Starting out…without the outrage.

I’ve had an online diary before but I guess that doesn’t count as a blog so this is my first. I think that my entries will be sporadic, coming in bursts every now and again, rather than the gentle trickle of most blogs or the roaring tide of the most prolific. Because I am a geek, many of the posts here will talk about computers but in case people want to screen such entries out, I’ve created a separate technology category.

When I decided to start a blog, I wasn’t sure whether to write anonymously or not. I decided not to because I don’t think that most of the content will be very outrageous but also because when I do write about my opinions, I decided that I wanted to take responsibility for them.

Yesterday I went to school for the last time. Although I am still a student, I had been part of a pilot project and was helping to teach in a secondary school, part time. I wasn’t the most gifted teacher but I did enjoy my time there; when one of the pupils handed me a card which she’d got all her class to sign I was really moved. I’ll miss teaching, it was certainly a change from my day-today routine. Before I started at the school I had heard a lot of horror stories about what life was like as a teacher. On my first day I would have worn a flak jacket if I’d owned one and taken up an offer of a UN peace-keeping force. I only really interacted with the top-sets, and in those classes the students were, to my surprise, polite and well-behaved and a subset of them seemed genuinely interested. I hope they all do well in their exams. I wonder if I’ll cross paths with any of them in the future?

If any science teachers read this, maybe a couple of small programs I made while at school might be interesting to you. They’re free! Why not have a look?