The Fifty-third Republic - Ides of March Part 2

[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.

Do not give the staffroom password to non-staff as it attracts the wrong sort of crowd.

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. Do not sit on the chairs and do wear a mask

@StanfordPines

She had her jab on the 8th.

Just shows that it is still so important to do what you can to stay safe when you have just had the jab and waiting for the immunity to happen and for teachers, it’s nigh on impossible at the moment. Poor thing.

[quote RafaIsTheKingOfClay]That is good news.

Another ‘win’ for Gav and the DfE here
www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/19/uk-tutoring-scheme-uses-sri-lankan-under-18s-paid-as-little-as-157-an-hour[/quote]
that just shows what the Muppet and the DfE think of teaching professionals.

Thank goodness it is Friday. I've felt so low the last few days, my kids came back ok the first couple days and then toward the end of last week got worse and worse and this week were just so poorly behaved. Like, constant rough play, really blatant defiance (especially to the TAs but to the teacher as well), a lot of attitude. I feel like I spent all week telling people off and doing first aid for injuries they could have prevented if they weren't being so aggressive to each other. It feels like I've been doing a shitty job because of it and I feel quite low about it. This weekend hasn't arrived a moment too soon.

Yeah, really aggressive behaviour from mine too. Out right mean to each other, then moaning that they don't have any friends. How many times do we have to teach 'how to be friends'?

Well I reached rock bottom today if I’m honest - it was a shitty text from exH that pushed me over the edge but it could have been anything. I’m just so stressed, so physically and mentally exhausted. I had a massive undignified screaming meltdown, went and sat on the driveway and sobbed (I don’t know why the driveway, I just needed to not be in the house for a while) and basically lost it.

I’m so so sick of supporting everyone, holding everything together, while being in all the categories who have been totally shafted this year - teacher, parent, woman, and the news about the vaccine delay for people in their 40s has been such a massive fucking kick in the teeth. It’s like women like me (well, like us!) just keep ploughing on and on and on and are expected to act like nothing’s any different! Nobody’s looking out for us, there’s no help for us, no money, no breaks, nothing. Nobody cares, nobody even asks. I’m so fucking over this whole thing.

Goodness me yes. I have a class of Year 3s which is 2/3 girls, and all they have done SINCE SEPTEMBER is bitch at each other and fall out. The amount of flouncing and hair tossing is insane, and I’ve lost track of the times that I’ve reminded them that they are eight and refused to deal with their drama is insane.

I am counting down the days until they can mix with children from other year groups on the playground (one form entry) and have this ridiculousness diluted.

My 11 boys however, have been lovely. They’ve taken my approach to the girl shenanigans and just roll their eyes and tell them to get over themselves.

Ohgravity, I'm sorry. You're not wrong.

@GravityFalls

Well I reached rock bottom today if I’m honest - it was a shitty text from exH that pushed me over the edge but it could have been anything. I’m just so stressed, so physically and mentally exhausted. I had a massive undignified screaming meltdown, went and sat on the driveway and sobbed (I don’t know why the driveway, I just needed to not be in the house for a while) and basically lost it.

I’m so so sick of supporting everyone, holding everything together, while being in all the categories who have been totally shafted this year - teacher, parent, woman, and the news about the vaccine delay for people in their 40s has been such a massive fucking kick in the teeth. It’s like women like me (well, like us!) just keep ploughing on and on and on and are expected to act like nothing’s any different! Nobody’s looking out for us, there’s no help for us, no money, no breaks, nothing. Nobody cares, nobody even asks. I’m so fucking over this whole thing.

That’s exactly how I feel - it’s the lack of value that I’m considered to have by this government, and so by extension society that has pushed me to the limit this week.

I spend my whole day reassuring, calming, planning, smoothing stuff over, making sure it’s ok, remembering things, foreseeing problems, listening, nodding, placating, smiling, supporting...but I feel like I’m just having to absorb so much from everyone else that there’s no space left. I’m single handedly responsible for an A level result for 20 students. Nobody else even teaches the subject. It’s all me. Write the assessments, mark them, get the grading right. For free, in the same time I’d usually have. Just that on its own is so massive as well as everything else. And it’s been a year and it has never got any better, just progressively worse! I’m so positive usually but I’m really done.

