I just realised this morning I have been a teacher for five years this July. I am not beginning anymore. This is the longest time I have been in a job. I have had a couple of different roles in the five years to make the challenges vary, but essentially it has been one job.
I love teaching though because there is always change and variety as well as different kinds of challenges. There is freedom for creativity and problem solving, which are essentials to me in the work I like to do. I would have to say that the thing that I feel has always been important in every job I have had and is crucial in teaching is being able to build positive relationships and interact with others.
There has been changes in staff, but I have had relationships with other teachers for that time also. It feels like a family really and a large one! You learn how to work with one another and can rely on the strengths of them as well as learn tolerance for the weaknesses.
I am glad I took this path. It hasn’t always been easy, but has usually been enjoyable and rewarding.
A success but never again….
I was crazy enough to give my 16 year old son a birthday party on Saturday night. The guest list grew out of proportion, as they do and I existed through the night in absolute stress bordering on fear to be honest. I was cranky and uptight with many of the kids and watched as about 80 kids trouped through my home out to the back yard concealing amounts of alcohol beyond thier capacity. I watched as they swayed and heard the noise level rise until I could tolerate it no longer. I turned of the music and sent them all home. They went. It was over and I breathed a sigh of relief.
They forgave me my crustiness. Only one small thing was broken and the breaker quickly reported it to me and promised to return the next day to fix it, which he actually did to my surprise and delight. No fights or agressive behaviour. My neighbour put a card in my letter box today thanking us for handling the party so well, which was a really touching and amazing thing.
There were a handful of kids who drank too much and caused me concern. Interestingly enough none of these kids were listed when the invitations went out and were all people I let in at the door because I felt sorry for them and didn’t want to turn them away as all their friends were there. I guess that is why they weren’t on the list – because they behave themselves in such a way as to leave themselves out. It wasn’t that bad though, just annoying mostly.
I felt extra stressed because I received some really sad news on Friday night, which I won’t be writing about because it is private but it made me very sad and I would have preferred to spend the weekend alone with my reminiscences. Sometimes you just don’t have that option.
I will not be having any more parties like that. It was too stressful for me and not necessary. I am sad to think kids that young are drinking alcohol to enjoy themselves and I don’t want it in my face again. They are good kids most of them though. This has been reinforced to me again.
For parents reading this, the kids whose parents phoned me and said they weren’t allowed to drink, did not drink. They enjoyed themselves just as much and were a pleasure to have. It is a shame more parents don’t make that stand, including myself.
Swimming Carnival and the week that was…
Yesterday we had the annual swimming carnival. It was a washout. I got wet to the bone. This week has been a long one. All the illness in my home has skirted around me and I have felt it creep closer from time to time. My new routines of eating fruit and vegetables and taking vitamins and exercising and drinking plenty of water have protected me well. It has not quite penetrated my health to the extent of really stopping me.
I am reading a book of short stories called “Black Juice” by Margo Lanagan. It is delightful. When I got it out of the library at the senior campus last year, with the intention of reading it over the holidays, the librarian said the young person who had been the one and only borrower had given it a 5/10 and she didn’t expect much of it. I guess that is why I have not rushed into it, although I had read many positive reviews. In my mind I put it in the category of those things that get good reviews because they are all buddies and afraid to tell each other the truth. I usually trust the opinions of the children around me before the ‘experts’ or ‘acclaimed’. In this case I judged wrongly.
This week has passed well. I thought it had been a dull week until I came to write about it. I had a lovely pizza dinner with family and friend last night. It was a great combo of good food, funny, often interrupted stories and much laughter. We were fare welling my daughters best friend who is heading off to Wodonga to study. It was an enjoyable evening although underneath the laughter and smiles, I felt sad to be setting her off into the world. I had that sense that things would never be the same again. So many nights she has spent laughing and being ridiculous, always spontaneously and rarely planned. It is right that they should grow up and pursue their own lives but that is the pain of young people growing up . When they are successful and grown they leave.
I also brought home a ceramic mask I made last year after school. I made the mask at an after school workshop. I was pretty cranky whilst I was putting it together and I really enjoyed the process as a distraction from the hurt I was feeling at the time. It turned out well. One day when I am not tired and lazy (as I am right now) I will put a photo of it on this blog.