Guest blogging on School Gate

It has been an exhausting year so far and, as is usual for me as we trudge towards the summer term, I am currently bemoaning my career choice and making what will ultimately prove to be empty threats about changing my job.

I have decided to postpone my decision, however, because Siobhan Curious, who writes "Classroom as a microcosm", is currently starring as a guest blogger on Sarah Ebner's School Gate. Her topic? Overcoming burnout and learning to love teaching again. I am hoping that her series of posts can help to inspire me and fill me with the enthusiasm necessary to make it across the finish line once again.

Rose report

Following on from the previous post, this balanced article from the BBC news website has some very interesting arguments for and against the recent recommendations made by Sir Jim Rose.

The computer age

I am very pleased that fomer head of Ofsted Sir Jim Rose's recently published report strongly recommends that computer technology should become an integral part of the primary school curriculum in England.

At last! Someone with a recognised voice in education is calling for more innovative technology to be used in the classroom. This is music to my ears because I have long since been an advocate of increased ICT use in schools. It is 2009 and we should be making full and proper use of the wonderful resources available to us.


Having said that, my happiness was short-lived: Rose also suggests that from 2011 all children should have the option of starting school in the September immediately after their fourth birthday. I disagree with this. To my mind, this is too early and does not allow for sufficient early years to be spent at home and subsequently at nursery. My idea is that attendance at nursery for a minimum of one year ought to be compulsory, with kids starting primary school in the September immediately after their fifth birthday. The secondary school structure could be altered in order to compliment this change, with the complete removal of (the often futile) Year 9 being the option that I favour.

Hunger and Hope

As I type these words, more than 500 million people are living in poverty. They do not have enough money for food and many are dying from hunger. The World Health Organisation estimates that this extremely high level of poverty means that 1/3 of the world's population is underfed and yet another 1/3 is starving.

If you would like to get involved and take action to solve this problem, please click on this link.

Behaviour Behaviour Behaviour

Sir Alan Steer, former successful headmaster and current government behaviour tsar, has been all over the television, newspapers and internet during the past week since the initial publication of his report Learning behaviour: Lessons learned, which is a review of behaviour standards and practices in our schools. Although the final report is not due to be published until November, his initial findings have prompted comments from various corners of the media, including the bbc news website, Mortarboard, and of course other education blogs.

I did not read all 208 pages but I have read the vast majority of his findings and I certainly paid close attention to the 47 recommendations. Most people seem to have picked up on Steer's statement that behaviour in schools is very good and is improving. He has therefore been heavily criticised for being sorely out of touch with the realities faced by classroom teachers up and down the country. I cannot agree with his statement. Based on my current and previous experiences in several British schools, my opinion is that average student behaviour is in fact bad and getting worse. Also, I am annoyed and angered by the implication that disruptive behaviour is often the result of bad teaching. This myth has been wrongly fuelled for far too long and needs to be quashed, not encouraged.

However, I would like to say that I have respect for Steer's previous accomplishments as a highly successful headmaster and I do agree with and take heart from much of what he has written. Granted, some of his suggestions are rather obvious: All teachers must have seating plans; codes of conduct must be clearly displayed on walls; senior staff must be a visible and effective presence in corridors between and during lessons. These ideas are not exactly revolutionary, yet it needs to be said that even these simple things are far from commonplace in too many schools and classrooms. Such negligence fuels disruption, creates further, unnecessary problems, and is symptomatic of the rot at the core of the education system.
In addition to his finding that general behaviour is good, Steer does concede that "much remains to be done to raise standards" and that there is definite "scope for further improvment." This fills me with hope that he is not as out of touch with the current climate as others believe.
Three further comments that also fill me wth hope are as follows: Steer suggests that "effective early intervention" is critical. I have long since been an advocate of dealing with potential troublemakers at the earliest opportunity rather than giving them too many opportunities to effect a change that is unlikely. In addition to this, he comments that "parents and teachers should work ...with mutual regard." This is certainly a crucial point as it has been my experience that links between schools and the wider community, particularly parents, are not as strong as they could be. Immediate, significant changes are needed in this regard. Lastly, Steer calls for widespread "recognition of well-behaved students and supportive parents." This is absolutely spot-on because far too much time and resources are regularly given over to dealing with the negatives and not enough credit is given to well-behaved students and to the parents who encourage them to learn and to behave well. More praise is needed.

