tismrwells

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  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    HAIRTOOLONGFACE!

    I think it might be a little bit too long... But hey, that's my hair for you! I like my hair when I can do something with it but then I quite like the freedom of buzzcut hair. Usually I go for a 4 all over... tempted to just shave the lot off again... I have done that before. Intriguingly, the last time I did that, the headteacher at school said (thinking I wasn't listening) "that's a drastic haircut" - it probably was at the time, going from this sorta length to barely anything at all...

    BUT I LIKE MY HAIR. DON'T MAKE ME CUT IT.

    So should it stay or should it go?

    4 comments

    14 hours 38 minutes ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    RUSHRUSHRUSHFACE!

    It's been a day of rushing for everyone today. Well... everyone else anyway. I have decided to relax, knowing full well that I can because it's half bloody term, HOORAY, and because I kinda need to. I've been exhausted for quite some time now trying to keep going really. There's been a HELL of a lot of staff absences at work and I have felt as if I stepped off the accelerator a little bit, I would have made it worse. So I am desperately looking forward to this time off.

    There's been a lot of rushing around outside because one of the big pipes in the car park has been leaking like an absolute trooper so the maintenance team have been trying to sort it out. Thankfully, as far as I can see, no real damage done, it just needed sorting.

    However, I need to do a lot of washing this week. GODDAMN YOU WASHING!

    What do you NEED to do this week?

    12 comments

    1 day 14 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    POWERCUTFACE!

    For the merest hint of a second, the lights, the TV, the whole kit of kaboodle of electric-dependent appliances died a death before rising from the grave again.

    Yep. Power cut. Lovely.

    Luckily, my game was autosaving, otherwise I would have actually killed the PS3. Seriously.

    I am currently playing Top Spin 4 and have been very frustrated with it. See, I'm a tennis connoisseur in terms of gaming. I have probably played every series of tennis out there, including the very niche ones like Yeh Yeh Tennis, Pocket Tennis, Actua Tennis and Break Point... plus a couple of others, and very few live up to my expectations. Smash Court Tennis tends to make me rather happy because it's simple to play but immersive enough to keep me interested.

    Now Top Spin is slow and fiddly and ridiculously ugly. I mean Wii Tennis games have better likenesses for the real tennis players than this does. Plus the players I have created? Ugliest characters ever. I mean... to be honest, The Sims 3 has a really simple character creation tool but there's no end of customisation. Any tennis game that has a character creation tool needs that. End of.

    Anyway. I am persevering with it as I haven't lost a match yet.

    When do you stop playing games? What's the signal that says to you: "I should stop this now?"

    9 comments

    2 days 14 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    HALFTERMFACE!

    I don't need to say much more!

    A week of much needed relaxation is ahead! What are you up to next week?

    5 comments

    3 days 15 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    MYSTERYFACE!

    There is a real mystery unfolding at work... we're calling it Lunchgate.

    Basically, yesterday one of my colleagues put their lunch in the fridge in the staffroom. By lunchtime... it had gone; half-inched by someone who we're still trying to find out. It turned into a proper witch hunt. Another staff member lost a yoghurt last week, which was initially not a big thing because it's not lunch. It's an extra part of lunch. But a ham roll?

    A ham roll? That IS lunch. Poor girl was starving!

    And then, the bursar of the school (who is a lady you do NOT want to mess with) said someone had taken her prawns.

    And the headteacher's personal assistant said her diet cokes are going missing from the fridge.

    SO IT'S A MYSTERY. A PROPER WITCH HUNT. WE WILL FIND OUT WHO IT IS.

    Unless it's a supply teacher, in which case we'll just have to padlock the fridge. AND THEIR MOUTHS.

    Sooooooo... whodunnit?

    21 comments

    4 days 15 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    TOPSETFACE!

    Do you know something? I've been secretly hoping that one day we'll do maths sets at school. Year 6 do it but the decision is that by then, it's not as easy to fill in the gaps and it's all a bit too late by then because that's SATs year. So we're setting up stall early. Both maths co-ordinators are in Year 4 and 5 so we're planning to do sets in both years, just as they do in Year 6.

    And guess who chose the top set? That's right: me. I am thoroughly, thoroughly looking forward to it because it's going to be a huge challenge but the kids are at that ability where they understand the tasks and can use their level 4 skills (i.e. using their own ideas to answer questions) to push themselves further.

    AND IT MEANS I GET TO PLAN MATHS AGAIN! BOOYA!

    To be honest, it's a HUGE weight off all of our shoulders because the range of abilities by Year 4, 5 and 6 can range from Level 1 to Level 5 so how do you accommodate for all of those and expect real progress across the board? Yeah, with a lot of hard work, but this gives us the chance to focus on specific target areas now.

    AMAZING. I am happy.

