The joy of teaching...

Hmm... what would be a fun career? I know, how about primary teaching?? You get to play with kids and read kids books all day!! Right?

Well, yeah, right at times I guess. But most of the time I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I have 21 angels in my Prep class, but fortunately there are usually at least 1 or 2 away. I can't believe how much time I spend on classroom management, tying shoelaces, saying "sit down! I said sit down! ... For the 17th time, HyperGirl, sit down!!!" I have to teach things like sharing, taking turns, not lying, respecting other people's property and person and other life skills far more than I teach numbers and letters. It is so exhausting! Every now and then I have 5 mins where the whole class is working well or paying attention, and I just relish those moments... they are so few and far between. We make it to 60 secs a little more often.

This past week, I've had to deal with kids using their glue sticks to smear glue on other people's chairs (I had to laugh later, but boy was I furious at the time!), boys revealing themselves during line up time (obviously in Prep... I was thinking, Dude, you're supposed to dack other people, not yourself!!!), kids stealing each others lunch and lying about it, kids crying... because they haven't finished their work, 'cuz they smacked themself in the nose with their own lunchbox, 'cuz someone else smacked them with a lunchbox or something, 'cuz they couldn't sit next to their best friend, 'cuz they didn't win or get to go first, 'cuz "I dunno, I forgotted why I'm sad! Wah!!!" and so much more.

Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning. I have been told it is a tough class to manage, but I also know that classroom management is my biggest weakness... bad combination. At times I'll have a good hour or two, and then I feel like I'll survive. And, there are only 5 more kid days and 1 curriculum day until holidays!!!!! Wohoo!!!! Then I have 2 whole weeks to sleep, organise the classroom and catch up on a little work - yay!! :-D

Suspense just kills me!

What is it that makes bad things so bad? Isn't it mostly the anticipation? Like when you give blood - you feel the anxiety rising, so tight inside, thinking "What if the nurse is not properly trained and she pokes the needle where it's not meant to go? What if my veins burst or some other terrible thing, and blood goes everywhere? What if...?" You've been there before, and you know the pain of the prick will be so momentary, and there is a 99.999% chance that everything will be fine, and yet you toture yourself for so long about something you know will be okay!
Why???

I know that I only have to get through five minutes at a time, and that even if it's a bad 5min, I'll survive, it will be over and I'll forget about it. No matter what happens to me, I know I'll be okay, so why do I continue to worry? Why do I drag out the unpleasant and make it so much worse than it has to be?

Emotions are so irrational, and I get so frustrated with myself when I don't control them! I feel so feeble and weak! But maybe I'm just human...

Just chilling

So long since I've blogged! Sorry, peops, just been quite busy and tired. Can you believe it - I am now half way to becoming a teacher!!!! I survived my first semester, and am thoroughly enjoying my mid-year break.

Everybody asks, "So, do you still want to be a teacher now that your 4 week placement is over?" I'm happy to answer yes! It was a pretty gruelling semester. I don't like working full time. Haven't done it for years. So to go to an overload course really took it out of me. I didn't do anywhere near as much as I would have liked, but I passed and learnt STACKS, so that's good. My placement was great - I had a fantastic mentor teacher who has been in the job for years, so I learnt heaps from her. The little preps were gorgeous too, and I was quite sad to say goodbye - will visit again next term just 'cuz I miss them already. Not quite sure how I will cope with my first year of teaching - I may just die, but I reckon I'll probably die happy and enjoying my job, so it's all good! ;-)

I have now had 5 blissful days off, in which I have been surprisingly productive. Been shopping, socialising, and cleaning the mountains of crap out of my room. Read half a book and watched little telly too. Oh yeah, I started a 7 week German class, which I am really enjoying. I liked Japanese, but I just love the fact that I can actually read German, which makes it so much easier and more fun.

I don't think my brain has quite recovered from my tough semester... while having lunch with my old uni friends today, I made the intelligent statement that "No matter what, 1 + 1 always equals 1!" Doh! Wendy suggested kinder may be more appropriate for me than primary teaching! (Happy Amy? Whole world gets to laugh at my stupidity now! Giggle!)

