unscientists ftw

I feel like Dr Emma Russell in The Saint. There are little yellow post-it notes dotted all over my bathroom mirror, and in my diary, and littering my teaching notes. I've never had so many paper clips in my possession, and I'm constantly talking to myself under my breath. We seem to be in a Groundhog Day sound-groove of Michael Jackson on the way to skool, and Lady Gaga on the drive home. That in itself should cause some concern.

Today I taught all four classes on the trot - with no breaks and scarcely a moment to catch my breath. (I need to remember to project my voice properly, cos I nearly couldn't inhale after four hours.) I dispersed pressies for maths homework done and we marked the week's work and watched a wee mathsy cartoon about "rise over run" which is how gradients are measured (yes, this is still Katie talking) all hushedly gathered around the tiny computer screen cos the projector just would not work. Then the next thirty kiddos finished their huge word processing booklet and some little bright sparks started researching invitations for our end-of-term *R* Party!!! Period three was cuppa tea taste test time - what's the probability of guessing whether milk went into the cup first or tea went in first? It was hilarious. One of the kiddos can calculate percentages faster than the calculator! We even did probability graphs, people. And over half the class understood it. That's a pretty good outcome for our first go at it, I think. And finally I had thirty tweens tangling up the sewing machines. And an unthreadable overlocker. Which I was just about to get the hammer onto 'cept I got sprung by another teacher creeping up behind me just as I was raising said hammer. She did see the smoke exiting my ears though.

This life is almost comparable to homeskooling, except that there are six times the number of kids, we don't get mid-morning texts to meet at the beach, and I feel like I am going on stage every hour. It's not like I can say, What a fabulous wondering, let's...
a) ask Daddy when he gets home
b) skype GD
c) google it
d) all of the above

'cos we only have an hour together and then I'm not gonna see ya for
a) 24 hours
b) 2 days
c) half a week
d) all of the above

So I kinda feel like I have to have answers. And I spent about four hours trying to work out the science lesson before I even went on stage. Anyway, I had an epiphany earlier: it could actually a good thing that I'm such an unscientist. Cos the naturally-sciencey kids are gonna get it despite what I do, and hopefully the unsciencey ones are gonna get it after all my explanations. Or something like that.