I have titled today's post as such in the hopes that as the day progresses I can think of other things to put on - so far just one thing to share with you.
I usually start getting ready for bed at 9pm and am often getting into bed at 9.30 and asleep by 10pm. My morning carer comes at 7am and I like to have got my own breakfast before she comes.
But this means that I usually wake somewhere between 4am and 5am, knowing that I shall not go back to sleep. Sometimes I get up - my favourite thing is to get up, draw back the sitting room blind and sit and watch the dawn break and the neighbourhood cats prowl around the plot opposite.
If I can't be bothered to get out of bed then I just lay and think and let my mind wander at will. And that is what I did this morning. I had a lovely trip down Memory Lane.
The year is 1967. I am 35 and just starting my Teacher Training three year course as a Mature Student at West Midlands College in Walsall (we lived in Wolverhampton - only twenty miles or so away - my husband, son and I). I loved it. (I would love to have been a Perennial Student - bliss to me is studying and writing essays. Was then, still is which is why I love blogging so much).
It was my first Teaching Practice. The very words stike fear and dread into the hearts of many students because for the first time they are going to face a room full of children and be expected to not only teach them something but also (the dreaded phrase) KEEP CONTROL. Essential - make relationships, learn individual names as fast as you can and get them on your side. This is much easier for Mature Students I think - if they have children and the children bring friends round to play you are half way there - you have learned the tricks.
The school I was assigned to was a Junior School. It was a Friday afternoon - first period. The Head had intended a Staff Meeting straight after school and then found out that two members of staff couldn't attend. I was at the end of my first week in the school and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I offered to have the whole school in the Hall for the one period (this meant about maybe 6 classes of children from aged maybe 8 to 11.
I am a musician and played the piano a lot in those days (not now because of arthritis in my hands and a bad hearing loss). 1967. The year Sandie Shaw (remember her?) won the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Puppet on a String').
Unbeknown to me until the last minute it was to be the period when the Assessors from college were coming to see how I was shaping up.
So there we all were in the Hall. I chatted to them for a few minutes and then asked if they would like a sing song. Yes they would. What shall we sing? Immediately "Puppet on a String"! (Dead easy to play - and sing - no music necessary). And so we sang it, then we had a contest - who could sing it best boys or girls? I said well I could sing with the girls - one of the boys piped up with 'those two men at the back could help the boys!! And my goodness me - those two serious-looking Assessors were put in a spot. I can only assume they were Dads but they joined in with Gusto. Girls and me/Boys and the two men.
I wasn't a shy young student not long out of school and I was used to playing in public. We had a whale of a time and after deciding the contest boys v girls was pretty equal I suggested that the prize would be that they could all get up from sitting cross-legged on the floor and we would all sing it again and they could be puppets too - they could move their arms ad legs but because they were on strings it had to be on the spot. And to their eternal credit the two Assessors joined in with the boys too.
The bell went for the end of the lesson and I hope it was deemed a good lesson by the Assessors. I never heard another word about it. But I - and the kids - enjoyed it thoroughly.
Why the song should suddenly at half past five this morning pop into my head I don't know. But it was a happy memory - and I could remember the words.
If you were around in those days - can you?
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26 comments:
Yes,I remember Sande Shaw and I can remember most of the words to Puppet On A String.
I still remember it. My big brother (8yrs older than me, and working) promised me extra money to go to the Fair if I could sing it word-perfect. Of course I did!
My first teaching practice took place during a week of fierce October storms. Several members of staff couldn’t make it into school and it was the afternoon of a regular senior management meeting. It was decided that as my mentor teacher was absent the meeting would take place in the gym with me supervising my PE lesson while senior management supervised me!
I remember Sandie Shaw and Puppet on a String. I also remember my first day of Prac Teaching.
I prefer the memories of Sandie Shaw.- sounds like you were a natural Pat! - Pam.
What confidence you had, Pat! I was never that confident when I was beginning my teaching career. That's probably why I only taught for 2 years before I moved on to something else. A lovely memory for you!
