I Felt very apprehensive on my way in this morning: What am i doing?!! Am i just interfereing? Am i just being 'me' and not a 'chaplain'?
I'm also concerned about the informal nature of chaplaincy - should i have measurable goals?
0825
Decided to hang around outside the schools doors rather than inside. Had some nice chats but still quite superficial. Turned a conversation about bouncy balls to crystal balls to "If you could look into the future, would you?"
Decided to hang around outside the schools doors rather than inside. Had some nice chats but still quite superficial. Turned a conversation about bouncy balls to crystal balls to "If you could look into the future, would you?"
Pop in to see my '2boys' at registration
0910
Cup of tea in the staff room and chat with teachers.
0930
Help the 2boys in PE doing team games and found that the children are so open and welcoming to having me around.
1015
Chatted with some girls over break-time and they invited me to their afternoon lesson - in much the same way you'd invite your friends over for dinner.
I bumped into a teacher who was creating new phonic's learning packs and helped her out - it took the two of us a full hour to create these packs - it was quite a big order.
I know the lady from church and we had a chat about what i'm trying to do here. She emphasised the needs of the teachers, who despite receiving praise, quite often feel like they're not quite doing a good enough job. The overall message i got was that there is definitely a role for someone to give praise to the teachers - much more so than the children even.
Whilst we busy in the corridor some children came to see what were we up to as a way of avoiding doing their reading. - I indulged them a bit, then got them to read out their respective books to me. at first they didn't want to but soon they were squabbling to be the next one to read their bit!
I lost track of the number of times that children told me there was a pencil in the toilet. some time later a suspiciously satisfied young girl walked past me brandishing a pencil in her hand… it was the same one "i hope you washed your hands" i said "Ooops!" was the reply as she turned and ran back to the toilets.
At Lunchtime i popped to the playgorund and once again go not even a metre before i was acosted by a group of girls who wanted to perform their "show". It was very good, quite glee-esque - i even got imaginary popcorn and ice cream in the intermission!
Love this! I completely agree with this assessment! Teachers are being taught to give positive feedback to kids and they are getting better and better at it.... giving it (or getting it) from your peers and colleagues however... very unusual!
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