2nd Day (Part 2 - Lunch, Cricket and Pencil Shavings))

Lunchtime

This week i decide to skip the lunch hall and head straight to playground (the rain has let up).  I make it 2 metres on to the concrete before being hooked by some yr6 boys; we talk about sport and Djing, and the shirts that they have made.  Some girls come over and I get confused by who's girlfriend his who's.  Seems like they all get dumped and picked up again at an alarming rate!

Some of the year 3 and 4s have finished their food quickly and come over to give me hugs.  The whistle goes and I escape to the staffroom to grab a sandwich

I chat to a couple of trainee teachers who i preparing for a lesson they are being observed on.

I head back to the playground for the 2nd innings (Yr 3&4).  Lots more hugs and high fives and "are you a Christian/you are?!/Me too!" from the children -Happy faces.

Mainly I'm requested to play "snap" (Bulldog where you have ten lives that no-one keeps count of).  Tag and Stuck-in-the-mud.  I don't want to run around too much, it doesn't seem like the right thing to do.

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I've been asked to help out with Year 3 PE so i heard to the hall for Cricket.  3 classes back to back was alot of fun, it was reassuring for me to see professional teachers struggling to maintain discipline with some of the boys - made me feel better about all the times i've felt desperate.  Sometimes you have to wonder if the behaviour expectations are right for children.  Sitting still, being quiet, working in teams, listening, following patterns - all of these things appear entriely alien to a child's nature!

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At the end of the day I head over to the two lads from earlier to touch base with them.  I have a good conversation with the - one of them is astonishingly frank about his experiences, I arrange to meet him next week.  There is a big staff meeting about how to pick up boxes, so i wander around the school with some girls from Eco club who are collecting pencil shavings.  Alot of pencil shavings, their bucket is full by the end "more than 200 pencils" reckons one of the girls.

We talk about favourite books, "how does it make you feel?" I ask, determined to try out my caring conversations techniques" "it makes me feel sad, but then happy at the end" she says.  sounds like a good book.

Another Y6 is sitting in the libary reading 'breaking dawn', i'd love to chat to her about it but shes engrossed so i leave her to it "tell me what happens next week" i say.