19. Going To The School/College For The First Time
Now this is how it should feel. Youre smartly dressed. Polished shoes. You own adulthood. How can the kids not look at you and throw little confetti-pockets of respect at you as you pound the corridors of this educational establishment. Then, youre stopped at reception. You dont have an ID-Card so youll have to wait at reception until your mentor, Mr Weary, comes down from his classroom. You sit on a hard chair in the entrance atrium (hey guys, its an atrium, it doesnt feel like a school because it all airy and free, just like education should be). Pupils walk past you and glare. Staff walk past you and glare. The site-manager glares because you dont have an ID. Finally, Mr Weary comes down. Old-school. Tie over shoulder. Beads of sweat on his brow because hes had to physically move. He gives you a tour of the educational establishment. Well, he takes you directly to his room which you will assume was the tour. Then you sit and he glowers and says, I didnt really want a student teacher this year but, well, here you are. Any questions?. The next hour drags by as you go through time-tabling and curriculums. Then you have to go downstairs and watch two hours of Health & Safety and Equality & Diversity videos (er... so everyone is equal and everyone is different... and if you dont treat them equal and different, I dont get a job? Blimey.). Then they kick you out into the rain. Your brain a whirr of box-ticking and boredom. Get used to it.