Point One: I have had to replace the two instances of the phrase 'pure energy' in my novel with 'plasmatic energy'. Apparently pure energry is not an actual thing.

Point Two: Scientists have NO IDEA how lightning is created. How awesome is that!

*giggles*

http://www.hpfans.net/forum/thread-48254-1-1.html

Uhm... this is so very, very random.

Three queries sent out so far and I'm going to keep sending them. My word but it's a stressful business. Each agent seems to want something or other slightly different and I end up agonising over every word choice.

My sincerest thanks to everyone on this flist who has helped with the various incarnations of this novel and its synopsises and query letters.

I know that if I hadn't joined the Quill and piggybacked on the expertise of a truly fine group of writers, then I would still be a long, long way behind where I am as a writer.

Hope all's well for everyone.

I found this note scrawled on a piece of scrap paper in one of my Year 8's books.

"Shall I draw a door on the white board with 'Mr Cameron, English' on it so it's like you're standing outside?"

For some reason - possibly sleep deprivation - this has struck me as a very deep question that hints at a profound understanding of the human mind. Sadly, no-one has ever drawn a door on my white board, so as to pretend they are both within and without of the classroom simultaneously, but if they did... I might well applaud.

Hiya all. I've been bullied into submitting my novel to literary agents. Got my first two chapters polished, my synopsis looking decent (no small thanks to Stu and Sagacious C for their help a with that a while back) and now all I have to do is the query letter.

Here it is. Any and all help will be utterly priceless.

Thank you.

( Dear Agent )

They work in silence even when I tell them to talk, they come in five minutes before the end of the lunch and start afternoon early and worst of all, I just received this message on the email homework I set...


'CMN Tempest HMWK

This play disappointed me a lot but I did like the inventive characters in it.

The ending of the play shocked me he'd has been thrown onto a pacific island, barely saved his baby daughter, betrayed by his brother and all he wants is forgiveness lol. AS IF!!!!

Ollie ^_^ :)

P.S AWESOME homework Sir.

P.P.S May we have another one like it? (Puppy Eyes)'


I keep expecting David Tennant to burst in and reveal that they are all brainwashed zombies or robots or brainwashed zombie robots!

(P.S. This was the last bit of his homework. Obviously I set more than just this bit.)

Update:

I am now a qualified teacher.

I have a job that starts in September at an absolutely awesome school.

I got married last week.


----


Okay, I'm kidding on that last point. Sorry about my evil sense of humour! We'll leave the weddings to other members of my flist. (Go, Stu, go! Woo!)

And now I'm going to South Africa for a month on Friday. We're spending the first two weeks touring around on an adventure and then I'm teaching in a few schools out there.

These are the kind of things I'm supposed to update people about, aren't they?

Unfortunately, I've been mad-stressed. I'm trying to create a website - litshare.co.uk - which is a site for members on my course to share thoughts and resources during our first year of teaching. We'll probably expand it over the year. But it's so much work. I have to learn php coding and sort through hundreds of resources. Ah well... hopefully it'll be worth it.

So sorry for poor comment rate on other people's LJs and, yes, it'll probably be even worse for the next 5 weeks as I'm not in country.

I hope everybody has fantastic summers! And when I'm back I'll try to be a better LJer. Honest indian.





(Honest indian isn't offensive, is it? It's in my head because I watched the film of Swallows and Amazons the other day - which is an awesome children's book.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSmLd0__xxM

I'm the guy at the beginning - in the suit.

Two year 10 girls came to get extra help with their Spoken Coursework on Dicken's Hard Times at Lunchtime. I was cheerfully going through it with them, when one of them, Jade, suddenly spouts out, "You know, sir, I was crap at English last year, but you've really helped me." I blinked several times and Jade continued, "I know I'm a pain in the arse, sometimes, but I just wanted to say that you're a really good teacher". At this point, the other girl agreed, then Jade continued, "I think you're the best English teacher I've ever had".

Jade is the most plain-spoken pupil I've ever met and has absolutely no filter between her brain and her mouth, so I was fairly certain she was being sincere and I was pretty stunned. I ended up thanking her, but making a quick getaway. I was embarrassed.

Anyway, she had her assessment today and was the only one in the class to get 54 out of 54, which was an A*. Everybody else in the class was superb, too, though. Much higher standard than I expected, so I'm pretty thrilled about that. Another lad who was devestated when I gave him a B for his last coursework, and who I had a long conversation with (promising that if he kept up the effort, he'd see the reward) put in a stunning performance to get a comfortable A*, too.

It was all I could do to keep up a poker face and not start jumping up and down in triumph. There were two of us marking and we only moderated with each other after, so we couldn't tell them how well they were doing then and there. One of them asked us whether he'd at least got a C, when he'd actually got a top A. Hee! I can't wait to tell them all how well they've done.

*beams*

I've been teaching an almost normal teacher timetable since January and I've now made it to the Easter holidays. This is what they call Teaching Practice (inventive name, I know). There's only three weeks of Teaching Practice left after Easter, and then we go into theory stuff, without much teaching. So basically, I'm pretty much done.

( Lots of whitter about Teaching Practice )

And the very worst of it is that I love every moment of it. I don't want to finish three weeks after Easter. I want to teach. I want to get it right, find the right mix of methods that will make everything click. Because I get so much out of working with the kids and teaching these lessons.

Which means I could very well be stuck with all this for rather a long time...