I have craved stillness all week. A classroom is not the best setting when temperatures are rising, and the movement required of teaching Year Ones, even in a bubble, is not the most comfortable thing in the world when outdoor temperatures are high. But the real stillness I've wanted has been mental rather than physical: … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Stillness
Author: onequietteacher
I am not ideal.
I am not ideal. Let me unpack that, because in its stark brevity it may be jarring, despite its truth. The terms 'extrovert' and 'introvert' to describe the two ends of the personality spectrum are relatively new, having been popularised almost 100 years ago by Carl Jung. But the predisposition towards one or the other, … Continue reading I am not ideal.
NQT Blogs #3
What do I do in my first week? This was requested on Twitter by @miss_jwoodcock - I hope there's something helpful in among all this! I think this is the blog I would have most wanted to read myself, as an NQT-to-be. There was so much running through my head, and despite all my placement … Continue reading NQT Blogs #3
#DailyWritingChallenge – Choice
An average teacher in an average classroom makes 1500 choices every day. Our working life centres around the outcome of these decisions and then making infinite other choices as a result. Decision fatigue is very real; at the end of a day it's not uncommon to see teachers struggle over the smallest choices because we're … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Choice
#DailyWritingChallenge – Happiness
I struggled writing this! Not because I'm not happy, but because there's a lot of things that can make me sit back and say "Yeah, I'm happy." And for someone with a chronic anxiety disorder, it's pretty great to be able to do that! When I sat with my blog notebook today, this is what … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Happiness
#DailyWritingChallenge – Humour
I love to laugh. In my family, shared time is best spent with the kind of laughter that forces tears from you eyes while you silently rock, too amused to even produce sound. We find laughs everywhere: the obvious places like The Last Leg and Gogglebox; the more niche choice of Richard Osman's House of … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Humour
#DailyWriting Challenge – Roots
I'm currently reading Becoming by Michelle Obama; after lusting after this book, life got in the way and I ended up putting it down for an extended period, more than once. But there really is no excuse not to read, in lockdown! Though that makes it sound like a chore, and this book is far … Continue reading #DailyWriting Challenge – Roots
NQT Advice #2
On Rejection... I wrote this in the wake of what initially felt like the end of the world: being unsuccessful in interviewing for a further maternity cover at my school, that would have allowed me to stay for another year. I was crushed because I've loved working at that school, with wonderful children and fantastic … Continue reading NQT Advice #2
#DailyWritingChallenge – Compassion
Compassion is seeing a need for help, and helping; it is being thoughtful and kind; it is wanting to help, out of one's own goodness. Teaching is a compassionate career. There's no two ways about it: we devote our working lives to improving others, but if you spend any length of time in any school, … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Compassion
#DailyWritingChallenge – Hope
Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darknessDesmond Tutu This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. While I think more is needed than conversation and awareness - perhaps, better access to healthcare, more acceptance of those with mental illness and less stigma around their being among us - … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Hope