    Most people have a problem with setting children. Self-esteem issues mostly. To be honest, I actually... find that argument a bit false. How do children get self-esteem in a class where there are children answering 4-digit multiplications while you're only managing to do number bonds to 10? It totally works both ways so putting children into sets is actually no worse, no better. It just makes more sense sometimes to put similarly able children together to bounce off each other.

    If it doesn't work, it doesn't work but we're not going to know unless we try.

    And I'm not planning to court controversy by saying this either so the question will not be what do you think of having maths sets because unless you're a teacher, you can't see what it's like from THAT side of the fence. I have seen it from both.

    And besides, as I say: if it doesn't work for us, it doesn't work for us.

    So which bit of maths did you actually like as a child? Shape? Data handling? Number? Anything else?

    21 comments

    5 days 15 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    CHILLOUTFACE!

    Chilling out with a cool drink after a second evening of speaking to parents about why their children are either lovely or HORRID.

    Amazingly, 12 out of 15 again! My colleague had 9, which was at least better than yesterday! In fact he'd seen nearly half of yesterday's quota by the time I'd seen anyone! XD

    I have two to see tomorrow, one at lunchtime and one after school, both of whom are going to be interesting to say the least.

    I did have to use the 'cry wolf' story on one of my kids today. Sometimes, you hear so much crap come from kids' mouths that you cannot believe a single thing they say and sooner or later, something bad will happen and no one will believe it. Which worries me. A lot.

    But hey, instead of moping and yelling about EVERYTHING EVER, I have been sat watching Suits. Along with New Girl, I am happy with my TV viewing at the minute. I enjoy TV again after a good eighteen months of mind-numbing repeats. Yeah, I love the oldies but a good bit of new programming does wonders for me sometimes. As long as it's decent that is!

    What new TV program would you recommend I watch?

    13 comments

    6 days 15 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    ONEDOWNFACE!

    That's one parent's evening out of the way! Last one tomorrow! Out of the 15 appointments, 12 turned up, which wasn't bad considering the paths and roads to and from school are pretty treacherous AND two of the parents I saw today had kids who were ill so I was pleasantly surprised.

    My colleague? 7 parents. Yup. He's got a lot of catching up to do! I'm expecting roughly 12 tomorrow. I should have 15 but one hasn't even GIVEN the letter to her mum, one keeps losing them and one complained that his was too late in the evening so wouldn't be coming.

    If I get 15, I will eat raw jelly cubes (raw? Are they raw?) on booth tomorrow. Otherwise, you're getting something less innocuous instead ^__^

    In better news (at least for me) my car insurance is going down! HELL YES. This is a greater shock to me considering last week, I checked it on comparison websites and all of them had it going up by about forty quid. AWOOHOO!

    What's the worst you've ever had to pay for car insurance (if you drive or have any that is)?
    OTHERWISE what car do you want?

    14 comments

    1 week 15 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    SCRUFFBAGFACE!

    Yup. I'm a scruffbag. Not for long though. I'm shaving in like ten minutes. So I went for a drive in the snow today. My road is fairly slushy and precarious but the main roads are pretty good. It was more amusing watching pedestrians walking in the middle of the roads because, as always, the pavements are more dangerous than the roads!

    I wouldn't fancy walking in this weather. I did it a few years ago when I walked to a placement. It was particularly bad when the snow had turned to ice and there were hills to walk down! I think I ALMOST slipped arse over tit twice in the space of about twenty seconds on one dangerous escapade. SADNESS. Never mind! I got over it!

    Snow I can sorta deal with. Ice, where it's not wanted, is evil. Ice rinks, the ice is MEANT to be there. On the roads? NO. GET RID. GO AWAY ICE.

    Anyway! I feel like an iced smoothie right about now. Funny how the cold weather sometimes makes you want to eat all of the cold things. ALL THE COLD THINGS!

    What flavour do you recommend for me? Bear in mind, I don't like banananananananas.

    10 comments

    1 week 1 day ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    ITISLECOLDFACE!

    It's not as cold as some places but I woke up this morning, feet out of the end of the bed, wondering first of all "why are my feet out of the end of the bed?" and secondly "why are my feet out of the end of the bloody bed?"

    Then wondered why it was so cold. Radiators. Bloody hell, why don't you work well enough? I need to get a better handle of my boiler...

    I have got a serious amount of work done today. And I will be looking forward to this week. Two parents' evenings on Monday and Tuesday, which actually gives me two evenings after school (Wednesday and Thursday) to tidy my classroom up XD

    See, I use my time effectively! Other teachers use Wednesday and Thursday for their parents' evenings... I get them out of the way early ^__^

    Yes we've had snow. It is settling. That's the end of the talk of snow. You've heard enough of it I'm sure. HOORAY!

    Phil is in the background! He says hello!
    WHO'S IN YOUR BACKGROUND?

    6 comments

    1 week 2 days ago