Day 19 - Actual Teaching is Exhausting

A member of my English department was at a meeting all day today, so I got to be her. I got to be an English teacher!

It's funny, but looking in on this profession while still a member of it shows me exactly how relentlessly tiring it really is, and how much of it is pupil behaviour management, not actual teaching. I had 3 scehduled lessons before lunch and one after (Year 12 do not come to lessons if their teacher is away) and for every class, I had to explain what I was actually doing in school these days. The pupils know me as an English teacher and now they are confused about my role, and consequently, they believe they do not have to behave in my presence. They are wrong.

I reminded them about good manners, asked them to avoid calling out, calling across the room, throwing things at each other, playing on their phones, playing on someone else's phone, drawing on tables, swinging dangerously on chairs, hitting each other with rulers; it was endless.

And it was exhausting. They were exhausting. I'm exhausted writing this now, just thinking about it. My head aches, my hands ache, my eyes ache. Even my eyelashes ache. I haven't taught a full day since July.

The same teacher is away at another meeting on Monday so I have to do it all over again. Best get some sleep in this weekend then.

Day 7 - Word Gets Out

Apparently, people seem to be so confused about my role within the confines of this school now that they are beginning to make things up for me to do. So far, these are my jobs:

1. Literacy Support 5 English lessons a week
2. Cover for Absent Teachers
3. Create Resources to Support Literacy Across the Curriculum
4. Work with 2 Year 11 pupils who have failed their Alternative Curriculum Courses and get them through an ESW Communication qualification
5. Teach PSE to a Year 7 class once a week.

That seems to be enough to be getting on with, but the sessions in the classroom are all over the timetable and consequently, my "Creating Resources to Support Literacy Across the Curriculum" time is has now fragmented so that the time I do have is barely adequate to get a good head of steam up.

Still, at least people are now becoming aware that I'm not just sitting with my feet up, drinking tea.

Day 3 - The Timetable Takes Shape

This was supposed to be the perfect end to a fantastic career at a well-respected school. Instead, I am sitting in a room which has, over the years, become a dumping ground for OPC (Other People's Crap), wondering how on earth I managed to slide back down the ladder - again! I have filled two bins, wiped down every surface with industrial strength lemon zest antibacterial cloths and cleaned the small fridge that I found lurking under the teetering pile of the Class of 2003 ICT Coursework Portfolios. Ah well, at least there's somewhere to put my beetroot salad.

Today I have sorted out my timetable. 5 lessons supporting another member of my former department. At all other times, I will be covering teachers who are ill or away taking a course.

Now I will see how the other half lives...