First year teaching is like Menopause...

[warning warning warning this entry becomes a total teacher rant]

First year teaching is totally like menopause; hot & cold; hit & miss; one day your doing fine and then..... WHAM down the toilet. I think I sometimes appear to be a massive case of bipolar disorder. One class i'm praising my year 9s, the next i'm aiming for them on the way out the parking lot. Or I think the year 7's are really making progress until they suddenly can't identify crotchet notes (British equivalent of quarter notes). I haven't cracked yet, but sometimes I wonder if the kids are learning anything at all?? The phrase "can we surf the internet" at the beginning of some music classes is like a putting a needle through both my eyes sideways. There truly are days when I wonder if I can hack it or if I’m absolute "rubbish".

Three funny scenarios:

I used the name "Fanny" as an example of a nickname for Francis. I guess Fanny means Vagina here.....

A girl said she couldn't do something, and I attempted some British slang and said "Bollocks"..... apparently Bollocks means "Bullshit" and is quite rude

I told my students to put there workbooks in the Blue Plastic Bin near the door at the end of class. I had a blue tray set aside for this. They all threw their books into the garbage next to my blue tray because "bin" means garbage can.

I now have no sympathy for people who say teachers have it easy since "We" get the summer off.... The last two weeks I've worked 8 hours a day and then prepped 3 hours every night in preparation for the next day. Last weekend was organizing "Extra curricular clubs" and tonight was spent "Meeting the Parents" for 1 out of 7 age groups. Soon it'll be evening concerts and extra help. There are great rewards to teaching but it's a tough gig. No wonder teachers get grumpy when they don't feel valued or get pay cuts under par to the business world...

[warning warning warning THIS is totally turning into a rant......]

Lastly, On top of preparing every lesson. I am assigned a group of 25 students to Tutor like "Homeroom" - every teacher here does this. I track their progress throughout school, collaborate with subject teachers for discipline problems and give them support on a personal level. I have to write a report on their social and emotional development (25 reports above and beyond my teaching). This stuff is great, but talk about stretching yourself thin....

I'm looking forward to some non-teaching adventures. This weekend I'm going to stack my work up Friday night and power through until I 'getter all done'. Then I will take Saturday and Sunday to Relax. My new philosophy is keep work at work, even if that includes staying until 6pm every night. I must find a balance - Motto: work to live; not live to work...