Finally, I am greatly encouraged by Steer's conviction that "poor behaviour cannot be tolerated as it is the right of pupils to learn and teachers to teach." This will strike a chord with everyone who has a vested interest in teaching and learning and I hope that Sir Alan Steer's report will have the desired impact, namely that it acts as a much-needed wake-up call that brings about positive changes in education.

Fair pay for teachers

Almost exactly one year ago I wrote a post about the imminent union strike and another post about the proposed pay increase at that time. The information and arguments I put forward then are still relevant today as the same debate has hit the headlines in various forms over the past week. For example, the bbc news website has reported that the leading teachers' union - the NUT - is demanding a 10% pay increase. This issue always sparks many different opinions and I am always angered by two things in particular: The deliberate lies and misinformation put forward by the government; and the ignorant reactions of people who fail to recognise the worth of a good teacher and who choose to focus instead on a teacher's holiday entitlement. Mortarboard, the Guardian newspaper's education blog, has an interesting post on the topic and the comments section is a perfect example of the many varying opinions that tend to be put forward when the issue of teachers' pay arises.


Last year, the former Schools Minister Jim Knight used his various television appearances and a badly written piece in the Times Educational Supplement to state that the salary of an average teacher was £34,000. That figure was inaccurate and grossly, deliberately misleading. One year on, the current Schools Minister for England, Sarah McCarthy-Fry, is saying that the salary of an average teacher is now £33,000. This new figure is also inaccurate and grossly, deliberately misleading. Traditionally, teachers have never enjoyed public sympathy and have never received substantial public backing. Claims such as those made by two consecutive Schools Ministers will serve only to further dent the fragile suport that does exist. When the take-home pay of all teachers working in our schools is taken in to account, from head teachers through AST's down to NQT's and GTP's, the average salary may well calculate as £33,000 or even £34,000. However, this figure is a gross misrepresentation of the current wage structure of a classroom teacher on the main pay scale, The starting salary for a newly qualified teacher is just over £20,000 and it takes six years of classroom teaching to reach just over £30,000, which marks the limit of the main pay scale. These figures highlight the fact that the average salary being quoted simply cannot be true. It is not within an average teacher's pay scale and is therefore impossible.

I concur with those who put forth the view that many teachers currently working in our schools are incompetent and do not deserve any form of pay increase. I concur with this opinion because it is true- many of my former and current colleagues are bad professionals who do a bad job on a daily basis. Too many of them would struggle to keep their jobs if they were working in the private sector. Their lazy approach to work damages the reputation of the vast majority of teachers who do a wonderful job in increasingly difficult circumstances. It is unfair to tar the many with the flaws of the few, particularly when it is undeniable that every job in every industry has it's damaging passengers. Those of us who work hard deserve a pay increase that is already overdue.


Teachers have been insulted by paltry, below inflation pay rises for a worrying number of consecutive years. A reasonable, satisfactory pay rise is necessary and absolutely deserved. The current financial climate - crudely being used as an argument against an increase -is, in my opinion, irrelevant. Teachers have been handed insufficient pay increases long before the term "credit crunch" became a part of common vocabulary. 10% is unrealistic and the NUT knows it. They are simply using that figure as a starting point. I will never see a 10% increase. All I want is a wage rise that is fair and that does not leave me, as a hard-working and dedicated professional, feeling cheated, insulted and worried about money.

Teaching quotes

The legendary Victoria Westcott over at Classroom Canada recently included a post on her blog entitled "10 of my favourite Quotes for Teachers." This has prompted me to post a list of my own:

"The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds."
ANATOLE FRANCE

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."
JOHN LUBBOCK

"The first duty of a lecturer- to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantlepiece forever."
VIRGINIA WOOLF

"The world talks to the mind. A teacher speaks more intimately; (s)he speaks to the heart."
HAIM GINOTT

"Teaching provides a way to stay young at heart, to maintain a lifetime of active learning.... It is in every respect a profession of hope."
VITO PERRONE

"It is a glorious fever, that desire to know."
EDWARD BULWER LYTTON


My absolute favourite comes from my favourite book, Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" -

"...he was a teacher, and it may be said that he had every right to teach because he spent all his time learning."

