The Thirty-Second Republic - Christmas count down - end of term in sight

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

Really, if some lurker has the time to trawl through these threads looking for opportunities to dob us in to MNHQ, hats off to them for their commitment. We don't know what the post was, which thread it referred to or why it bothers the lurker enough to report it. It's an irrelevance.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

Anyone else resisting the 'chocolate for breakfast' urge yet? Always the last week of term for me, but I've been having to go for heavy resistance all week so far... temptation is strong!

Started badly this week and have had to reign it in 😂 need to wait till next week before the chocolate and coffee survival hits.

Honestly crawling to the end of term despite an easier week than normal - feeling tired and had bad family news yesterday plus due to work not seeing DM this christmas are making me less ok about everyone talking about pulling their kids out (not like i can just not go to work).

Can we resign for Easter now?

Yes.

@Danglingmod

Can we resign for Easter now?

We’ve got until Feb half term to resign and can be gone at Easter.

Don't think I can do this any longer. Am currently pt so a full time basic admin job or something will pay the same.

Don’t blame you. I think the job market will be quite tough though. I think the DfE are relying on it.

Not to mention all those people on PGCEs, who are training because of the lack of much else going. Not exactly the right motivation for a
teaching career.

Yeah, that goes without saying, I suppose .

Finally stopped work for today! What have I missed?

Utterly shattered but I can see the end of placement in sight. My evidence folder however is very lacking and I'm fully expecting it to come back to me to improve. I am not good at paperwork ive decided, apart from assessment type things which I can almost see a point to if they're used to help the children. Once you qualify do you still have to write reflections? I just get to the end of a lesson and think oh that was a bit of a car crash, i wouldn't do it that way again. Or so and so didn't get it, I'll scoop them up later today.

I'm not sure I'll ever get the hang of it!

Oh no I wonder if this was me mentioning another poster. Sorry guys I will bow out now. Just difficult to read when I had just come home from hospital but I don’t want you to be punished if that’s the case. I didn’t name the thread sorry 😞

@starrynight19 don't you bloody go anywhere!

Hope you are ok

Don’t you dare bow out starry
I may not comment a lot, but all of you keep me sane, and I would miss you!

There you go starry
Me and and WhyNot have formed a human shield to keep you from escaping.

Starry mate you are not going anywhere.

There’s some sadarses targeting teachers on this site. Starting troll threads and stalking this one.

Not your fault. Maybe mine, but definitely not yours.

Sorry if this gets us deleted, but lily can you please explain why this thread is being threatened with deletion, whilst there is a thread literally asking for people's stories about why they hate teachers which is being allowed to stand?

I'm out.

Look, there are 100s of threads which say 'on another thread someone just said this'. Or even begin 'I just read a thread about xyz and wondered what everyone thought'. TAATs haven't seemed to be an issue for ages now or been policed except ours

There are two issues here : referring to other posters on this thread (probably not wise or sometimes 'kind')
Making mild mention of other threads and what is being discussed =fine. Happens all the time on multiple support threads

A TAAT, as I said before, consists of a whole thread discussing other threads. There are about six of these on vaccines /anti vax as we speak! This is definitively not a TAAT.

@namechangedyetagain

No you don't have to write reflections for every lesson once you're qualified. Our NQT appropriate body asks for a reflection on a series of lessons but it's minimal. It might be more than that when the NQT year is two years, but it certainly won't be every lesson.

Have they given you a format for reflection?

Starry, you are not allowed to leave. We need you.

What is the name of the nasty thread, asking for unpleasant stories about teachers? Or at least its forum?

@MrsHamlet the formal essay type reflection ive handed in, these are more the ones on every lesson plan. Was the beh mgt good? Why? What was the impact on progress, how do you know? Etc etc. I seem to repeat myself a lot!

Don't leave, starry. If we're being held to higher standards above the TGs and everyone else on the site then let's just work within those confines. I think any non-troublemaker lurkers can see what is going on. Retrospective reporting is the last resort of someone with too much time on their hands. The fact an MNHQ ticking off landed in the middle of some traumatic personal discussion last time

@namechangedyetagain we used to ask ours to focus their reflection on the key standards (never more than 3 and always including s3) that they were working on in the lesson. And on a post it. So you might write S3: key terms needed more concise explanation s5: Bob used the extension task effectively but Florence needed more support with the differentiated task. Consider gap fill next time s7: moved Keith to the front after a warning. Keep him there next lesson.

On chat, something like did teachers make or break you? Spoiler alert, OP and most others is break

Day off. I'm super tired and slow today. Goals run as ambitious as tidying the kitchen and marking the tests I've been procrastinating over till the last minute. Gym this evening.

Wrote term dates in my new diary last night and slightly cheered me up realising next term is only 5 weeks long.

Reflection happens in your head and in discussion with colleagues and tweaking lesson plans and resources after training name. Ime it's something you do forever but becomes a reflex rather than something you have to evidence to others by writing it down. The evidence is your teaching and results etc.

The writing it is you evidencing that you are acquiring that skill and using it to improve your practice.