More about me

What time did you get up this morning?

8.50 (well, it is Xmas school hols!)

Diamonds or pearls?

diamonds

What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

War of the worlds

What is your favourite TV show?

A Place in the sun

What do you usually have for breakfast?

yoghurt or a banana

Favourite cuisine?

chinese

What food do you dislike?

beetroot

What is your favourite CD at the moment?

David Gray's White Ladder

Morning or night person?

night

Favourite sandwich?

don't like sandwiches

What characteristic do you despise?

narrowmindedness

Favourite item of clothing?

jeans

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be?

mid-west USA

What colour is your bathroom?

white

Favourite brand of clothing?

Next always fit nicely

Where would you retire to?

southern Spain

What was your most memorable birthday?

my 21st, not only was it my 21st, I'd also just passed my driving test and moved into my first house

Favourite sport to watch?

football

Who do you least expect to complete this?

husband

Person you expect to complete it first?

son

Person who is least busy?

son!

When is your birthday?

25th January

What is your shoe size?

6

Pets?

died

Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?

I've just booked 10 days holidays in Spain during the Easter break :o)

What did you want to be when you were little?

teacher

What is your favourite flower?

pink carnations

What date on the calendar you are looking forward to?

Xmas day

One word to describe the person who you snaffled this from?

unfamiliar (I was just browsing blogs!)

Waheey!!

I don't believe it, I got 2 distinctions and my diploma in Classics!!

As a result I've changed my plans for next year and am going to follow up from the diploma with AA309 (Culture, Identity and Power in Rome)
http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C02AA309
Yep, that's right, just one course next year :o) It's a level 3 so I gotta make a good job of it haven't I if I want a 2:1

If you've just had your results from the OU I hope you got what you wanted.

wisdom teeth

If it's not one thing it's another. Got my filing today...fine...was very brave .... until she then tells me that I need another wisdom tooth extracted (yipes). I've already had the bottom two wisdom teeth out, both required stitches and were horrific experiences, even with the second one being done under general anaesthetic. The dentist assures me that upper wisdom teeth come out much easier than lower ones....I hope she's not telling me porky-pies, 'cos I've opted for no sedation, just the numbing injection. How I hate going to the dentist, now I have to go again next month for this extraction, and then make yet another appointment for another filing. Is there a dark corner anywhere that I can hide in?

Rock bottom

I think I've reached it, or maybe it's that S.A.D. thingy that is around at this time of year. As a consequence I have, all in the space of a week:
had a lickle chat with my Head about the demands of being a mum, worker and student, and as a result am now only working 3 days a week from January, I thought that would give me more time to do study, lesson planning and housey stuff, hence more time for kids and hub in the evenings and weekends, but.....feeling no more positive about this forthcoming change after a couple of days I...
cancelled my O.U courses for next year!! Anyone who knows me quite well will be as shocked as I was the day after I sent the cancellation email. O.U has been a big part of my life since 2001. Maybe that's the whole problem, am I 'all studied out'? Admittedly my job was never as busy as it has been in the last few months, could be that I have just reached overload all round. Even the O.U's conferencing, First Class, doesn't hold the same appeal anymore. I'd rather get an early night with a nice easy book (and I have plenty of those waiting to be read)

Anyhow, to get over the shock I have been planning what I can get up to next year:
1. Use the treadmill that has gathered dust since the summer
2. Start learning Spanish in time for 2006's summer holiday
3. The kids!! They'd love more playtime with me!
4. Ever-tolerant hub, I'm sure he'd appreciate not seeing my head stuck behind a book or in front of the PC screen.
5. Read all those juicy-can't-put-down books.

Still no exam results, although I hear some results for courses that have no exam are out. November flew by, but December is dragging! Won't make any difference to my plans though, whatever the results. If they are good, then that's a good way to end this period of study, and if they are bad, I never intended to resit them, so it will still be time to move on. Maybe I'll come back to finish my degree in 2007, maybe I won't...not sure I need it if I don't want to become a teacher!

Ending on a positive note, it's Panto season! The whole school is marching down to the Central Theatre on Friday for, not sure now, Aladdin? Can't wait, big kid when it comes to pantos, in fact, if I recall, last year it was me up and clapping while the Year 4s stared at me as if I was mad! I'm sure the Year 1s and 2s will be much more appreciatve of my fun-loving side this year :O) And 'cos they are diddly-lickle Year 1s and 2s, we get to sit near the front! Maybe I'll catch a sweetie this year....or a squirt of water!

Therapy over, off the couch and back to reality, where that book and a bubbly bath awaits.

Seasons Greetings to all Bloggers, and to those awaiting exam results....not long now, hope the news is good.

T

Tired

Been a while since I posted. I never imagined teaching, behaviour management and planning would be so mentally and emotionally tiring. Once in a while is okay, but 6-8 lessons a week.....well, anyone who teaches 5 days a week has my complete respect!
On the up-side I am now officially (as in, according to the Teacher Training Agency!) a HLTA, which means that my school will now pay me HLTA rate (may only be an extra £1.75 per hour after tax, but that's a different moan and I don't want to bore you) and backdate it to September :O) Xmas shopping here I come!
I hear the O.U. exam results date is out! Happens to be the last day of school. I'm hoping that there won't be much going on in the classroom and that someone will cover for me when I keep logging on in the ICT suite to see if the results are on my home page.
Good luck to anyone who is awaiting exam results, only another month to go!!