The teacher in trainers

At the beginning of the year I included two separate posts on this blog about the silly teacher whose decision to wear scruffy sports clothes to work resulted in his eventual dismissal. I agreed with the school's decision and voiced my opinion that his sacking was completely justified. I still hold fast to that view of things. Many of his former colleagues, however, supported his appeal and we were led to believe that they would have been willing to strike over the issue. An article on the bbc news website today reports that the ridiculous notion of industrial action has sensibly been avoided and that the union and the council have reached a "confidential agreement."

Mr Swain, the former teacher at the very centre of this sorry tale, has said that he was unable to comment on the agreement. No doubt because he was down at the local sports shop stocking up on a choice of rugby shirts to wear to his next batch of job interviews.

What about the teacher's rights?

Normally I drive to work and therefore I don't spend much time on any form of public transport. When I went away for a few days during the recent half-term break, I caught a bus and then a train to the airport. I noticed signs and posters everywhere. On walls, windows, cash desks, information desks, check-in desks etc, etc:


"Our staff have the right to work without fear of assault or harassment."

"Verbal and/or physical abuse of our staff will not be tolerated."

"We seek to prosecute anyone who attacks the people who work here."


I have seen similar things in hospitals, GP surgeries, banks, supermarkets and even post-offices. Basically almost anywhere that has members of the public as customers. All of these signs and posters are designed to hammer home one very clear, distinctive message.

My colleagues and I are confronted with verbal absue on a daily basis, as well as occasional incidents of physical abuse. Why are we not afforded the same protection? Are my rights less valuable than those of a doctor, a cashier, a flight attendant, a bus driver and a postal worker? I certainly don't think so. Yet teachers are forced to tolerate the sort of abuse that these other workers would not dream of putting up with. The only possible explantion that I can think of is that we, the teachers and school employees, are primarily dealing with children and therefore the assumption is that these children cannot be held responsible for their actions in the same way that an adult would be. Ok. That makes sense to a certain extent. Perhaps the signs and posters in my class room and around the school ought to read:


"Our teachers have the right to work without fear of disobedience and defiance."

"Constant arguing with teachers will not be tolerated."

"We will seek to prosecute the parents/guardians of those students who choose to verbally and physically abuse the staff who work here."

The scruffy teacher again

I read an article in today's Evening Standard which gave additional details on the teacher who was sacked for wearing trainers and tracksuit bottoms to work. Yet another article on the same topic can be found on the Telegraph's website.

There are several contrasting details across each of these reports on the same story, which makes it quite difficult to establish a concrete opinion on exactly what has happened. My strong comments in my previous post were based soley on the article that I read on the bbc news website.

Having read each of the articles several times, it seems to me that the teacher in question, Adrian Swain, had taught pe and maths for several years and was therefore entitled to wear the aforementioned tracksuit and trainers to work during this time, for clear and obvious reasons. HOWEVER: "Mr Swain... had taken up a new role teaching science and maths." I believe that after dropping his pe responsibilities, this guy simply decided to continue wearing the sports clothes to which he had become accustomed during his lengthy career. And the people at the top of the tree were justifiably against this. He refused to comply even after being given a verbal warning and therefore lost his job as a result. I think that he has been incredibly naive in assuming that wearing inappropriate clothing to work would be overlooked. I think that his comments regarding what students prefer - "Children would much rather have a good teacher who wore trainers than a bad one who was dressed like a businessman" - are rather immature. And I think that he will ultimately lose his appeal, meaning that his sacking will be upheld. He can have no complaints when this happens- particularly if he turns up to the hearing in jeans and a t-shirt!

Teacher fired for wearing trainers

Special needs teacher Adrian Swain was fired from his job in east London for wearing trainers and tracksuit bottoms to school. Of course he was! And quite right too!! I read this article in disbelief and almost choked on my muesli when I read it this morning (I have now calmed down considerably and feel able to write about the madness of it in a reasonably controlled manner).

