Surviving September

Aaaaaah! I am sorry but I will just HAVE to talk teacher things this week. I have finally cracked and want to talk about it on the blog! BUT it is only because I have made it through the first half term with barely a scratch :) FEELING PROUD!!! I thought I would share what I've learnt so far about surviving as a newly qualified teacher....

Wine.

Only on the weekends of course! Or with dinner on special occasions like Tom's birthday last week. The five course meal luckily soaked up the five, albeit relatively small, glasses of wine that came with it. It is especially good on a Friday as you are so tired anyway, it makes you extra sleepy and you are in the land of nod by 8pm.

and whine.

It is really important to get things off your chest. Touch wood, I've only had one particularly depressing staff meeting so far that I needed to whine about but it really helps to have someone you can talk to. Be honest when you can at work too, I spoke to my mentor about it and she was really understanding. She explained why it was such a big deal to the school and it actually made me feel like less of a depressed failure!

Being organised

I just love being organised me! As I've said before in my blog, I try so hard to keep my work at school. Obviously this won't happen every night, staff meeting night I am talking about you, but keeping most your evenings free will stop you becoming a giant stressy mess. I love finding new ways to organise things in my classroom, I am such a folder and plastic box geek. Ryan had never met anyone quite so excited by hobbycraft! I definitely couldn't live without my diary either, I like to know what is coming up and I try not to leave things till last minute. Which brings me to....

Prioritising

I loooooove making lists. I am sure this isn't just a teacher thing, but it is a job where you are always writing down on post-its or adding things daily to the pile of 'to-do'. I try and do the really important things like planning, marking and preparation for staff meetings or SEN reviews BEFORE I do my displays and quite frankly, the things that can just wait a few days.

Loving the weekend

My previous September postings have mostly been about my weekend adventures so I won't tell you about them again! I try and keep at least a day free on the weekends and I try and plan something to do with that day, not just sit around and watch TV. I'm lucky that on the weekends I only usually have to plan maths and literacy weeklies and do a few odd jobs, so if I get up early enough I can have a day and a half free to do as I please. After my Friday 8pm bedtimes I am usually raring to go at 7am anyway!

Loving my work

Teaching is the best profession, but all teachers would tell you that ;) I planned four weeks of literacy in just over an hour the other day because I was just SO EXCITED about teaching myths and legends. I'm not lying, Tom and Amy will definitely make me put money in my geek jar if they read this. The days at school go SO quickly too, my Monday feeling doesn't last very long because I love being in the classroom and helping my class to learn. Planning my maths is sometimes a different story though! haha

Early bird or Night owl?

If you haven't figured this one out yet then you probably should. The sooner you know what time you work best at, the more productive you will be. At my NQT brief on Thursday, the guy told us it's important to play to your strengths and work when it is best for you. I am ALWAYS the first person in school, and it's not just because I like having the choice of parking spaces. In the morning I am awake, motivated and prepared for the day. After 6 and a half hours on my feet teaching I usually want to go home and have a cuppa. I am pretty much useless after 7pm, so I choose the earlier get up.

Be yourself at work

Once you have figured out your sleeping/working patterns, you can have a little think about what makes you a teacher. Then go into school and own that teaching style! Everyone knows that I am the early bird who gives out raffle tickets and reads stories in increasingly silly voices. The children and the staff will appreciate how genuine and honest you are :)

Breakfast and Tea time

As an early bird, it won't surprise you that I LOVE breakfast. In fact, I just love every meal. It is so important to fuel yourself for the day and then refuel regularly! I set a ridiculously early 6:15am alarm every day just so that I can enjoy a relaxing breakfast before I set off for work at 7:20am. If I ever slept in and missed breakfast, I'm not sure I'd function properly all day. In our flat we also make time to eat our tea together :) it's like a cute family catch up time. We do try to not involve ourselves in teacher talk but with the three of us, it's pretty inevitable.

Sing in the car

I've never been a big listener of the radio, opting for Spotify during my University years. However I now religiously listen to the radio 1 breakfast show every morning and I join in with the going home song as I trundle through Knaresborough. Katy Perry's Roar motivated me on many early September mornings!

Read

The ultimate of the chill out activities and it can be done at any time! Choose whatever you like, books, magazines, blogs or newspapers. I've even enjoyed sharing my children's literacy work at times.

and looky here... you just read my blog :) feeling happier? relaxed? I hope so :P

If you want to do some more blog reading on this fine Sunday then you can click on this NEW BLOG written by Harpreet who I met in Southampton, she is just lovely soooooo check it out!