This is Omar’s blog

I sincerely believe that, if I had to choose a single t.v. clip to watch until I was dead, it would most likely be this one. It gets me everytime. Every. Single. Time.

Big Office (US) fans in this household.

(I’m aware that you might not think so, but then it is very much about context.)

O.K. I’ve had a coffee, it was nice. I had sugar and milk in it, which Gemma thinks is a crime. Pah. I had a straight latté recently and couldn’t manage it. I need the sugar at the moment, it takes the edge off it. I bought a Phillips Senseo thing, works well so far. We’ll see, though I’m still working out if I want a cup of a mug. A cup didn’t seem enough to fill the cup that I used. Or should I be using smaller cups?

So, obviously I spent 20 minutes idly searching for pods for it online, could be cheaper. I know I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, OFSTED. We knew it was coming, end of the cycle and we were one of the few schools that hadn’t had one. Our head was hearing news from other schools. We found out Friday that they were coming in the following Wednesday. Anyway, long story short. It was stressful, even for me, I’ve no idea what it was like for the head.

(I could do some research here but I’m just going to write it as it happened.)
It was very stressful. We spent Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday making sure everything was just so. The night before, I was extremely irritable - and that takes a lot for me and the day itself was… Well it wasn’t so bad for me, the new OFSTED is a ‘light touch’. They (2 inspectors) come in for a day and because they have such a short visit, a lot of it is focused on the SEF (self-evaluation form) and RAISE (Reporting and Analysis for Improvement through School Self-Evaluation). A lot the school is inspected from that, from the first link

Self evaluation is at the heart of the new inspection arrangements. For school inspections the self evaluation form serves as the main document when planning the inspection, and is crucial in evaluating the quality of leadership and management and the school’s capacity to improve.

For me this meant, I was observed for 10 minutes in the morning. Right in my line of sight, the lesson wasn’t going well. Ho hum. As well for a maybe 5 minutes in the afternoon. It was more about seeing all the paperwork, assessments and talking to more senior staff. So, it was ‘easier’ for me. It was done and that was that. Still, something to put on the C.V.

Then I moved straight onto parent’s evening. Ha!

Edit: I just read that, I didn’t say much. Basically, for teachers, schools, OFSTED is a BIG DEAL. Big huge massive. It’s the part of the job where someone comes and judges you. It’s what parents look at and for the head it reflects on her ability to do her job. I feel like I’ve finally caught up this week. And next week, Xmas starts…

Things I mean to write about

• My new classroom layout
• Courses, ideas and the lesson I observed on Wednesday

Things I still haven’t, but mean to

• Parent’s evening
• OFSTED

It’s Friday and I’m tidying, I am truly my father’s son. Ha!

I like to think I can do advice, I can be thoughful, rational, clear. Put me into the equation and it all goes out the window. Frequently I’ll say something, only to think ‘that’s what I should do’. Pah!

Changed my classroom round yesterday, big drastic changes. As the head said, just because the old way is what people have always done, doesn’t make it right.

We’ll see how it works…

Kate’s right, it is cute. The words just need work, expect other versions to follow…

(click through for a bigger version, if I make it any bigger it messes the template up.)

(also I’ll take the extra it out at some point :S )

I wish I had more time, to just stop. At the the moment I don’t feel I do. I know I need that time to stop and switch off and I don’t have it at the moment. OFSTED has thrown me out of sync, things that were organised aren’t, mostly as a result of not being able to plan next week.

I spent 45 minutes today with a craft knife cutting 6 slits into A4 pieces of card. Break was taken up with getting things ready for literacy and lunch with cutting strips of paper and card and wallpaper for our weaving. Things are starting to pile up. In no particular order*

• maths assessments (conservatively an hour and a half)
• maths folders for loose paper (maybe 45 minutes)
• literacy filing and marking (1 hour)
• backing Jack and the Beanstalk pictures (15 minutes)
• planning for next week (2/3 hours minimum)

It’s the fact that’s it consumes my evenings now. By the time I’d tidied the classroom in the evening and sorted bits and pieces it’s 4 and I’m starting to wane.

*ignoring day to day bits and bobs.
WOE IS ME. ;)

6 Seconds To Relax - “Even that little amount of time – 6 seconds - can help your body and mind relax. Let your heart rate slow. Let some of the stress slide away.”

All work and no play - “It is very easy for teachers to become workaholics because they are passionate about their work and feel duty bound to be there for their students.”

They have three challenges at the gym. Easy, moderate and hard. Tonight for circuits we did all three…

(bigger version)

We did it for an hour but I choose to finish.

The hard bits were - the 50 shoulder presses, in the end I was doing them singularly, the second seated row (this close to being sick) and the final run.
The easy(er) bits - the 50 press ups weren’t too bad, the rowing was tolerable, the sit ups were good.

Edit: Also, the person who normally does circuits at GL1 is leaving next week - bigger and better things. Which is a bit disappointing, as in some regards it’s the highlight of my week, as that class is the reason that I’m cancelled my gym membership at Riverside. Always the way, I just get bored of going to the gym. Whereas I’m still not bored of circuits, I just liked that it was more focused on Sundays and not just random exercises you went round.

As is the way with these things, I’ve just started talking to people. Pah.

I am undecided how I feel today. If I had to answer, I’d whisper “both”.

There was a bit in the story (it’s not high-literature by any means but I could read them forever, I like the characters and I’ve got a soft spot for magic. It’s the fact that it has elements of real life in but also a bit of the arcane.) where they were discussing that to keep your skill in something you need to keep practicing the basics. The things that you take for granted, in whatever you do. That it is important to do so. It grounds you, reminds you where you started from and benefits the high level skills you’re now capable of. For me it’s my writing. I mean I can use a full stop and capital letters, but it doesn’t hurt to think about using conjunctions or punctuation every now and again.