Yippee!! Exams are over. I can have a rest :o) I give myself a week before I get started on next year's courses, doesn't take me long to miss studying, sad moo that I am!

Links!

Yes! I've managed to figure out how to add something else to my column on the left...not by following Bloggers Help, but by having a look at the page sources of other blogger's sites :o) More links to follow.... but first, some more revision....yawn.

One down, one to go!

hurray, that's one exam out of the way, just one more to do on Wednesday afternoon. This one wasn't as bad as it could have been, none of the topics I revised in any depth came up (now isn't that just typical!), but I managed a load of waffle straight off the top of my head and even got in a few examples, so fingers crossed it's enough for a pass. If it is I'll be the proud owner of a Classics Diploma :o) If not I won't be doing a resit!

7 things...

7 things I plan to do before I die:
visit Pompeii
tour west/midwest U.S.A in a motorhome
learn Spanish
learn to play the guitar
collect my BA (Hons)
own a sports car (not sure which on yet!)
buy a place in Spain with a pool

7 things I can do:
quit comfort eating (if I try hard enough!)
'get by' with my computer
swim
rememeber most of the Ancient Greek alphabet (handy!!)
Revision-avoidance techniques (got it mastered!)
parallel park!
A tutor at Canterbury Christchurch Unviersity College said we are very good at undervaluing ourselves, this proves it, I can't think of anything else!

7 things I cannot do:
sort out some columns for this blog!
speed type accurately
sing
maths
go on fast/dark/high theme parks rides without panicking
scuba dive (scarey!)
bungee jump (no way!)

7 things that attract me to another person:
sense of humour
blue eyes
kindness
being made to feel special
lips
smell (nice ones!)
height (taller than me, but not 'lanky')

7 things that I say most often:
1, 2, 3, turn and look at me (for teaching infants!)
stop shouting (to my kids!)
that's life!
we're going to be late if you don't hurry up!
groovy!
righty-ho
have you got any homework? (to my kids!)

7 celebrity crushes:
Pierce Brosnan
Vin Diesel
Guy Pearce
Kevin Costner
George Clooney
and Michael Douglas' voice

that was fun, and a good revision-avoidance technique!

(Idea borrowed from Palspost, here on blogspot).

Tomorrow is.....

E day!! 10 am to be exact. Tonight I pack my new pens, bag of sweeties and water (for clear thinking!), passport and specs, skim my notes (A209, Athens) and panic about what I haven't revised!
Tomorrow p.m I celebrate with small box of chocs hub has brought home and some revision for my next exam (19th, K204 Working with children and families).
Can't wait for half term, we'll get away in the campervan to a site with a bar, accompanied by some caravanning friends, forget all about study books before the enxt onslaught. Usually I start my my next courses really early, but I won't have a day off for the whole of November (apart from weekends) because I'm going on a Speech and Language course through work. Looking forward to that.

Creating another column....

how come everyone has nice links to websites in a column next to their blog! I can't get it to work, LOL! I've tried the instructions in Blogger Help but when I tried this... "Say you want to post a list of books you're currently reading in the sidebar of your main blog page. First you'll need to create a new blog. Log into Blogger and click "Create a new blog" link in the right column. Specify the information requested and then click on Settings to enter additional information needed there. We'll use "books.html" as the file name for this new blog." ...there's no Create New Blog link (although there is a Create A Blog link under the 'Last update' column. Heeeelp!

nothing like booking a holiday....

....to cheer you up :o)
After a miserable weekend when hub decided he'd start decorating the bathroom (leaving saws across the landing floor, which I tripped on and deeply cut two toes....eeeeeow!) while I tried to sleep and shake off a nasty cold, we decided to book next summer's holiday, seeing as flights to Malaga were 'only' £51 each (when you're a family of four you can guess why I say 'only'!)

So 31st July 2006 we fly to sunny Spain, for the 3rd time since Xmas 2004 (yes, we really do like southern Spain!) with BA (much better than Iberia!), to stay in a cottage beside a villa, with private pool and air conditioning (a complete must in August!) for 3 glorious, sun-filled, stress-free weeks (ok, so I may have to take along a little bit of Open Uni work as I'll have 2 ECAs and an exam due in Septmeber/October, but where better to study, by a pool, iced Malibu and Pineapple at arm's reach, warm sun beating down, and kids sitting in the cottage with their Playstations...I kid you not! After a few hours in the pool they'll be bored of sun, mountain-views, inflatables and water, I betcha!) Gosh, that was a long sentence! We'll be inland.....Coin, if you want to look it up, but this is typical of the scenery inland and west of Malaga:
Maybe we'll go back and see the monkeys on Gibraltar.....




