Masterpieces and smugness

Today I decided that my general crapness as a teacher recently have come from being under planned and under prepared.

To this end I have planned properly this week including doing a weekly overview of the timetable with learning objectoves for each lesson written on. Hopefully this will stop me getting stressed with kids acting up, constant questioning and last minute lesson planning when i get to school.

As I finished all of this by 5pm i am feeling very smug! I have rewarded myself with a pizza express pizza and a bottle of becks! mmmm!!

So currently I am watching the general sunday night drivel of strictly come dancing results, random ITV celebrity special shows, and tragic 80s films. I have complemented this dire state of affairs with playing on the internet and facebooking (which is slightly annoying as i'm using it to try and get rid of a mighty boosh ticket... but no-one is replying!).

However, I am about to use this time more productively by revising ready for a week of fabulous radio1 greatness. This week Zane lowe is doing a new week of masterpeices. First is Stone roses -The stone roses. I'm really excited as the whole week is amazing! I shall try and comment on each album each night... meanwhile check it out here

Hasta luego
INTI xx

Re discovered greats

Today is a very autmn-y day... cold... mostly grey (although at the moment its very very pretty as the sun has come out!).

It is less than 4 weeks til christmas, and today I have started thinking about present shopping. I have an aim this year of buying most if not all my presents online... this way i can have them delivered to work. SO far i have ordered 2 things; only 25 hundred million left to get.

This week I have mostly been sleepy. the main cause of this is the cats disgust at the temperature, and them deciding my head makes a very good hot waterbottle. At various points during the night they arrive and pad my head to find the best and most comfortable spot, and then sit down. Some mornings i have woken up with cat ear muffs, which although is very warm, freaks me out slightly!

Last weekend I spent an inordinate amount of time doing data analysis of childrens SATS results and creating reports for senior management about the childrens progress... see you never thought teaching was the same as high power business procedure did you!? The bonus of this is that the format i used as a trial report has been adopted by the whole school as good practice! :) Oh how the little geek inside of me swelled with pride!

Big changes have happened this week in the set up of my classroom. At the risk of sending the two slightly OCD/autistic kids in my class into meltdown, i have completely rearanged the classroom tables and redistributed the team point groups. I now have the worlds most unfriendly classroom! I have put the poor kids into rows all facing forward!! hahaha! I have also put my desk at the front, harking back to victorian classrooms! All of this has so far had a positive effect on behaviour in class, and in my sets. The kids don't talk as much and seem to concentrate much better... or at least its easy to spot when one of the kids is falling asleep, (not that my lessons induce sleep... they are just ignorant kids.... hmmm... hope so anyway!) . I genuinely cannot believe i have made the classroom like this as it goes against all my ideals as a teacher, that talk and social interaction is an important part of learning, that peer modelling works, but hey... needs must!

LAst night I cooked the very 70s gordon ramsey menu of prawn cocktail, steak diane and cheesecake. From doing these three dishes i can feel my arteries graoning, and i have discovered that the 70's food style seems to be... smother everything in cream, garlic or some other strong flavour so that the real flavours cannot be detected at any cost! The poor steak that was part of the steak diane would have probably cried if it were alive, as eating it with the sauce was a sorry afair, with the steak shouting through a cream and garlic filled battle field "please! just one small taste of me?! please! just one bit that is actually my taste!" Poor steak. I realise that a talking steak is a bit bizarre... infact, a talking steak would be a cow... yes?!

Also developments in the realms of my ambition to play football for a team received a blow this week. I recieved a relpy to my enquiry to kirklees ladies team, about possible chance to join them. They advertise on thier site that they are looking for players. However they sent me an email back saying that although i was welcome to come to training and try out, they had a very competitive squad, over 20 players at the moment, and that they currently were not signing. I wondered for a while about just going to training, but feel that with no hope of a game might put me off.... that and that they seem slightly better than my general kickabout level of ability! The search for a sports team to join continues...

I have also cleaned out my CD collection, and rediscovered some gems of listening! Now i realise this is more of a guilty pleasure or a very sad admission in some peoples eyes... but top of discoveries is George Michael's Ladies and Gentlemen album. 2 cds of greatest hits. one of slow, sad and soulful greats like i can't make you love me and praying for time, And one cd of dancing greats like freedom and i knew you were waiting! Currently listening to dancey stuff while i clean and wash up and generally annoy the cats! tee hee!

This week has also seen the passing of 3 friends birthdays... a busy time of texts and emergency card buying. Of particular not is that of pequenopickolo of blog fame (check out right>>>) I would like to wish her a belated happy birthday on that of the most momentus age markers!! happy birthday!

And like in good news reports.. i shall end with a funny news story. This week has also seen my brother pass his final exam to become a police officer!!! well done Bro!! WAIT... this is not the funny news ... sorry... Well... on the way back from passing the exam he got pulled over and done for speeding!! hahaha! Really i'm not laughing... well done simon... i'm very proud!

The amazing walking vegetable

Tonight I am cooking a roast dinner and had to share this amazing find with you.

Whenever I cook a roast i get veggies from the garden, and now we've had some frost, I have started to pull up the occasional parsnip (the longer they are in the ground the sweeter they taste).

So a little while ago i went out to the garden in the pitch dark, head torch on head and wellies on feet, to get a parsnip. Imagine the hilarity when this was pulled out the ground!


