Wrapping paper in the gutter, moving slowly as the wind on the sea (Cream)

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

Interesting thought from James Clear:

"Your teaching ability is constrained by your writing ability.

If you can’t write it down, it will be nearly impossible to teach it well."

As an English teacher, I initially nodded in agreement, but I'm not sure my P.E. colleagues would necessarily go for that. It's one of those quotes that needs some context around it.

It has had me puzzling on it for a few days, which is good.

I'm caught in a fold as the moon holds the sea (Mostly Autumn)

Photo by SOULSANA on Unsplash

Cover. Relief. Substitute.

I need to be away from my school for a few days next week, so the boys will have a reliever to cover my classes.

Like many teachers, I hate being away from school. Particularly for an extended period.

It means I have to set relief, which is not an exact science because I can't gauge the boys' day to day progress, nor can I leave material for the reliever that needs actually teaching because they won't be expecting to do that. 

Frinstance: if I relieve another English teacher I'm fine and I'm not useless in humanities/arts/P.E., but if it's a science or maths class - fergetaboutit. It's the luck of the draw.

Therefore, it's a baby-sitting exercise by necessity. That's the unfortunate reality, but I do need my students to progress during the week because time is tight. Neither they nor I can afford to waste a week.

However, needs must. Family comes first. Every time. So, they'll just have to manage the best they can without me. I'll pick the pieces when I get back.

Meh. Afterall, graveyards are full of indispensable people, are they not?

I've been workin' so hard (Van Morrison)

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According to four-star Marine Corps general and former secretary of defense James Mattis:

'If I was to sum up the single biggest problem of senior leadership in the information age, it's lack of reflection. Solitude allows you to reflect while others are reacting. We need solitude to refocus on prospective decision-making, rather than just reacting to problems as they arise'.

Solitude for me comes at regular intervals during my workday.

First thing in the morning is when I'm the only person awake. This routine started when the kids were young and I needed some part of my day without noise and bustle. Now, it's because my back is sore every morning when I wake up, and I need to get up and move around. I've always been an early riser so this hasn't disrupted things too much. This equals to about 1 hour usually.

The commute to Hastings takes an hour so I have two hours a day of listening to music, thinking my thoughts, driving on State Highway 50. Out of nowhere, the weirdest things pop into my head on the commute. 

I arrive at school before others get there. At Hastings Boys' that means I arrive at 7.00am (the time Andrew turns off the alarms). I've done this early arrival thing since the late eighties so it's an ingrained routine. This equals to another hour usually.

During the day I can sometimes head off for a walk during a non-contact period. I walk from school into the CBD and back. It roughly takes about 40 minutes. I don't take my earpods - instead I pay attention to my surroundings as best I can, and think.

My final solitude experience is at night before going to bed. I need some time to myself to write my journal entry for the day. This equals to about 15 minutes usually.

That's quite a bit - at most about 4 hours of me time a day. Nice.

Rewards

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The reward of our work is not what we get, but what we become.

(Paulo Coelho)

No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.

(Jim Morrison)

You can't always get what you want but if you try sometime you'll find you get what you need.

(Mick Jagger)

Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated.

(Robert McNamara)

There are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise.

(Mary Kay Ash)

All that you behold, that which comprises both god and man, is one - we are the parts of one great body (Seneca)

I have mentioned before how proud I am of my choice to be a teacher (and Jacky's career as a nurse).

Having just finished marking Year 9 and 10 work (Letters to Mr Purdy) and my Psychoanalysis for beginners responses from my three senior classes, I had a moment of realisation about my on-going connectedness to generations of current and former students of mine stretching all the way back to 1983.

It's probably best described as a stepping back from the enormity of that immediate experience (reading their work and encouraging my students) to seeing/appreciating the experiences all those students (old and new) and connecting with them.

It's a magic feeling that reinforces my own worth on a planet spinning around the solar system. I love being a teacher of service to others.

My hope is that you get to experience that feeling in your own life from time to time.

A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks (Charles Gordy)

Photo by Emmanuel Akinte
on Unsplash

I'd go further than Gordy and say, a smile is an essential element to improve your looks, as well. Especially for a schoolteacher.

If you can't smile/laugh at yourself, if you can't smile/laugh at the ridiculous things that kids say, if you can't smile/laugh at your colleagues' war stories, then...what are you doing in teaching?

Really.

Yesterday, I had to go to the admin hub and it was sunny so I put on my dark glasses and off I toddled. As I passed a couple of boys I heard one say to the other, "Mr. Hollywood".

I laughed, turned around and said, "Mr. Hollywood is it?"

Hilarious!