Teaching context can be a right regular pain in the arse. We, as English teachers, have to do it, but I’m sure it’s something we all do with caution, knowing that there’s every chance we’ll get back essays that (for some unknown reason) start with a biography of the writer and a summary of the […]
Tag: #sadsundays
Back To School Already??
So, it’s the last week of the holidays. I always start getting jittery with so few days to go. I worry that I’ll have forgotten how to teach, I worry about whether this year will be too busy, I worry about whether I’ll be able to work with all of the classes I’ve got. I […]
Idealistic, but not Ideal.
Idealistic, yes. That I definitely am. Ideal, I am not. One of the greatest drawbacks of teaching is that we are never done. Nothing is ever done perfectly. When my family are working their nine to fives or their shifts, I am either in school or working from home. When they can measure their performance […]
Teacher Mental Health Is At An All Time Low: The Current Management Focus On It Is, At Best, Patronising And, At Worst, Actively Damaging. Discuss.
At lunch today, with a group of colleagues, we were discussing the impact of teaching on our mental health. Unanimously the verdict came in: devastating. Yet, I think that, without exception, we all love teaching. With so much pressure, regular observations, extreme workloads, is it possible for us to protect ourselves and our mental health […]
Being The Teachers We Were Made To Be…
For the first few years of my teaching career I kept a keen eye on all the teachers around me and tried to be like them. I saw what they taught, I saw how they behaviour managed, I followed the way they marked. In sum, I copied them. In everything. And that’s not a bad […]
First Day Backitis…
It doesn’t matter how much one enjoys teaching, the first day back is a real grind. Many of us find that we’re there, wide awake, at 3am thinking about all of the jobs waiting for us at our desks or in our classrooms. Even once we’re at school, it isn’t always plain sailing. Take today, […]
Sunday Sadness & Monday Malaise
However much teaching holds your heart, Sunday evening is a real downer, isn’t it? And Monday morning isn’t much better. When in a classroom with the students, door closed and lesson started, I’m in my element but, at home where the pace is slower, there’s a part of me that can’t face finding the time […]