End of the first week

It's Friday night, and the end of the first week of term. I've now seen all my classes (some of them 3 times) and though there has been (and still is) a lot to learn, I already feel part of the place. I teach in excess of 250 boys, so it's going to be a major job getting to know all their names! I feel that, as a department, we've already made a significant and positive impact; building, largely from scratch, a new Philosophy and RS Department (previously "RE") - I'm working with two highly talented and experienced philosophy & RS teachers with different specialisms and interests - but with a common ethos and standards - and we're learning a great deal from each other. Coming from the UK, it's a totally different kind of challenge, but one which we all enjoy, at the moment anyway!


The main aim for next week has to be to reduce our working hours - we've produced and delivered some excellent lessons and schemes of work, but we cannot sustain current levels of input; I'm not sure yet how we are going to do that (and my Diploma in Education hasn't started yet!) let alone how I will manage when the rugby season kicks in (training twice a week and matches on Saturdays).


The weather here is awful - it's hot and rainy - in fact it's currently torrential. I was on 'back gate' duty after school today and was faced with a choice of not wearing a raincoat and getting soaked by the rain, or wearing a raincoat and getting soaked in sweat. I opted for the latter.


First pay slip today - it made the beer after work taste that much better....