I am MisterJim

My father rang me up last week and explained he had found my old school reports and would I like to keep them. My reaction was adamant. No. Never. Full stop. There are reasons for this instant decision. I did not do well academically at school. My reports are littered with examples my failures punctuated, rather unceremoniously with pompous and sardonic comments that did not, in any way, show who I was then, or am now. That got me thinking. I was fortunate to go to a rather selective (and expensive) private school. I was told that it would provide me with a platform for the rest of my life. The school did provide good, solid ‘sit up’ education; I learned the classics, took 3 languages and played sport using facilities most people would give their right arm for. But by the age of 17, I was failing in every imaginable way. I found that the education system I was in required a level of self discipline that I just didn’t have. If there was a crack connecting Set 1 and Set 2, ...

"Now children," began Mrs Jobs, smiling, "today we have a very special visitor. His name is PC Harvester and he's going to talk to you about car safety." “Reme...” As she spoke, the door opened and PC Harvester walked in. "Good afternoon, children." exclaimed PC Harvester. "I have a question. Does anybody’s Mummy or Daddy drive quickly?" Hands shot up and a voice from the back squeaked, "My daddy drives fast, he has a Ferarri." "Golly," said PC Harvester, "and does your Daddy wear his seatbelt?" "Only when the bas***d coppers are around." ...out of the mouths of babes...

It's been a while since I put fingers to keyboard and wrote something on my blog, or any blog for that matter. I think it has less to do with workload & more to do with overload. Social Networking on various levels had begun to take over my approach to a lot of things, most noticeably my work, but it had begun to encroach on my personal life as well. Frank, educational discussions were taking place after clocking out time, I would lie awake at night and follow a hashtag stream from an earlier Twitter debate. I would be sitting on the sofa with my wife, ostensibly watching the TV, but my head wasn't. I was actually becoming so obsessed with all things that were educationally cutting edge, that I was beginning to neglect my marking, assessment and correcting my planning where necessary. In essence, my desire to push the boundaries was threatening to impact on the children in my care. But how did it get to this? Honestly, I don't know. I suppose I was trying to keep ...