Even more exciting!

Phew - last week got VERY exciting. Then, yesterday, I opened an email to find that one of the children in my class had won a garden design competition. I was so excited that I called him over to read it... then I read the next sentence, telling me not to say anything to him yet. Whoops. Fortunately, he is a very mature ten year old and can keep a secret with relative ease. Odd, though, that no one else asked why we were grinning inanely in a maths lesson...

The prize is that the garden will actually be made in the school grounds! Floral Guernsey are behind the initiative and will come in and make the dream come true...and the Guernsey Press is coming on Friday to report it.

So that's my excitement for the week - more than enough. Phew!

Exciting

I've had such an exciting week. In a tiny, minute kind of way. Nothing global or newsworthy, except in my heart. And it's still only Thursday - Alpha tonight, Holy Spirit Day on Saturday. How much more exciting can it get?

Anyway, my first bit of excitement is... wait for it, this is so sad...my portfolio of evidence for achieving a certificate in PSHE arrived back from assessment.
PSHE stands for Personal, Social and Health Education. I'm the school coordinator. It means life skills really, ties in with the social, moral, spiritual and cultural aims of school.
The portfolio isn't finished yet, but it's not far off. Further than I thought or even hoped.

I also got to observe a PSHE lesson - such fun. It was hugely encouraging to see how the scheme I have put in place is working so well in practice. I picked up some useful tips, too. Our Year 3 teachers are SO gifted, it's always a pleasure to watch them.

My other bit of excitement caught me by surprise. I had gone on an art course on Tuesday. Now, I always believe that educational subject courses are meant to just give me the nuts and bolts for teaching that subject better. Normally, that is exactly what they do and I come back to school with reams of notes and tons of ideas.
Art courses aren't like that. Unfortunately, I always forget what they are like, so when I pitch up and, after a few minutes of introduction we are then told to 'get on with it', I go into meltdown. Quietly, in a controlled and unobtrusive way.

Because I JUST CAN'T PAINT. OR DRAW. OR DO ANYTHING ARTY.

Last course - abstract art - induced pure panic. I spent the first half hour just slapping on paint in the hope that something would emerge. It did, eventually, and didn't look too bad.

This time, we had to paint flowers. Complicated flowers, with a myriad of different hues. Shade, tone... you name it.

I chose a photo of a purple cyclamen. And you know what? I ACTUALLY PAINTED IT. It looks fabulous. I am more thrilled than if I'd had writing published.

Catch up

Thought I’d just catch up on myself for a while. Since starting my Lent thoughts, there hasn’t been much time for jotting down on the blog. Neither does it seem very important, actually. So, looking back, I seem to start thoughts – but not finish.

Take the school inspection. It was a LOT of work to get ready for it. And I mean a lot. The week before, I stayed at school until gone 7 for two of the evenings – only leaving because I had another meeting to go to. It wasn’t HARD work, just time-consuming as we tidied up in all areas: making sure the classrooms were as neat and tidy as possibly, tidying up the children’s work, tidying up our planning and paperwork, tidying our desks, tidying our minds. I guess I was tidied out by the time the inspectors arrived, and the time they were here wasn’t at all stressful. Just busy and a little tense. It was a gift every time I taught an unobserved lesson – and the children benefited. My teaching is twice as good when there is no one looking – or, I should say, only half good enough when someone is. And, in the end, I was only observed three or four times in two days, so not bad really.

So that was that.

Another major excitement was the tadpoles. Joseph brought in some quite mature tadpoles in an ice cream box, the same day I tried again with another batch of frogspawn. I’ve managed to put the photos onto a powerpoint presentation and run it every morning for the children to see their progress. Plus, of course, the little crowd that peers in at the little wrigglers several times a day.

Then there are the willow shoots in a vase, sending out roots under water.

It’s all quite fascinating. “Mrs P, why have you got tadpoles on your desk?” asked one child. “And why have you got twigs?”
“For fun,” I replied.
“For fun?” was the puzzled answer. “Just for fun?”
“Of course. The fun of watching things grow. Just watch how these roots are going!”

But the main excitement has been the multiplying of the talents. I’ve talked about it over at Words From God For Today, where I’ve given all the boys in the year £1 each, to keep safe or to multiply for The Tumaini Fund (supporting AIDS widows and orphans in Tanzania). I have never seen children so enthusiastic or excited about what they are doing, nor so confident in explaining to others. Every break time sees a room full of excited children, looking at the cakes and crafts for sale, negotiating, spending their money.

One of the boys keeps forgetting to bring his money. One day, his friend bought him a cake. Sharing. Kindness. Helpfulness.

It makes it all so worthwhile. I love my job.