I really wanted to make it some trousers! Unfortunately he is now destined to be peeled and roasted... ah well... it comes to us all! :)

I haven't named him yet...any suggestions?!

INTI xx

Bloggers curse

I have realised that commentators curse is not solely reserved for sports commentators. After pressing publish on the last post i looked up and new zealand were awarded and converted a penalty.

Sorry Irish fans!

Inti xx

101 uses for prawns

Evening all!

Wow... been a while since my last post. That's what teaching does for you! So have been back at school 2 weeks now and genuinely haven't had a chance to stop. Last week was particularly busy, as it was practice SATs week.

Initially my reaction to these test weeks is "Woo Hoo! no teaching!" then the first day passes and I realise it means I disapear under a mountain of marking, and eternal disapointment at the progress the kids in my class have made (or not made... which is more common). I really don't like feeling like i waste my life teaching, and when half my class can't even add two three digit numbers together, i begin to dispair!

The most disapointing part of this week however is the lack of amusing answers to add to my secret gallery of stupid test answers. out of all the tests, i only got two! And of those two I only managed to capture one, as the child who wrote "i just guest" (actual spelling) in the box where he was asked to explain how he had worked out an answer, eventually crossed it out and wrote something else. Below however is the one answer i did manage to capture... and a genius answer it is too.



So last night was the annual Children in Need TV marathon. It is amazing in this time of credit crunch how generous people can be. I know this sounds slightly sarcastic, but it was the main thought in my mind as the total topped 20 million last night. The other thought was i admit.... Please god make this insanity stop! Watching endless TV personalities make a fool of themselves should be entertaining, but actually isn't!

The other problem with CIN being on last night is that I had bought all the ingredients for Gordon Ramsey cook along live. However... due to children in need, cookalong is not on til next friday! Jeez! So now I have steak, Avacado and prawns all needing eating up in the next day or so! Damn it!

I'm thinking of making a prawn risotto for dinner tonight, but as i am extremely proud of my marking efforts (I have marked over 225 SATs papers, and levelled them all!!) all i feel like doing is sitting down with a beer and watching the Ireland v New Zealand rugby. I would watch England, but alas it is on Sky sports. grrr. Oh and on that note, I would like to publically thank Virgin for allowing us mere mortals the opportunity to have Sky1 back. Hurrah! I can now watch the simpsons to my hearts content.

Anyway... Enough rambling... I have a beer and many burly men beating each other up to get back to (current score Ireland 0, All Blacks 0 after 20 minutes).

INTI xx

pumpkin wedges

Sunday evening arrives then and this marks the end of Halloween and my half term. grrr rubbish. Ah well. time moves on.

Friday night was official halloween night and I celebrated it at t halloween party with my brother and others. My costume worked a treat and I was particularly proud of my home made cut-throat razor!

This picture probably doesn't make it look as impressive as i think it is, but you will observe the basis for the razor. A hinged ruler!! tee hee! I used plastic and silver sticky back plastic for the blade. I then selotape wrapped a slice of cleaning sponge round the other end and then covered that in leather effect sticky back plastic.
I then wrapped a leather lace around the middle to attach it to my costume. The finishing touch was blood on the blade. This was acheived with tart red nail varnish!

Costume assembled I headed to party in Hade Edge. Proper party! We played the hat gloves knife and fork chocolate game... followed by the slice the flour mound to without knocking the sweet off game, and finally bobbling for apples!

Having painted my face... this final game made me need to re-apply face paint before a final trip to the local! Always fun when in fancy dress to head to a local! we looked like nutters! :)

Saturday was spent being lazy and doing little bits of school work. In the evening I cooked yet another huge dinner complete with scallops, steak and chocolate fondant. (which i am still yet to perfect!)

Today I have been over to feed the small balck and white whirl wind known as simons dog Phoebe. She appeared a little scared of me, or maybe my peruvian hat, and proceeded to wee all over the floor. Yuk. That cleaned up i took her out for a short walk in the misty rain. The walk was fine... but yet again, I really cannot see the attraction of picking up dog poo in little plastic bags and carrying it around! yuk

Finally, While writing this I have been watching the closing stages of the Sao Paulo grand prix. The deal was that Hamilton had to get 5th or better to win the world championship[. I never watch F1 by the way, but felt this was a good background noise for writing. Anyway, I have spent the last 10 minutes feeling very emotional as on the last lap, hamilton dropped to 6th. The lap went on. Massa (rival for world championship) streaked across the finish line and the ferarri team began to celebrate... Massa was world champion!.... Suddenly, camera moved to penultimate corner, and, OH MY GOD!... Hamilton was battling with Glock for 5th place!. Glock went wide. Hamilton snuck through on the inside corner! he was in 5th!! one corner to go. If he held on he would get world championship! Massa's team were all jumping for Joy when suddenly they stopped. Hamilton had crossed the line. But what position was he?! FIFTH! LEWIS HAMILTON WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

I would like to state that i never get this excited, but hamilton winning made me get out of the chair and scream with excitement! Jesus what a geek i am!

ANyway, time to prepare for school tmrw. Really can't be bothered, only 7 weeks to christmas break up... sure it'll fly!

Hmm maybe!

INTIxx