I guess that’s the thought going through a lot of parents’ minds right now, whether they’re teachers or not. My parents were both teachers and I can tell you right now that it wasn’t always an easy combination. I always really wanted to be their child, rather than their student. Perhaps that’s the most important […]
Tag: #thestormhashit
The First Day Of School: Keyworker Edition
Yesterday, I posted on my Facebook wall, expressing my fears and uncertainties before the first day back at school after schools were closed to all but the children of essential key workers. I think that it’s important that we talk about our feelings and are part of a community, after all this is physical distancing […]
This Has Been The Strangest Week In My Career.
When I started teaching, there were so many things that I expected. I expected to find that behaviour management was a struggle at times. I expected to work hard, work late and work at home. I expected meetings, parents’ evenings, detentions, marking, marking, marking and more marking. I even expected that every time I moved […]
Some Days In Teaching Are Sh*t, But Teaching Is Definitely NOT.
Some days in teaching are sh*t, aren’t they? They really are. There are times when you come home, barely able to drive safely or hold an entire sentence together. Days when your year nines have run rings around you, break duty caused endless admin after there was an ‘incident’, multiple meetings drag on and achieve […]
Why I’m Not Going To Lay Down The Law As The First Lesson Back.
It’s customary, I know, to get students back into the swing of things with a swift run through the rules and classroom expectations. We’ve all seen powerpoint after powerpoint with lists of rules or, for the more open-minded, questions allowing classes to come up with their classroom expectations. I won’t be starting term that way. […]
If You See Behaviour Management As a Battle Ground, You May Win The Battle But You’ve Already Lost The War
Behaviour Management: Is There A Way To Practically Apply The Principles of Respect and Relationship? In writing my last blog post, I realised that respect and relationship as foundations for behaviour management might sound like some sort of impractical pixie dust solution for helping lessons to fly. I really don’t think that they are. They’re […]
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 […]
Observations: Surviving & Succeeding
I don’t know about you but observations still fill me with dread, causing those cold sweats and stomach clenches. Like most teachers, I really want to do my job well. I really do. But I do not like to be judged. With a classroom full of teenagers, no matter how difficult or stroppy, I know […]
Teacher Sick Day Guilt
While curled up in bed, headachy, full of flu and fed up, I was overwhelmed by one particular feeling. GUILT. There I was, a cold-filled lurgy monster and having to sleep for a couple of hours after popping downstairs to get a drink, but all I could think was: I should be in school. Bear […]
We All Need To Be/Have Kind Colleagues
Schools are hives of activity. From the roughest, inner city school to the most prestigious, private establishment, expectations of teachers are often crushingly high. Our expectations of ourselves are the starting point but we also experience pressure from: head teachers, management teams, department heads, other teachers, other staff, parents and our students. Teaching is an […]