Calmness personified

…where I wasn’t expecting it.

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.

Educational strategies, life lessons, reasons to be grateful or a little laugh - there’s something here for everyone.

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Growth - calmness is the key

“Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.” - Paramahansa Yogananda.

Let’s tell a story.

You’re a seven-year old arriving at a new school, mid-year. Unfamiliarity swamps you, every crucial routine you knew has collapsed and a sea of new faces dominates your day.

School has never been a happy place for you; you’ve long been withheld from your peers on account of your differences and never felt a sense of belonging in academia. In fact, you arrive to your new school practically unable to read.

Your new environment, however, offers the support you need and, bit by bit, day by day, you develop the skills you’re going to need.

In particular, given the space to shine, you prove yourself an artistic genius capable of drumming up pieces brimming with complexity and atmosphere in the blink of an eye.

It’s not always plain sailing. One year in particular proves rocky and - such is the rocky road of development - some days expose your challenges.

A dreamer at heart, any hopes you harbour - however small - sting like a b*tch when they go unrealised.

The years go on, until…

One fateful Friday (last Friday, to be exact).

You’re now a ten-year old student looking forward to the weekend.

This isn’t just any weekend.

For the first time in your school life, you’ve been permitted to visit the park next door with your friends when school finishes.

Your every thought is bent on it. Your entire mood, terrific throughout the day, is dictated by this coming-of-age evening.

For so long, you’ve battled through school in a world you don’t feel built for. But, now, you’re growing up, something you feel you’ve been waiting for all your life. Today is another step on the path to the future.

At the last moment, your teacher is informed that your parents are now collecting you at the end of the school day. You’ve not yet been told so you float through the last minutes of the day, riding the crest of a pre-adolescent wave of your impending social high point. But, across the school hall, one of your most trusted adults is about to tie your shoelaces together before you make the next step into the world you’ve longed for.

Assembly finishes. This is it. All that remains is to don your ankle-length coat - the one all your friends have complimented you on - and skip across to the park, hand-in-hand with your beloved chums.

“Can I have a quick word before you go?”

Of course, you muse to yourself. I’m in the mood of my life. I’ll listen to anything.

“Just sit down for a moment. I need to prepare you with some bad news.”

Bad news? You know immediately where this is going.

“I’m really sorry to tell you this. I know how much you were looking forward to going to the park tonight.”

Yep.

“Your parents have come to school early to pick you up, and they’re waiting for you at reception.”

What do you do?

Would it surprise you to know that, in this instance, you calmly accepted the news with a smile and a “that’s ok” before sensibly making your way to the front of the school, ready for hometime.

Well, this is exactly what happened and it sure-as-heck surprised me.

I’m not certain what I did to prevent the overwhelm of disappointment, but I think three things have contributed here:

1. The Instant. I delivered the news as apologetically, and with as much understanding, as possible.

2. The Short-Term. The student had experienced an incredibly positive couple of weeks and has been exposed to an environment built, in many ways, around their needs. This includes me visiting their next secondary school to learn about their timetable and provision with a view to replicating this for the remainder of this academic year.

3. The Long-Term. At every turn, we have sought to identify what the child needs to grow academically, emotionally and socially and provide them with it - not the other way round. This isn’t easy hit, by tailoring things to their needs, we have created a sense of belonging in a place that, years earlier, threatened to leave them behind.

Building relationships and providing what vulnerable children need is a slow game. No quick fixes. No instant wins. No easy days.

It takes time to understand, compile and correct what you do to their benefit.

And it can sometimes seem impossible.

But, with the right support and a clear plan for the future - taking into account beyond their time in school - it’s doable.

What we now have is a student who has historically faced moments like this with reluctance and anger now accepting them with calmness, elegance and a robust sense of optimism. Not always but with increasing regularity. Something I don’t always succeed at, even as an adult.

What a transformation.

What an individual.

What a day.

Giggles - enjoy your meal

If you’re familiar with my newsletter (or have read this post about how my simple trick to incorporate culture and language into classrooms ), you’ll know that I deliver my daily register in a variety of languages based on the children’s choices.

Some express their mixed cultural background and use the languages they speak at home, often teaching me something new in the process.

Some explore the heritage of their ancestors, allowing them to rediscover elements of where and what they come from.

And some just like to try something new, often at random.

Such as Child 3 (not their real name).

“Vaņakkam Child 1.” (Tamil)

“Vaņakkam Mr Watson.”

“Buna zewa Child 2.” (Romanian)

“Buna zewa Mr Watson.”

Here it comes

“Good afternoon Child 3.”

Ready?

“Bon appetite Mr Watson.”

Nice try, kiddo. Nice try.

Gratitude - hello, nature

I think it’s worth saying that last week was a frustrating one.

That said, there are always things to be grateful for.

And I’m stepping outside the classroom and being grateful for nature.

I took a little day trip to the Peak District at the weekend with my partner and her mum.

We’ve found a potentially reliable spot for our favourite bird: the dipper.

LOOK AT ITS CUDDLY LITTLE BODY.

These divine creatures are remarkable: they’re the only songbird capable of properly swimming (and they do it upstream), they nest in overhanging rocky crevices and they dip repeatedly and delightfully for no reason yet known to science.

I, for one, hope we never learn why they do it. Nature has her secrets and they give her an air of mystery and allure that would be sorely missed should we learn all there is to know about her. I feel life pulsing through me when my mind is at its most curious.

This little feathered beauty makes me feel alive.

Here’s to you, nature, you magical, mysterious thing you.