What to do now the Ma is completed?

It’s been some time since I started this blog. Well, about 5 years anyway. I always mean to engage with it more than I do but I end up getting wrapped up in day to day life that I forget to take a step back and us this space as a place to think about myself as a teacher and as a person who happens to teach for a living (the difference being that of how I define myself: the person who believes teaching is all I have to offer and the person who has a life outside of teaching.).

I’ve finally finished my Ma in Educational Innovation after starting it 4 years ago. I took a year out in 2016-17 to allow me to focus on a year working with an NQT. But it’s done and now I feel this sense of ‘what now?’. I’ve tried to fill my time with other activities. Hobbies and social commitments I’ve neglected have now been revitalised. I even took some time to step back from my teaching commitments that took up my time outside of school (for example, I’ve not done as much work with the NEU as I did before, although that will now change). So, I thought I’d take the opportunity to discuss what I now do and what my plans are for the future.

1. I joined a book club. I used to be a part of the Birmingham Book Club a few years ago but the commute to Birmingham, even just once a month was such a fuss and I ended up drifting away. I am now a member of the Harborne Book Club which is much closer to home. I really enjoy the chance to read books I’d never have chosen myself and talk about them with others. It’s an evening a month that isn’t school related and it’s welcomed. This month we’re reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I use GoodReads a lot now, so you can keep track on there.
2. I attend an evening course. Yes, because teaching isn’t enough, completing my masters isn’t enough, I’m not subjecting myself to even more learning! I’m in the middle of a 12 week Explore Textiles course at the Midlands Arts Centre and I LOVE it. Before teaching and my previous career to that, I studied fine art and photography for my undergrad degree. I’ve always loved the arts. I don’y claim to be any good but it’s a chance to be creative. The course is great for that, despite meaning that I’m home at 10pm every Monday! I’d suggest everyone to take part in an arts course! It’s a great way to relax and learn new skills and the MAC in Birmingham is just fantastic.
3. I run, still. This year with more focus though. I’m attempting to complete every Race at your Pace challenge this year with the aim of completing the Great Birmingham Run in October. I’m doing this all in aid of Crohn’s and Colitis UK as I have family members who suffer from IBD. You can sponsor me by visiting my JustGiving page and keeping an eye on my progress.

They are the main three things I now do. I’m a lot more creative at home and dabble in jewellery making, crocheting and dressmaking when I can and always make time to go for long walks with my partner, Craig. We’re attempting to complete the Three Peaks Challenge on the 4th May too which is daunting to think about.

Another part of my life that I spend a lot more of my time doing is engaging with mindfulness and yoga. I spent January completing her Dedicate 30 day yoga challenge. I love Yoga with Adrienne. She’s so down to earth and trying to do yoga daily is hard enough as it is. It’s amazing how hard it can feel sometimes to find 10 minutes a day to sit and meditate and, despite everything I’ve tried to achieve, it has to be one of the hardest things to do.

That’s essentially where I am now. Wanting to partake in mindfulness more and engage with daily yoga. I want to explore how these two things, especially the former, can help contribute my fitness as not only a teacher navigating the education system but as an individual in her 30s living in the 21st century.

319

I’m sorry that I’ve not blogged much the past couple of weeks but I’ve been in both Dublin (for leisure) and Calais (to deliver aid) and have only gotten home but I’m now back in the game and ready to go.

For me, school starts on the 3rd September with two days worth of teacher training days (not actually sure what these will be on as I still don’t have access to OpenHive or my school emails -_-). During these two days I’ll add the finishing touches to my class and go over what I’ll actually be doing come the start of term on the 7th September which is where the 319 thing comes into it.

Essentially, I’ll be using the hashtag #HappyNQT319 from the 7th September to document my NQT year.

