Saturday 27 September 2014

What A Week!

Where has this week gone? Monday was our Day Off – but was full of all sorts of Things Which Needed To Be Done. Tuesday’s sewing students worked incredibly hard, producing items to sell at their MacMillan Cancer Fundraiser. But I was exhausted when I got home.

All our lesson plans at my Wed/Thurs school went up the spout, because the computer system was down. Some colleagues were completely thrown by this – but I am old enough to remember when a teacher’s equipment was a box of Cosmic Anti-Dust**, and her fingers were blue from making worksheets on the Banda Spirit Duplicator [like the one pictured below]

bandaI can certainly deliver a lesson without PCs, the Internet, and an Interactive Whiteboard – but when you are working with [someone else’s] plans which were written with such technology in mind, there has to be a lot of ‘thinking on your feet’. Friday’s teaching also had complications, and yet again I was later home than I had planned.

My phone is playing up again, and I am having problems uploading photos from my camera to my PC. But some things made me smile

  • the 5 year old boy who suddenly said on Wednesday “You have had your hair cut Miss, it looks nice”
  • the little girl who said on Thursday “I think you look really pretty today Miss”
  • having mentioned in passing to a colleague last Friday that the room where I work in the morning had no wpb, it was great to arrive and find one under the desk waiting for me. How thoughtful of her – she had spoken to the Premises Manager and he’d found a spare one.
  • someone unexpectedly repaid me some cash I had forgotten about – which meant I could call in the Chippy on the way home, and we could enjoy pie and chips as a treat for tea [on a day when I was very late leaving school, and Bob had to be out promptly to a meeting]
  • my new car is lovely and I am singing a lot as I drive along!

I am hoping next week is a little less fraught – we shall see.

cosmic anti dust_thumb[1]

** Cosmic Anti Dust is the name of the wonderful chalk that teachers used, back in the day. I still treasure a box of the stuff. It was a sad day when the giant US Crayola Company bought up the little English “Cosmic Crayon Co” of Bedford and dropped the old name. The CCC also had the telegraphic address “Glitterwax” – how cool is that?

cosmic poster

9 comments:

  1. Our IT system goes down regularly & our email is very unreliable, it seems to be the way it is with schools.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yes, all the old blue worksheets!!! I remember writing on those!!! Chalk!!!
    X

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, I too remember the Banda & those blue fingers. Oh the woes of computer system failures, software glitches and lessons going up the spout, hard to regig when it's someone else's lesson plan that you are working with. Old style doesn't let you down in the same way & is a good old standby. What a hectic week, with some nice moments too. Hope next week's more straightforward, enjoy the weekend. Vee x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah! Banda machines!!! I used to spend hours creating Banda masters in myriad colours! And the smell of the spirit - that used to brighten up my early mornings churning out thirty worksheets at a time. I became a real Rapid Fire Banda Girl! In fact I was quite sad when it became more common to photocopy, until at last the Banda machine was thrown out...and then it was common to find the photocopier jammed and no way of getting your worksheets ready on time!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah - the smell of freshly printed Banda sheets. Just thinking about them brings back happy memories of the numerous schools I attended!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah yes, the duplicating machine!! Memories of being an office junior (do they have such a thing nowadays?!) and being on 'duplicator duty' and standing there for hours cranking that dratted handle! I can also atestify to the fact that the chalk wasn't entirely dust-free as the blackboard duster came flying across the room, generally aimed at your noggin and dispersing chalk particles into the stratosphere!Have a great weekend, Angela. x

    ReplyDelete
  7. I never really got the hang of the Banda!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I used to have to use the Banda at work as an office junior. I always had mucky hands!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This was where I took my name from, but I didn't know the company were based in Bedford! Nice trip down memory lane.

    ReplyDelete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!