(from left to right...adorable monkey,
a fascinated- 'I want one' Sam, an ever-so
slightly-unsure-of-those-
hairy-things-that-want-to-grab-
your-bags Katie, and a glad-the-kids-
aren't-moaning-for-once Hub)


It'd be nice to take a trip back to Benalmadena... above photo taken December 2005....who'd have thought the sky could be so blue in December...... certainly beats last year's 'summer'(!) holiday in Scotland:

Back to reality (yes, it's rained here today!).... I'd forgotten how mishievious 5/6 year olds can be. The class today was the class from hell! Was pleased to hear from the teacher and TA afterwards that nothing I'd have done would have made alot of difference to their learning! If they don't wanna learn, there's not alot you can do if you've already tried to make it fun and pace-y! (Any ideas feel free to correct me here!).Part of the problem is that there is a high proportion of children who cannot access the Curriculum....some haven't even achieved well in the Foundation Stage Profile and hence don't have the foggiest what is going on in maths and literacy (one cannot even show me three fingers, let alone count to three), a couple have difficulty with speech....but here there's a glimmer of hope...in November school is sending me on a 4 day Speech and Language course, looking forward to that....when I was in my late teens, mum secretly hoped that I'd be a Speech Therapist (or a horiculturalist! Why?...she told me today that her reasoning behind that one was because she liked the look of Hadlow College in Kent!!)....it (Speech Therapy, not horiculture!) came a close second to teaching in my 'what I want to do when I leave school' thought processes.



Since it's waaay past my bedtime and I have managed successfully to avoid any exam revision it's time to bid you all g'night. Sleep tight...

Yipppeeee!

I passed T183!
I thought it might be a close shave as I did rush the ECA a bit, and it was a bit simple in terms of design (I'll never make a web designer!), but I got a healthy 70%! If I've done this right, you'll find it here
What a nice way to end the week. Yesterday I was almost ready to hand in my notice having discovered that lesson planning and revision just don't mix. I thought, I can have this job which I, for the most part, love, or I can study and get that degree...but I can't see how I am going to do both....unless I can lock myself away somewhere quiet at the end of the day with a plate of goodies and some Malibu! Not sure I want to be a 'real' teacher....I want some 'me' time and family time when I'm at home. It seems to me that they deserve huge payrises and earn every minute of those long school holidays. Teachers out there, you are appreciated and you do darned good jobs, just a shame you don't get the recognition for it. Off my high horse now....back to housework (minimal!!), planning (too much, it's my weekend!), and kids' homework (they definitely don't get enough, LOL!)
Have a good weekend...

Survived!

I survived my first week as a HLTA! I have a stinking headache, but now that the weekend's here I feel like I've achieved something. Today was maths (yuck! Not my 'thing') and ICT, which I loved, it was fun! Funny how you forget that kids need to learn the basics like which side of the mouse to click to select, and how to click and drag simulatenously! And these little ones (Year 1 and 2) really needed help with their fine motor skills, that's for sure! We compared dressing a real fluffy teddy bear with a bear online.

All I need to do now is plan next week's lessons, get some revision done, deal with kids' homework (and have they got lots with their new teachers, that's a shock to the system!), clean house and find some time to just sit! Should be a doddle ;o)

If you want to experience dressing a teddy online I can recommend this one

Day from hell

Good job I do this job for love not the money! Three days in and already I'm thinking "when's it half term?!!"
It's great fun working with 3 different teachers you know....not only do you have to get to know how they work and where they keep everything, I've also discovered they all expect different levels of competence from me!
Teacher 1, Monday morning "I've done the Numeracy and Literacy plan for you this week, just so as to ease you in, all you need to do is deliver it, and I'll make sure I tell you the Learning Objective for next week's lesson before the end of the week so you can plan it in advance" (thank you very much, that'll do nicely!)
Teacher 2, Tuesday morning "here's your literacy plan for tomorrow. I haven't done the ICT plan for tomorrow yet." Get my mitts on the ICT plan Weds 8.30 a.m. No time to plan for it since have to deliver that Literacy lesson first! (Your flexible friend, that's me)
Teacher 3, Tuesday morning "ICT plan is in that folder, there's a few bits that still need planning, for maths can you plan some games so the children can practice ordering".....right....need to have this done for Friday.....today is nearly over....tomorrow is my day off (supposedly soley for OU study!)... I have no ICT resources at home, have found bu**er all on the Internet, but luckily have a few maths games ideas up my sleeve, if only I can get to the photocopier before the class arrives on Friday! ( Has anyone nabbed a website by the name of lastminute.com? Yes, ah well, would have suited me down to the ground.)

On top of which had to desert my post to accompany son to Casualty with a concussion this afternoon. They let him come home (surprise, surprise) and I should take him back if he is drowsy or sick, or acting strangely. Funny how he fell asleep in Casualty between seeing Triage and the doctor and could hardly string together a coherent sentence or give meaningful answers to the doctor's questions, yet he was fine to go home!! From the minute we got home he has slept (apart from for a lickle tiddle) and he still slurs odd meaningless sentences. I sense a long restless night ahead.

Am I waffling, sure I am! Do you detect any sarcasm, sure ya do! How else is a woman to stay sane? :o) Told you this Blog would end up being a nice bit of therapy for me...all I need now is a couch to lie down on....
Night all