‘Why 319?’ You ask. Well that’s how many days there will be in the academic year (given your school also starts on the 7th Sept and ends on the 22nd July). Following on from last years very successful #HappyNQT100 which in itself was a off shoot of the #100HappyDays hashtag, I want NQTs (or anyone I suppose…I did it last year as a trainee) to share to the Twitter world the happy events that happen during their teaching year.

So, come September 7th, tweet and hashtag away!

**EDIT**

I’d like to direct you all to @bexn91 who is the creator of the the happy NQT blogposts on http://www.bex-trex2teaching.blogspot.com as the brains behind the initial hashtag. Go and follow her as she’s just fab.

The Hours

First of all let’s get it out the way: the hours. Yes, including those ‘invisible hours’ we work. You’ll no doubt remember Mr Gove infamously proposed increasing the school day back in early 2014. This was of course completely shut down as an idea by unions with comments on the UK’s already shorter summer holidays and longer school days that most countries (Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, April 2014). But despite what other countries do, what affect do our long hours have on our wellbeing? I imagine that my working day doesn’t differ too much from other teachers so I will use it as a general example.

5.45am – wake up

7.30am – get into school and resources/mark/tidy/do all the other millions jobs that have been niggling me for days and weeks

9am – 3.15pm – the school day (learnt to master eating a yoghurt and marking books at the same time! Success!)

3.15pm – stay in school until I get kicked out by the site manager or I’m too hungry and need to go and buy a family bag of Doritos from the shop on the way home

And that’s just the time in school! I know that once I’m home, changed into my pyjamas, eaten dinner (had a glass of wine), I’m back on my laptop lesson planning for following week, amending resources (or creating them if I’m feeling particularly keen and TES/Twinkl haven’t come up trumps) or whatever else it is I need to do that I can do on my laptop in the comfort of my own home. It’s not very often I’m done working before 11pm at which point it’s off to bed to start it all again. It’s so easy to forgot to look after yourself working days like these. You start to forget to speak to people and begin to neglect family and friends. Anyone with a patient significant other will know the feeling of guilt not paying them the attention they deserve and I know I have, in the past, tried to make amends by putting aside work and simply going down to the pub with them and enjoy their company. 7 odd weeks later and we’re all walking zombies. Sleep deprived, over worked, socially alienated and weary.

I believe that the first half term is the hardest, not least because it’s generally the longest. The end of October is a blessing and those few days during the holidays are spent sleeping, sleeping and sleeping. I think I’d be keen if I felt able to bear the idea of thinking about the second half of the autumn term much before the Wednesday of that holiday. I frantically call around seeing what few friends are free (as, let’s face it, they don’t have the week off!) trying to make amends for my lack of attention. Let’s face it though, I have work to do and after catching up on sleep, I’m back to lesson planning and the week quickly flies by with me feeling no more rested than when I started.

All that said, it takes me back to the beginning of my introduction post about my ‘laziness’ in posting since school broke up on the 17^th July. Other than a few days in South Devon for a friends wedding I have simply slept, cleaned the house (you’d be amazed how much dust a house can accumulate over 9 months of neglect!) and slept some more. You’d think with all this sleep I’d feel refreshed and it’s only now, week three into the summer holidays that I feel human and ready to enjoy my time off properly. Hence why I’m posting here, sat at my grandma’s kitchen table in the Staffordshire countryside away from my home in Birmingham and away from anything at all to do with school. Learning how to relax and properly manage my ‘recuperation time’ seems to me something I need to work on improving. Sometimes I feel I need to take a leaf out of my own back and better evaluate how I learn to relax, switch off and reinvigorate myself for the next term or in this instance the next school year.

I think I might make my own little personalised action plan on how to relax in a way that suits me. This is mostly inspired by The Guardian article posting in the last blog post. Watch this space!

Teacher Wellbeing as told by The Guardian

A little interjection between posts here as I repost and article from The Guardian called ‘The art of relaxation: ideas to get students to unwind and recharge’ that I feel will be as much use to teaching staff as to the students themselves.

Put your feet up and have a read!