Planet Mad

The Times Educational Supplement is the bible for all job-seeking teachers. I've used its internet job advert service for a long time, but have only recently discovered its forums. Many of the forums and bulletin boards on t'net are full of geeks and spods; the Times Ed ones are worse because they're full of TEACHER spods and geeks. Seek them out at your peril! The group who use it most seem to be the trainee teachers, which is understandable, as they have far lighter timetables and far less marking than most. Some of them are touchingly idealistic, many are finding it tough going. Their comments range from pleas for help to brash statements made with all the authority of someone who has spent five weeks on placement in school. There have, however, been some interesting debates going on about the role of independent schools. For some reason, the mere mention of private education seems to bring out the worst in some people; there have been a lot of ideological comments that seem to work on the "I believe this, therefore I'm right, and if you're betraying this belief then you're wrong" principle. I am amused, to say the least, but - hell - if it's wrong to be teaching in a nice village with nice kids and nice colleagues, in a system that functions fairly smoothly *and* gives me nice long holidays, I don't want to be right.

This afternoon consisted of one good lesson, in which great progress was made, and one lesson in which three boys were utter shits, making no effort to participate in the activities I'd carefully planned, choosing instead to pronounce it all 'crap'. I felt really pissed off at them: they ruined what had been a sound day, and made me wonder why I even bothered to try to make the subject interesting. It wasn't until I sat back and thought about it that I realised how rarely I feel like this; at my previous school it would have been at least once a week. Today has been the first time in years. I am still pissed off at those boys, but it makes me appreciate all my other pupils far more. More than anything, I'm angry at myself for letting three arrogant little twats overshadow a good day's teaching and make me forget what I love about my job. Perhaps it's time for a (slightly delayed!) resolution: I need to focus on the positive and not lose sight of the big picture. Please keep reminding me of this...