Ramblings from an NQT teaching Year 1.

This is vaguely related to my earlier post about balancing time. When my mum passed away in December, I felt awful that since I started my NQT year I hadn’t spent as much time with her or given her a ring to catch up as often as I could have. The only person I told (until now) was my 72 year old grandfather who assured me that my mum knew how much she meant to me.

A week or so later, he sent me this email:

Hi Cush (I don’t even know where this nickname came from!)

If you ever start to feel like you did last week, remember this:

(This clearly was something he’d found on the net and I was impressed with his copying and pasting skills [although I still don’t know that he didn’t type it all out, bless him!])

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar… and the beer. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’ The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. ‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognise that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – your family, your children, your friends and your health – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else – the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Take time to get medical check-ups. Take your partner out for dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’ One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.’

Love, Grandad

I hope this isn’t too deep, but on the subject of sorting priorities it seems vaguely appropriate. I might pop out for a beer tonight :0)

This will only be a quick one because I’m supposed to be entertaining but I felt I just needed to reflect on something.

I just watched Bev’s clip art tutorial along with several others and was truly inspired. I knew it looked fantastic but had no idea it was so easy. Sadly I tuned in late and will have to catch up tomorrow but I caught the last twenty minutes and so (more importantly) did my friend.

This particular friend has a 9-5 office job where she sits at a desk all day and pushes paper. I don’t wish to offend anyone who has a similar job, it’s just not something I could ever do. This friend also never hastens to tell me that I work too many hours for not enough money (hey, what’s a slight insult between friends?) I do work a lot of hours as, I’m sure, do most of you wonderful teacher types. But I love it – well, why would we be in the profession if we didn’t – and I tell her (and all my other non-teaching friends) that it is worth it and that I get so much out of it. They think I’m crazy.

The ridiculous thing is that joining Twitter has not helped my case. When I told them I use it for CPD and can spend hours of time allowing my brain to feast on peoples’ blog posts and tools they looked at me as though I should be locked up. As I became increasingly excited about new, interesting people to follow I was finding I had to hide it from people who ‘wouldn’t understand.’ This includes my now fiancé who is pleased I’m enthusiastic about my job but wishes I had more spare time to spend with him.

‘In my defence…’ is a phrase I have often found myself saying recently. ‘In my defence, I sometimes need help with ideas and use Twitter to ask people who know much more than me!’ or ‘In my defence, if I can take ideas from others, maybe I *will* have more spare time!’

I digress…

What I was really wanting to say is that my friend is here, just for a chilled out night. She watched Bev’s tutorial with me in sheer amazement. I was blooming impressed but this was utter awe. She couldn’t believe Bev was making these in front of her eyes. It felt *so* good to finally have proof that what I’m learning on Twitter isn’t just strategies or interesting lesson plans, but amazing skills that are interesting to non-teaching folk too. She turned to me and said ‘I will never, ever make fun of your obsession with your job again.’ It felt so good – and I know I shouldn’t need someone else to say it but I think a part of me just wanted someone to recognise why I use Twitter and why I find it so valuable.

Needless to say, I don’t have to defend myself anymore :0)

(Many thanks, Bev!)