Teaching
Well, seeing as some people have described teaching as a position of absolute power, I guess I can give my own examples. (And just to clear up any misconceptions, I do not copy and paste reports, but actually spend possibly far too much time considering each individual pupil. And yes, I did do a PGCE, but this wasn’t as a last resort, but because I wanted to get my German degree first. Some people do do PGCEs and actually want to teach. OK, mini rant over.)

But as to the absolute power, it’s more an excuse to get small children to like the things you do and inflict your own tastes in music and literature on small impressionable minds. This has resulted in my class this year currently being obsessed with Artemis Fowl (breakfast time read aloud) and Damon Albarn’s Monkey: Journey to the West (possible tenuous cross-curricular link between music and work on Chinese New Year). Also, they were able to compare and contrast Girls and Boys by Blur with the above after a class party. Music has also involved The Beatles and MGMT amongst other things, although I have had to limit myself a little – too much of my music library has inappropriate lyrics for littlies. They’ve also started doing lots of black and white line drawings using fineliners and lots of patterns (not that I ever do this, oh no). Roald Dahl has featured pretty heavily too. As have many other of my favourite books - Where the Wild Things Are, The Tower to the Sun and so on.

I also pride myself that somewhere in the depths of Bavaria there exists an entire year group who can explain the term “nutmeg” when related to football.

So I guess absolute power in teaching can either mean making small people feel crappy, or actually trying to involve children and broaden their horizons a litte by teaching using things you love yourself.
(Picotee, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 13:04, 6 replies)

You've been teaching your children about the morality of drug fuelled anal sex?
(At least, that's the message I get from "Girls and Boys" ;-) )
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 13:24, closed)

and the message is...
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
( Sallyrsm, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 15:19, closed)

Collect 5 house points

(boarders You won't catch me with my trousers, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 20:17, closed)

Erm...
may not have been the message I was trying to get across. I tink that would have been "Pass the parcel ON, don't hog it until the music stops"
(Picotee, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 20:49, closed)

chinese new year?
but it's the year of the tiger, not the monkey
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 20:43, closed)

Yup
It is, but was looking for a tenuous way to get some kind of Chinese music in, and we'd already looked at the different instrument categories and the differences between Western/Eastern music, so I figured it was a logical next step. Turns ut eight year olds love the mix of Chinese sounds and slight electro-ness.
(Picotee, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 20:48, closed)