After 30 years of full time teaching this is my final half
term. I will be going freelance in September but this is my final school
holiday where I will be returning as a full time teacher. I decided that it would be a restful half term& I would recharge batteries....all the
usual clichés. Penthouse apartment booked on the East coast (if you are going
to do it – you might as well do it in style is my motto), books, camera .....oh
and laptop, iPhone, novel for year 7 next half term, books I’ve been meaning to
read....oh that’s right where is the off button I seem to have mislaid it.
So far this week I have done really well but it’s Wednesday
and I’m starting to twitch! I had several conversations on Twitter about posters
on resilience for our staff training next week, favourited several tweets to
look at websites properly at the weekend, I’ve read a novel for my yr 7 special
needs English group, I’ve taken and edited several images to turn into ‘quotes
posters’, I’ve e mailed about articles, I’ve started reading ‘Dancing about
architecture’(P Beadle) and Bounce(M Syed), I’ve bought resources that will be useful for
Mantle work, I’ve saved the newspapers from the Jubilee coverage because I will be able to use them next term....
I’m regretting not sorting out Internet access as I want to
update my blog so I’m typing an article to upload later...and breathe! My
Husband is out walking (in the rain – it is the East coast in June after all!)
and I’m thinking about how to switch off! If you are a teacher I think you
adopt a different mentality.
Squirrel – you hoard and save. One pink fishing net, shells,
several union Jack flags, a hat which is a tiger’s head, the Times newspapers from the last few days –
because you can and will use them in the classroom.
Hamster – there is this treadmill, you get off but the
temptation to get back on is too great – just one more go, just one more
article, just one more tweet, just one more e mail......
Bear – you spend the first couple of days of any holiday
hibernating, slobbing out in tracksuit bottoms sloppy socks and wondering how
you manage to get up at 6am normally.
The work ethic is too engrained and even when not working
I’m thinking about what I should be doing and when I can fit it in. I promised
myself a week off so why can’t I do it? Maybe I don’t really want to and the
‘yes’ factor of finding that one off article or the ‘lure’ that you need for
you next lesson is too great.
During term time I sometimes feel overwhelmed and there is
never a time when I can say I have got to the bottom of my ‘to do’ list. The
app ‘do it tomorrow’ is great – it even makes a ‘whooshing’ sound when I cross
something off and if I don’t cross it off...it automatically transfers it to
‘tomorrow’. The good thing is when an item has been on my list for a couple of
weeks, I’ve not done it and nothing drastic has happened as a result...I just
cross it off anyway! Reminds me of a deputy I worked with who had two cardboard
boxes under his desk, all correspondence went into the first and only got
transferred into the one that was his ‘To Do’ box if someone asked him for it.
Is there such an animal as a sloth? If you are a committed
teacher can you ever stop? I would be happy with a pause button but don’t hold
out much hope.
