Davros' Grandad's story reminded of an incident
You might not know that I spent the best part of a year training to be a junior school teacher - it's not something I like to think about much. I didn't quite complete the year and ended up with a mild breakdown. This was caused by my second school placement in the Year 4 class at St.Chav's Junior. There were four kids in the class that were waiting for statements; this means that they had problems serious enough to warrent a full-time classroom assistant being allocated to each of them, but, there weren't any, as the waiting list for assessments was too long. One little lad (and they were 7 or 8 years old) used to self-harm, by scratching the back of his hand til it bled. One other little lad had enough energy to power a small town and got into a full-on fist fight most playtimes. I had to manage this class of 32 kids on my own for about a month.

After a day, my throat was knackered from shouting over the bedlam. Even at story time at the end of the day - come on kids, sit down here on the floor and I'll read you a story - a sure-fire winner in any class, guaranteed to calm them down - not here: ended up with three of the little terrors stood in corners facing the wall. Sounds like a nightmare? It was.

So, one time I was telling off some kid for something and another of the girls at the table was grinning like a loon at her classmate's misfortune. I was near boiling point so I turned to this kid and said: "And you can wipe that smile off your face."

End of the day comes. I'm sucking on a Strepsil, clearing up mess, checking my lesson plan for the next day, collecting up books for marking etc. when little Chavestina comes in with her mum, who looked as if she was the love child of Big Daddy and Jade Goody. Stolen merchandise was sticking out of her pockets and she'd come into the classroom smoking.

"What the 'ell do you mean you'll wipe the smile of my daughter's face?"

"Eh?"

"She says you said you'd wipe the smile off her face, I want to know what the hell you meant by it", I thought she was going to hit me, and of course, there was little Chaverstina behind her, grinning her fat little face off because I was getting told off.

That was the point where I should have decided to pack it all in, instead of sticking it out for another 3 months.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 5 Sep 2008, 17:09, 1 reply)

That's one job I never tried (teaching)
I didn't like children when I was a child, and my comprehensive school was just rough enough to put me off the idea for life.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 8 Sep 2008, 9:56, closed)