Turned out nice again

Those of you who are wondering why the weather has taken a turn for the worse in the Dunbartonshire area, ... I'm afraid it's my fault.

I had my crit (er ... tutor visit) with one of my S2 classes yesterday (Tuesday). (For any American visitors -- I know you're there, 'cause you're on my ClustrMap! --, S2 is roughly Grade 8.) I only see each S2 class once a week for 55 minutes, so I haven't really built up much of a rapport with them. And it doesn't help that there's a complete range of maturity and ability in each class. So I was hoping that, if everything else went well, I could concentrate on keeping the pupils under control.

Here's where the weather factor comes in. The classroom designated for my crit has a wall of south-facing windows and no blackout facilities. (That's a polite way of saying that the curtains have mostly fallen off the rail and apparently can't be put back up again.) During previous lessons in that classroom, the May sunshine was streaming in the window, which is nice if (a) you don't have 21 computers already pumping out magawatts of energy into the un-airconditioned room, and (b) you don't need to use PowerPoint projection.

As I was planning to use an element of PowerPoint, I was praying for bad weather. I know it was selfish of me, and I apologise unreservedly, but at least (on the Monday morning run-through) the PowerPoint was clearly legible, even from the back of the room. Of course, on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm, just to add spice to the crit lesson, the sun peeked through the grey clouds, raising my blood pressure by a couple of notches. But, as those of you who have struggled in to school today with raincoats and umbrellas will know, ... it didn't last!

Mission accomplished, thanks to the wind and the rain.