I think that Adrian Swain is a confused idiot. He is not a pe teacher. He wore tracksuit bottoms and a pair of trainers to work. He didn't - and clearly still doesn't - see anything wrong with this. So he lost his job. Even if dressed in the correct attire, he is not the sort of person who should be responsible for a room filled with impressionable minds. How can he justifiably enforce school rules on the students in his care when he is not willing to comply with the reasonable expectations of his employers? My opinion is that he simply cannot. He is a moron and, assuming that the decision was not taken summarily and that he was given opportuninities to make the required changes, he deserved to lose his job.

If his claim that "he wore tracksuit bottoms and trainers to school throughout his 30-year teaching career without any complaints" is accurate and is neither bluster nor exaggeration, then frankly I am astounded that he was allowed to do so over such a prolonged period of time. Did other people not notice? I go to work in a shirt and tie every day, without exception, and would not consider doing otherwise. In addition to the fact that my job requires me to dress smartly, it sets a great example to my students. If I were to roll in with jeans and a pair of trainers, or perhaps a football strip, people would notice. Immediately. I would expect to be asked to refrain from doing so in the future. If I were to then turn up wearing a tracksuit, for example, I would not be sursprised to find myself in a spot of bother. As a matter of fact, I am equally shocked that he was able to hold down a job of any description for this length of time, such is the clear extent of his stupidity.

This clown Swain then goes on to say that "other staff have regularly worn banned items." What kind of school is St Paul's Way? And why are the staff not dressing appropriately for work? He uses the word "banned" and is therefore fully aware of the fact that he is breaking the rules. It is ludicrous! I am amazed that they have the audacity to call a ballot on industrial action in some sort of protest. Expecting teachers and other adult staff members to wear appropriate clothing is neither bullying nor intimidation and these muppets do not have a leg to stand on. Perhaps they are worried that they will no longer be able to saunter in on a Monday morning wearing pyjamas.

Hopefully they will all be sacked and then they can join unemployed Adrian Swain in wearing whatever the hell they like as they lounge about on the sofa watching daytime telly while the rest of us put on decent gear and head off towards paid employment.

Teachers banned from using red ink

Apparently, hundreds of schools have barred teachers from marking in "confrontational" red in case it upsets their students. This ludicrous idea was obviously dreamed up by the same bunch of imbeciles who decided that the phrase "successfully challenged" was more appropriate and ultimately more encouraging than "failure/failed". It seems that the world of education has finally lost the entire plot!

Seasons greetings

2008, my first year as a blogger, has been interesting and challenging. Although it seems to have passed by very quickly, it has been filled with a real mix of experiences and emotions, positive and negative, in both my working and personal life. The coming year will surely be more of the same, with the inevitable unexpected challenges thrown in along the way: "You have to wait until tomorrow to know what will tomorrow will bring."

I hope that you have all had a wonderful festive period so far and I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my best wishes for the New Year- may it be a happy, healthy and successful one for all of us.

Bad parents

"Poor parenting is the key factor behind the significant gaps in readiness for school."

Of course it is! For a long, long time I have been screaming from the rooftops that the system must hold irresponsible parents to account for their negative actions and their inactions. Innovative technology, superb teaching staff and so-called new pedagogical ideas will ultimately serve no purpose unless certain parents - or types of parents - make more of an effort to raise their children to be well-behaved, articulate people who are able to contribute positively to society.

At the moment, 10% of the students in my school - namely those who are victims of poor parenting - take up 90% of the school's time and resources. And this statistic will be mirrored once these students leave school and stumble, unprepared, out to the world. Incapable of obtaining or maintaining genuine employment due to a lack of social skills and of course a lack of qualifications, this 10% of people will use 90% of society's resources, namely using and often abusing the ridiculous benefits system that exists in this country. This problem, in my opinion, needs to be properly addressed at the source.

BBC news: "Schools seek police aid"

After reading this article on the bbc news website, I am now wondering which Tory MP is using my blog as inspiration!

Police Academy

Following on from yesterday's post, which mentioned frivolous expenditure amid the credit crunch, I realised today that our school must be wasting a fortune every term on 'phone calls to the local police station. The cops are being called on to the premises on such a regular basis lately that I am on first name terms with several of the officers. In fact, there has even been talk of a combined teacher-police night out during the festive season.

