hurrah for the holidays - but not the best start :-o

Yes - finally it's here at last - the half-term holidays!! Of course, the next countdown will be up to Christmas - because we always live for our holidays - it really does keep us going.

Not that work isn't on my mind - which is really frustrating - in fact, I've only just finished marking a pile of tests (whilst watching t.v., admittedly!)  I always find it hard to switch off at the start of a holiday and usually it takes a week to fully relax - which is a real shame for half-term, because by the time I'm relaxed, it's time to start the next half of term!

I try to start holidays by finishing work on a happy note - and that had been my plan yesterday - but it failed miserably.  My period 5 lesson were my yr8 nightmare class (always last lesson on a Friday - was the same last year too, although a different group!) - they were 'swinging from the chandeliers' yesterday, shouting across the room - asking "can we have a fun lesson, Miss?" - to which my standard response is "of course, we're doing Spanish - it's always fun!".  Despite this, I decided to pop along to see my Head of Dept (sorry 'subject area'!) to have a quick chat about something and bid him a good holiday - BUT ended up raising my voice at him and left, slamming the door behind me - oops!!!   I've never done that with any colleague before in my whole working life, let alone a line manager - but he is one of the most infuriating people I've ever had the misery to work for.  He refuses to back down or admit he could possibly be wrong/ have made a mistake - even the simplest thing - grrrrrr :-(    He's probably already forgotten the incident and put it down to female hormones - I'm just grateful I didn't say anything too bad to him - it could have been so much worse!

Has anyone out there had to work with someone they find hard to work for and even harder to respect? I'd love some advice on how to deal with this, as he will not listen to any form of advice/constructive criticism - he will turn anything like this back on the person who brings it up and becomes very defensive. Help !!!!

In the meantime I have promised myself that I will get my school work done in the first few days, so that I can relax and enjoy most of the half-term.

Enjoy :-)