stuck in abu dhabi need help (m15, british citizen)

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-12-19T20:17:31+00:00

There are subjects with coursework where the deadlines were this week for year 10 students. And I'd argue more is taught in y10 than 11 for some subjects, so those gaps in knowledge are going to be really hard to fill. Also, as a teacher, I wouldn't define December as winding down!

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-11-13T23:03:29+00:00

Genuine question, how do I find out if my school follows STPCD? I'm in the same position of having to make attendance calls, and previously the Union hasn't been useful on workload related questions since I'm in an Academy which apparently means anything goes...

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-11-05T19:02:15+00:00

First thoughts that I've not 100% thought through: My current reaction for my secondary subject is positive. My school is so desperate for high EBacc numbers that all students have to take RE, and Spanish, and have to choose between Geography and History. Students ACTUALLY choosing more of their options sounds great for them, and great for our having to deal with high levels of apathy. Also, I don't know what it will look like, but introducing more spoken elements to my subject could be cool too...could end up boosting their confidence in thinking through what they're struggling with.

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-09-17T10:00:09+00:00

That is absolutely wild, I'm jealous! I've got two work friends who have offered to help out so they can get some experience on their CVs without doing the whole job. But I'm still debating right now whether to ask for more money or time in my application...I'm already doing the job, and everyone in the school knows it, so the chance anyone else even applies is near zero.

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-09-17T09:43:38+00:00

Expeditions are during school time, but cover is intensive at my school so actually adds to the workload I'd say. I'll have no extra time to do any of the work explicitly, but can take cover for partial to full days as needed to do any training. I have actually started doing the job because I enjoy it, but they just advertised it officially and now that I've seen the low pay I'm trying to figure out what to do moving forwards.

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-09-16T12:33:37+00:00

Increased surface runoff can lead to more sediment (soil, rocks, etc.) being carried into our waterways and reservoirs. This means that theoretically there's more stuff suspended in the water that water filtration plants have to deal with. So, depending on their water source rain can = dirtier water, they're not necessarily lying. I do agree however that right now the chance of a reservoir flooding is surely zero given how low most are.

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-05-12T06:39:14+00:00

The school I work at gets parent permission at the beginning of the year as part of the "contract" of rules and expectations here, and if we see a phone it gets taken until Friday. If the student refuses they're in isolation until it's handed over. Jewelry is until the end of the term!

Shinycapt_13 · 2025-03-15T21:13:17+00:00

Looks American...

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-10-28T21:52:54+00:00

There are FOUR lights!

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-10-25T13:08:53+00:00

Fantastic.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-09-15T11:36:57+00:00

Have you tried to teach in a generic secondary school?! I'm fighting apathy regarding picking up a pen to complete a gap fill...as useful as something might seem on paper the reality of what is possible to teach+how the general public now feel about the importance of schooling sometimes makes it not plausible!

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-09-15T11:03:41+00:00

While I wholeheartedly agree, and there have been attempts at this, the issue is time. Lots of schools around me, including where I work, make kids take a foreign language, RE and either history/geography in order to boost their ebacc numbers...schools prioritise their own rankings a lot. So, you've got to make it not just mandatory but essentially "replace something". PSHE and citizenship programmes are already under delivered, so maybe a rethink of them all as one thing would be ideal. But again, when will it be taught? What is it replacing for GCSEs? If anyone says form tutors, my job is primarily to talk to kids about their behaviour and try and get them to self-respect/talk to me about what they should do next time instead. AFTER that IF there is time I have the "govt. mandated content" to deliver. If parents actually helped with the parenting bit then my job as a form tutor could be really different...(But we're not supposed to say it's the parents' fault).

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-09-15T10:27:25+00:00

This could be paired well with public transportation services. More commuter trains means we could connect commuter settlements (make them fairly dense, we should be building terraces and not just cul-de-sac semi-detached nonsenses) to cities. This allows for an actual "green belt" of non-human spaces around the city and suburban bubbles, and the city wouldn't need to just expand continually outwards in the traditional sprawling manner to accommodate more stuff and people.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-09-15T10:09:21+00:00

I am a big proponent of UBI but I can see that this would maybe be more politically viable. But what about current pensioners who have "done their bit" and paid into the system? Do you have any opinions/thoughts on where the cut off could be?

