A Definite Uncertainty.

Sometimes you wonder are the students the real staff.

Some staff act like students. That includes me sometimes. Well. At least I am honest.
So one of my formal observations was scheduled for today. My year 7. Lovely year 7. I look at this bunch every week and see them eager to learn, lots of interesting (and silly, of course) questions. This kind of makes teaching worthwhile, makes a day interesting and fulfilling. But if I could foresee everything before they occur, I would not be here right now. Lottery, oh yes, all mine. Plus, I would have personally make sure Justin Bieber was not created. Parents, contraception, do it. The lesson went so out of hand, in fact, the teacher had to cancel the formal observation. Let's pretend it never happened.

So, my interesting day began nice and early. Went back to prepare my 4-lesson day. First two-period, I was basing it on Coldplay. Yes, you heard it, Coldplay. Oh yes, and the X Factor, too. We were talking about radio technology, you see. If you haven't seen Coldplay's (amazing, amazing) performance on the X Factor, you have the watch it. Radio-controlled wristband, blink, blink, you rock. Just before you say anything, I don't watch the X Factor. I watched the Coldplay clip online, avoiding the majority of the la-la-la-la-la you-can't-sing disaster. One of the great things  about teaching is that the fact that nothing is certain is a certain. First thing in the morning, been told they have PSHE to find out their work experience in January. Exciting. The theory can wait then. Let's have a short fun lesson. (well, as oppose to a long fun lesson I guess.) Little did I know after the break, my skills were going to be pushed to the limit with my year 7.

I would like to point out, there are only 3 photocopier-printer-all-in-one-gigantic blah blah machine in the whole school. All staff have to queue for them everyday - with all the students. The printer in the Art block overlooks my classroom. The bell rang - 5 minutes too early, and when I was printing. I panicked and ran away from my printing back to the classroom. The lesson started with me out of breathe Calm down, dear, just calm down, I said to myself. Moved on with my lesson. Did a brilliant starter activity. Then, something happened. A chain reaction. A chain reaction that would ruin the formal observation.

A student from the back row put her hand up. I swiftly acknowledged that.
'I need to go to rehearsal, sir.'
'What rehearsal is this?'
'Music, sir. With Mr S.'
'Is it now?'
'Yes, sir.'
At this point my teacher told me 'she wasn't lying, she can go.'
The girl left the room, with another girl. Student number, minus two.
Resumed my lesson. 5 minutes in. A knock on the floor. The two girls came back.
'What's happening?'
'We need to take her as well. She is in our rehearsal.'
'Go.' Minus three, in some ways this lesson was getting better.
5 minutes in from the 5 minutes we already been in. Knock. Knock knock. The two girls plus the girl they took away came back.
'What's happening?' At this point, I was still smiling. How could I not?
'We need to take him as well. He is in the choir.'
This is almost like two people picking their team members in a football team, but dragged out over a lesson, 50 minutes. I think you can see where this is going. Knock. Minus four. Knock. Minus five. The fifth time they did this, I was losing my patience. This was taking the (insert inappropriate word here). I told the teacher that I was going to tell them and sort things out before they come back. The teacher even wrote a note, saying that 'a formal observation was going on, you are disrupting my lesson and it is very unfair on my BT.' At least someone cared. To be honest, you get all different types of teachers. The good ones are hard to find. In this case, the irresponsible one who did not care about the phrases 'BT' and 'formal observation' was the culprit. The sixth time the students came back, I told them 'no, you are not having him.' Funny enough, there were more students knocking on my door than students inside my classroom. For (insert inappropriate word here) sake. I closed the door. I could have slammed the door, but at that point, I just couldn't be bothered. I glazed back at my teacher. It was at this moment when I threw out the question, 'are you really going to make this formal?' 'After all of that disruption, no no. It wasn't your fault. It was really unfair for you.' Anyway, some good news I guess. Because I swear if I carried on, my inner thoughts would explode outwards and the people won't like it. Trust me.

I was lost after the lesson, which if you took out the 50-minute interval in the middle due to this music concert blah blah, was a great lesson I thought. I spent one week planning for this lesson. I slept for 90 minutes yesterday just to perfect the lesson plan. All this went to waste, just like that. I wanted answers. My evil child within said 'someone should pay for this'.

I then found out an email was sent out listing all the students that were involved in the concert rehearsal, at 1127. 1127. Yes, 1127, Wednesday 14 December 2011. 1127. Yes, 1127. My lesson started at 1100 and ended at 1230. 1127. Sorry. 1127. Eleven twenty-seven. Something was fundamentally wrong here. Who in their right mind expect a teacher to, in the middle of a class, turn to your students and say 'I need to check my email. It's 1127.' This was out of order. To be frank, I am trying to do my job here and learn something as I go along. I was prevented to do my job properly. I certainly learned something today - I am not that nice after all. Trust me, this wouldn't go unnoticed. I am telling my tutor. I am fed up of being Mr Nice Guy.

iD + :T C.
Don't say anything. This is the worst week ever. Enough.