It's no secret that people respond better to praise than to criticism. So when the Head was asking me yesterday if I taught a particular pupil I wondered which it was to be. I'm always paranoid that I'm doing a terrible job and that parents are constantly ringing the head to tell her that. I don't think they are but you can never be sure.

Anyway the Head just wanted to tell me that she's been looking at this girl's maths book and it was full of nice comments from me. It's like a great cycle of good karma, hippy praise. I praise the pupil, she says nice things about me to the Head, the Head praises me, I praise the pupil even more and so on until everyone feels like a million pounds.