#TankaTuesday (On Friday) Weekly #Poetry Challenge No. 26, 5/31/22, #LifeOfATeacher

03 Jun 2022 21 Comments

by Ritu in #ColleensWeeklyPoetryChallenge Tags: , , , , , , ,

It’s been a while, but I thought I would take part in the syllabic poetry challenge, Colleen hosts every week!

It’s the fifth Tuesday of the month! #ShareYourDay is a way to get to know each other better. Take a photo and write a syllabic poem about your day. Don’t think on it too hard. Make it fun. The photo does not need to be a selfie. If you don’t have access to a camera, find an image on Pixabay.com (please add the credits) that best describes your day.

Colleen Chesebro

My photo(s) describe every day this week, during my holiday, as I write my End of Year Reports! A Senryu works perfectly!

Writing class reports
Reminds me how much progress
These children have made
They've tested all my patience
But earned a place in my heart

Ritu 2022

#SoCS November 10/18 – Mean(s)

10 Nov 2018 39 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “mean(s).” Use it with or without the “s,” any way you’d like. Have fun!

In my job, it is an essential skill to be able to work out exactly what a child means.

At three or four, or even five, some children are just not that articulate.

(Please don’t get me started on the whole ‘technology’ debate… devices may be great, but they are the sole reason why children can’t actually socialise face to face, or even draw decent pictures, and write decipherable words… swipe? just sayin’)

Be it English is not their first language, or they have speech issues, or more generally, they are used to dumbed down vocabulary, they cannot always verbalise what they mean.

Questioning is a skill we really have to hone. From working out what they are trying to say, to recognising the object they have drawn, it’s only by our talk that we sometimes get to the bottom of it.

Believe me, I have seen some strange things in the past, as well as heard some weird things, which translate to normality, but what you first hear/see… OMG!

I loved a child telling he his dad was getting an electric chair for Christmas ( a gaming chair!), reading a sentence telling me the child “loved to taste cock” (Coke!), and that they enjoyed riding a dick (bike!)… and don’t get me started on the phallic drawings, scribbles and randoms, that I have to translate!

And all this has to be done with positivity. We don’t want a child to lose confidence if we just say “What on earth is that?” or “What did you say?”

Recently I noticed a poster in school, and to be honest, I want it in the nursery – it encapsulates what our reactions are to a lot of things the kids draw…

Perfect, isn’t it? You know what I mean?

Catch ya later Peeps! Happy Saturday!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/11/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-10-18/

The Onset of Inset Days #BackToSchool #TeachersLife

30 Aug 2018 75 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , ,

You know what time of year it is now, don’t you?

That end of holidays, getting-back-into-a-normal-routine time.

Rushing-around-finding-uniforms-and-stationery-supplies-time.

That having-to-get-up-early time.

Yes.

School is about to start up again for thousands across the country.

Responsible adults need to drag those affected from the addictions of late nights and lie-ins,  screen and social media that six weeks off has allowed, and bring them back to reality.

Yup.

Teachers – we are going back to work!

You see, it’s not just kids that have to gear themselves up for that September start.

Us educators need to brace ourselves for that new academic year start too!

You’d think after our epic long holiday, we’d all be full of energy, having had NO WORK for all that time…

Aside from the fact we’ve probably been working for in excess of fifty hours a week, during the academic year (and being paid for only 32.5 each week – standard – in our contracts, no such thing as claiming overtime as a teacher) and totally deserve a school-free break, it’s probably not been the case at all.

Teachers around the country will have spent a few days, at least, in their new year’s classrooms, clearing, rebacking boards, labelling, organising, moving furniture, writing up class lists for various things…

Then the rest of the time, we chill out and get drunk every day we firstly sleep off the exhaustion of the previous year (unless we have kids, in which case, good luck – Busman’s holiday, anyone?!) then try really hard to forget school for a little while, but any trips to the locality brings our profession back to mind, as we inevitably bump into several ex-pupils, current students or parents!

Or, everywhere we go, an educational opportunity arises, which means notes need to be taken, for future reference.

Yes, we will spend inordinate amounts of time on screens, but if you peek over our shoulders, we are likely to be on Pinterest, filling new boards with fantastic topic ideas or YouTube, finding great videos to share with our class!

Shopping trips will be peppered with impromptu visits to stationery shops, or bargain shops, where we find things that would just be wonderful in the classroom, and because we might not find them again, in pops teachers hand into own pocket, and suddenly there is an almighty hole in the bank account that we probably won’t be able to claim back… but it’s for the kids, so, you know…

We may have managed to squeeze a proper holiday into the time too, and emerged tanned and relaxed, or more exhausted than when the departed!

Still, all good things must come to an end, and all that, and here we are on the cusp of the new academic year.

Time to get ready for meeting our new classes, forging bonds with new members of staff, commiserating with those of us who are still there,  getting used to changes that will inevitaby be applied, because the government thinks things need doing differently… that sort of thing.

 

At least we have two Inset days.

Sometimes, Inset days are my favourite days.

Because we are at school – with NO KIDS! (Neither Pupil, nor Personal – you get my jig?)

