Monday 22 October 2012

So here I go.....an adventure into the unknown

About me

I suppose it would be polite to introduce myself at this point, I am a science teacher teaching in a BESD school. This means I teach the children that most mainstream teachers pray are not on their lists every September...before you think it I don't want your sympathy. I love my job and I love the rewards teaching these children brings. It is hard. Of course it is. That is because teaching is hard.

That said I am a big advocate of work - life balance. One of the main things I have gained since working in Special Education is a bit of my life back. I can go to the gym, have a hobby and enjoy one day of my weekend without feeling guilty (sometimes even one and a half!)
I have a wonderful boyfriend who totally understands what I do and deserves my time. He puts up with the idea that the kids can hit and kick sometimes and doesn't let me get too stressed out. We even managed to go to the cinema on a Thursday night (shock horror!) :)

I've been teaching 9 years, 3 of which have been in Special Education. This means I have experience I can use that a lot of my colleagues do not. Handy. This also means the expectations on me in terms of classroom management, assessment and behaviour management are high, but probably not as high as I place upon myself.

I said to myself a while ago that I would try and blog. Emphasis on the word 'try' here. I am still not sure and probably never will be sure that anyone will be interested in what I have to write or that it will hold any value for anyone....but here goes anyway. I'm sure some of my 'Twitter' people will read it to be polite. :)

Why blog?

I guess the same reasons other teachers blog:

A bit of release, to tell the funny stories that make up the school day or week....for example the title of this blog. Yes a student really said this. Yes we all fell about laughing.

A place to post concerns and triumphs, post things that really worked and things that really didn't! A place to ask questions, share resources. I will try and avoid ranting...I think this would be far too easy a trap to fall into.

To develop some of the skills I have been working on whilst completing my Developing Leaders Course run by the Institute of Education in London. It is an awesome course for anyone wanting to be a successful Middle Leader (although I hate that term.)

 Highlight of the Half Term

Well actually there are two:
Being included on the #tweacherstubemap by @Pekabelo - what an honour! Basically, if you are a teacher and you arn't on Twitter.....where have you been?! Ask around, someone at your school will be tweeting. If not, give it a go. I did and haven't looked back. I have made some great twitter colleagues and they are full of help, support and ideas. They have great blogs too! As a scientist #ASEChat is fabulous, I am now a member and going to the ASE Conference in January. Otherwise try #mathchat #ukedchat and...especially successful #SLTChat

Completing my aformentioned Developing Leaders course. Tomorrow night is my Twilight Presentation evening where I am going to present my journey into leadership over the last 6 months. Maybe I'll blog about it next....

Enjoy half term everyone. I intend to as best I can....and seriously, check out Twitter, I will warn you it is addictive!


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