“𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘠 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨” - R. Feynman

But it’s so hard to be a happy teacher when:

• you’re emotionally and physically exhausted

• you’ve not finished your planning for next week or marked your books

• you don’t make plans on the weekend because you are too tired

• you spent all week holding in a wee because there was no one to cover you

• the fear of Ofsted looms every day

I could go on!

…but I won’t because it’s not about concentrating on the difficult & negative things.

It’s about focusing on what we can control!

• planning fun, engaging & informative lessons

• managing your priorities - for the week, day or even the hour!

• finding your boundaries

• allowing time for self care

• balancing your work and personal life

• finding time to exercise & making time to go outdoors 

It’s about finding ways & making decisions to enable you to be the best and happiest teacher you can be! 

One final thing I found that helped me was remembering why I'm here.

I am a teacher because I care about educating these young people.

I want to help them. I ENJOY it.

I started writing a gratitude diary every day to encourage me to focus on the small wins.

And rather than your to do list, give yourself a TA DA list (thank you Gretchen Rubin!) and celebrate the things you have DONE not what you have to do.

Try it!

10th March 2024