Of course life in the world of teaching is not all rosy.
I have taught for 27 years now.
Good Grief!
On and off with maternity breaks.
Over seas in a Private International school, state schools (secondary) Private boarding school (primary) College (14-16, adults) and Night Schools.
All very different but each one unique and special.
I now teach in college. Vocational Futures. The kids that are allowed to take one day off school to attend college and do a vocational course.
I teach Childcare. I know, funny , with 11 children!
I love this job!
It is never a burden to go to work.
The kids enjoy the break from school and the opportunity to follow a more practical course that will help them in the future. There's a point to my lessons!
It is not all plain sailing by any means and I have had my fair share of my complex personalities and difficult situations let me say.
I have learnt over the years mainly through trial and error, strategies to deal with these problems. They maybe somewhat unorthodox and a bit mad but they do work.
Today, one of my more 'challenging' students came to see me. We first met when I was in my first week at the college and so was she. I was a bit nervous, she was a bit angry. To say we had some bust ups would be the understatement of the century. Eighteen months later, we had a truce. I think maybe she finally saw I was on her side and wanted to help her. She did really well and has progressed. She came in today with her gorgeous baby. She looked great. Calm, mature and so content. Students like her make my job worthwhile. To see how far she has come and how much she has achieved is an honour and also a huge privilege.
I remember very clearly a great seminar I once attended on Managing challenging behaviour. The speaker said that behind each bad behaviour there was a reason and it was our job to see behind the initial outbursts and work with this. That has been one of the best pieces of advice I have ever had. It stops you taking things personally and gives you something to work on. It also helps you to see that every student has a potential and how to reach it is the challenge sometimes.
I love my job because it isn't always easy. I like a challenge. I like that each week is different. I love chatting to the students and finding out about their lives. I enjoy the laughs we have, the 'in' jokes and also watching them in the two years they are with me, grow up, and mature into wonderful young women.
Today one of my students sat with me as we were going through a particularly hard assignment and making corrections. She said ' i would hate to be a teacher Miss, all that planning and marking and going over things'. I said how much I loved it, helping them to see their mistakes and improving their work gave me a satisfaction.
Many of my own Facebook friends are in fact past students. It is great to see them growing up online and wonderful to know that somewhere in the timeline of their lives you played a very very little part, perhaps encouraging a talent, helping self confidence and self belief, or just being there as someone to listen.
I cannot think of a better job in the world!
I have taught for 27 years now.
Good Grief!
On and off with maternity breaks.
Over seas in a Private International school, state schools (secondary) Private boarding school (primary) College (14-16, adults) and Night Schools.
All very different but each one unique and special.
I now teach in college. Vocational Futures. The kids that are allowed to take one day off school to attend college and do a vocational course.
I teach Childcare. I know, funny , with 11 children!
I love this job!
It is never a burden to go to work.
The kids enjoy the break from school and the opportunity to follow a more practical course that will help them in the future. There's a point to my lessons!
It is not all plain sailing by any means and I have had my fair share of my complex personalities and difficult situations let me say.
I have learnt over the years mainly through trial and error, strategies to deal with these problems. They maybe somewhat unorthodox and a bit mad but they do work.
Today, one of my more 'challenging' students came to see me. We first met when I was in my first week at the college and so was she. I was a bit nervous, she was a bit angry. To say we had some bust ups would be the understatement of the century. Eighteen months later, we had a truce. I think maybe she finally saw I was on her side and wanted to help her. She did really well and has progressed. She came in today with her gorgeous baby. She looked great. Calm, mature and so content. Students like her make my job worthwhile. To see how far she has come and how much she has achieved is an honour and also a huge privilege.
I remember very clearly a great seminar I once attended on Managing challenging behaviour. The speaker said that behind each bad behaviour there was a reason and it was our job to see behind the initial outbursts and work with this. That has been one of the best pieces of advice I have ever had. It stops you taking things personally and gives you something to work on. It also helps you to see that every student has a potential and how to reach it is the challenge sometimes.
I love my job because it isn't always easy. I like a challenge. I like that each week is different. I love chatting to the students and finding out about their lives. I enjoy the laughs we have, the 'in' jokes and also watching them in the two years they are with me, grow up, and mature into wonderful young women.
Today one of my students sat with me as we were going through a particularly hard assignment and making corrections. She said ' i would hate to be a teacher Miss, all that planning and marking and going over things'. I said how much I loved it, helping them to see their mistakes and improving their work gave me a satisfaction.
Many of my own Facebook friends are in fact past students. It is great to see them growing up online and wonderful to know that somewhere in the timeline of their lives you played a very very little part, perhaps encouraging a talent, helping self confidence and self belief, or just being there as someone to listen.
I cannot think of a better job in the world!
It was so lovely to read this Fiona. All the things you say about being a teacher is how i feel about being a teaching assistant (if only I could actually get a job) but my experience in school and as leader of a Ti a Fi, I love it when you can see a child "get's it" like a spark, you can see the pleasure and their confidence grows, allowing them to take things further.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can say to you Fiona as one of my tutors at the very beginning of my training, helped me to also "get it" and how we can all adapt our individual skills to inspire the children.
You are an inspiration to all you teach
Sara Haywood x
Thank you Sara for your kind words. I will always remeber the amazing book that you illustrated and hope you find a job soon as you have so much to give to a class.xx
ReplyDelete