Time for a long weekend…
Is it nearly time for holidays yet?
I bloody hope so.
Despite the fact that I have been much less tired this term than I was this time last year, I think I am more emotionally worn down than anything.
The huge weeks that have been a regular occurrence in our faculty (year 12 marking, excursions, planning) have been very draining this year. As has the game of Wipeout my senior classes have been playing with my emotions and confidence and the dread I feel every time the staffroom phone rings; which parent has been in complaining now?
I must admit that the difference this year comes not only from being a year wiser but also from friends in my support network as stabilising presences to tell me it is actually bordering on certifiable if I mark until 3am or occupy every second lesson planning.
And although I am feeling utterly exhausted, I feel a sense of accomplishment this year; a sense that my lessons have continuity and that kids are building knowledge gradually but solidly in these areas as opposed to collecting bits here and there and somehow having to piece them together. This time last year, I was just trying to survive until the end of the lesson with my year 10 class.
I think this year my focus should be more upon emotional resilience rather than survival. With all of the new challenges I’m taking on this year (new courses, year advisor) I think I will need some coping mechanisms to deal with the barrage of criticism (not all of it constructive) that I will face, mostly from the wider community (read: parents).
It has taken me the better part of first term to work that out; how have your goals been altered by what has happened thus far this year?
lforner 