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
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#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
#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
#DailyWritingChallenge – Harmony
Harmony - noun - the state of being in agreement or concord There has been a lot of negativity about teachers this week. Some of it is aimed directly at us: poisoned arrows of accusation that we're not working hard enough;that we haven't worked while schools are closed; that we think ourselves 'special'. The worst … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Harmony
#DailyWritingChallenge – Integrity
Integrity. Noun. Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.Dictionary.com After a lot (and I mean a lot) of indecision and restless thought about this blog, I turned to friends for advice. I had looked up the dictionary definition, read the blogs of others and breainstormed pages of notes that ultimately ended … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Integrity
#DailyWritingChallenge – Respect
This is not the blog I expected to write today. I was almost sure I wouldn't be able to harness the enormous theme of 'respect' into something brief and engaging enough for a #DailyWritingChallenge entry... and then a very good friend, an NHS paediatric nurse, brought something to my attention that boiled my blood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIhgwQMHQPQ … Continue reading #DailyWritingChallenge – Respect