Several students have been caught shoplifting from local premises while truanting from class and have since been banned from the town centre; one Year 10 boy was taken out on a stretcher, with the constabulary in attendance, after overdosing on acid (before 10am); a colleague's car was vandalised for the fourth time since the beginning of the current academic year; and yet another Year 10 student, another truant, was knocked down by a local resident's 4x4 while his classmates trudged through some Spanish grammar.

Perhaps we could do our bit to ease the financial burden and cut down on the 'phone bills by employing on-site community officers, as they do in some schools. Or, better still, franchising the local station and therefore bringing the police under the umbrella of the local education authority. My main concern, however, is that our fearless and anti-social students would simply view this new presence as a fresh target for their abusive rage. I wonder if abusing the police in this way would qualify them for free refloxology treatments?

Massaging the figures

I prefer reading books and magazines that suit my own tastes and therefore choose not to read a newspaper every day. Now and again, when I have the time to relax completely, I read the papers at the weekend to catch up on the different sports that I like to follow. I do, however, make a genuine effort to watch the television news at least once each day because I like to, and feel a need to, keep up to date with current events. Every single bulletin that I have watched in recent months has included a significant segment dedicated to the international credit crunch. The ramifications rumble on.

I am earning more money at the moment than I have ever earned before. Which is nice. The problem is that my money is no longer worth what it once was or things that I would like to buy cost more than they once did. Or vice-versa. I am a man of simple pleasures and I have not developed extravagant tastes. I'm not a tight guy, though. I like to eat out and I really like to buy things for other people. Money leaves my pocket easily but I'm not yet worrying unnecessarily.

I do get irked, however, when I see other people being flippant and/or flashy with their cash. This is a common problem at work, of course, and I never cease to be amazed by local eduation authorities who are brazenly wasteful with what is effectively other people's money. For example, as reported by Mike Kent in the Times Educational Supplement: A London LEA recently spent - nay, wasted - £90,000 on two reflexologists to massage the feet of disruptive students. No, I promise that I am not making this up. Granted, the article mentions neither the school nor the authority but I am not surprised to read such a story. In a sector where inclusion and so-called innovative ideas are more important to some people than such things as competetive salaries and having a decent number of decent textbooks, I have no doubt that Mr Kent's article is indeed based on fact and, even more worrying still, that it is simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to similar tales of waste and bad taste.


Once again, I call in to question the value and purpose of some people with seemingly important roles in education, people whose lack of better judgement causes teachers and students to suffer unnecessarily. In this situation, students and teachers will suffer because, as with the credit crunch, inevitable cut-backs will be made to accomodate for the poor judgement of others. And those of us left holding the fort in our classrooms will soon feel a familiar pinch.

I'll be back!

Mr Teacher will be back very soon.

And the nominations are....

Victoria Westcott of Classroom Canada has very kindly nominated a surprised and humbled Mr Teacher for the Best Education Blog over at Blogger's Choice Awards. If you would like to agree with VW's nomination, please click here and cast your vote.

What credit crunch?!

A Staffordshire college has cancelled a four day conference at the last moment after an outcry over the cost- it was due to be held in a four star resort in Marbella.

Click here to watch the Head squirm as he tries to explain things:

Death of a legend

"I picture my epitath: 'Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.' "


I am genuinely saddened by the death of Paul Newman, who was partly responsible for my love of films. He delivered an incredible number of wonderful, iconic performances and in addition to his acting career gave much of his time and money to charitable and political causes.


Here are some of his most memorable quotes:

"I am not able to work anymore...at the level I would want to. You start tto lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."


"I was always a character actor. I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."


"I don't like to discuss my marriage, but I will tell you something which may sound corny but which happens to be true: I have steak at home, why should I go out for hamburger."


"The concept that a person who has a lot holds his hands out to someone who has less, or someone who isn't hurting holds his hands out to someone who is, is simply a human trait that has nothing to do with celebrity."


"I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many human qualities that make up a human being...by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant."


"If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you!"


Rest in peace, Mr Newman.

School Gate @ The Times Online

I received an e-mail yesterday from Sarah Ebner at The Times Online. Sarah edits their educational blog - School Gate - which has now been running for three months. Written from the parental point of view, it is an interesting blog which gives us another perspective on the education system. You can find it from here by following the link on my register.

