The Fifty-Sixth Republic - Who is up for a game of TAG?

[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

Good luck Herdy. No advice here I'm afraid.

Good day's teaching today but I'm very glad that it is not only Friday but the Friday of a bank holiday weekend and I'm definitely opening the gin now!

What's the point of releasing this today? I fear a political agenda about teacher stress and workload

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2021/04/13-insights-into-teacher-wellbeing-and-mental-health/

Most of the data used is 3 years old.

Was talking to a science colleague today who came to us via an agency and a fixed term contract. He was offered four jobs last week just by word of mouth. And a maths colleague the same. I doubt highly anywhere is getting 70 applicants for science.

We have four trainees this year - all have jobs except one whose subject is just not in shortage (the others are maths, science, English. Surprise. )

Yeah we have two interviewees for two jobs next week....

That's lovely and trivialising. No analysis of why we're more stressed than teachers in other countries - couldn't be the working conditions and culture of policy making here - left dangling as if it's just that English teachers are moany.

Our year 7 are in need of a bollocking as well. I gave my year 8 tutor group one yesterday. Told them in no uncertain terms that the level of disrespect the were showing around school was unacceptable (thank god we never zoned them), and that the eye rolling and the faces whenever they got pulled up for something had to stop.

We have done so well at focusing on their mental health I think we've gone too far. Too many of them basically can't be told what to do because being told what to do makes them anxious.

I love Michael Rosen!

We have had 2 job windows close today. One Science one English.

Guess how many we had apply for each one? Times have changed.

Herdy
Something about whether everyone should teach the same texts?
How do you ensure assessments are valid and reliable?
How will you get x number of grade 9?

How many Riga?

Just musing (having read a post on another thread here with a lot of non-standard English), how much do you think you are pushing water uphill as an English, primary or any teacher if your area has particularly high levels of non-standard language use? In my area, there's one persistent niggle but not many, really; people use "you were," "he did" etc correctly in speech...

Just wondering...

dangling, I work with teachers who say we was, and I done. I try not to be snobby and use regional variants of grammar myself. But not when teaching...

I didn't get the job, had a good interview though. Apparently they wanted more experience... I didn't lie about being an NQT!

dangling there's an awful lot of non standard English around here. Almost everyone I know uses "we was", etc. I was horrified when dd2 was in reception as the teacher gave us a copy of her notes for parents evening and it was FULL of grammatical errors. I do feel like our kids have a really hard job trying to write in standard English when that's not how anyone speaks around them. It makes me even more glad in not an English teacher, although I do insist on full, grammatically correct sentences whenever they need to explain anything in maths.

Our HT has a frightening grasp of the English spelling and grammar system, as does whoever proofreads his missives.

@Piggywaspushed

dangling, I work with teachers who say we was, and I done. I try not to be snobby and use regional variants of grammar myself. But not when teaching...

We have teaching staff who can't write with fully accurate SPAG, but they all speak in standard English, except for the one thing (OK, I'll say it: "I was sat...")

@13luckyblackcats

I didn't get the job, had a good interview though. Apparently they wanted more experience... I didn't lie about being an NQT!

Sorry to hear that. It's a shame they wanted more experience, but I'm sure you'll find a job that's right for you soon. Schools often end up inviting all applicants to interview, even NQTs when they want experience, or experienced teachers when they want a cheap nqt. We once appointed the nqt even though we'd wanted an experienced teacher, because the 3 experienced teachers taught awful lessons on the day so the nqt was the best fit (she hadn't thought she stood a chance as a primary trained nqt applying for a secondary maths position). She's still with us, and is fantastic. You'll find somewhere that sees your potential and snaps you up, I'm sure.

My way of killing "I was sat" is to substitute "shit" for "sit".

No one ever says "I was shat..." - maybe not for y7 though.

I once got an email about my "swede boots" which really confused me. Suede....

(Not that all out staff are local, of course, but I can't think of anyone who speaks in a non-standard way. Accent, yes, but not actual grammar.)

So, kids from regions with the most non-standard language around them are really penalised in exams, then. And in life, too, of course.

@MrsHamlet

Our HT has a frightening grasp of the English spelling and grammar system, as does whoever proofreads his missives.

So does ours. I'm always terrified of making mistakes in my reports as he reads all of them. I've got very good SPAG, even if I do say so myself, but I'm still terrified he'll find errors in what I write (the only mistakes he's ever found are about the "house style" rather than my actual English). Some of my less confident colleagues spend hours and hours writing and checking their reports, and I proof read all the reports from several maths colleagues so I can pick up the glaring errors.

Am now wondering where the "worse" areas are for this. My guesses are London and surrounds, the NW and Yorkshire...

(We have one admin support who has terrible SPAG. She has, in the past, corrected my letters, which I've had to correct back quite vehemently. )

Ah, MrsAD - I think my frightening and yours might be different.
Mine uses commas like confetti, rather like Bob.

What's wrong with I was sat?

I'm not the best at English but I try and get reports etc proof read. This is usually done by my DH as his English is brilliant.

Our English staff are the worst for grammar errors on email tbh.

I really admired one of my previous heads. She knew her own SPaG had its moments (to be fair, that's true of most of us) and was punctilious in making sure that she had her work proofread by someone reliable.