Monthly Review: February 2011

Another busy month has seen me do various things at home and in school. Here are some highlights:

Antenatal Classes

Our classes were nothing like the ones you see on TV. The midwife who delivered the courses was lovely and it certainly helped to put some of my worries at ease (and hopefully my wife's too!)

Working with a new student teacher

I love working with trainee teachers and over the last six years I've worked with around 15 of them in one capacity or another. Of course, I'm doing my best to work closely with my new trainee, but I don't feel that I'm supporting her as well as I could. That said, she has made a fabulous start to her placement and is doing very well. My role is so busy at the moment that I think it's best that this is my last trainee for a year or two. 

Horrible Histories

We took our Year Threes to watch Awful Egyptians at the Regent Theatre in Stoke. If you teach about Ancient Egypt and you get the chance to go to see the Horrible Histories then do it - the children will love it!

Missing a visit to France

I was gutted to miss the Year Sixes' visit to France. This was the first time I've not been able to go. It was amazing though to see that the use of the blog and Twitter that I started a few years ago was used to massive effect to communicate with parents back home. It was great to actually be in school to see the reaction from parents! Positive is not the word - they loved it!

French course
This month I finished a French Language and Methodology course. We began the course back in October, and it's without a doubt, one of the best CPD courses I have ever attended. My enthusiasm for a subject I do not find easy to teach has been renewed and my confidence is high. I've got so many things I want to try to put in place in my classroom that I think I'll continue to enjoy teaching French forever.

Visiting friends
Not that having a baby will mean the end of catching up with friends, we wanted to make a point of catching up with a few people at half-term before the baby arrives.

Sorting out my office

My office at home is now looking fantastic and I've cleared the hundreds of jobs that had stacked up on my desk. It was a very productive half-term!