Kids
Another day, another annoying incident with Ashley. We've pretty much resolved to get him chucked out now - his behaviour has been so terrible we shouldn't have to deal with him any more. I resent having tomake a big deal out of everything and write notes to the headship team about every sexually inappropriate thing he says to me - it's time consuming and boring. I've mastered the art of being deadpan in the face of sexual impropriety - it's really quite a skill.
I can't wait for half term - all the pupils are so restless and badly behaved. The terrible thing about the woolly liberal discipline at my school is that when perfectly reasonable kids see cantankerous middle-class shits getting away with murder, they start acting up too. Everything is a struggle with them - no one ever just hears you tell them what to do and then does it. I dunno what you were like at school, but I didn't ever argue with a teacher or tell them to shut up or give them cheek or lift their stuff without asking or any such thing - all of which happens regularly at the place I teach.
It's sort of pathetic. There are some kids there who have had really horrible lives - smack addict parents who die of overdoses, sexual abuse, all the stuff you could imagine and some you can't - and they aren't half as bad as the manipulative nasty kids who just want to get their own way and don't care how much their attitudes stink. The LSAs and support staff do nothing to encourage the genuinely distressed kids to push themselves to do well, and they positively placate the difficult ones. When I think of the 15 year old girl Emma worked with there last year - just 15, and already contracted AIDS when she was raped by someone she knew, but she still mentored other kids and got on with her work and tried to do her best. Compared with her, there are so few kids who could have anything to complain about - least of all Ashley.
Bleh. I don't want to think about it too much, because it's ultimately unsurmountably depressing.
Anyway - half-term in just two more days, thank Christ! It'll be a good one. Stuart is coming for a visit and Chris'll be coming too. There'll be gigs and giggles and friends and fun. I could really do with a laugh, obviously - 2008 has not gone well for me so far and I'm tired of feeling bad.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I haven't been single on Valentine's Day for the past two years. I find myself not really caring, and I can barely remember what we did or what happened with it when we were together. I'm going to do lots of planning work to avoid having to work over half term and then I will:
<¤> Buy some flowers for the kitchen
<¤> Buy myself some sweets
<¤> Drink some gin
<¤> Watch something great - at the moment, I'm thinking either 'Blade Runner' or 'Le Weekend'
It will probably be the best Valentine's Day ever.
This MIA song has been in my head all day - I played it for the Year 8s at the end of their lesson and they loved it, and more than once today I've found myself merrily and absent-mindedly singing in front of a student: "Some some some-a some I murder, Some-a some I let go..."
I can't wait for half term - all the pupils are so restless and badly behaved. The terrible thing about the woolly liberal discipline at my school is that when perfectly reasonable kids see cantankerous middle-class shits getting away with murder, they start acting up too. Everything is a struggle with them - no one ever just hears you tell them what to do and then does it. I dunno what you were like at school, but I didn't ever argue with a teacher or tell them to shut up or give them cheek or lift their stuff without asking or any such thing - all of which happens regularly at the place I teach.
It's sort of pathetic. There are some kids there who have had really horrible lives - smack addict parents who die of overdoses, sexual abuse, all the stuff you could imagine and some you can't - and they aren't half as bad as the manipulative nasty kids who just want to get their own way and don't care how much their attitudes stink. The LSAs and support staff do nothing to encourage the genuinely distressed kids to push themselves to do well, and they positively placate the difficult ones. When I think of the 15 year old girl Emma worked with there last year - just 15, and already contracted AIDS when she was raped by someone she knew, but she still mentored other kids and got on with her work and tried to do her best. Compared with her, there are so few kids who could have anything to complain about - least of all Ashley.
Bleh. I don't want to think about it too much, because it's ultimately unsurmountably depressing.
Anyway - half-term in just two more days, thank Christ! It'll be a good one. Stuart is coming for a visit and Chris'll be coming too. There'll be gigs and giggles and friends and fun. I could really do with a laugh, obviously - 2008 has not gone well for me so far and I'm tired of feeling bad.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I haven't been single on Valentine's Day for the past two years. I find myself not really caring, and I can barely remember what we did or what happened with it when we were together. I'm going to do lots of planning work to avoid having to work over half term and then I will:
<¤> Buy some flowers for the kitchen
<¤> Buy myself some sweets
<¤> Drink some gin
<¤> Watch something great - at the moment, I'm thinking either 'Blade Runner' or 'Le Weekend'
It will probably be the best Valentine's Day ever.
This MIA song has been in my head all day - I played it for the Year 8s at the end of their lesson and they loved it, and more than once today I've found myself merrily and absent-mindedly singing in front of a student: "Some some some-a some I murder, Some-a some I let go..."