A brief interlude
I've had a few weeks of being really busy, and I'm set to be having a few more once half term is over, but this week has been quieter, so now seems a good time for a bit of an update.
As I mentioned in my last (very brief) post, I've recently started doing some exam invigilation for a local(-ish) school. The contrast between it and invigilation earlier in the month at local(-ish) university was quite interesting. At the university, the students were reasonably well-behaved, if tending to the clueless, and my fellow invigilators were a mixed bunch personality-wise, but mostly well over retirement age and with some seeming to prefer to assume I was clueless myself (which is the downside of my still being able to pass for 25 on a good day, I suppose). But overall, the experience was fine, as the system ran very smoothly and everyone (bar the students) knew pretty much what they were supposed to be doing. A the school, by contrast, the pupils are positively angelic, and my invigilator colleagues all very nice and friendly, but the system is an utter pigging shambles. 'Highlights' - all in my first week - have included:
Elsewhere in the city, south of the river, my volunteer 'coaching' is almost over - not before time, as it's becoming increasingly clear that my coachee isn't getting much out of the process and is now only turning up because teachers are catching her at the school gates after school ends and 'reminding' her to do so.
Things are beginning to come together for clerking for School 2 (and 3 and however many it might end up being). I've yet to be formally assigned any specific school(s), but have some shadowing and training lined up and have an introductory meeting the week after next with one Chair of Governors for a school who need someone for the coming year. I've now seen the agreement under which the central organisation makes clerking services available, and one bit actually made me laugh out loud. Among the responsibilities of the school is making sure meetings don't run over 2.5 hours...on penalty of a charge of £20 per 15 minutes if they overrun this. I might have to suggest that kind of charge to School 1; it might focus minds a little in one particular Committee where discussions often seem set to go on more or less forever! ;)
Anyway, as I said, things have been all kinds of busy, but it's been slightly calmer this week. I actually managed to read a few more chapters of the book I started in Whitby week, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which is (unsurprisingly) very good. A and I also got to the cinema last weekend to see Godzilla, which was decent enough, but not as good as I'd been hoping given the involvement of Gareth Edwards, known for his excellent work on Monsters. (I see that IMDB disagrees with me and gives Godzilla the higher score. i can only assume that the voters of IMDB finds explosions and mass destruction more impressive than I do, as there was much less of interest character-wise in this new film.) Oh, and I finally managed to find a free day where the weather wasn't horrid or scheduled to be horrid and did the second coat of paint on the garden shed - it's only been about a year since the first coat!
A is away at a games convention (I did know the name, but it escapes me temporarily) until Sunday night, so I have the place to myself - which means TV to catch up on when he gets back and more time for reading now.
At the moment, my plans for the weekend include a bit of bargain hunting at the Alternative Bring and Buy Sale, and something called Liberté, Égalité, Cabaret on Sunday night. Lots of acts, at least one of which I know is rather good, at the bargain price of a tenner, for a good cause. What's not to like? :)
As I mentioned in my last (very brief) post, I've recently started doing some exam invigilation for a local(-ish) school. The contrast between it and invigilation earlier in the month at local(-ish) university was quite interesting. At the university, the students were reasonably well-behaved, if tending to the clueless, and my fellow invigilators were a mixed bunch personality-wise, but mostly well over retirement age and with some seeming to prefer to assume I was clueless myself (which is the downside of my still being able to pass for 25 on a good day, I suppose). But overall, the experience was fine, as the system ran very smoothly and everyone (bar the students) knew pretty much what they were supposed to be doing. A the school, by contrast, the pupils are positively angelic, and my invigilator colleagues all very nice and friendly, but the system is an utter pigging shambles. 'Highlights' - all in my first week - have included:
- my arriving back after lunch one afternoon (I thought) 10 minutes early and discovering to my horror that I'd been given the wrong time for pre-prep and was 20 minutes late, so the exam had already started;
- arriving at 8.15 the next morning as per the instructions I double-checked with the Exams Office, and standing waiting with colleagues, some of whom had been asked to arrive at 8.00...until the Exams Officer rocked up at 8.20 and only then started trying to decide where to put us all;
- watching as a Deputy Head came in at the end of an exam and summoned a dozen pupils to her office for a bollocking...including one who had been allowed extra time for a learning issue and hadn't actually finished her exam yet. (I really hope the kid's parents throw an almighty fuss about that one.)
Elsewhere in the city, south of the river, my volunteer 'coaching' is almost over - not before time, as it's becoming increasingly clear that my coachee isn't getting much out of the process and is now only turning up because teachers are catching her at the school gates after school ends and 'reminding' her to do so.
Things are beginning to come together for clerking for School 2 (and 3 and however many it might end up being). I've yet to be formally assigned any specific school(s), but have some shadowing and training lined up and have an introductory meeting the week after next with one Chair of Governors for a school who need someone for the coming year. I've now seen the agreement under which the central organisation makes clerking services available, and one bit actually made me laugh out loud. Among the responsibilities of the school is making sure meetings don't run over 2.5 hours...on penalty of a charge of £20 per 15 minutes if they overrun this. I might have to suggest that kind of charge to School 1; it might focus minds a little in one particular Committee where discussions often seem set to go on more or less forever! ;)
Anyway, as I said, things have been all kinds of busy, but it's been slightly calmer this week. I actually managed to read a few more chapters of the book I started in Whitby week, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which is (unsurprisingly) very good. A and I also got to the cinema last weekend to see Godzilla, which was decent enough, but not as good as I'd been hoping given the involvement of Gareth Edwards, known for his excellent work on Monsters. (I see that IMDB disagrees with me and gives Godzilla the higher score. i can only assume that the voters of IMDB finds explosions and mass destruction more impressive than I do, as there was much less of interest character-wise in this new film.) Oh, and I finally managed to find a free day where the weather wasn't horrid or scheduled to be horrid and did the second coat of paint on the garden shed - it's only been about a year since the first coat!
A is away at a games convention (I did know the name, but it escapes me temporarily) until Sunday night, so I have the place to myself - which means TV to catch up on when he gets back and more time for reading now.
At the moment, my plans for the weekend include a bit of bargain hunting at the Alternative Bring and Buy Sale, and something called Liberté, Égalité, Cabaret on Sunday night. Lots of acts, at least one of which I know is rather good, at the bargain price of a tenner, for a good cause. What's not to like? :)