eternity

Good morning!!

In England and Wales today there is a teachers strike. I don’t normally journal about current affairs, but I just wanted to show my support for the teachers. As a trained teacher myself I understand the mixed emotions of teaching, the stress, joy, love, dedication and skill.

I chose not to pursue a career in teaching opting instead to bring up my children.

Today the teachers are striking because the proposed pay increase is below the rate of inflation. I know that in the UK there are many families struggling to keep up with mortgages, childcare cost and just surviving day to day, many employed people are underpaid and deserve more. There are a lot of people who say that teachers have it easy with long holidays etc (my husband is one of them!) what people do not see is the hours put in after school and during those “holidays”. When you are faced with the mountain of paperwork that teachers are faced with on top of the actual teaching time you have to fit it in somewhere. I remember working into the small hours preparing lesson plans, daily plans, weekly plans, termly plans, yearly plans, individual assessment for EACH subject - EACH child (10 subjects x 30 children = 300 assessments!).

If teachers have long holidays doing nothing how do they fit it all in ?

I found this story on a crafting forum last year, I am dedicating it to all teachers….

The good Lord was creating teachers. It was his 6th day of overtime and he knew that this was a tremendous responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children. An angel appeared to him and said, “you are taking a long time to figure this one out”.

“yes,” said the Lord, “but have you read the specs on this order?”

Teacher

Must stand above all students, yet be on their level

Must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subjects being taught

Must run on coffee andleftovers

Must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time

Must have more time for others than themselves

Must have a smile that can endure pay cuts, problematic children and worried parents

Must go on teaching when parents question every move and others aren’t supportive

Must have 6 pairs of hands

“six pairs of hands,” said the Angel, “that’s impossible”.

“well,” said the Lord, “it’s not the hands that are the problem. It’s the three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!”

The Angel looked incredulous, “three pairs of eyes… on a standard model?”

The Lord nodded his head, “one pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labelled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher’s head to see what shouldn’t be seen, but what must be known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as she/he ‘acts out’ in order to reflect, “I understand and believe I still believe in you”, without so much as saying a word to the child.”

“Lord,” said the Angel, “this is a very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow”.

“I can’t”, said the Lord, “for I have come very close to creating something much like myself. I have one that comes to work when he/she is sick… teaches a class of students that don’t want to learn… has a special place in his/her heart for children who aren’t their own… understands the struggles of those who have difficulty… never takes the students for granted…”

The Angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating. “it’s too soft hearted,” the Angel said.

“yes”, said the Lord, “but also tough. You can’t imagine what this teacher can endure or do, if necessary”.

“Can this teacher think?” asked the Angel.

“ Not only think,” said the Lord, “but reason and compromise”.

The Angel came closer to have a better look at the model and ran his finger over the teacher’s cheek. “well Lord”, said the Angel, “your job looks fine, but there’s a leak. I told you that you were putting too much into this model. You can’t imagine the stress that will placed upon the teacher.”

The Lord moved closer and lifted the drop of moisture from the teacher’s cheek. It shone and glistened in the light, “It’s not a leak,” He said, “It’s a tear”.

“A tear? What’s that?” asked the Angel, “What is a tear for?”

The Lord replied with great thought, “It’s for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task. It’s for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in and it’s for the compassion for the feelings of their parents. It comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feels in themselves. It comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say goodbye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class.”

“My,” said the Angel, “the tear is a great idea… you’re a genius!!”

The Lord looked sombre, “I didn’t put it there…”

For all the teachers out there.

Take care

Mrs t xxx

Challenge yourself challenge

Hello everyone.

Rosemary from Inspirations has set a challenge on magic smoke (link in my sidebar) and I am going to try to keep up with this one!! LOL

This is quite a challenge and delves deep into me.

Rosemary has been talking about our gremlins, the little voice inside your head that tells you a lot of negative things. My gremlin is a big ugly whatsit and has been with me for a long time. Over the years I have got good at ignoring him but I guess that ignoring him is not doing me any good as I am not dealing with the issues. So here goes……

Rosemary asked us to draw our gremlins…..

Ugly whatsit!!LOL

The challenge is to take five things your gremlin says to you and re-write them with what you would say to him.

Here it is…

1. GREMLIN: Your not doing enough/you don’t work hard enough/why didn’t you get more done/your too slow/your doing all the wrong things/

ME : I am doing what I can/there are only 24 hours in the day and I need sleep/ I have high expectations of myself/ not slow just attention to detail/ I need down time/

2. GREMLIN : your selfish/you don’t pay enough attention to everyone else’s needs/your not doing enough to help everyone with their problems/ your doing too much for them/ you do more for them than others/

ME : I have to think of myself sometimes/I can’t spread myself that thin/ I’m trying to help everyone/ I am trying to keep the peace/ I can’t do it all I have limits/ there are limits to my capabilities/my loyalties are stretched/

3. GREMLIN : your not organised/you don’t do things logically/your time management sucks/why haven’t you followed your own plans/why haven’t you sorted this out/ why bother, you can’t do it/

ME : I am more organised than some/ it’s my logical not yours/I do things in priority order/there is too much to do and not enough time/I’m too busy to finish and follow plans/ it takes time/they are not the right plans for me/ I can do it I just need the right plan/

4. GREMLIN : you’re shouting too much/your shouting at the wrong person/it’s not their fault/your nasty/you’re a dragon/your bad tempered/your blaming the wrong person - it’s your fault/

ME : sorry I can’t argue with this one, I agree.

5. GREMLIN : your not a good mum/your useless/you’re a failure/they have the control/they are winning - you’re a looser/ you can’t cope/your not doing it right/ you failed you are not the perfect mother/

ME: I love my boys/ I am doing the best I can/I am learning/I do have control/I can cope I just need to be more organized/I can….. Nope struggling here as well.

6. GREMLIN : the business will fail/ you will fail/it’s a stupid idea/there’s too much competition/ what makes you think you can do this/you’ve failed for the last 8yrs what makes you think you can do it now/ carries on for hours…..

ME : I can do this/ it is a good idea/ I have done the research/I know the business well/ I have to succeed I can’t afford to fail/ I’ve learnt my lessons/I have to do this - I want to be financially independent/ this is my dream/ last chance I have to succeed/ I can….

There you go ended up with 6 and it was hard to stick to that!!

We will have to wait and see what this Thursday’s challenge is and see how we deal with them!

Take care

                                                                                   Mrs t xx

thanks donna for the tag!

Mrs t xxxx