It sounds as if most of us need to spend some time on ourselves, really. I totally empathise with having to be all things to all people and just feeling very undervalued for it.

I'm eating chocolate and drinking beer. Can't believe how exhausted I am today.

Oddly it makes me feel better to hear that so many people are having a similar experience. It's not me being shit, it's everyone having a hard time. Thanks all!

Although it was a tough week for my 1:1 I feel like we had some really nice times too, so I'm trying to focus on those.

@GravityFalls Sending and solidarity - it is monumentally awful and it's not surprising you've reached breaking point. I hope you can get some rest this weekend.

My class are pushing their luck this week too - lots of rough play/mock fighting that turns nasty/tale-telling/boundary pushing. I'm not sure if it's always like this at this point and I've just forgotten, or whether it's the result of lockdown. Either way it's tedious and exhausting.

Partner just has to sit down because he's been to the supermarket, and has therefore been on his feet for 'ages'. He then put on Killing in the Name Of on the speaker right by where I was starting dinner. Standing up, surrounded by noise, like I have literally been doing since 8.30 this morning. I harrumphed until he turned it off and started peeling spuds.

Gravity the fact that you are singlehandedly responsible for an A-level subject must be an enormous burden right now. I’ve been thanking my lucky stars this week that I’ve not had to be involved in any planning or decisions regarding that, just waiting for the marking to roll in, so to have to do it all on your own is huge.

I cannot believe the government incompetence regarding the exam cancellations and the expectation that teachers will solve all problems re deciding and then implementing, marking and grading assessments in less time than it took last year to just come up with CAGs based on data already held. That was a massive job and we didn’t have the kids in. And the fact that we have so little time is entirely their fault and incompetence yet we are expected to get on with it with no acknowledgement of how shit it is to have pushed things so late. Your feelings are entirely reasonable.

I’ve not heard from the unions on this either.

@gravityFalls I'm in a similar situation but with a gcse. I have responsibility for a class of students in my main subject and then a second subject that only I teach. It's quite an isolating position. I don't think my HOD understands that I'm having to do the same amount of work for the other qualification that they are doing for the big qualification. Sending sympathy and gin.

Herc I was thinking of you too. And piggy. What a shit position to be in.

I had a mini rant at my A level class about the fact we’ve paid £600 for an exam board to set and mark exams for them, and now I’m doing it all single-handedly for free. I don’t want them to feel bad but I also emphasised that they’ve been ripped off as well! It’s a new spec and the first cohort to even do this A level at our college so I’ve really got nothing to go on. Although I’ve never taught it before, I am at least lucky to have years of similar A level experience. A newer teacher would seriously be floundering right now.

Why haven’t the unions done anything about this? It’s not the fault of teachers that government screwed this up by pretending everything was going to be fine and not having a plan.

Dc1 has a sore throat.
Ffs! 10 school days.

Tbh even without covid what are we all doing to our health that 10d is all it takes to catch something. Even with all these restrictions.

I think having all cold symptoms as stay off and test would make a lot of difference. It is so unfortunate for kids prone to coughs after colds.

@gravityFalls I was in a similar situation last year with my gcse. Nothing to go on, no previous data, no prior cohort. Did our best!

Yep exam boards are not setting exams, marking exams or grading exams and yet we are paying them and doing the work ourselves.

It’s outrageous.

Just in case it is of interest to anyone, tweet from Tom Button re. position at MEI to develop a data science course (fixed term).

twitter.com/mathstechnology/status/1372554306625417223?s=19

Yep exam boards are not setting exams, marking exams or grading exams and yet we are paying them and doing the work ourselves.

I had a strongly worded tweet to this effect.

@GravityFalls for you. It's tough being the only one teaching an A-level subject. I now have another colleague who is a good teacher and lovely but not very experienced so she doesn't really have the understanding. Not her fault at all but just doesn't make it any easier.

I have put together files of current evidence and prepared some further assessment for after Easter. Hoping it's enough.

One bonus is that the majority of my Y11 class are actually working hard now (they've been pretty lazy to date). Today's lesson was them completing some exam questions as revision and they worked well, were asking questions etc.

I'm not seeing nearly enough strongly worded tweets on this. Are teachers just too tired?

Or are they so used to having to put an 'it's fine' face to the students and parents that they can't be honest in public?