Hello fellow teachers all over the world!
Hi, I’m Steph. You might never have visited my blog before, but rest assured you are most welcome here.
There’s a lot going on in the world at the minute, isn’t there? It’s all a bit crazy and a bit sad and a bit scary. On both a global scale and a smaller scale.
I’m a teacher, who right now doesn’t have a class to teach, day in and day out and that’s weird. It’s sad. It’s scary. It’s all of these different emotions in one and I know I’m not the only one thinking and feeling them. There are teachers all over who are sharing these same feelings. You might be one of them. You might not. You might know someone who is feeling these things.
I think I’m going to find it a struggle over the coming weeks and months. I’m someone who very much loves my job and it’s a massive part of my identity. It took me a long time to get here and now that it’s been taken away from me (on the most part), I’m feeling a little bit lost. This time “off” will prove to be a challenge for me. One I’m sure I will rise to. One I’m sure we all will.
I will be going in to school when it is my turn on the rota to look after the children of the key workers and that makes me feel like I have a purpose. These children and their parents are important. This country needs us to do our bit, when and where we can, to look after the people who are looking after us. If you can’t go into school for whatever reason, please don’t feel guilty. You’re helping us to look after the children by keeping yourself safe. You are first and foremost the priority.
I miss my kids. It’s only been what 2 days of not teaching them? And those 2 days were weekend days. But they didn’t feel like normal weekend days. They both dragged on forever. The thought of waking up every morning not having to get up with my alarm, go into my classroom, see their smiling faces and not having all of the fun and frustrations that we have is really quite sad. There were some of my kids I didn’t see at all last week. I saw some of them every day. We might not get the chance to see these kids for a few weeks or a few months. That sucks. But it’s to keep us all safe.
I’m a Year 6 teacher and it’s all a little surreal to think that the next time my kids are in school will be when they go to secondary school. I taught this class when they were in Year 5 (they were my NQT class) and then I got the chance to teach them again this year. I moved in to Year 6 in January and thought I’d get the chance to take them all the way to the end. There’s a part of me, and a part of some of you I guess, that feels like that opportunity has been snatched away from me unfairly. I know this is selfish and it’s not something that can be helped, but it’s still something I feel.
As a school, we posted home learning packs on our website, and I’m going to be using our class blog to keep in touch with my kids. It’s going to be a surreal few weeks and months, and we need to try and make sure that we remain kind. We need to try our hardest to not judge others based on what they’re doing: we’re a profession of the most passionate and caring people in the world. We need to do what is best for our own little school communities. Whatever that looks like, do it. Whether you’ve been setting online work, you’ve put stuff on your website, or you’re going to be doing remote learning by video, just do whatever it is that you think is the best thing for your kids and your school community.
I’m all for calling out bad practise, but do it in a respectful way. Teachers get enough grief from the media and from people not in our little bubble that we don’t need people inside our bubble giving each other grief. If you see someone doing something that you don’t agree with, open up a respectful conversation and ask them about it. Try not to point the finger. There’s nothing worse than accusations. Some teachers will have leadership teams who are making questionable choices and don’t feel like they can say something. We need to support each other, not just shout.
Please remember to stay safe and be kind. We are all going through a very strange time at the minute. We will all be feeling very differently about what is going on. Some people, like me, will feel lost and purposeless at times, whereas others may find this time refreshing. We need to do what we can to look after the world: that’s the big wide world and the little world in which you live – yourself (first and foremost), your family and your school community.
If anyone is in need of someone to chat to, my DMs and my email is always open. It is so important that people feel like they can have someone to talk to. I’m here to celebrate the happy, comfort the sadness or even talk school. I don’t mind. Just never feel alone,
Love, a somewhat lost and a little bit sad,
Steph xxx