A day in the life of a student teacher

6:30 - rise and ready
7:15 - leave for the 45 min drive to school, through some stunning countryside, glorious sunrises, with indescribably beautiful skies
8:00 - last minute preparations (photocopying, laminating, etc, etc)
8:45 - pre-school yard duty (on Tuesdays. Thursdays do 2nd half of lunch and after school)
9:00 - teaching begins (roll, take home book changes, fine motor activities, guided writing, writing rotations, literacy session and rotations)
11:00 - recess (first half - yard duty, 2nd half - loo, eat, set up for next session)
11:30 - teaching again (maths whole class and rotations)
12:30 - kids eat lunch in classroom, while I listen to selected students reading to assess improvement and needs
12:40 - yard duty
12:55 - eat lunch, set up for afternoon teaching
1:15 - teaching again - integrated studies or rotations (science/PE/art/LOTE) depending on day
2:15 - time release - students are taught by another teacher so that I can do assessments on individual students and prepare for other lessons
3:10 - end of day routines with students
3:20 - dismiss students and wait with them until all are collected by students. Back to the classroom to clean up, put away today's resources and organise tomorrow's resources.
Some time between 4:15 and 5:15 - sign out and leave for the day. Drive home with beautiful sunsets or cosy rain and stormy skies.
Some time between 5:00 and 6:00 - arrive home and eat dinner that was prepared by my wonderful mother. Sit in front of the heater or telly and do daily review and more lesson preparations. Finding it hard to think by this stage, so not very productive.
Some time between 9:30 and 10:30 - crawl into bed.

Why me?

"This kind of thinking poses hidden dangers. If we think of suffering as something unnatural, something that we should not be experiencing, then it's not much of a leap to begin to look for someone to blame for our suffering. If I am unhappy, then I must be the victim of someone or something - an idea that's all too common in the West. The victimiser may be the government, the educational system, abusive parents, a dysfunctional family, the other gender, or our uncaring mate. Or we may turn blame inward: there is something wrong with me, I am the victim of disease, of defective genes perhaps. But the risk of continuing to focus on assigning blame and maintaining a victim stance, is the perpetuation of our suffering - with persistent feelings of anger, frustration and resentment."

~ The Dalai Lama

Politics and budgets

I have never really been that interested in politics, but I have viewed the Mr Costello's budget through new eyes this year... teacher eyes.

There are some interesting things in the proposed budget. At first glance they seemed kinda cool, but reading a little further had me wondering how cool they really were? I mean, I know nothing about politics, so can't really pass judgement, but I have to wonder...

Why are they supplying funding for the top teachers to be paid to do extra training in the summer holidays? Isn't it the worst teachers who need training the most?? And why do schools have to comply with new performance measures (such as performance pay) that have been voted against by the majority in order to receive funding? If these performance measures couldn't get support at the education ministers' meeting, then perhaps they need to be reviewed and refined before being forced on schools? And is performance pay really fair - can teachers in lower socio-economic areas really achieve top results when they are lacking all the supports that teachers in better areas receive? And will it really improve the education industry, or will it put a damper on the supportive, sharing environment that currently exists, and instead create competition among teachers?

Anyway, just wondering...

Happy Birthday to me!

Hooray! It's my birthday!! I wasn't really that excited, cuz it's not a special birthday, and I'm starting to get too old to care. But then I had the coolest thing happen.... I found my birthday twin!!!

Let me tell you how it happened... I was working on an assignment with Sharon, from my tribe. When I say working with, I mean working with over the internet and phone. At one point just before lunch, she asked if I would be on the internet for a while longer, and I said I was about to go out for lunch with my mum, cuz it's my birthday, but I would be back after that. She said, "Really?? It's my birthday too!!" And I was like, "How cool!! How old are you?" "26 today," she replied. "No way!!" I cried, "me too!!"

And that, my friends, is how I found my birthday twin. I've been sitting with her in class all this time, and yet never knew until the very important day itself. What a happy thing!

Sharing

One of the things I love about the teaching profession is all the sharing! You know how in some companies or industries, people like to hold stuff close to their chest, because information is power. Well, not in the teaching industry! (Or, not much, anyway.) Everybody I meet is just so eager to help me out, give me resources and information, give me their email address so I can email any questions I may have relating to their particular specialty! Even many resources do not have the same copyright restrictions - many things are handed to us, with advice not to write on it so we can copy and distribute or use!

Aren't teachers a nice, generous bunch!?!

Spending my hols this week in professional development classes, which are proving to be excellent! I've learnt some really great, practical stuff, and been given links to a couple of good resources which I will actually use! How exciting!