Skip to main content

The Bereaved Teacher

This is extraordinary and not something that I've ever experienced, but today, I am experiencing what can only be termed as "job bereavement".

Now before you think I'm going doolally, I should explain that it's the teachers I'm missing, not the students! Working as we do in a challenging environment, I for one, feel as though these people are members of my extended family. Over the year or two we spent time together, we went through so much, that the resulting wonderful friendships we formed mean a great deal to me.

As a result, I am finding it hard to contemplate never working with these fellow teachers and friends again.

If you are a teacher, you will probably understand exactly what it is I am trying to express here. Teaching is not like an office job. We don't say goodbye at 5 pm and disappear into the ether of the weekend. Some of us still communicate with each other when the school gates are bolted and the lights in the building have long been extinguished - and this is the bit that I'm finding the hardest to accept.

So if you're a teacher and you know where I'm coming from, please send me some positive thoughts, because right now, the idea of starting at a new school in September without my special teaching buddies fills me with nothing but dread.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
The bonds will be formed again; they will be different, but not in a bad way. It will be good; have no fear.
Friday, 20 July, 2007
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Jewberry Muds

To get the full effect, this message should be read out loud. You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation. This has been nominated for the best email of 2005. The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the FarEast Economic Review: Room Service (RS): "Morrin. Roon sirbees." Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service." RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??" G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs." RS: "Ow July den?" G: "What??" RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?" G: "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please." RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?" G: "Crisp will be fine." RS: "Hokay. An Sahn toes?" G: "What?" RS: "An toes. July Sahn toes?" G: "I don't think so."...
3 comments
Read more

A Breed Apart

I'll start with that rarest of things (at least for me), namely an apology. A number of people who read this blog have approached me and asked me how the new job is panning out. I know I should have followed the original posts with updates, but honestly, I came back so tired from work, that I didn't have the will to compose any reports. In short, I am really happy in my new school. The students line up outside the door to my classroom (yes, my classroom) quietly instead of rushing in like a pack of deranged beasts and then, to my utter delight, stand , yes STAND(!!) behind their chairs and wait until I tell them to be seated. These students are actually listening to my instructions. When I tell them to switch their monitors off, they do what I ask. I don't find myself having to wait for fifteen minutes until they can be bothered to be quiet, they do something that I've been longing to experience for two years - they show an interest, in fact, a very keen interest, in w...
2 comments
Read more

Bye Bye University

I can't quite believe it but today is in fact my last as a student. My course ends when I walk out of school at 13.15 I've now fulfilled the statutory days demanded of me as a student teacher. From Monday, I will be effectively unemployed - until Thursday, so I reckon we'll survive. That's it folks, my course is over. I have yet to hear whether or not I've passed, although between you and me ( shhhh don't tell anyone ) I am now a newly qualified teacher in everything but name. The exam board meets Mid-July to make those all important decisions and that's when I expect to get my congratulatory letter through the post. It's been an interesting year, to say the least. There have been ups and downs although the positive has vastly outweighed the negative. I find standing in a classroom less daunting and if anything, I now have the confidence to teach, which I didn't have when I started. I know I've only been doing this lark since September (and teach...
3 comments
Read more