Using your hands to talk

I've mentioned how thin money is on the ground at school for things like training, especially for teaching assistants, who are so undervalued. There is currently a scholarship for teaching assistants at a certain grade. It allows them to claim half of any tuition fees, (up to £2000 towards the cost of a course) which will add to their CPD (Continued Professional Development). So even though I am now officially on my Grade 2 brailling course (it hasn't begun yet), I am going to apply, as one of my other interests is sign language. It is a beautiful language to watch. It can be as varied as the many accents one might hear in the course of a day spent in a big city. It can be done well or badly. And it can change lives and make the difference between isolation and inclusion. Getting the scholarship will be a matter of timing, skill, popularity and luck. It's going to be extremely competitive. One TA wanted me to keep my mouth shut about it to increase our chances. But I have experience of the kind of seething resentment that sort of secrecy can cause, and I'm spreading the word. We can all compete for it together. It's quite likely none of us will be chosen. But who knows, perhaps someone will be lucky!

tatters&rags

The teachers were on strike today, so years 7, 8 and 9 were asked to Stay At Home. 'Oh good,' I thought, rubbing my hands with excitement at the thought of a whole day to practice my braille, to catch up on my vision impairment course, and maybe even time to have a cup of tea! But years 10, 11, 12 and 13 were still in and reacted to the strike day as though they were on strike - ie lots of wobbly-head attitude, giggling and Lots of Running About Inappropriately. One of the really challenging ones was so relaxed he forgot himself for a moment, raced past me to the bottom of the stairs and whipped round presenting his wrists to me in a strange gesture. 'Spiderman?' I asked, uncertainly. This broke the spell…'Yes Miss,' he admitted sheepishly and actually blushed! I just about stopped myself from saying 'Sweet!' Things were also very relaxed in the playground, which was a change from the usual underlying tension. But all of it really upset my autistic spectrum student…he doesn't like change, obviously, and hates loud noise and fuss. So we beat a hasty retreat to the calm of the braille prep room where we each got some work done and had a couple of custard creams each (I keep them for Friday night scrabble club).

Here's my latest make…a bracelet from some beautiful antique navy blue calico, part of a kid glove, feed-sack (of course) and vintage stocking-darning thread from the forties (soft and strong). Secured with a popper. Hope you like it - I'll be putting some similar ones in my Etsy shop pretty soon.

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