Sixty-Eighth Republic - still under temporary guardianship…

[MrsHerculePoirot]

In the absence of staff and her fabulous thread titles and witty openers here is a 68th thread. The broom cupboard is overflowing so time for another Republic. Hopefully we hear from staff soon.

Stolen from previous threads…
'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 for school staff to let off steam.

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.'

I'm just shattered. I don't want to go to the meeting

I didn't appeal a bullshit denial of pay progression a few years ago for the same reason. In retrospect, I wish I had. The head was a bully and kept getting away with it because people were too worn down to challenge it.

A very common feeling Proud and one I think some Heads rely on: not wanting to go through the hassle or just too tired to fight something. Either way, a good chat with your rep might at least be cathartic

I started to apply for threshold then got covid and was too ill. They put it off till next year instead of extending the deadline.

All bullies, in all contexts, rely at least partly on victims being too shattered to complain even if they know they “should” or could.

I don’t know what the answer is really.

Yes the tiktok thing is yet another example of everyone thinking “technology’s great and of course no one will misuse it!” WHEN will adults/ governments learn and actually hold media comanpies to account. It’s kind of the C21st equivalent of the oil and tobacco companies getting away with it - which they still are to an extent.

@noblegiraffe

On the tiktok abuse - Tom Rogers who is a big edutweeter was a victim

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-59264238

What happened - someone took a clip out of a remote lesson he taught and uploaded it to be mocked. 12,000 views.

Remember being told on here that teachers should have no concerns about remote lessons and that it was daft to suggest it might be an issue?

I was thinking exactly this @noblegiraffe the other day. How we were making a big fuss about nothing when the unions were worried about this…. It’s almost like those that don’t work in schools don’t actually understand them/teenagers/the issues we deal with day in day out….

Tom Rogers is so delicate anyway. Me and a colleague used to text back and forth in the morning to check he was still alive "Have you seen him yet?"

Started a thread about it yet noble??

@ChloeDecker @noblegiraffe yeah I probably should speak to our union rep. I think I'll speak to her on Monday. Thank you for listening I'm going to try anf forget about it for now and have some wine with friends later.
@phlebasconsidered that's awful! It just goes to show how it's all about saving money. Next year there will now be at least 6 teachers applying for UPS next year now so our head won't be happy. If we all stay. I have a feeling at least 3 of us will leave.

I toyed with searching for my name on tiktok for a second but think it would be better not to know! They must surely be able to pin it down to a particular class, and from there you just need a few to tell on the actual culprit.

About Tom Rogers, Jan?

The edutwitter response to it appears to have been to use it as an excuse to give Tom Rogers a massive kicking.

MN would use it as an excuse to once again berate teachers for the quality of lockdown provision.

I haven't read the responses to Tom Rogers - why are they giving him a kicking? Concerns me a bit, his mental health seems too wobbly for too much negative exposure.

He's mean to people on twitter therefore karma or something.

Like, here's a story bringing prominence to the fact that social media is being used to abuse teachers, and some teachers decide to also abuse that teacher with apparently no self-reflection.

No idea what Tom Rogers has said or done but jeez, pick your moment why don't you?

Oh is he? I don't follow most of the edutwitter 'big' names. They love themselves too much and think only they are right. I like Sam Freedman though.

I've just seen what it's all about. Ha, what a dick comment.

@Hercisback

Is complete maths worth it?

Personally I don't think so. The resources are mostly added by the community so of very varying quality, the quizzes based on learning outcomes are OK but not amazing and as a specialist the curriculum map is interesting but not useful. There are tutorial videos for a lot of the objectives, but from a variety of sources, so I don't know if they're any better than Corbett maths. Like I said, I miss MyMaths for the homework tasks and click through lessons. The kids miss the games lol.

Mathswatch beats Mymaths hands down for homework.

What is definitely worth the subscription though for ppts and worksheets is www.goteachmaths.co.uk/ We got it this year and I’m using it all the time.

Hi everyone,
Mathspad also has some lovely interactive stuff, especially for lower school and my colleague swears by it for setting homework.

The recording of a lesson and uploading it to Tiktok happened to a colleague of mine, her lesson was breached by people outside the school who were then abusive to her in the lesson. It really shook her up. Awful 🤬.

We had that too @DreamingofBrie because no-one had shut down the settings to stop others getting in. Then we’ve had the tiktok thing too. A couple were funny/not mean and with teachers who wouldn’t mind/would think funny but then the rest of them out of order and some awful ones.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10198985/Operation-Rampdown-Codename-revealed-Government-papers-dismantle-key-Covid-measures-year.html#article-10198985

Oh, what could possibly go wrong!?

I'm massively surprised that they haven't done it already. I totally expected children to not have to isolate at all, even with a positive PCR, once they were feeling well enough to be at school.

Oh 💩 - there should be one of these with a sad face. Imagine reading that if you’re CEV or one of your loved ones is. There are some parents (many on Parents United) who will never send their children back to school. This whole thing is creating a whole educational underclass - for want of a better term.

Presumably free tests will still be available I cases of medical necessity? In which case why would anyone pay for one, is that just a sop to keep the many many firms involved happy?

The other thought which occurs to me is, how bad will things need to get this winter for them to at least delay that plan?

(Oh, the emoji fairy must have heard me - when I typed the poo had a happy smile!)

Really interesting thread re a study in Ireland showing how most outbreaks are traceable to a few buildings. How come?

COVID spreads in a big way through a relatively small number of superspreaders. We can’t predict who these will be. But they will only spread to people ‘sharing their air’, therefore what we can do is install good ventilation in buildings where large groups are.

(Household spread is difficult or mitigate with delta anyway.)

Anyone see a relevance to schools???

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-59240471

A great portrait of a lovely teacher. Wish I had a Miss Harriott to remind me when I “don’t remember what I forgot to do”!

Time to stockpile lateral flow tests instead of toilet rolls?