By: Blonde Two
Today is my last day of teaching for a wee while. I have saved enough during the last seven months to earn myself a bit of time to do some writing, become a social media mogul and generally be Blonde.
It is likely that I will find myself back in the classroom at some point (but possible that I will not). Those of you who have been around for a while will remember that last time I left, I wasn’t too happy about the situation, I felt dejected, rejected and … quite frankly … ejected! This time I am quite excited, who knows what might be around the corner! I have been thinking about what I will and will not miss:
WON’T MISS:
- Lesson observations. I have been on this planet a while, have (very) successfully raised three children and have been teaching with excellent results for nearly ten years. I do not need somebody to come into my classroom and tell me that today my lesson did or did not go well; I form my own judgements about this all of the time and am quite adept at putting the matter straight when necessary.
- Data. There is no excuse for the amount of weight that this government puts on exam data. I don’t blame head teachers here at all. Teachers have seen sex education, careers education, sport and outdoor education all downgraded to the extent that schools can’t afford to spend time or money on them. We are never going to get a nation of young people who all pass their exams, but wouldn’t it be great to find ourselves with a bunch who are well rounded, fit and healthy, have life goals to work towards and know how to put a condom on?
- Workload. It is difficult to explain this one to anyone who isn’t a teacher. On paper our hours and holidays look great. If you could look closer though, in each and every school you would see a community who has always worked hard but is now sinking to its knees (and having to take extended time off) with stress and exhaustion. This is an unsustainable situation, teachers are leaving, pupil numbers are on the up again. I don’t need my maths A Level to work that equation out.
WILL MISS:
- Colleagues. Some of the best people in the world are teachers and I will miss those that I know; but I say this with a caveat. I will miss my colleagues, but these days even if I am in school I don’t see them very much. We are all too busy and too worried to find time to sit talk to each other, share ideas or even sometimes offer support.
- TEENAGERS. I feel that the capital letters are justified here. There is no doubt about it, teenagers get a bad press; but spend your days with them and you will find that teenagers are actually caring, compassionate, deep thinking and very, very funny. Their capacity for original thought sometimes overwhelms me and I am often humbled by the amount I can learn from them.
So in three years time, if I am a successful author and not a teacher, ask me what I miss and I will tell you. It will be the teenagers, their zest for life and their capacity to always surprise me.
Which is probably why I plan for outdoor education to remain a big part of my life.
Enjoy your sabbatical (shame it’s raining on day one, hey ho!) and I particularly liked both of your points 2. ?
Well will miss YOU and all that you brought with you the laughter the fun the tears good luck out there remember to wrap up warm lol xxxxxx
Big day for you. Congrats on surviving in the ‘industry’ for so long and coming out the other end relatively unscathed. As a fellow escapee I know how you feel: that amazing sensation of a weight being lifted off, the relief in the knowledge that the only targets you have to hit are those you set yourself. And the time….time to fill with what YOU WANT to do. It’s fab!… I also found there was guilt at leaving kids and colleagues behind and a feeling of leaving a job half finished…but that was soon dispelled by long walks, rediscovering cycling and getting into my art….and helping kids in other ways.
Agree with all your points re the job – as would any of my recently escaped mates.
So enjoy tomorrow morning with all that lovely time stretching ahead..and on the first day of next half term, at 9 o’clock, make sure you face towards your school from the top of the hill you’ve just climbed and wave. I bet you’ll be grinning!
Thank you very much for your words of encouragement Steve. You summed it up very well. I shall do what you say on the Monday, but on the Tuesday I will be out on DofE with B1 and the kids from school 🙂
Wishing you the very best, although I am very, very sad to see you go x
Upward and onward, Fi darling; don’t look back! Love, Mum x
Don’t know why I was anonymous in the last post – maybe because I was using Kindle! Further to my comment, I fell to thinking about my own teaching career. In summary, here is what I look back on:-
Teaching was my bread and butter and it fed my daughters. It was also my jam in all its flavours, (variety, never two days the same) , my lemon curd (zest for life), my marmalade (tinged with a little bitterness at times) and my marmite (love it or hate it – I loved it!) Would I have chosen a different life job? No, I was born to teach and nurture; difficult to kick the habit even in my 70s! Did i do a good job? Not for me to say! Love, Mum x
You were always and always will be an inspirational teacher.
My daughter, High Horse is a teacher. They break up for half term today. She has 54 exam papers on Macbeth to mark.
Well I hope she gets a well deserved rest too.
Good Luck!
Moving on to new adventures, the best teacher, and friend I know. Enjoy opening the new doors Fi. And obviously from a selfish view, I hope we can meet up soon. love H xxx
Onwards and upwards eh. Let’s hope so! xxx