Almost half way through my first month at M. and still alive

It is 9 pm. and I have just finished planning my lessons for tomorrow (yet another 13 hrs long day of work but I’m not going to complain cause last week my days were even longer) and I have finally got around to putting some washing in (didn’t have a choice, ran out of socks…). The consequence is that I can’t go to bed just yet cause I have to wait for it to finish. So I thought I’d share some random thoughts about my hitherto experience of working at the M. school, which I’m really enjoying, I mean it, although I think I might be too exhausted to properly enjoy anything at this point.
I put a boy in detention for spitting on the floor. After that I started noticing spit all over the place and therefore concluded that he wasn’t the only one to do it, he was just the only one to get caught.
I have two Shannons in one class which wouldn’t be surprising at all if I wasn’t working in a school where white children are something like 5%. What are the odds.
To my great delight, I observed three of my year 9 troublemakers spending their lunch break picking up rubbish at the main gate. That’s what happens when you ignore your teacher’s detentions and end up referred to the Head. Subsequently I danced a little dance of victory after they’d come and apologised profusely after school. Oh yeah.
I have my own classroom, which would be even more exciting if I hadn’t inherited it in such a messy state. Cause I really don’t know when I will have time to go through all those piles of worksheets, revision booklets, workbooks and pupils’ work and decide what to chuck and what to keep. Happily, two boys in my year 7 helped by chucking a big part of one of those piles through the window. They were of course duly punished, including calling parents, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit grateful rather than angry. Possibly I’m also too exhausted to feel properly angry about anything…
Today I have finally managed to teach my year 8. It was our 3rd lesson.
I haven’t taught even one lesson to either of my year 9 groups and I’ve seen each of them 3 times already. All I do is shout and try to put them in a sitting plan. And call for SWEEP to take half of them away. Still my Head of Department says I’m doing much better than she’d expected.
So I guess I’ll take the compliment and try again tomorrow.