Parental Impact and Money Matters

I’m watching that super scrimping programme. I love programmes like this; they always end up integrated into my teaching somehow the next day. It’s very interesting that the average household has £8K debt yet landfill is getting greater. Are we really just throwing that money away? I was teaching the 5 year olds money matters today. It was interesting too. We talked about if we found some money what we would do with it. Nobody suggested saving or investing it. When asked what to do if we don’t have any money, I expected the answer- ‘get a job.’ The answers were ‘get a loan’, ‘nick some off your big brother’ or ‘borrow some off your mum.’ Fun and games!

We also had Parents Evening today. I find this to be one of the elements, which has the most impact on the children’s learning. I spread myself between 30 kids so my teaching and time is only 1/30. If I tell the parents what the children need to learn they can do it 1:1 and make a quick impact. Studies very clearly show that parents have an enormous impact on a child’s education. I remember it was my mum who taught me to read well before I started school. I remember finding school work very easy and got grade As in English and Maths without feeling like I had worked for them. I can flog myself away in the classroom for a year but a 10 minute conversation with a parent can make such a difference. I also show the parents how to read with their children and how to make homework and learning spellings fun as many parents suffer pain, tantrum and tears with these at home and it needn’t be that way.

laters
Miss Phitt x

Sunday Funday or Sunday Blues?

I am sooo glad 1/4 of a million people turned up to protest in London:-))))) I acknowledge the lot of them! We need people like them. So what's this about the government increasing spending on firing missiles costing £500K a time and then cutting the pay of nurses, teachers and police? The nurses, teachers and police will soon be firing one of those missiles right up the government's ass!!

I’ve just been on facebook and the statuses are suggesting there are some severe cases of Sunday Blues around. I used to be a sufferer of the Sunday blues but now I have lovely, relaxed, fun and rose coloured Sundays without a hint of blue. I have gone through several stages and have come out the other end on a high.

Sunday blues sometimes occur when there is a feeling of not being prepared or of a bad Monday. There's no point feeling blue because a Monday has never been known to kill anybody! You don't know it's going to be bad. In fact they never tend to be as bad as you think they will be.

When I began teaching, I combatted Sunday Blues by working into the early hours of the morning to ensure I was prepared. This is not a workable or a recommended strategy. It produced good results in the short term but in the long term it produced one grumpy, moody, pissed off and knackered teacher with not such good results.

Nowadays I have a different approach to Sundays and the blues are no more. As well as enjoying my Sundays, I enjoy my evenings too. Here are some tips if you are a sufferer:

1) Organise something fun to do on a Sunday rather than sitting at home thinking about what horrors might happen the next day. If you are thinking you have too much to do and can't go out; this is a misconception. Staying in will result in lots of thinking and not much doing. If you have a fun day you will probably find you do all your work too.

2)Get your things ready Friday before leaving work. Prioritise and give yourself a cut off point. If you haven't got it ALL done, acknowledge yourself for what you have done and don't worry about what you haven't done. Worrying doesn't make it happen.

3) If you constantly have the Sunday blues consider you are over planning and over preparing or are maybe spending your time doing work which doesn't make much of a difference to the teaching and learning in your classroom.

4) Don't blame the boss, the job or other people for your Sunday Blues. If they have asked you to do something you don't have the time available for, request an extension or apologise and say when you can get it in for.

5) Are you trying to be perfect? Give this up. It doesn't have to be perfect.

6) Scared you're going to get in trouble? Give this up too. You might get in trouble whatever you do and you might not do. Don't try and avoid getting into trouble to keep somebody else happy. Do what you feel is the right thing to do. 

7) Make your work load workable. Giving up family, friends and boyfriends is not workable and will also make your work suffer. Some nights you may need to work late but plan in breaks and relaxation periods. This way you get more work done.

Sad your weekend is over and has gone too quickly??? Well there's always next weekend.

Laters

Miss Phitt xxx

Teachers March - Are teachers Martyrs?

There is currently an NUT march going on at Victoria Embankment. I am very annoyed with myself for not going. The march is protesting against teachers pay freeze and increased pension contributions. Through my disorganisation I am not there. Many teachers complain about the pay freeze yet are not there either. Shouldn't we be at least trying to take action against pay? Surely doing nothing is accepting it. When it comes to workload or pay my Martyr complex kicks in. However I know this is what I have chosen for myself.
My Martyr complex also kicks in when I am teaching a huge class in a rough school and others teach a little nice class in the countryside. I think I should be paid more than them lol. However, again, I know this is what I have chosen for myself.
Laters x

Friday Frolics

I'm a teacher. It's Friday so I'm ECSTATIC!!!!! Like millions of teachers around the world, I am on my way to the pub - happy and of course KNACKERED! The millions of other teachers, who are not off to the pub are all off somewhere else- Bed. It depends what kind of teacher you are. The pub teachers tend to be the happier of the two and shockingly the least knackered. What is the reason I teach? Is it simply for this gorgeous Friday feeling of utter contentment? Is it for the joyous rapture of writing Friday on my board?

I'm undecided. Do I love teaching? Or do I hate it? Do all teachers feel like this? Or is it just me?

I'm writing a blog to answer these unanswered questions. I'm also writing it for fun because whatever teaching is; it is definitely fun. I'm also undecided what is teaching? Because a lot of the job, ironically, has fuck all to do with teaching anybody anything.

I'll remain anonymous and will never give place names or people's names but I will give details. I will dish the dramatic delights and unspoken dirt of teaching, or what I know of it. Share with me and teach me a thing or two or just make me laugh. I want to use this to give teachers freedom to say what they really think! Freely show their true swearing selves and share whatever they want on their mind without fear or judgement; or more obviously just have fun.

Today for me was an average Friday. I teach 5 year olds. They make a mess. I find my main purpose in teaching 5 year olds is teaching them how to make a mess and then clear it up afterwards. At the moment, I am having much more success with the former rather than the latter. I also teach them how to be quiet. 5 year olds won't stop talking! There is not anything more irritating than people who talk too much. In fact there are some ladies on the train talking far too much as I type- irritating! After all I have been dealing with 30 little people who have been talking too much all day and all I can say is 'be quiet, sweetie' or 'shhh' or 'stop talking' We all know what teachers really want to say! Teachers also say 'listen' when they want children to stop talking. Unfortunately the children aren't listening, so telling them to listen is rarely a successful strategy. Similarly to the ladies on the train; most of what 5 year olds say is nonsense. I also teach the children to read and write. I love this and this is why I do the job.

I had a child poo themselves today and there was nobody to clean it up but me. I was tempted to ask a child who always wants to do jobs for me but knew there was only one true candidate. This was one of the times when I thought why do I put up with this shit?

Laters
Miss Phitt x