Bracing Myself

So on Sunday evening, heaven's knows why because it was a quite surreal experience, I applied on-line for a teaching job at a local school. And first thing on Tuesday morning I got a call from the school asking me to go for an interview on Friday. Tomorrow Friday. And the two people I put as referees texted to say they had already been asked for references.

Well, blimey, I thought. Is this part of the Grand Plan? I mean, the money would be welcome, because occasionally one still gets the urge for a shopping splurge and then one has to reign oneself in with a reminder that one is a poor and penniless writer. Especially as one has one's children all moved back home at the moment along with a mummy-to-be and one might need intensive therapy once they've all gone again. (More on that later). And yesterday, an e-mail arrived from the school detailing my programme for the day, including the lesson I am expected to teach as part of the interview process.

So last night, after teaching my Adult Ed class - another fun hour, and my students are starting to get a bit cheeky now, so we're all settling down with each other - I set about trying to put a lesson plan together. The lesson is on media. If I put together a list of my favourite to least favourite components of teaching English, media would come very near the bottom with the exception of a rather nice Scheme of Work I once put together and taught about the intertextuality and subversion of stereotypes in the film 'Shrek'. I was hoping for a nice spot of Shakespeare, or creative writing. Or a poem. But no, I've got media.

So anyway, Andy purchased me many newspapers and I set about cutting out suitable articles for analysis, ably assisted by Pandora whom I'm surprised has any toes left this morning, after her dalliances with my scissors. And my friend Janet, media teacher extraordinaire, sent me, via the interwebbly, lots of useful resources. I stopped panicking about mid-night.

And today I went into town and purchased a new interview outfit (probably THE most important aspect of the interview process), and spent the whole afternoon creating and practising the lesson, hence the late appearance of this blog and the circling of adult children about me now muttering things like 'What's for dinner?' and 'when are you planning on cooking it?'

So wish me luck as I, somehow, find myself being interviewed for a teaching post. I think the Universe must want it for me, as it's all happened so quickly. The Universe can be weird like that and I'm not even going to try and understand its reasoning on this one.

Other news today is that Chris and Leane went for the second scan of their baby and it's going to be.....

.....A GIRL!!