One of the problems........

Of being a teacher is that it makes you incredibly intolerant of poorly designed courses and less than perfect teaching. Nothing makes me more cross than giving up my time (which, granted, is not particularly precious) and then having to suffer inappropriate course content or bad teaching. It makes me cross.

So our current fist aid course is like a breath of fresh air. You see, despite the fact that I am pretty tired by the time I get home at 18.45 due to marking exam papers, writing end of term reports and all the other Christmas stuff that goes on at school. I'm still really keen to get down there and do the next bit. And I'm not alone. In fact, all the crew are talking about it. It's practical, at our level and entirely suited to what we face on a shout. The right stuff!Tonight we spent some time playing with our stretchers. Learning how to use them in a variety of situations. And it was kinesthetic......we learnt by doing. Steve got trussed up in a 'Neil Robinson' stretcher. I think a few of the lads got some perverse pleasure from this?Becky meanwhile became a basket case in our orange basket stretcher. Matt was the unfortunate one who got to slip in the 'Ambulance Pouch' (Normally the preserve of Dogs, Deers, Deceased and the very large).Paul then threw a whole load of very realistic scenarios at us in the boathouse and on the beach. And do you know what? We coped with them remarkably well despite this only being day 3 of the course.lastly, after a discussion of various illnesses, we took the first assessment of the course. I'm glad too. Somehow it lent an aura of rigour to what we have been doing. Indeed, judging by the results of this pretty tricky test, we have done well. Lets hope it continues.

Nearly forgot. It finished on time too!