Sarah was kind (and perceptive!) enough to include Mr Teacher in her most recent post, entitled "The 7 best teacher blogs." I am grateful for being included on such a worthwhile site. The article can be read by clicking on this link.

Mixed emotions

Although previous experience reminds me to continue to be cautiously optimistic, I would like to say that school has been good so far this year. For example, all of today's classes went well. In fact, two students in my last class of the day actually thanked me on the way out of the door. This is very rare for our school, certainly for my classes.

HOWEVER, my main thoughts this evening are dominated by other students who have recently been absent for the following reasons: Problems at home, truancy, bullying and self-harming. It is difficult not to dwell on such harrowing negatives.

Education and Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson delivers an entertaining and very interesting talk on the role of creativity in schools. Much of what he says here has really struck a chord with me.

Oops!

Drunken high jump

The following clip is hilarious and made me laugh out loud:

FL 390: Pilot blog

I stumbled on this blog yesterday and would like to recommend it. It is a fascinating and very worthwhile read.

My first ever blog award!

A big thank you to Melissa B for bestowing on me my first ever blog award.

Aaarrrggghhhh!

I did not expect that my transition from textbook teacher to modern technology legend would run smoothly. These things rarely go according to plan. Change is never easy. Today, laying the requisite foundations for the changes I mentioned in yesterday's post was made more difficult than it needed to be due to the following complications: No fewer than three colleagues let their students out of class almost ten minutes late, meaning that my time with them was restricted; our ICT network is extremely temperemental; kids are rubbish at following simple instructions; and finally, crucially, some students who normally work and behave well with me when in my normal classroom were unable to cope with the changes when we went upstairs to the computer room. The silly things seemed to assume, wrongly of course, that my standard expectations would not apply. Not many of them, but nonetheless too many.

The whole day was by no means a disaster, however. Progress was made and some good groundwork was put in place. I am annoyed and very frustrated but I am also resilient. I remain committed to implementing my new ideas and will charge ahead next week with renewed energy and vigour.

My 50th post

When students reach the point when they are choosing their options for further study - when only English, maths and science are compulsory - my subject suffers tremendously. In other words, hardly anybody picks it. This pains me because I have come to admit to myself that, as a teacher, I must shoulder some of the resonsibility. And I have decided that it is partly due to the fact that my lessons, and my delivery of these lessons, have not been sufficiently interesting and engaging. This is a hard pill to swallow and it has taken me a long time to come round to this way of thinking. I genuinely believe that I am a very good, organised, likeable, harsh-but-fair sort of teacher who gets on well with and manages to educate all but the really horrible kids, and even some of those. However, I am not the finished article and I know that I am still learning my trade, a trade that is constantly evolving.


One of my main flaws is that, to date, I have allowed myself to be wrongly directed by other, more senior and supposedly more experienced members of staff. I am referring specifically to people who also teach my subject. Mr HOD is the most obvious example: As a twenty year man, he displays no flexibility whatsoever and I often wonder how he manages to relate to the kids, particularly when he usually has trouble being social with the other adults in the staff room. I have therefore made a strong decision to distance myself almost completely from the prescriptive curriculum. I am keen to break from the rigidity that binds me, including abandoning the dreaded textbooks that have, sadly, often served as my crutch. My students are able to use wonderful technology such as interactive whiteboards, the internet, mp3 players and mobile 'phones. As am I. The problem is that I do not do so often enough. In my opinion, these devices can and should be used very frequently in the classroom, assuming that the boundaries are clear and the educational benefits are evident. I intend to move towards a more ICT-based way of teaching as a means to re-engage my students.


In recent lessons, as a prelude to this shift in method, I have discussed the aforementioned ideas with each of my classes. The prospect of change has been well-received, even by the crazies in my most challenging class. They all seem to be as excited as I am.


Over the next few weeks I hope to start using more hardware and more software in my lessons, including asking for homework to be e-mailed to me in advance of class rather than handing out books and sheets of paper. When used for the appropriate reasons, i-pods and mobiles will hopefully become as much a part of my lessons as exercise books and pens. All of this will of course require a lot of hard work and effort on my part but I am keen to push ahead with things. Mistakes will undoubtedly be made. Some things will work and some things will not. I must not be daunted by the fluidity of my job. I must try harder.