September. Day 1. An INSET day to ease us in gently. A fresh new planner full of crisp white pages to fill. A little surge of excitement as I look forward to filling in the register pages at the back and the anticipation of writing out all my plans neatly in those little boxes 5 times a week is almost too much.
Day 2. What the hell was I thinking? Last night I selected my favourite pen, you know the one, fine nib, sexy black ink. But that was me done. Pass the wine, I can’t really fill in my class registers tonight can I? What if last minute amendments are being made to the class lists? Better wait till the weekend.
Anyway, kids get here in a bit. I can’t wait to throw myself back into it. I wonder if they will still do what I ask them to do? Do I still know how to write on a whiteboard? F***- how am I going to fill a full hour?God, I need moral support, better head to the staff room!
S**t. Shouldn’t have done that. Pigeon holes are being crammed full of meeting agendas, the photocopier is going at full throttle and about to scream something about toner, the nucleus of hard core complainers are in full on whinge mode in the corner and to top it all off the PE department have stolen all the milk.
Anyway, lesson 1 is assembly. Lesson 2 I have planned a thoroughly outstanding lesson, if I do say so myself. Lesson 3…err. B******. What should I do lesson 3? Maybe I have something on the system from last year.
Why oh why have I let myself live in a world of denial for the last 6 weeks? ‘This will be the year’ I had told myself, ‘my year’.
This time (like every bloody time since I started this thing way back in 2005) I had intended to have everything prepared. A whole half term at a time. Maybe even all the way to December- wouldn’t that be nice?
My vision, my fantasy, my holy grail is this: a wall to wall unit- think Ikea meets haberdashery store. Every little compartment and pull out drawer would house a whole host of goodies. Writing frames; role play scenarios (with props!); grammar board games; past papers (with mark scheme attached); assessments; vocab lists; extension tasks; support sheets; project booklets…
You name it, it would be there- everything would be there! And it would be….oh yes, you know where I am going….laminated!!!!!
Days 3 and 4. I religiously file each worksheet and resource by topic. But I know it won’t last. I will soon fall victim to the incessant, insurmountable number of OTHER THINGS that every teacher, TLR or not, has to deal with.
In no partcicularly order: day to planning; baseline assessments; medium term planning; researching authentic and fresh resources; watching you tube clips ahead of the lesson to ensure content is suitable; marking books; finding things for classroom displays; phone calls home; form tutor duties; break and dinner duties; running extra curricular clubs; running inter-house competitions; giving assemblies; organising fundraising events; lesson observations; delivering consistently good and outstanding lessons; moderation and standardisation; conducting exams; parents’ evenings, open evenings….
I always fall short of my September resolutions…
and then I start again in January.
This WILL be my year!
And the fruits of my labour will be available to buy from my tes store.
I teach French by the way. And my resources are pretty damn good.
I will be posting about how I use my resources in the classroom; blogging about teaching and learning in general and sharing my insights into this crazy, hectic, challenging, exhausting… but above all rewarding profession of ours.
Now I’m off to tackle one of my other #teacherresolutions- Sunday afternoon wardrobe prep. Take one freshly ironed shirt, add pencil skirt, select colour coordinated accessories, group together on one hanger and repeat for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…yeah right!
Happy New Year!
Please feel free to share your #teacherresolutions below
Betsy ‘brand new to blogging’ Belle
