girl; use rows; use groups; make sure they’re all facing you. So far this year I’ve been experimenting. To start with I had a horseshoe shape – good but made me feel too much like I was on a stage in front of my audience! Then after the October break I put the desks into groups – great for group work, not so great for ‘listen to the teacher’ work. Two big differences between my placements last year and teaching here – my classes are A LOT smaller (biggest one has 9 pupils) and I teach primary. At the moment I’ve put the desks in rows which seemed to go down well with S2-4 yesterday but I’m not sure it’ll work with P5 – there’s no room for sitting in a circle now. I’ll keep experimenting until I find a more adaptable set up. Maybe I’ll get the pupils to think up a seating plan for me…
Phew!
What with all the teaching, CPD, visits home etc. the interim report had been kind of left to gather (electronic) dust for the last 3 or 4 weeks. Anyway, I had my 5th observation on Wednesday and it went very well – probably best yet. I was surprised because it was S4 and, although they’re nice kids, they can be a bit too ‘cool’ and I thought that there might not be much atmosphere. However, they did everything I asked of them and my mentor’s report was very positive. It’s good to end this term on a high. My report was finished yesterday and is now sitting on my headteacher’s desk waiting to be sent to Lerwick with the others.
I was back in Glasgow last weekend, paying a brief visit to my other half who is nearing the end of his first placement which seems to have gone well – well done Robbie, all that hard work has paid off! We more or less decided that it would be easiest if we stick to the central belt next year, as Robbie has to complete his GTC application next week. I’m happy to work there but, typically, having made some sort of decision last weekend this week has been full of confusing occurences – S2 asking me how long I’m staying here “but you’ll definitely be here til we finish school won’t you Miss?” Positive feedback from on high. Being asked to represent the school at a meeting this afternoon about A Curriculum for Excellence. aaargh! I start to wonder if I’ll get these opportunities elsewhere… On the other hand, if I stay up here for a year or two more will I be able to handle those scary city classes when I go back down south (as I don’t see myself being here for ever)> Will need to have a think over Christmas and New Year (we’re spending New Year in Paris which will help to clear our heads hopefully – or make us want to live abroad again!). At least Robbie has until the end of March to make any amendments to his choices if need be.
The countdown to Christmas is becoming quite exciting at school. I’d forgotten how much fun it is in Primary (one of the advantages of being in a Junior High). We’ve planned our French Christmas parties for next week – which seem to centre around food as usual. Preparations are well and truly under way for the Christmas concert. I’ve been helping the choir with an Italian (my main language) version of Silent Night which sounds lovely. Sneaky really as I’m hoping that they’ll all now join my Italian lunch club after Christmas.
This weekend I’m planning to enjoy what will probably be the last quiet weekend until January. Sarah’s away so I’m going to hide away at home and write Christmas cards – bliss! I wonder if I can spend a whole weekend on the island without seeing a pupil – haven’t managed it yet…
Thinking about the future
Another week gone and I’ve really been neglecting my blog. I can’t believe how quickly the weeks go, is it really only 4 weeks ’til Christmas? I’ve only got about 30 secondary pupils and I’m struggling to get everything done on time. How do you do it if you’ve got hundreds?!! It’s got me wondering whether I’ll be able to cope if I end up back in a big school next year. Mind you, it would be nice to have some colleagues and a department!
I’ve been marking writing pieces for Standard Grade this week. It’s quite difficult to follow the arrangements and work out what grade to give. I think I’ve worked out rough Foundation/General/Credit brackets for now, will fine tune these in time. One of my pupils struggles quite a lot with writing, due to mild dyslexia among other things. This pupil works really hard though and yesterday I had the pleasure of giving them a 2 for their writing piece. Nothing really beats seeing the reaction to something like that.
I have P1-4 again today. I’m trying to teach them a song about classroom objects, which they seem to be enjoying. I was at the peerie knitters club after school yesterday (the Primary pupils are teaching me to knit!) and they were asking if we would do the song today. I find it really difficult to teach them the words – because it’s a composite class some want to see the words and others just get confused by the words! I’m off to Skeld on the mainland on Monday to visit a P1-4 teacher who’s apparently doing great things in French, hoping to come back laden with tips.
I’m trying to finish off my part of my interim profile. So far I’ve had 4 observations and I’m hoping to do one more, maybe next week, before Christmas. It’s not that time-consuming actually, especially after Jordanhill’s professional portfolio last year! I’ve been thinking a lot about where I’m going to be working next year. My other half, Robbie, is studying at Jordanhill this year and needs to put in his request for where he wants to do his probation year fairly soon. Part of me wants to stay here, whereas the other part would like to have a complete change. I think I’ll probably just go with where Robbie would like to be. People here keep telling me that he could do worse than Shetland, which I completely agree with based on my own experience, but what if he doesn’t get his first choice? Oh so many ifs and buts! I think the probation scheme is great, especially based on comparison with teachers who didn’t do it, or friends in England. But not knowing where you’re going until the end of May makes life a bit complicated I think.
The weather here never ceases to amaze me. It changes so quickly. Yesterday I got up and it was pouring with rain. I got to school and the rain had stopped and the sky was bright red and orange. At break, while driving to Uyeasound Primary where I also teach once a week, the rain started again along with bright sunshine. By the time I got there we could see a double rainbow. The sun was so bright you wouldn’t have guessed it was the end of November. The most striking thing here is how aware of the sky you are. There is no shelter so even walking to your car can be a challenge! I can’t wait to see the spring and summer here, sounds like it’ll be fairly amazing. Just got to get through December and January with barely any daylight first!
Experiment
This is just me experimenting with some Shetland shots from flickr.com, before I start uploading my own.
I’ve never seen as many rainbows as I do in Shetland! 
