Trying to keep all the plates spinning.

Teaching seems to me to be one big balancing act.  At the moment I'm trying to keep all the plates spinning and it's less a matter of if one is going to fall but when.  There's the planning, the marking, the following up on homework and behaviour, the new staff induction meetings, the NQT meetings, the tutor group and all the mini spinning plates they bring with them and then of course there is the endless amounts of paperwork and emails.   Oh and the data and reporting that has already started, don't forget that.  Before I continue, I want to make it very clear that I am being well supported by my school, department and mentor and this is not a reflection on them, just an observation on teaching in general.

At the end of my training and the very start of this year I'd convinced myself that 'it gets better' 'the workload will get smaller' 'you'll have your life back eventually' but I'm becoming quite aware that this probably isn't the case.

I'm an organised person, everything has it's place and time and I like to keep on top of things, but that's just not possible anymore.  I was talking to another NQT in my department the other day and we spoke about just trying to keep our heads above water.  It's no longer about being on top of things but just trying to do enough to get by.  This is with my 10% reduced NQT timetable, the free time is meant to be used for observation and development but at the moment I need that time to get everything else done.  I'd love to be out and about in school seeing and doing more, I'd like to feel like I'm teaching good lessons not ones that are just about good enough, I'd like to feel like I'm achieving something rather than just getting by.  Unfortunately all of these things require time, more time than it's possible to give.

I'm assuming that this is a common NQT feeling, but what concerns me more is that it may be something that teachers are feeling further down the line.  Is this something that goes away or do all teachers feel this inadequate?  

All through my training I was determined that I would never be part of that statistic, you know the one, the one that's always quoted about the amount of teachers leaving the profession within the first five years.  I was convinced that I would leave my training year fully prepared for this and the fact that I was so organised was going to help me.  It would seem that I was wrong, over-optimistic and perhaps naieve. I'd decided that the people forming that statistic weren't prepared, they didn't really want to teach, maybe they went into it for the wrong reasons.  It wouldn't happen to me.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not ready to become part of that statistic yet.  I'm determined to see out my NQT year and see where things take me.  There are days that none of this matters because someone in my form has done something brilliant, or something really clicks in class, or I actually manage to leave school at a decent time and go home smiling.  I just wonder how sustainable this sort of workload is.  I don't know how people do it, being 23, single and living with my parents I don't have commitments outside of school.  I can give as much time to it as I need / want to.  How do other people do it?  Surely something has to give?

I realise that I'll just have to accept that this is the way things are, that I can't be on top of everything and that's the way things go.  It's the reality for thousands of people every day.  I just can't help but wonder if things have to be this way?  Everyone talks of reducing the workload and pressure on teachers, but how do we go about this?

(To confirm, before anyone makes comment, I know that this sort of work load is common across many professions, working long hours and trying to strike that balance and many people don't manage it, this post is just a reflection on my feelings on the situation in teaching.)

Hindsight, it's a wonderful thing.

This week finally saw the end of my training with my final assessment on Tuesday, I previously blogged about what that entailed.  With that over and done with I've taken the chance to think about all the things I would've done differently with hindsight, or more to the point the things that I am going to do differently from now on or from September.

1) Don't reinvent the wheel.  The first thing I've learned is something we've been told all year but that hasn't really taken effect until now. During training I've had to write up full lesson plans for all the lessons that I teach and so I've felt the need to really make them mine.  I've looked up ideas on the TES etc but only tended to use them for ideas.  My planning this weekend has been much much quicker because I've finally come to the realisation that I don't need to do all the work myself.  As long as I know what I want the students to learn then I can find resources that match what I'm looking for.  There is nothing to stop me adapting them, adding bits, removing bits etc but there is no need to do the whole thing from scratch.  I'm still putting in all the considerations I need to for AfL, differentiation etc but without needing to document this in minute detail on a plan that no one is going to read!

2) There actually is such a thing as being too organised.  You can't plan too far ahead of time, something will happen that is totally out of your control and it'll all go down the pan. There will be an assembly, students will be taken out of your lesson to revise for another, there will be an exam on, an interview candidate will be taking some of your lesson.  You name it, it'll happen.  Be organised and plan ahead but most importantly - go with the flow.  

3) Get into a routine with homework setting and book marking and stick to it.  This has been a tough one to start and stick with this year.  I only took up my classes gradually and by the time I had built up to my full timetable it was time to move onto my second placement.  I started back at my main school with great intentions, made myself a schedule of when I would set and mark homework.  It went out the window as quickly as it came.  With my training paperwork and essays to do it just wasn't possible to keep on top of it all and I'm making up for it now with a pile of books to get into.  I realise now that with the unpredictable nature of the training year with all the ups and downs this isn't surprising.  I'll start September with good intentions and hopefully stick to them!

4) Start as I mean to go on and set my expectations high.  No matter how much reading you do or how good your intentions are I don't think you can reasonably set high expectations from the beginning of the training year.  It's hard to do, especially when you begin by observing lessons then taking short sections before taking over the class yourself.  The class can be a bit confused with your role and why their teacher is sat at the back of the room.  You might want to do things slightly differently to the normal class teacher and this can be really hard to put in place.  When I returned to my school after my second placement I took over a totally new timetable from one teacher that had left on maternity leave.  I thought that this would be a good chance to start afresh and to an extent it was but I was still a trainee with a variety of adults in and out of my lessons.  In September I'll be in a new school where students don't see me as a trainee and the classes will be mine from day 1.

5) I'll never get to the end of a to-do list again, but that's ok.  It's as simple as that, I can make as many to-do lists as I want, and they're good, but I'll never get to the end of one again.  There are some tasks that will keep getting pushed to the bottom of the list as new priorities overtake, they'll get done eventually though.  I'm the sort of organisation freak that needs to be 110% on top of things but I realise now that in teaching - that's just not realistic!

6) Sometimes there are things that are just more important.  Does that job have to be done right now?  Will anything happen if I've not planned an extra day ahead? Will that class know that I had an awesome idea for that lesson that would've taken hours to plan but instead went for the quicker option that is just as effective? No, no and no.  So shut down the computer, put down the to-do list and do something else.  Take some time to myself, have a life, there is a balance to be struck between dedication and eating, sleeping, living and breathing teaching!

Can someone remind me about all this at the end of September?!