Diarrhoea in the lab

Valentine’s day was a strange affair. There was no/minimal teaching in the morning. Form 5 was preparing for a fundraising event for their prom, which involved lots of food, cakes and roses. The school was a bit sickly from the entrance. Roses and hearts strewn across the walls, merry little couples mooching about the place and a distinct lack of science made me want to hide in the corner and get on with some planning.

By lunch time I ventured out to play in the staff vs. students cricket match. I say “play,” I did some fielding and stood at the end of the batting queue until we won so I didn’t need to bat by default. This happened to be a very good thing as I am rubbish at cricket and the kids are pretty good at launching the ball down toward the batter. Although I hardly moved, I still managed to work up a sweat- it is getting hot again after the rains of January.

To round off the sickly feel of the day, there was a Valentine’s Day blood drive going on. I am not sure how many units we got in total for the event but we were hoping for 100 or more. Thankfully, I got my fix of chemistry during my blood donation. They did the cell count by dropping you blood in copper sulphate. If it floated, you were good to go. Next up was the blood type tests done by precipitates.  It your blood caused certain chemicals to lump together then that is your blood type. A+ by the way.

Today was back to the grind. I have just started week 7 of 14. It has really dawned on me today how valuable a half term is! I am glad for the longer holidays at Christmas and Easter though. And more importantly, I enjoy the work. It is just challenging enough to keep me working hard without getting too frustrated.

I had another crazy practical today with A Levels. They somehow made a chemical that looked exactly like diarrhoea #nospellcheck.

Form 3 are working really well at the moment. They were the behaviour-issues class I mentioned last term. This term I haven’t cracked it but it is a lot better. They are in an efficient routine at the start of the lesson. They work in groups that have been recently adjusted so it works. And my piece de resistance is the smiley face wall chart. The termly reward being whatever snack I have learnt to bake at home. Today they made huge periodic table posters to summarise what they have been doing so far this term. Tomorrow I am just going to sit back and record how they work together as a group for Parents Day (this Friday).