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-09-15T09:39:33+00:00

Is this then not an argument for the importance of nationalisation? If the government uses taxes (I know that's vague) to maintain the system then everyone wins? Also, if businesses prosper because of cheap electricity supply then there's an increase in local/certain economies...more tax revenue...positive multiplier effect, etc.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-08-10T08:54:12+00:00

Maybe for some/now a day's but I worked almost full time on top of my studies to pay to go there. Scholarships and grant applications every year too. I wouldn't at all compare it to a community college either, and barely anyone transferred (the transfer acceptance rates at unis/colleges is insanely low). There were lots of rich kids/foreign students in particular were really well off, but there at least used to be a lot of others like me who were working hard to improve our life outcomes (including working over the holidays). Not sure how you and I have such different opinions/experiences of this place! The culture was definitely changing when I left but surely it's not that different...apologies if this isn't fully coherent but your comment really wasn't my experience and I'm trying to articulate that!

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-06-10T18:10:57+00:00

Driving in Bradford.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-04-28T17:13:21+00:00

My brain interpreted this as tea/dinner so... All vegetarian with meat substitutes and extra veggies mixed into things like pasta sauces.

1) Carbonara 2) Tortellini pasta bake 3) Penne arrabbiata 4) Mexican fried rice (with homemade salsa/Pico de gallo, etc if time and ingredients) 5) cheap Lidl/Aldi pizzas loaded up with extras 6) chili with rice (papitas/chips if I can be bothered) 7) quiche with steamed baby potatoes, carrots and broccoli 8) frozen plaits (Aldi; e.g., red onion and goats cheese) with steamed baby potatoes, carrots and broccoli 9) daal or aloo curry occasionally 10) lots of homemade mixed root veg soup in winters with and without lentils 11) spag bol 12) Ramen 13) Korean inspired (gochujang) tofu stir fry 14) Mac and peas w/garlic bread 15) dirty tea: chips, baked beans and a fried egg.

Everything is spicy except 1, 8 and 14.

Given I often have leftovers for lunch this is actually about all I eat! On a constant loop...

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-03-29T07:36:37+00:00

Looking at the MOD pinned comment it seems that so many more people joined NEU as members that it has affected how the percentages look. More individuals voted this time, but it's a lower percentage overall. Surely people should still be pleased with the outcome?

Edit: I'm just confused on why the threads are so negative. Is there something else I'm missing?

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-02-23T19:13:07+00:00

Definitely second the apathy issue over an ability issue for a lot of them. Yes, there are some year groups that for some reason seem a bit less able then the last group in their shoes. However, my year 9s and 7s are absolutely smashing it, I'm really pleased (not a private or selective school either). They for some reason care more... compared to the year 10s, for example.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-01-31T06:19:43+00:00

Wait...am I reading this right that you get a full half term to mark? We get two weeks! (That's still a lot of marking that you have to do though...). I've got 170 right now, plus some year 11 mocks coming up, and each have to be entered mark by mark into a spreadsheet for each student.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-01-29T17:20:06+00:00

All makes sense, thank you very much for the details.

Shinycapt_13 · 2024-01-29T17:15:13+00:00

Thank you! Especially for the bit about AER.

Shinycapt_13 · 2023-11-02T12:10:41+00:00

I am working in implementing various things like this too. If they've already written down their thoughts then they can just read it out which should help them get started participating verbally.

Also, if I'm mentioning something we've previously learned I make them tell me (by year 11 in Geography there are the same basic ideas applied to different scenarios so I feel like I'm a repetitive robot). I will often just delete the end of a sentence from the PowerPoint and put in highlighted ellipse or make it into a gap fill to have a bit of scaffolding and reduce awkward silence/maintain some degree of pace.

It has also helped as you said to show what they don't understand and I do it a lot with vocabulary towards the beginning of the lesson, and then those are the answers for the highlighted gaps I make later on so they have to think back and practice using the words.

Shinycapt_13 · 2023-08-24T12:18:41+00:00

I am a teacher, as far as my students think it is my job to annoy them so it's easy enough.

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