a typical week

Anna has inspired me to write about the daily and weekly things that are usual. I arrive at work every day at 7:30 and work for an hour, doing marking, or prep work for the lessons ahead. Occasionally I need to do some photocopying, but I try to avoid doing this in the mornings since the photocopiers are always really busy and they jam or run out of paper every morning.

On Mondays we go to whole school assembly and so my twenty minute tutor time is taken up with getting into the sports hall and out again after a sometimes inspiring speech. On the other mornings of the week I start the day with tutor time, during which I register my tutor group and check their equipment and make them read in silence. At the end of every day they come to see me for five minutes to be registered and to show me their detention pages in their planners. I keep behind anyone who has a detention and try to scare or help them depending on what type of detention they got.

On Wednesday we have a meeting after school. It rotates between a maths department meeting, a year team meeting (for all the tutors in my year group), an action group meeting (this year I am on the gifted and talented action group), or a parents' evening.

On Fridays we have the maths department detention after school. So I go through to the classroom it is held in and check to see if all the students I am expecting have turned up for their detention. If not, I write them school detention referrals (a longer detention held by a member of senior leadership for more severe offenses). On Friday afternoons I also try to get all the next week's worksheets ready and make sure I have all the photocopies I need. I plan the next week's lessons in rough and try to do the filing before I go home. The school closes at 5:45 each evening so I usually leave then.

On Tuesdays I have been trying to go to kickboxing. (Not today, though, obviously, since I am sick.) I cycle there after work and usually have about an hour to read or mark while I am waiting for it to start. Starting this Thursday, Ant and I are taking a German class after work. It looks like I will have to take the train on that day since the class is not really within a cycling distance of work for Ant. We plan to meet there after work and our class goes from 6:30 to 9:00. We are both really excited about learning German and about doing something new together.

On Saturdays I have been going to Outreach with the church and doing chores at home. We go to church on Sunday and we iron work clothes for the week ahead. We are trying to do a bit more with our weekends because we naturally like to sit around and loaf.