Parents evening - I was dreading it as Jean is being a bit of a moo at home at the moment - dismantling things, being distracted when you ask her to do something, having tantrums over getting reading for school loosing her cardigans and jumpers and things. But we get ther and at 7 yrs old Jean is 9 and 1/2 yrs in maths and spelling and the teacher said this was as high as the assement went., level 2 in litracy though the teacher thinks she isn't even trying there and I have to say having read her dinosuar piece I agree! It was the opening scene of The Land Before TIme :/ Level 2 is still above were she should be for her age. She is being helpful and socially interacting well and has a reading age of 11 and 1/2. Only thing is she chats too much in class and her and her friend keep finding loop holes in the schools work ethic - meaning they have technically completed the assingment but not really achieved what they are capable of - this is so they have more time for chatting!
She also helpfully reminds teachers when they have forgotten something or like last year corrects their grammer :/ Out of the three R's she is official better at all but maths than me, at home she is showing a rather machanical bent at the moment - which I assume is the reason for her starting to dismantle things. She has just finished Laura Ipsum which is a sort of computing introduction done in the form of an Alice In Wonderland adventure - one of the guys who came over for Chicken UK gave it too her as a presant - she is sad there isn't another one.
She is really progressing with Jujitsu and starting to really look forward to it! She is now a Yellow-White Stripe belt and at the weekend she learnt how to defend herself from thugs with pool cues - this training was done by the guy who trains the police - at her grading the other week he said she has a Tiger inside her but that she is still a bit shy at letting the Tiger out. Jean says 'I do not have a Tiger in me I have Tigress' this is from Kung Fu Panda!
She is also doing running club at the school and, choir and Beavers - the clubs at the school are mostly free which is a bonus. We couldn't afford the music lessons which made me a bit sad but at the same time I think she is doing a lot of stuff and I restricted the number of lunch time clubs she applied for as I believe she should have free time to play with other kids as that is really really important.
I am amazed at her 🙂
I thought long and hard about this this year and you know what? I decided it was my teachers at school that really instilled the idea that I could do science now obviously there was not just one teacher and the male played as important a role as the female but I am going to dedicate this years Ada Lovelace Day post too Miss Scudder (I hope I've remembered her name right! I believe she turned into Mrs Black or Blacker or something like that).
Miss Scudder was my GCSE Chemistry teacher at Gaynes School and she did the extra bit which involved the beginnings of Geology like rock cycles and what have you as well. She was about the same height as me with curly dark hair that reached her waist - I had cut all my hair off but decided to start growing it again at this point 🙂 Alot of the boys had a crush on her and we used to make up stories about how she would marry the Biology Teacher (as you do at 14/15/16 ~cough especially when you have a crush on said Biology Teacher).
She had lots of funky ways of teaching meaning that she managed to get concepts across to EVERYONE!
Now for my GCSE's I was at a huge disadvantage, I had been put up into set 1 from set 3 something they weren't entirely sure of doing as I had missed alot of the basics that were needed but we all agreed (me the head and the science heads and my then science teacher) that I should give it a go and that I could drop down to set 2 if I really couldn't cope. I ended up in the Super Set 1 which was a smaller group that met at lunch times. I got a B which counted as two B's I didn't finish any of the exam papers and had a panic attack in the Physic exam and had to be taken out of the hall to calm down ( I couldn't remember Ohms Law - still can't).
Anyway Miss Scudder's teaching techniques were grate and she introduced me to flash cards, and coloured summary sheets and various other things which I still use when working on large prodects of going to give a talk. She is also the origin of my Periodical Periodicals in that she used to draw little cartoons of atoms interacting - cartoons where each was a little character - bonds were them holding hands etc...
It was she who intially told me of Terry Pratchette when she saw the novel I was trying to write - she thought it would be right up my street as it has science hidden within it. She made science accessible and even when the class miss behaved it was never bad like it could be for other teachers even if there was the inicided of the water tap being unscrewed and passed around the room!
I came 17th for my GCSE's in the whole year which I think was about just under 200 strong - not distingishing really except that a few years previously my parents were being told I was unlikely to be sitting them at all. I won awards for this etc... and a large chunk of that was becuase of the teachers believing in me. I went on to do A'level Chemistry - it was my lowest grade at A'level but I got more than enough points to enter a University that excelled at the subject I wanted.
But one of the things that I thought was so amazing was that Miss Scudder had had to work hard and over come obsticles to achieve her science credentials. She had gone to an all girls school that did not do science - they had no labs - they could handle the basics but they had to send the girls to the all boys school if a lab was needed. As a result she was the only one to take science A'levels and was on her own in with all the boys at the boys school. I always remembered this as a sign of - it could be done!
Women could be scientist and they could have fun, be fun and pretty as well. So I think I owe her a big THANKYOU.
Today at 3:30 I will take part in the qualifier for this evening All Star Slam which is a poetry event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. I've done one poetry slam before so am very nervous but I have more poems memorised and the ones I had memorised I can now say slower without fear of forgetting.
I will have my Celestial Montage poetry cards on me if any body wants to purchase any.
Anyway hoping to catch up with friends etc... I'm disappointed that this is the only day I can make it into the festival this year.
Tomorrow sees me running around the City of Gloucester like a blue bottomed one!
First off we are going to St Johns Hall on Northgate street for the prize giving and auction of the pictures on a post card organised by Sabre Arts. Me and the girls popped in for a look yesterday and the entries are FANTASTIC!
That starts at 11 and by hook or by crook there will be cake!
Then I have to be at the Cathedral for 2 pm to take part in the SOLD OUT event of the Poet Laureate finals! I'm not nervous honest (opps there goes another nail!). This is a free event but as numbers were limited there was a ticket allocation and all tickets were gone over a week before the event!
Me and the other finalist will be judged by a panel of poetry experts, the public and the local council. If I was to get it I would write a poem about Gloucestershire everyday for the year. Not all of those would be usable but it would be enough for me to give the community a book at the end of it.
After that I am whizzing off to Greyfryers and Black Fryers - not quiet sure which one I'm doing face painting at and which I'm doing a poetry set at but I'm sure it all work itself out!
There is also a classic car show at the Cathedral which I am really looking forward to - I love my cars I do!
Cranham Scout Group, Events and Outings, Jean | sarah | 
Thu 18th Oct 2012 10:05 am | 
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