Welcome to ‘Diary of a Teacher’. Here, you’ll learn what it’s really like being a teacher - but through a very delibrate lens of positivity. I approach this newsletter through my 3Gs - growth, giggles and gratitude - to rip up the online negativity around teaching and show the world how fortunate we are to be educators.
This is the latest instalment of my ‘Weekend Wisdoms’. It’s a relatively new feature so I’d love to know what you think.
Educational strategies, life lessons, reasons to be grateful or a little laugh - there’s something here for everyone.
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If you’re anything like me, you’ll be a person of impulse.
A new hobby might capture your heart in a single beat, only to last a matter of weeks.
You might be minding your own business in a shop and find that something you’ve never heard of becomes your new must-buy.
Snacks abound, houseplants come and go and plans - on the odd occasion they’re actually made - go awry.
But I’ve recently discovered the importance of planning my spare time and how much more fruitful my waking hours become as a result.
For a couple of weeks, my partner and I planned ahead with exactly what we wanted to do with our evenings.
Walks in the local park; a new film, one that’s been in the list for a while; reading nights, where we pore through the growing heap of untouched books we own (guilty); a spot of baking; date nights and days out.
There’s nothing particularly adventurous there, I know, but this became the most enjoyable couple of weeks we’ve had in ages.
Not only were they enjoyable - we felt more connected than I can remember.
It might seem a dull, adult move to organise our days like this. And, considering I’m as impulsive as I am, I never thought it’d be a style I’d plum for.
But I’ve reframed it in a way that makes it suit my nature better.
We’re not organising our time off…
We’re protecting it.
Doing this means we didn’t spend any of our nights mindlessly glaring at the same sitcoms for three hours over our tea, day after day.
So, this is my Weekend Wisdom, and my challenge to you:
Can you protect your free time better? If you can, I promise you, you’ll get so much more out of it.
What about in the classroom?
In a school context, this is harder to do. There’s already no time left to get everything done that’s expected of teachers and we’re often working well beyond our contracted hours.
But we can see the value in setting aside this valuable time already.
We’re all familiar with break times and lunch times. What are they, if not heavily-protected free time?
With good reason, this time has become a vital part of the schoolday routine and now none of us could fathom a day without it.
But can we find more?
Where I work, there is a little of this already - after lunch time every day we read to the children from our class text, an experience billed as ‘reading for pleasure’. No learning outcomes, just a relaxing opportunity to take the students on a journey through one of the thousands of brilliant novels out there.
Should there be more? Perhaps a little art time? A chance to explore technology? Maybe a daily exercise? I’m sure loads of you reading this will do something like this already so please share them in the comments below.
I welcome hearing how you protect times like these to enrich your lives, boost your classrooms and fill life with all the fun you can.
Organisation is a superpower for reals
It really about so much more than order. It’s taken me 32 years but I’m starting to believe it’s not as boring as it sounds 😂