THE FIFIETH REPUBLIC!

[StaffRepFeistyClub]

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.

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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.

A recent ish remote whole trust inset. The well being session was forty five minutes of the those director telling us to breath.

This totally reminds me of a well-being tutor period I had to do with Year 9 as an NQT, where I had to play a 10 minute vid of some woman sitting cross-legged, just breathing. The whole class pissed themselves laughing whilst I was flapping around trying to get them to breathe along! No wonder they hated me!

I can beat macrame for not improving your wellbeing, I went on an NQT training course with a bunch of people I'd never met and we had to stand in a circle and give each other a back massage.

I have never been so tense.

We had a mental health lead who got the students to design shields to protect them. That went down a treat.

@noblegiraffe

I can beat macrame for not improving your wellbeing, I went on an NQT training course with a bunch of people I'd never met and we had to stand in a circle and give each other a back massage.

I have never been so tense.

Oh god, noble I would have left. I cannot do those appalling icebreakers either.

@noblegiraffe

I can beat macrame for not improving your wellbeing, I went on an NQT training course with a bunch of people I'd never met and we had to stand in a circle and give each other a back massage.

I have never been so tense.

Oh no! That's the stuff of nightmares. I think I'd have left!

Bit embarrassed to say I'm a big fan of the hats 🧢

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown it’s ok. As long as you don’t wear a sparkly one when chairing meetings or make me write in into multiple lessons and SoWs we’re all good 🤣

I just remembered that the back massage training was where we learned about Brain Gym and had to practice all the moves.

I've missed out on Brain Gym as well. This is what comes of joining the profession later in life.

@noblegiraffe

I just remembered that the back massage training was where we learned about Brain Gym and had to practice all the moves.

That’s when I’d have walked out (if I hadn’t run screaming at the back massage, shudder!)

I once had to observe a drama lesson with the uni tutor who was a physicist. He was traumatised, poor man.

Have you already talked about the thing that if staff are doing testing, they can get a vaccine? Sorry if so.

twitter.com/jopheadinheels/status/1365587513100955649?s=19

@HarrietDVane

I've missed out on Brain Gym as well. This is what comes of joining the profession later in life.

Don't worry you will see it again just rebranded as something else 😂

[quote RuleWithAWoodenFoot]Have you already talked about the thing that if staff are doing testing, they can get a vaccine? Sorry if so.

twitter.com/jopheadinheels/status/1365587513100955649?s=19[/quote]
Seen that was going to post but it's not nationwide but depends on area and local PH.

Memories are flooding back of hideous training days about Brain Gym, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Mantle of the Expert, P4C, oh and then the joys of APP! Not to be confused with PPA which came in at a very similar time.

We were so excited when PPA was going to be introduced because we’d have loads of time to do STUFF! We didn’t, obviously as the STUFF increased 10-fold as SLT duped you with a massive new workload saying you could just ‘do it in your PPA!’.

Bah-have been doing this shit for way too long. And I’m not 45 yet

As an NQT I had to worry about thinking hats, PELTS and brain gym / brain breaks on every lesson plan. I look back and cringe at how little knowledge I taught in a lesson as I was so concerned about fitting all the other bits in.

We also experimented and split year eight up into girls groups and boys groups. The girl groups mostly spent time making pretty posters and being creative where the boys groups were encouraged to take part in competitions each lesson or active learning! Would not be allowed to get away with that amount of stereotyping today!

I remember almost all of these things. My first school was obsessed with bloody thinking skills and learning styles. My current school (that I've been at for 15 years now) doesn't jump on bandwagons apparently, yet we've still done vision statements, P4Ç (now that was a really useful 3 hours for a maths teacher) and Kagan techniques (nobody else has mentioned them, were they not a big thing where you are?)

@MsAwesomeDragon

I remember almost all of these things. My first school was obsessed with bloody thinking skills and learning styles. My current school (that I've been at for 15 years now) doesn't jump on bandwagons apparently, yet we've still done vision statements, P4Ç (now that was a really useful 3 hours for a maths teacher) and Kagan techniques (nobody else has mentioned them, were they not a big thing where you are?)

Yes, Kagan techniques rings a bell. I used to confuse that with Kegel exercises. I didn’t do either, to be honest

I was born cynical. Which is why it took me a while to progress.i couldn't just jump on every bandwagon enthusiastically, because most of it is bollocks. Ialso started my career with a lot of amazing but intuitive teachers, who didn't buy into bollocks.after a while, I learned to pretend.

Smart skills. Pelts. Learning styles. App sheets and ticking. The amount of time wasted. I'm currently in the phase of my teaching cycle where I think it's all bollocks and what's the point of any of it? All this agonising over a curriculum and skills. Can't we just spend 3 years reading books and writing stories, then talk about books for 2 years and do a ruck of cw? And can I just talk at them about stuff ?

Maybe you’re not cynical, maybe you’re just wearing the black hat?

Oh, and the sage on the stage. Relatively new in the bollocks stakes. Don't be the sage, let them disco for themselves.
I AM the sage.
That's why you pay me.
I also like to perform. I live my texts. That's why the kids like my lessons.

No one discoes. It's not the 70s.

kagan is ringing a bell, but don't think I've ever done it. Did have to do de bonos thinking hats though.

And no, I don't remember what all the colours stood for either.

I did bloody Kagan shite- we even had the stupid buzzers in the middle of the tables. I hated most of it but I do still use the one where they walk about and share answers on their whiteboards.

I’m old enough to remember the hats! And having to rewrite scheme to incorporate the ‘new big thing’.

About 15 years ago we had someone in so deliver ‘SEAL’ training (social, emotional and forget what the A stands for).

Anyway, the speaker asked if anyone of us exercised regularly.Cue to hands up. Went round and asked us what we did, I replied ‘long distance running’. He said ‘oh, isn’t that quite an isolating sport? You won’t get to talk to anyone’. I replied, ‘yes, that’s why I like it’. He looked shocked. I said, ‘after talking all day, do I really want to go and talk some more?’.