And there are lots of these guys… 
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Enterprise and exhaustion
Last day of enterprise week today and it’s been a tiring one. I’m looking forward to a long sleep tonight to recover. We’ve had a pretty successful week, all in all. Most pupils rose to the challenge. One of the highlights for me was watching the S2 pupils teach P5. It was interesting to see how differently pupils behave with young children than they do with me or their peers – calm, and sensible even! I also think they found it more difficult than expected: “Miss I didn’t think P5s were so smart!”. The great advantage for me in this school is having such small numbers in each class, making it much easier to organise things like this. I wonder if it would be possible in a bigger school.
We also started blogging with S1&2 http://baltasound.learnerblogs.org/ . As a starter I asked them to write about what they thought of French (dangerous I know). Proving my theory that pupils base their feelings about a subject on the teacher – drawn from personal experience when I was at school – they all started writing about me. Some good, some bad but a great eye opener. General feeling from S1 is that I’m grumpy. Fair assessment I think. I get to give them feedback on their performance all the time so I suppose it’s only fair that they get the chance to do the same. They did ask if they could write about all their teachers but I quickly said that we were focusing on French for the time being.. I don’t think it would be everyone’s cup of tea.
I’m frantically making flashcards for my P1-4 class this morning. They’re lovely kids but it’s by far the most difficult class for me to prepare for. So far I’ve just been doing memory games, songs and repetition. I’d like to start a story with them but I’m just not sure how to do it so that all of them know what I’m going on about. Maybe I should practise it on the P5s first.
This afternoon – as our grande finale to enterprise week – S2 are staging a careers’ fair. Sarah and I have been coerced into manning the teaching stand. Will be very interesting to see if anyone comes to speak to us. Maybe the S2s after their stint yesterday!
I’ve got spaegie
My leg muscles are hurting after a jog on hilly terrain yesterday morning. One of my favourite Shetland words so far is spaegie which is muscular pain, as in I’ve got spaegie.
I’m back in school today after 5 days of in-service and CPD. As interesting as all of the courses and seminars were it’s nice to actually be back in school to teach! It’s also nice to stay on Unst for a few days. One of the downsides of being here is the journey to mainland Shetland. It’s quite long and tiring, especially if it’s blowing a gale and you have to hold on to your steering wheel and pray that you’re not going to get blown off the road!
It’s enterprise week in school. We have all been asked to write what we are doing in our classes on to a big timetable in the staff room. Maybe it’s because of the size of the school, but I’m always impressed at how much everyone gets involved with things. Not only does it create great rapport with the pupils, it can be quite good fun too! During Health Awareness week, in September, I took part in Yoga and Aromatherapy massage (both lovely but quite tricky to wake up and teach afterwards!). So this week in French we’re writing to our French penpals in P6/7 and starting our French class blog in S1&2. On Thursday S2 are also going to teach French to P5. They are very excited and have already prepared their (very professional looking) resources. As usual, photos of their success will be recorded on our school website http://www.baltasound.shetland.sch.uk/.
I’ve just covered an S3 music lesson – the pupils were trying to teach me to play the drums. Think I was fairly hopeless but they had a good laugh at my expense. Still, was easier than trying to help them write their jigs! The school day is over, and I’m off to the gym and then home to mark S3&4 writing pieces for their Standard Grade folios. Can’t wait! Occasionally I struggle as the only ML teacher here. It’s hard to be sure you’re marking things correctly. I spend alot of time scrutinising the arrangements documents, how dull. My next big worry is speaking assessments 
( I hate doing all these assessments, they’re so time consuming and the pupils hate them. I’m also yet to be convinced as to how useful they are. I don’t think my pupils’ writing pieces, for example, are a true reflection of what they’re capable of. I think they just penalise pupils who struggle to memorise sentences. Surely not what learning languages is, or should be, all about. At our ML panel meeting last Thursday one teacher said that she has alot more creativity in S1&2 where pupils create their objectives at the beginning of the year. But then they get to S3 and have to start this never-ending cycle of tests and more tests. Very frustrating for all concerned.
Lerwick
I’m in Lerwick for a couple of days. Yesterday we had a probationers’ meeting here (Positive Behaviour team from SEED – very good) and today and tomorrow we have in-service. Since it would be problematic to constantly invite speakers up for in-service days Shetland Islands Council organise two days of seminars for us. Today I had the opportunity to meet some of the Modern Language teachers in Shetland, which was nice. I’m the only ML teacher at Baltasound, which is both a great privilege and quite a responsibility!
So Sarah (my house-mate and fellow probationer at BJHS – music) and I get to spend a couple of nights here in the big smoke! After our meeting yesterday I went for a jog around Lerwick and was reading all of the street names – St Olaf Street, King Harald Street, Prince Alfred Street. Don’t know who they were, obviously all eminent figures of Lerwick’s Viking past. I started running a year ago, having hated it at school, and it’s a great way of getting to know places and see things that you wouldn’t necessarily notice. Also, I quite like the looks I get from people who obviously think I’m crazy to be out running in the Shetland weather!
Our seminar is being held at Anderson High School – a great looking school with a very impressively decorated ML dept. (They have a ‘reading room’ full of foreign language books for kids to read. Each desk is painted with a different country’s flag and the walls are covered in pages of books in various languages!)
Today was interesting, if a little long. I find the school day flies by when you’re moving about, but when you are sitting listening to (very valid but somewhat dry in places) sessions on national assessments and additional support needs time goes considerably more slowly. By far the best thing I saw today was 4 musical groups of pupils (mainly Anderson I think but a few from other schools too), 1 orchestral, 1 woodwind, 1 singing and 1 fiddle, who opened the seminars. They were all fabulous and I think all in-service training sessions should start/finish with such great examples of the pupils’ talent and hard work.
