The Forty Sixth Republic - online learning has killed the 'snow day'

[Staffdontblowitnow]

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

Talking about women in education, Piggy’s favourite Sue Cowley, the only female behaviour management advisor, is running an online behaviour seminar in half term for £10, for NQTs and RQTs.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/positive-behaviour-management-with-sue-cowley-tickets-136306848453

She’s a very entertaining speaker.

Ooh I might do that Noble, thanks for posting.
Am expecting to have behaviour management challenge from hell when we return.

@Piggywaspushed

I think because of years of focus on boys' underachivement and the answer to that lazily being seen as male role modes, it has resulted in men being over praised and promoted and women being criticised and over scrutinised, ignored or expected to be the soft gentle ones. It was NOT like that in the early 90s. We have actually gone backwards.

Agree

Hello - I am a long time lurker but the stuff about over-promoted men has touched a nerve so I need to share....

I am secondary maths and we had a new HoD 2yrs ago. He took over a dept which ran like clockwork but somehow he has messed it all up. He is crap at admin, never replies to emails without reminders, waits over a week to reply to parental complaints, still gets my name wrong, just doesn't seem to have a clue - but because he is a bit jokey and a 'nice bloke' he seems to get away with it.

He's also not a great teacher yet is convinced he is amazing .... at everything 🙄

I didn't want his job, as to do it properly requires more time than I have because I have family commitments - but I now think I could do better than him with the very limited time I have.
Is it a 'leadership' thing to just do what you can/want and let the rest go (even when it is totally a necessary part of the job). I am great at ignoring meaningless requests (of which teaching is full!) but he ignores major things and gets away with it. Maybe that is good management?

Not sure though as no one is happy and half the dept now want to leave 😩

Gah. Rant over. Sorry!!

Thanks for everyone here keeping me sane. This is the only place that actually gets what teaching is like!

I find that trainees who are blokes seem to be aiming for headship. Why? They might be shit teachers! I've never heard a female trainee say they wanted to be a head/run their own school, only male ones. Anecdata, but still.

I'm in school, sitting in the sick room waiting for my RFT to develop. I've literally got 45 minutes to do the rest of the stuff I came in for. Blue arsed fly.

My car wouldn't start either, so now it has an almost flat tyre AND a flat battery. Haven't driven since 5th January - was quite the treat!

My MIL was a proper full-on Greenham Common/burn your bra bod, and she reckons 'we' (our generation) have completely dropped the ball on feminism. That by saying 'but I choose to wear make up for me', we're not being honest, because we wouldn't wear lipstick if we were on a desert island just on our own.

She says lots of things though.

I wonder how many woman are at home in lockdown in skinny jeans, heels and a full face of make-up that they wear for themselves.

the shiny young pe teachers get the tlrs at school but that they won't really rock the boat or make any of slt feel insecure.

This

You've all made excellent points on this thread about males in leadership. I think it is part assumption, people assume I don't want anything more because I'm female and have children.

So very tired and grumpy today. I was up really late marking last night and I can't function properly today because I've had so little sleep. Thinking about how to "jigsaw" all the different things that need to be done - just helped ds with his English work in my only free of the day. Lunchtime was taken up with a meeting.

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown, I noticed a post from you on another thread talking about the gender of a cat! I reminded myself to tell you about this question from the A-level Maths textbook, which I did with my classes last week. The question before talks about men and women running a race, and asks which gender is the faster etc. My natural instinct when discussing these questions was to replace the word gender with sex, but for some reason (probably because I'm not sure if I would get into trouble for it), I just read the question as it was.

Oops, forgot to add the question.

Rule I think your MIL is right - all the ladette crap in the 90s did a lot of damage to feminism whilst purporting to be empowerment.

I’m wearing skinny jeans, but that’s because they’re the only ones I’ve got and they weren’t as skinny prior to lockdown overeating

Carrie how is your HT friend?

@DreamingofBrie I think that's to avoid you having to say "sex" to the teenagers. Hope so anyway!

Am forcing the dc to go out sledging with me. I'd have been so excited to see this much snow as a child. But then I had that tennis-style-tv-game as the height of my excitement, not Fortnite

I don’t even own any make up.... or heels... couple of block type low ones on boots.

I don’t have heels because I’m tall and don’t need to loom any more than I already do.

What I’ve noticed is that classrooms are set up for my height. Whiteboards that most women can’t write along the top of, projector screens they can’t pull down.

I only wear dresses because I hate the way trousers look on me. And I mainly wear heels because I like the way they look.
But I don't own makeup.

@noblegiraffe

I don’t have heels because I’m tall and don’t need to loom any more than I already do.

What I’ve noticed is that classrooms are set up for my height. Whiteboards that most women can’t write along the top of, projector screens they can’t pull down.

So your username is quite apt then?

I wear dresses because trousers are horrible on my body proportions. I wear boots because I totter like a pig in heels.

In some older classrooms there was a platform at the front, a mini stage really - I like that idea so I can see over the pupils - also could have been my stay-clear zone last term! I stopped wearing heels when I have up on promotion, looking back

I don’t wear heels and I’m short; whiteboards are a nightmare for me, even in KS1 classrooms where they are lower.

I do wear dresses but only because my legs are short and I have thunder thighs from when I used to be super muscular from riding horses and now it’s turned to fat.

Can’t remember the last time I wore make up. The children in my class tell me I look tired a lot.

Inadvertently, Jan, and ‘ungainlygiraffe’ would be more appropriate!

When it came to pick a username I just thought ‘well I like giraffes’ but giraffe was already taken. And giraffes kind of look noble, so that was job done.

Because I am small, people always assume I'm a primary school teacher... As I tell the kids, there is no kudos in being taller than me, even if they are in Y7

I wear dresses at the moment because I've gained quite a lot around my waist and they are more forgiving, plus thickness of tights is easier to increase or decrease with temperature fluctuation. I wear them with sturdy flat boots (never got on with heels), and I don't wear makeup.

I'm definitely not in line for any TLRs though 😂

Even so, I'm quite enjoying teaching in baggy bottoms and a huge jumper when no one can see me! Only PE staff would get away with joggers and jumpers in school (even when they are SLT and have no practical lessons that day - a flashpoint after we had a 'business dress' reminder last year.

I wear make up at home... wouldn't answer the door without it on...

What's wrong with skinny jeans? I'm as gender non confirming as anyone I've met - buzz cut, never worn make up ever, all men's clothes except for bra, which only gets worn for work and no traditional female hobbies, but I bloody love skinny jeans.