Inspire Me.

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I have to admit, I'm finding it harder than expected to get through this last week at work.  I thought it would be easy until my colleague called in sick and left me with a class I don't know.  To be fair the kids were really well behaved (I hope that doesn't jinx it for the rest of the week...  One thing made me a bit sad was when they told me they won't achieve the leaving exam...being the 'bad' class.  I was talking to a colleague about this later which was coincidental because her class graduated last week and one of the girls mentioned the same thing in her speech, thanking the said colleague for never giving up on them even though they were the 'bad' class.  It really got me to thinking about where they get this attitude from.  As a teacher, there are certain classes that I dread teaching but I would never tell them that.  It just goes to show how much kids actually pick up on and it's something I need to work on - body language and being more positive.  This also struck me last year when I took a class I had been teaching for over a year on a class trip and they said it was the first time they had seen me smile!  It makes me sad to think that that's the impression I give off!  I think it's because I find it hard to strike the balance between being nice and being a pushover.  Being young and female already has it's disadvantages, especially in a school with so many Muslim boys!  So my target for next year - smile more and be nicer to pupils!  Actually, I'm going to start today when I am doing the game of life project with the same class again.

By the way, if you need a pick me up, try this.