Yes, it can be a day filled with pointless training (but equally, we can have inspiring speakers in who actually help!) but you also get time in your classrooms to organise, (yup, it needs redoing, because the cleaners will have been in, and though your room will be sparkly clean, the desks will have been moved around and nothing will be exactly as you left it. FACT!)

But no kids means you can get your teacher head back on, before the onslaught arrival of your new batch of prospective devils precious pupils.

Time to get familiar with the routines again, and get as up to date as you can with the endless paperwork, so that when the children arrive, you can actually teach them, rather than spend the time ticking boxes. (Though that will still play a huge part in your daily life as a teacher – some things never change…)

Then, on Monday, it’s back to work with a WHOOSH!

So, as you happily dress your little angels and pack them off on their first day back, thankful that you don’t have to deal with the daily meltdowns for all 24 of the hours, take pity on the teacher you are entrusting them to… teachers like me!

HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL my fellow teachers!

Tired Teacher Thoughts #ThrowbackThursday

19 Jul 2018 108 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

We are nearly there, the finish line is firmly in sight!

Across the country you can hear the count downs, some with 3 days some with 5 left, but the quiet whispers of ‘One Monday left, One Tuesday left…’ has now changed to ‘5 days, 4 days…’

And no, that is not the school children getting excited at the prospect of their six weeks of bliss with no homework, no getting up early, no teachers and NO SCHOOL!

I am talking about the teachers!

I have always said teaching is a vocation.

You either want to do it or you don’t.

But even if you really want to do it, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can prepare you for the all encompassing exhaustion that accompanies the best profession in the world!

You see the little seeds of your pupils planted in your care at the beginning of the year, and as you realise what they need to flourish, you chart every stage of their germination, encouraging growth academically, emotionally and physically. The end of the year sees you proudly showing off the blooms you have helped to cultivate.

But not without wiping yourself out.

What with planning lessons that will engage and encourage, delivering all singing, all dancing lessons, assessing and marking, filling in spreadsheets and creating classroom environments to inspire, alongside termly reports and progress grids, not to mention our own teaching observations and performance management meetings, we still have to deal with staff meetings, parent meetings, parents in general and other class based issues. And I can’t forget the extra duties such as subject responsibilities, and clubs that we may run.

It is truly exhausting.

And we thank the day that the school gates finally shut in July… to the children anyway.

You see, contrary to popular belief, once the kids go home, it doesn’t automatically mean that the teachers pack up and leave in a ‘Let’s party! School’s out!’rush.

No.

Many of those teachers will probably leave earlier than normal, then the following Monday will be back in class. (Or maybe the last week of the holidays)

Yes.

We love our jobs that much.

Because it’s not possible to give your children the education they need without planning and preparation. And if we are teaching in the term time, and during school hours, we need to put in that overtime (unpaid, might I add) at home, and in school, to get things ready for our class of angels!

So, I will finish on Tuesday (Yesss!) then be back on Wednesday with my colleagues, clearing the classroom, sorting through resources, preparing display boards, naming books, printing resources, filing paperwork, ordering necessary items. We may be back all week, it may be a few days, but that will be the start of our break.

Then once we leave the school gates, our summer can finally start, but we know that wherever we go, our teacher mind is on somewhere in the back ground, collecting things that will help with our teaching, and any spare moments, we will probably be browsing Pinterest, saving ideas for the next year. And we will keep seeing stationery that would be soooo great for our class! (Cue spending from our own pockets, because we just can’t help it!)

You think your name (Mr/Miss/Mrs …) will be forgotten for the summer, but as you walk through your hometown, you can guarantee you will find a student, or their family, calling your name. Sometimes you want to hide, to forget you are a teacher, but for the most part, you relish the recognition! After all, a child remembers you and wants to speak to you, even out of school! That must be a good thing, right?

A teacher’s work is never done.

And I wouldn’t change it for anything!

( Actually, that’s a lie! I would change it so that there weren’t so many unrealistic expectations on the children, so much demand for accountability, so much paperwork and red tape, taking the fun out of lessons you could be teaching… Oh and a pay rise would be wonderful!)

So, once my extra stint is finished at school, I will be off to spend time caring for Pops, and getting some rewriting done on that finished but not forgotten manuscript (in between keeping the kids apart! 😉 You know what I mean!)

And before we know it, September will be knocking… actually August, because we go back on 30th August… well, us teachers, anyway!

But I am soooo not thinking about that end of the holidays yet!

Parent’s Evening Update #Disappointed

06 Nov 2017 19 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , ,

Aw you guys!

Your never-ending faith in me and kind words of support are always cherished!

Well, I need to tell you that I will have to bottle up your luck and good wishes, and save them for another time, because I ended up not being needed!

I won’t go into details, but I got in this morning fully prepared to be sitting at school until, well, now, as it’s 7pm here, but then I was informed that it wasn’t necessary that I attend.

RESULT!

Well, a bit. It meant I got home earlier, but deep down, I am a little disappointed!

I was looking forward to speaking to parents frankly, and being able to give them positives about their kids!

Oh well, maybe next time eh!

So now I’m off to have my dinner, and write some haiku instead!

Catch ya later!

 

Previous Older Entries

My interactive peeps!

%d bloggers like this: