You know it's been a bad day when you can't get your year eight form to shut up. We had a PSHE day today, which meant each form group went round together to lessons on PSHE rather than their normal Maths, English Science and Colouring In (Geography) lessons. I was with my own form group periods two and five and I felt like screaming because they were so bad.

Period five was with an lady from a Theatre in Education group who had performed a piece about the environment and the consequences of not recycling in the morning. You'd expect having a different person leading a fairly easy going lesson would be enough to keep them on track but apparently not. There was a man from the council watching the lesson too, presumably carrying out an observation. I was so annoyed with my form because they weren't shutting up and weren't listening to the lady taking the lesson, no matter how hard I tried to get them to quieten down. It was so disrespectful. The man from the council went out to fetch another teacher they were being so bad. Even with four adults in the room they still weren't as good as they should have been.

I felt so ashamed that I couldn't control my class and feel like sending a grovelling apology, complete with flowers, to the poor woman who was only trying to get them interested in looking after the environment, it wasn't like she was forcing some instimulating academic work down their throats. As a teacher you know you have to deal with silly children occasionally but someone from outside shouldn't have to put up with that kind of shit. She's going to go away with such a bad impression of the school now, as will the man from the council, who I presume has a proper name and doesn't get greeted at home by a call of 'hello man from the council' by his wife and kids.

I was nearly in tears after the lesson talking to my colleague who'd come into help out, it was that bad.