As a young new teacher you created a musical event and that is very impressive. To engage the students and the two evaluators in this performance sounds like good fun for everyone.
I wonder if one day that you'll say you'll be mine. Oh Sandie!
I think you passed that teaching assessment. Mean of them not to tell you.
Good for the evaluators to join in.
I can’t imagine a group of 8-11 year olds doing that these days, but perhaps I am wrong.
Lovely story and, as someone has already said, you were a natural.
You were so much more fun than my primary school teachers! I would have been 10 or 11 back in 1967.
What a brilliant way to keep the interest of kids 8y to 11y! I imagine every one of those kids and the kids of those men remember you, that day, and Sadie Shaw!!
That happy memory was a lovely way to start your day, too.
Hugs!
What a brilliant memory to start your day with, and what inspired teaching from you. I bet the Assessors went away with grins on their faces and massive admiration for this fresh faced young teacher who had them dancing like puppets. And yes, I can remember the words to the song well, although in 1967 I was just 7, it's a very memorable song ... as the earworm you have provided me with is proving.
In 1967 I had a four year old and a two year old I don’t remember much about anything as I also worked from 5-11 six afternoons a week. I remember the first child singing “Downtown” over and over again from her playpen when she was about a year old. When she sings now , she sounds like a fog horn! I would have made a terrible teacher , as I preferred to work for myself.
ONE wonderful thing about our current world! Being able to Google and watch a video and hear the song referenced here!
It was a different world back in 1967. More innocent, I think. What fun it must have been for the kids to be participants, AND for the two assessors to both observe and take part. From following you for many years, I think you would do something similar
today under simliar circumstances. You seem to always empathize with your audience. An exceptional and endearing trait.
Yes, I remember ‘Puppet on a String’! But your blog post also took me back to my own Teaching Practices, which all took place in Hertfordshire in the early 1970s. I loved them all but especially my second T.P. at a place called Goffs Oak. I was exceedingly lucky to have a delightful, young teacher,( with whom I’m still in touch!) and an equally delightful and enthusiastic class of lower juniors. I loved every minute of it!
It sounds as if you very much enjoyed your time as a student teacher and how brilliant for the Assessors to join in with your activities! 😁
I remember Sandy Shaw and the song itself but the only line from it is - like a puppet on a string! What a great memory and I am sure your classes loved you for that.
Brilliant...and it would have been good to hear the assessors' comments!
It is good to watch the dawn...but isn't it getting later and later so fast?!
Your writing is morphing pat
It’s becoming more whimsical, personal and I’m loving it
gz indeed it is - I have just come to my commputer = 9.15pm - dark already.
I hear Sandie Shaw's name on so many British TV shows, and on some, like Call the Midwife, they play a song. I've looked her up, and like her a lot, but am mystified why she wasn't known in the US. Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, and Petula Clark were popular and on the radio. I can't figure it out!
Yes, practice teaching was a very stressful experience. You had to have a lesson plan. the supervising teacher had their eye on you and then those supervisor would show up. Over my time I had dozens of student teachers. I gave them as much independence as possible. I would leave the classroom when I felt they were capable. I loved having student teachers to look at the new ideas they had.
I think it was a lovely experience for all involved.
Not familiar with the song, but how I love that story!
When I was asked to cover for an absent teacher, I would either teach Latin, or read from W B Yeats 'Mythologies'; and discuss. The children always seemed to enjoy both.
You must have been a brilliant teacher, Pat - any kid should have someone like that at their schools.
I wasn't born yet in 1967 and can not remember the song, but I probably know it; my parents used to play a lot of music (of all kinds and styles) to us when we were little.
I remember the song well, and Sandie Shaw with no shoes on! I was said to look a little like her at the time.....similar hair helped!
Red Liked your take on 'new ideas' and refreshing to hear you say it. One of the problems in teaching I have always found is that some teachers get stuck in their ways and think that theirs is the only way. Now that I have been retired for forty years (I took early retirement at 50 - my husbad was older than me and we wanted to spend what remaining time we had together, I often wonder just how much teaching has changed. I suspect with the advent of computers it has changed out of all recognition. Would you agree?
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