Teachers or fighters

Today I read a post on a blog from a teacher who was leaving their job in the Easter holidays. This teacher said that they felt that teaching was no longer a job but a lifestyle choice. For me, teaching is a vocation. Teachers don't teach because they want a job but because they want to make a difference to children's lives. As a teacher myself, I went into teaching because I wanted to help children learn and make their way in the world.

Clearly there has been a shift in teaching. With austerity measures and budget cuts, there are less teachers to do the same amount of work. I agree that teaching is not a 9 - 5 job but this has never been the case. Reports have always been there, marking has always been there, planning has always been there. So what makes today's climate any different? And why, when development and improvement are the bread and butter of teaching, do teachers shy away from improving their own situation? How is it that leaving the profession is going to make the situation any better? Surely a better way to deal with the situation would be to speak up, look for efficiencies in working and improve the situation?

I also agree that as a mother, it is difficult to balance an increasing workload with family life. I can see the point of view that your own children should not suffer because of your job. But on the flip side, I teach my own 2 children that you do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This means that if you give up on the job, you are teaching your children that it's ok to give up on things when they get tough. My own children also understand that the children I teach need me as much as they do. They are happy to share me. They know that they are loved and they are the most important things to me in the world. I tell them this regularly and I spend as much time as I can with them.

I feel sad that this teacher felt she had to leave the profession. The world is now short of another fabulous teacher who gives children a great education and hope that they have a bright future ahead of them. And I feel frustrated that she gave in. I understand all of her reasons for this but wish that we had more teachers to join the fight.

First day back.....

11.30pm, time for bed, 12pm, should really get to sleep, 1am need to get up for work soon, 2am better just read a book for a while, 3am AAARRRGGGHHH! So tired now! First day back though was ok. Half of the class were tired as well so we dragged ourselves through the day together. Used our online planning tool for the first time with the class and it wasn't entirely successful. I used the predetermined learning intentions instead of writing my own which was a mistake. I should definitely have made it more child friendly before I put it up on the screen. There were a few confused looks when we looked at them so it's back to the drawing board. I had also differentiated poems for Burns day for the class to learn and recite. However, what I hadn't banked on was a group not enjoying the poem I had chosen for them and deciding that they wanted to learn the one that was given to another group. I allowed them to do that but I heard another teacher saying to someone that she was going to let her class trade up poems but not trade down. It was one of those, "why didn't I think of that?!" moments. Oh well, you live and you learn. I am looking forward to teaching poetry though. Will be fun to think of descriptive scots words!

kx

Sunday night blues...

First Sunday night after a lovely Christmas holiday and the blues are kicking in. I've done some planning and was feeling quite organised but now that it is looming I suddenly feel like I should be running around like a headless chicken shouting at my husband to laminate faster and printing a forest's worth of worksheets. You know that feeling when you leave the house in a hurry and think you've forgotten something...it's like that. This term, I think the focus definitely has to be on me doing less work and the pupils doing more.....as bad as that sounds. More active learning has to be the way to go. Getting up early in the morning though may be a problem so this will just be the quickest entry ever. Hope you all have a good first day back out there in teacherland!

Kx

Planning, Planning, Planning...

So, it's now the 2nd of January and planning is taking over my head. I feel that I need to up my game next term but not entirely sure where to start as there are a lot of things that I feel I can do better but can't do them all at once! So far, I've typed up my expectation sheets for putting on tables so that the kids know what I expect from them every time. That means that I don't have to include things like spelling etc in the success criteria as they will become more of an expectation. I also need to try and make things as streamlined as possible for myself so that I spend less time on marking and more time on planning quality lessons. I intend to start by asking for homework to be handed in on a Thursday instead of a Friday. That way I can spend some of my time out on a Thursday morning marking homework and a Thursday night, freeing up more of my weekend. I've also tried to plan out a whole term's worth of work for maths this term. The last 2 terms I felt that I would teach one bit of a concept and then not really know where to take the rest of it. I decided this time that I would plan out the direction of the lessons so that when we reached a point where I felt that we had an understanding of the basic concepts, I would know exactly where I wanted to take the rest. It also means that I have all of the success criteria and learning intentions planned out so that I don't have to do this every week, I can just pick up the flipcharts on the whiteboard.
I hope that things like this are going to mean less stress throughout the term and more focussing on what is important, i.e. the learning that is going on in the class. There are loads of other things I would love to try like a flipped classroom etc but baby steps are definately the way to go......
If you have any ideas that would help me to spend my time in a more focussed way, please feel free to leave comments below. Much appreciated! And if you're looking for some, you should check out the book in this link. 100 things awesome teachers do

Thanks for reading
Kx

Resolutions Schmesolutions

So, the new year's resolution of keeping the blog up to date worked well then.......hahaha! I wish I had time to update this more regularly but unfortunately life takes over. I am loving my new career as a full time teacher. The children I teach are wonderful and the school is fabulous. The only worries I have are that I'm not teaching them enough or that I won't get a permanent contract in the summer. Fingers crossed, que cera cera and all that...

Scary Biccies!!!!

Oh god.......It's getting close now. The first step on the next wrung of the ladder. I've stepped off the student teacher level and out into the big scary world of School!!! The first day is hurtling towards me like a high speed train and I'm caught in it's path. Sounds extreme but it is just about as scary as that....  I've mind-mapped my topic but really need to do more on it. Finding time to do anything when you are trying to relax and ignore the oncoming traffic is a bit stressful! I hope that the feelings of uncertainty and doubt in myself subside quickly after I get started. Everyone keeps telling me this and I do know it will but it's a scary underlying fear that it won't. Hopefully in a few more blogs time I will have less of the word "scary" and more of the word "excited"!

k x x

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