Number 17 - 7 down

Number 7 'Bog Standard' Daniel Ken

i LOVED this, coming straight to you Mr Roberts, in recognition of your services with number 13! It started life as a blog (hey perhaps I can publish this, thus killing several birds...) and it shows, it's very episodic but that is no bad thing when you have 3 wee ones and are reading in snatched moments.

Although written about life in a tough secondary school there are some issues that are generic to teaching and had me laughing, sighing and generally nodding my head in agreement (not a good look when you are out in public!) Highlights for me included;

"When you strip away all the statistics, the strategies, the league tables, the lesson starters, the plenaries and the other good things that the Government decrees we should have in state classrooms, all you really have left is your relationship with your students"

And, a good moment for me who last year with my good friend and uber teacher Jane Ford levelled 540 writing samples;
"Marking criteria, I decided is written by paranoid civil servants, who are in league with Beelzebub. I suspect that they suspect that teachers may attempt to use their own judgement. They are determined that this should not happen.... ten minutes later and I was still struggling to decipher 'grade indicators' that tell me how well a child can read or write."

And finally, just for you Jolyon
"What do you call a man in a primary school? The Head! What if there's 2? The Head and Caretaker?"


As a final comment - this feels like it's going quite slowly, 7 books in 2 months? But I have reverted to my age old habit of re-reading which simply doesn't count. In the last month I have re-read 'We need to talk about Kevin' (I have a different take on that every time) and 'Monster Love' I can't really feel guilty about this though, there is something comforting about books you know and we all need a little book love from time to time x Besides to spurn my old favourites would be like casting aside Janie and Jolyon for Penny and Pete! God Forbid! So, on with the new - with occasional comfort reads thrown in!