But I Smile Anyway…

Little Professor

Well hey there everyone!

Day two of Teacher-dom and I have survived… I think!

Yesterday, as you know, I was nervously excited. It was strange, going into the same old building, from a totally new perspective!

For a start, I have car park privileges, as a teacher…

Oooh ! Get me!

I was there a little early, but I’d rather be in early, and get prepared, than late!  And we had a whole day INSET training, which is school for teachers basically, a teacher training day. Sometimes it is a whole staff affair, sometimes, the teaching assistants are given time to sort out classrooms, but the teachers inevitably need to have training or updates for something or another.

Maths… that’s the subject of today.  I’m not Mrs Numeracy, nope! Give me the literacy hat, any day!!! But, it’s all good to learn, new techniques and suggestions… and out of a whole day, a few pointers that might help in my lovely new Nursery class!

The lack of sleep, coupled with the early start, and a WHOLE DAY of maths was a tough combination, I ended up with a headache again, come 7pm! But still, I was looking forward to the upcoming day, where I got to meet my actual class!

This morning, it was not just me who needed dragging out of bed, but the kids too.  Their holidays were finally over, and a long term stretched out ahead of us three… 8 whole weeks of school before the Summer Holidays! But bounce out, I did, and the kids too. Their first morning of many at breakfast club at school, so mummy could get on with catching up with the other Nursery teacher and get the day’s activities looked at and set up.

The door opened and 18 baffled little faces slowly trooped in. At 3-4 years old, the world is a pretty simple place, and to be settled into your nursery, actually getting ready to start big school, it throws you a bit, to see a new face. Well a familiar face, but in a new setting.

Most of the children have seen me, I’ve dropped by the nursery at our school many times, so they know my face. I’ve worked with some of these children’s older siblings, so they know me through that avenue, some are the siblings of my own children’s friends, so we know each other that way.

But this was different. I am now teacher!  but a bit ‘Teacher without a clue’!

It’s really different in nursery, from the way the day is set up, to how learning is achieved, to the hours.  Firstly, we have two sets of children so that is the same session, taught twice, to two different sets of 20 children. Same learning objectives, but varying reactions from the vastly different groups of children! And then there are not set ‘lessons’, but different activities for the children to encounter, and choose to play with, or the fun of going outdoors, always popular with the children, no matter what the weather. (ask the adults, its another opinion, but unfortunately this is where we have no choice, if they wanna go outside, they go… the joy of free play, and choice!) .

The hours mean we start earlier than the rest of school at 8.45am, and our last child leaves at 3.45pm, allowing each group 3 hours, and theoretically, an hour for lunch, but no breaks within that 3 hours.  An hour for lunch?! Pfttttt!!! After clearing up the morning mess, and setting up the afternoon session, and doing and observations or paperwork, and photocopying required, you get around 15 minutes for lunch…

Oh, and the toilet break… well, I shan’t comment…

The Afternoon kids came, 15 of them, and they started off fine, but I had to leave…

Added to my day, I had another little bit of training slipped in to do with software that we are going to be using, so I didn’t complete the full day with the children.

I was kinda… floating around, trying to absorb everything, it was like a parallel universe to the rest of the school!

Added to this new timetable, was the fact that I won’t get much time to see my old colleagues as our lunches aren’t at the same time… and being in nursery, there is much less time to get out of the classroom, to go say ‘Hi!’ (But I’ll work on that… looking forward to integrating the Nursery into the school more… hopefully!)

But tomorrow will be another day, a full kiddie contact day, and the added prospect of my first every ‘Staff Meeting!

I came home, and was on the PC straight away, getting some work done, before getting the kids into bed. Don’t worry, I did eat, my dear Mother In Law had my dinner ready at her house, and we always pop in there on the way home from school!

So now I retire to my pile of ironing… And some mindless TV… but not before I get the lunches made for tomorrow…

Oh the work never ends for a working mum!!!