Visit to the quack!

Just returned from a docto'r appointment. He has just confirmed my suspicions - my blood pressure is very high, so I am to start a course of medication - calcium channel blockers. Does this mean I am eating too much calcium? Not sure. What I do know is, stress must be a HUGE contributing factor. Just learned also that I am not allowed to go for job interviews because I am off sick. Can't plan ahead because I may not have a job to go to next term. So my life is in limbo.

Up with the lark!

Can anyone explain why on a weekday I struggle to open my eyes at 6:20am and long for a lie in but come Saturday morning I am up with the lark at 5pm after having 4 hours sleep? Perhaps it is my body clock. Last night I heard a bird singing at 11pm and thought, "What bird , in it's right mind would want to sing at that time of night when most birds are sitting in the dark, trying to be as still as possible, trying not to get noticed?" (Reminding me of those awkward planning meetings after school, in which nobody wanted to speak for fear of prolonging the meeting, clock watching until the meeting was over!) What to do today? I have already checked my emails (twice), had breakfast (porridge), put the washing machine on (just my own stuff)and fed the cat.

Leaving Teaching?

Today I decided to start a blog on the topic of leaving teaching.... Having spend the best of 25+ years teaching in secondary schools I have decided today that enough is enough! Teaching is making me ill and is destroying my mental health. It crept up on me very slowly. First manifesting as annoying little aches pains and niggles, then into full blown meltdown. The cause? Not easy to pinpont the defining moment which sent me over the edge but a combination of pupil aggression, defiance snd indifference, SMT Ofsted hysteria, data and information overload, timetable changes, endless nights anguishing over observations/marking/preparation/planning and making resources. Wasted time obsessing over how to do to improve my lessons. Lack of support when things go wrong, pupils' behaviour blamed on uninspiring lesson planning, inadequate differentiation, poor classroom climate, hunger, thirst, needing the toilet, the lights, the wind, the rain, Monday morning, Friday afternoon, half term, Christmas approaching....... The final straw? "I'm gonna bang you out!", Year 8 scally announces, "Is he behaving himself?", the Head of Year enquires, "No," says I, "He says he's gonna bang me out" "Any problems and he can do detention with me at breaktime", she says and makes a hasty retreat. Thirty minutes later the lesson ends and said scally whooops out down the corridor ignoring my request to stay to discuss his behaviour only to be first in the queue for breaktime toast and a cup of tea. Me - I have break duty, then Y11 for a double lesson before lunch (got to set up my resources in another classroom too) and I am dying for a wee, a brew and my breakfast.