paranoia

Good news….I found a website to appeal against the ****** parking ticket, and lodged my appeal online, informing them I have proof of payment. Bad news………..I lost the ticket proving payment!!!!! Good news…………found it again today!
More good news………..I have been reading Geoff Petty’s ‘Evidence Based Teaching’(it’s the in thing, you know)and ‘Teaching Today’, which has reassured me that I am actually doing quite a lot of the recommended ’stuff’ already. This boosted my confidence no end. Bad news………..first observation looms!!!!
First half of the input session was about reflective practice followed by best practice. We had to take in a lesson plan we had taught and scrutinise it for good and bad points…….hmmmmmm yes,well……. moving on……..
As the session went on, we discovered more and more ’stuff’ we are required to include in our observed lessons. Class profile,for example must contain notes for each student (!!!) on level,background, learning style,assessmnet to date, and any relevant detail which could affect the teaching or learning! So that’s fine, then-no problems!!!!!! I felt close to tears.
Thank goodness for the second half-feedback on the mini task from last session. Very interesting-and no,sadly I did NOT shine, as I thought I would;actually my effort was very mediocre. The final nail in the coffin was when I had to ask what ‘inflected’ meant when referring to verbs!!! I’m sure everyone knows that-I, unfortunately, did not and this did nothing to boost my already drooping confidence.
On a (slightly) lighter note, (I use that term rather a lot, don’t I?)I have at least managed to log sixteen and a half hours of lesson plans. Only ninety-seven and a half to go then!
The presentation looms-(shivers in fear)-it’s no laughing matter, really.I just need to find the Tomlinson report somewhere, summarise it, pick out the important parts, match all these pats to the corresponding column in the grid, and think of an entertaining way of presenting these rivettingly interesting facts and figures to the rest of my class.
How could I ever have thought that CELTA was easy???????
More bad news……I missed my daughter’s school parents evening two weeks ago, rather than miss a week of the course. Now I find out that the Year 9 Options Evening is also on a Tuesday-next Tuesday, in fact. Had a very nice letter from her head of year saying how sorry she was not to have seen me at Parents Evening, and hoping I could make it to the Options Evening. So I had to make myself look totally uncommitted to the course by asking my tutor if I could leave early next week. She said that of course I shouldn’t miss this event, that it was very important, but of course the paranoid side of me was convinced that the words were uttered through clenched teeth, and I swear I could hear what she was really thinking……..useless, uncommitted, drama queen. I just KNOW she was!!!!
I need to start planning all my observed lessons well in advance. I am sooooooooooo scared.
Meanwhile, I must sleep, perchance to dream and all that. Just hope that damned grid assignment doesn’t make an appearance!
Until next week, then-bye!