The Fifty Seventh Republic - the joy of bank holiday marking

[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

The Covid numbers are alarming.

I was just starting to relax a bit.

@JanFebAnyMonth

Hope you won’t mind noble, but I’ve posted yr theory about 100s of cases perhaps in schools in the autumn on the Data thread, to see what they say (I can probably already guess...,) I didn’t namecheck you.

No responses - should've namechecked me

"Noblegiraffe's Theory of Schools Were Always Like This And You Just Chose Not To Look"

@JanFebAnyMonth

Oo *@ArnottsUnderpass* did you feel like you might want to tell any one to F off to the far side of F and then to F off some more ??

We so need to get Jan drunk.

when Lots of things you can try, depends how bad they have got. If I need a complete reset of expectations I make a lesson that I know they can all access without much input from me. I know the level of challenge won't be hard, but long term getting those expectations right is worth it. Plan a lesson you can 90% just watch them work and pick up on any off task stuff via school policy. Regular and consistent praise for those meeting your expectations. Narrate the positive! Then lesson by lesson start to reduce the time you spend just watching and behaviour managing so that you can support. Make support input short and within 30 seconds be back up actively observing. Pop back to a student if required but keep support brief. Consider your position in the room when speaking to students 1:1, have your back to as few people as you can.

Is there a school sanction for lack of work? If so state a minimum expectation and sanction those not doing it. This is trickier to get right because you don't want to have to sort loads of detentions/equivalent for kids who didn't understand the work.

Positive calls home for students who are working well helps.

I really liked Peps Mcreas "Motivated teaching" for ideas on consistency and routine keeping students motivated.

noble I did wonder about writing noblegiraffe says....

desire to inebriate me

When you put it like that it sounds rude!

I just reckon it'd be fun.

Great advice from Herc (were you next door to me last year?!). It's boring but being consistent and firm about your expectations does seem to pay off with the low level disruptions. Loudly praising those making the right choices works in Y3, as does 'What a shame you are shouting out! Now I can't choose you to answer. I will choose X instead.' It's not a miracle cure but it caused a definite reduction in shouting out.

If you threaten a consequence, you have to follow it through. If you said they would miss X minutes of playtime, then they miss X minutes of playtime. They can't start negotiations. The missed playtime is the consequence of the thing they did wrong, and they need to understand cause and effect. Not sure if that makes sense?

@JanFebAnyMonth I was channelling this:

Oh yes I found him quite annoying the first time around.....

Thanks Herc.

I’ll see if I can think of something that would work for mixed ability. I’ve reading ages ranging from 5 up to 16.

We could do with a “silent lesson” to reset expectations.

Oops just really read - range is 7 to 16

But the second someone asks for help - I go over to help and the rest of the class start chatting and going off task. I wouldn’t mind if they were quietly chatting about the work, but they are blatantly off task.

Happens all the time! I’ve learnt to not physically go to the child for help so much and try the, ‘how would you solve it’ which helps a little but still, just merely speaking seems to be an invitation for the chatty lot to talk during a task.

If you find a complete solution (and I haven’t found one after 18 years!) do let me know

@noblegiraffe

Finally, Chloe! How do you feel? Which one did you get?

Felt fine at first, then on train home, my arm went all icy and numb. No just lying flat as although mostly okay, I get that ‘heady’, ‘achy’ feeling when I move my head. I had the Pfizer dose. Have you managed to book an appointment yet?

I'm a TA in a whack a mole class, feel like I'm constantly dealing with one child only for another to pop up who is misbehaving or wanting attention or needing help.

They're not a patient class either so have to be quick before thing escalate.

My younger classes have become a bit gobby recently. They like to tell me their opinions... I recently did a nice lesson on constructing triangles and the plenary consisted of 3 questions, including "how much did you enjoy today's class". One child just wrote in caps "I HATED IT", leaving an empty box in the "would you like to add anything else" section. Mind you, this child hates showing any working out whatsoever so I can imagine drawing triangles precisely would have been excruciating for him.

Bloody Gavin has told the Telegraph that they are scrapping masks in schools from 17th May.

Bet they won’t scrap masks full stop everywhere though.

They really don’t give a shit do they?!

How are you feeling this morning, Chloe?

@JanFebAnyMonth

Oh yes I found him quite annoying the first time around.....

Ah well, you did ask.

I hate masks in classrooms. Can’t hear the kids properly, can’t project my voice properly. But even I think we should keep them for a while longer.

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation

Rule did you watch the same lessons as me?

I'm getting so fed up with people getting away with being shit at their job.

Kahoot is becoming an acceptable every lesson activity where I am. This is not OK.

In actual face to face teaching? We only ever used this on teams for a bit of a break.

Usual suspect has started thread already.

Morning all.

I’m torn in the masks front. I wish pupils could keep them and as teachers we could teach without or is that just a double standard?

Weds after school we have Inset - suicide prevention training. That’ll be ‘fun’.

mother that's what we do. We're staying in our magic tape boxes at a distance of flexible 2m so we don't have to wear them

@motherrunner

Morning all.

I’m torn in the masks front. I wish pupils could keep them and as teachers we could teach without or is that just a double standard?

Weds after school we have Inset - suicide prevention training. That’ll be ‘fun’.

We can teach without if we are stood in ou box but put them back on when stopping teaching.

Riga Yes actual face to face and in maths. The quizzes on there for maths are dire and it is a pure time filler from people who cannot be arsed. I can see the value in it if the quiz is well designed and specific to the lesson/unit etc. For retrieval of facts it's great.

I think outrage at disproportionate workload is coming out as Kahoot rage!