Thirteen hours - Six minutes

That may look like an odd title for a blog - I certainly thought it would be vague. It signifies two things, things that some people know and some don't, and things that some people might have an inkling about and others will just get annoyed about, because let's face it, clocks aren't all that fun to work with.

In thirteen hours, the doors will close on the "classroom" in college, with a bunch of kids and the students they'll be teaching in there for about an hour. The kids have to teach for six minutes each, to students ranging between the gaes of nine and eleven (eleven at a stretch).

If you're confused, then I've done my job. Thought I'd become entirely straightforward these past few days, but thankfully that's not the way it is. The kids are actually third level students. I just thought I'd emphasize our youth... we're all very nervous about having to teach the students, who are actually little girls, because we have to be professional when we do it (in "teacher clothes" too!), and we're going to be recorded doing it. To make matters worse, we then have to watch ourselves teach.

I don't get why we have to watch ourselves teach. I don't see why we have to be subjected to it.

I can see something going wrong in the next couple of days. Not for me, specifically. I'd be more concerned that Meadhbh will lose her voice, or the computer will shut itself down on Aisling... but it's her own fault. But what if it shuts down on Meadhbh too? I hadn't thought of that one...

WARNING. WARNING.

Yep, she's screwed. That computer can only be on for so long before it decides it wants to shut down unless you tell it not to, and no one is allowed to interrupt the lesson to make sure that the thing stays on.

THIS IS WHY I AVOIDED SUCH TECHNOLOGY!!

My lesson tomorrow will consist of a poster and a handout. I plan on keeping things very simple. Get the kids calmed down at the end of a long day, etc etc. I get to summarise everything else too, which will involve asking them questions about the previous twenty seven/eight minutes of lesson. Fun fun fun.

In other, not-related-to-teaching news, I've finished reading Skulduggery Pleasant, and will be reviewing it on The New Book Club channel on YouTube. Yay! You can subscribe to that channel by going to http://tiny.cc/tnbc - it even has its own tiny link. That is how much I love it.

The New Book Club

The Sooper Sekrit Project is finally public! Introducing The New Book Club on YouTube: your chance to be part of a group that will read a book a month for... well, I suppose until it stops.

Rather than embed a video and make this easy on myself, I'm going to talk you through the whole thing. *ahem* It all began a month ago, when I decided: "Hey! I want to get more people reading." So I went about trying to find a double's partner for this thing. I failed. Kristina Horner has too much going on, understandably with her own channel, her band, her blog, her school stuff and her job. Yeah... Then Barry Hutchison didn't have time, because his book just came out and he's already doing a thing for HarperCollins. A guy in a bookshop in New York can't do it, because he doesn't have time. I don't know many other details. And Sorcha can't do it because... well, she never said, but it might have something to do with her exams.

So, it's a solo thing, for now. And likewise, for now it's a children's/YA books thing. Come 2011, if I can get a partner in this, I'll try open it up to adult fiction as well (not adult fiction, but fiction aimed at older readers).

The format works like this: Every month, a new book is read by the members. I review the book online, in video form, and open up the floor for discussion. Comments, video responses, etc are all part of the experience. And at the end of the video, I announce the next book. I have special slots for the Big Summer Read and the Big Christmas Read, and my Book Horror Book for Halloween. Three brilliant books already fill those slots, and people are going to love them!

So, the book that will be read for March is... *drum roll* Skulduggery Pleasant. That's right, Irish author Derek Landy headlines the project with the first book in his series. I hope it was a good choice in fiction...

To get involved in the project, fly over to http://www.youtube.com/TheNewBookClub and subscribe. Next month, you'll receive a video in your subscriptions box and there I'll be reviewing the book and telling you what the next book is! Simples.

I'll also be embedding future videos right here, and updating my Twitter followers on new videos from both of my channels. Toodle pip and all that, and thanks for reading.