Well, my new job share partner was appointed today and I can now start to think about how my practice is going to change when I become a job share partner from September. I am incredibly excited about this new direction in my career; I have made the decision for a wide variety of reasons and am really looking forward to this new phase in my teaching.
Having worked almost exclusively full time since qualifying this will be a huge change to me. Since making the decision last year to change my working pattern it has reignited my passion for teaching in a way that I hadn't expected. Maybe that whole work/life balance juggling will finally become achievable...
When I first thought about making the move to part time I talked to family, friends, colleagues, my union rep and read anything I could find about it:
http://k6educators.about.com/od/professionaldevelopment/p/jobsharing.htm
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6766191_job-share-teaching.html
http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/TrainingEventsandPublications/NASUWTPublications/Publications/Parttimeworkandjob-sharearrangements/index.htm
Will it stop me trying new things? Certainly not; in fact I see this as such a positive step. Having talked to other job sharers I look forward to the future with excitement. I know that it will take some getting used to ; I will have to stop referring to the class as my class for a start! I hope that it will make me a better teacher; communication with my jobshare partner will aid reflections and we can teach to our strengths.
There will be pitfalls along the way I am sure; but I am determined to make this work. Twitter has been such a useful resource and has introduced me to a wealth of new ideas. I will try to get as many of my colleagues on board as possible to enrich our knowledge of what goes on in the wider teaching community. (Being in a small rural school is rather like being in a bubble at times). I hope to use the blog to reflect on my new working pattern.
No comments:
Post a Comment