Missed my flight...

Not my smartest moment. So much preparation for this flight and today as well.

Five amazing lessons ready for my students today... so good I wish I could teach them. New resources for my 10s and 13s. Only thing I didnt do was create introductions for them for their reports. Just depends on the relievers who take my class. Slightly feel bad for whoever takes my Y11 class as theres only minimal actual teaching involved but quite a bit of technical contact with giving the students the right scene to analyse from V for Vendetta. Though I spent an hour on Friday afternoon finding the scenes and noting down their times for the kids and the reliever. Am hoping one of my students saves the reliever from doing it.

Relief is hard to create - not because we cant do it, but because theres a huge margin of error where we know it just wont be completed the way we want/need it to be done. Either the kids go nuts because theres a reliever or the reliever cant be bothered because theyve been given relief during their non-contacts. I can understand why but it is definitely frustrating. Mainly because if I am given relief I do my utmost to actually teach what's been given and create a relationship with their kids in the hope I may come across them again.

Relieving is such a great way to meet new kids youd never get the chance to... especially in such a big school like my previous one... and mine too now that I know its one of the bigger schools in this area. I love that first point of contact. The kids take it as either a positive thing or negative. I for one hated having relievers as a kid, except when we had Mr Dainty at intermediate. He was and I hear from my sister, still is, the best reliever out. Why? Because he treated us all as if we were special, that we all deserved his attention and that he cared about all of us. Hed sing to us, make jokes and be an allround hilarious guy. We'd often be astounded by the fact he had married someone like Mrs Dainty- our food teacher. Though to this day I do still wash my dishes the way she taught us!

So with him as my guide I tend to make the kids enjoy having me as their reliever..  well unless its one of those days and absolutely nothing goes right..  and the best relational teacher couldn't smooth things over with that kind of unruly class.

But back to prep for today..   because I have another 2 hours to wait. Should just go home you say! Yes..  I could. But then I might be late again ..  because if I went home I'd undoubtedly end up playing with Mia and Zo and get lost in the game instead of watching the time. So best to stay here.

Made sure I had enough petrol to get here, that I had money for the domestic departure fee, for the parking of my car for the day... and then of course found out when printing my itinerary again on Saturday before going to Sheilah Winn that I had to organise my own bus to the office as well. Thanks to Jane who saved me then!

Had to clean my desk. For those of you who know me... I am the best at organising my harddrive and computer... even my pictures on my cellphone and on Dropbox. But give me paper... and somehow I create a fortress to hide behind at my desk. Now that Ive moved my desk to the front of the class I've been able to overcome most of my crazy paper issues. But its still been a mission. Lucky for me, I'm nothing if not organised at the beginning of the year. We were given folders for our classes and I even bought a five cubby bookshelf - one for each class.

So as this 12 week term has gone on, I've begun to sort out my classes and even organised three of my five classes. The three are two senior classes and one junior. The two other classes are still works in progress as Im changing my programme this year. Hopefully for the better. Luckily hoki ano, I've had two very dedicated past students come in during wet lunchtimes - both on Thursdays weirdly enough... and help organise the chaos. To be honest..  if I didn't take a paper copy of the notices each day - because they're available on Kamar- even though they're now pinned up on our Kowhai noticeboard... and if I just organised my students extra resources straight away after I'd handed them out.... and if I had another set of bookcases like I've been planning on - then I can organise my prof development papers, PPTA stuff, the students stationary and my teachers planner.. which also needs a tidy... might do that soon actually... then my desk would be tidy all the time.

So as much as I complain to want things emailed to me rather than a paper copy in my pigeon hole... if I had better paper organising skills I'd be sweet. Though I do wish things were emailed so I wouldn't lose them in the paper fortress that undoubtedly occurs every day.

Over the past three years I have improved immensely... but life would be better if there wasnt as much paper printed... I say that thinking about the stack of printing I did in prep for my Y11 class on Thursday... and only just realised that I didn't take the static image techniques out of the cubbyhole for the y10s....   that could ruin the relievers lesson. Gah. Two things. The flight and having to move classes again.

Both can be sorted with a phone call though. Flight has been rebooked and can txt a mate at school to take them to the Y10 class for me.

At the end of the day... with teaching you have to be ready for the unexpected... and when faecal matter hits the Murphy fan... you have to be flexible, accept it and move on... trying to keep a smile on your face and soldier on.

Signing off for now, only an hour and a half to wait now. Thanks for reading and thanks to Twitter for saving me. Though if Id just read the stupid itinerary properly I would have found the number needed in the first place.

Oh well. C'est la vie... #lessonlearnt

Your faithful Blogger,

Alex