I'm too busy to be mindful...

 

Aren't our lives busy nowadays. Mobile phones; great at keeping us connected but also such a tie at times. 

Scrolling- that wasn't even a thing not so long ago. I am as guilty as the next person of sitting down for a few minutes and before I realise, those few minutes have stretched into a lot more. And what have I actually done in that time? 

Procrastination - noun

1. the action of delaying or postponing something.

   "your first tip is to avoid procrastination"

And work, well that takes up a load of time, plus the commute, plus the emails to do out of work. Plus trying to keep on top of all the household things and so on and so on. Life is busy. Children have flown the nest ( how did i have time to look after them when they were at home?!) but time seems to fly past faster and faster. 

So how on earth can anyone be expected to be mindful and fit in that as well? 

For me mindfulness is so much more than finding a time to sit and meditate; it's the general awareness through daily activities. It's finding times to take a few moments here and there. For example, cleaning teeth or having a shower are great times to do a mini body scan or a listening meditation. Waiting in a queue or being on hold on a phone call are , for me, amazing times to focus on a standing meditation and also really help avoid the impatience and 'queue rage'.

Sometimes all you need is to switch on the TV or scroll through the phone, but that might not leave you with the sense of calm and peace, or re-energised ready to take on the next thing on the list. 

Next time you're in a traffic jam, or in the longest queue on the phone * Your call is important to us...thank you for waiting...you are now 15th in line...*  See if you can focus on the breath, or the sounds you can hear. If you're able to walk around does that ease the impatient feelings that come and go?   

My next upload will be a guided meditation on listening. 

Teaching, still a great career?

Teacher: a person who teaches, especially in a school.

"a history teacher"

This post was prompted by a recent blog , 'Would you recommend teaching?' ( find it here ) courtesy of @secretteacher6.

With 23 years of teaching , I feel reasonably qualified to express my views.

Yes, I would heartily recommend teaching as a career if you are:-

1) Passionate about your subject/specialism
2) Genuinely like young people/children and have patience and humour by the bucket load
3) Self motivated and very well organised
4) Thick skinned enough to cope with difficult patents/managers/colleagues/students but human enough to care
5) A risk taker and prepared to learn alongside the children
6) Adaptable and flexible

I could go on with this list almost indefinitely-I love those T shirts that you can buy which "sum up" what being a teacher entails e.g...

. 
 Perhaps being a teacher is most like being a parent in so far as it is a highly complex, multi faceted, not a  one-fits-all but an ever changing role.

But, to address the question, is teaching still a great career?

Yes, in my opinion.

Hear me out- OK, there is a lot going on at the moment that isn't great and there have been blog posts a-plenty about those.

BUT, I honestly think that it is a privilege to work with children, the job IS ever changing but that is part of the appeal. No getting bored on the job allowed! (or possible)  I was on a course the other day and when asked how long I had been in my present post was asked, "Isn't it time to move on now?"  Um, well no. Not for the time being at least. It is the fact that the job does change so often that makes it fresh and exciting. (Yes, really) I couldn't imagine how dull it would be to drag the same old lessons out year after year. It's great if some themes/topics stay the same as I rally get to know all about them, but when things change it gives an opportunity to learn alongside the children and to model how to find things out.

To me that is one of the great aspects of the job. Seeing children progress, being there when they grasp a new concept, hearing them at play time, hearing about them when they have moved on to secondary school and beyond. Making a difference, no matter how small that might be, makes teaching what it is.

Recently someone spent a few weeks in our school , uncertain of what career path to take. Being in school, talking to the children and teachers, made that decision easy. He has just been accepted for teacher training. Fab :)

I am not deluded, not wearing rose tinted spectacles, not bonkers. But I AM passionate about being a teacher. Helping shape the children of today into the next generation. It is tragic that so many teachers leave in the early stages of their careers (see here )

Does the job get easier with experience? Not easier, you have a larger bank of resources, are less fazed by change, have a bit more patience, but no, it doesn't get easier. And I can't see myself being effective at 67 to be honest, or that the children will feel they can relate to teachers of that age (ha, I feel that now sometimes!)
I have had enough of the constant negative media . Social media all too often degenerates into negativity. I can moan as well as the next person and if I could wave a magic wand there are plenty of things that I would change (see previous post here ) but life is too short .

Warts and all, teaching is my career of choice, I am still excited, challenged, daunted,thrilled, scared,optimistic... by it. I look forward to the next ITT student that I work with and hope that I will be able to prepare them for a career that is incredibly rewarding. Hard work. Oh yes, more than words can ever get close to saying, but worth it.  Yes.

Happy new year and return to 100WCGU

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's been a while since I last blogged. 

I have completed my Grandad's memoirs- hurrah. He was delighted with them so I am very pleased to have achieved what I set out to do. It has been wonderful finding out so much about him and his time in the war and his working life. I hope the rest of the family enjoy it.

Term starts for me tomorrow and I have just about got the planning finished. I never plan too far ahead as it changes on  a daily basis depending on the needs of the children; but it still takes what seems like an age.

I am now going to edit my nanowrimo in earnest and see if I can manage to get a few more of these 100wcgu completed now. 

I also must get the decorating done. My lovely hubby and son worked out that if I keep on the present rate it will take me nine years to finish so I need to hurry up a bit!! Will do some after lunch...

Anyway, enough prevarication.

This week's prompt from Julia is

 ... you said you’d do WHAT?….

 Read all about it at http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week72/ 

Here is my effort. One of my aims this year is to tell less to the reader! I will try. 

Feedback is always welcomed- (comments are moderated to avoid spam) If you don't like it please tell me why!!

Read the rest over at http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=179012&type=basic

WEEK 72

Clouds of smoke swirled as Big Jake exhaled. He stared penetratingly at Mickey.

“You said you’d do what?”

“Well, uh, I sorta thought it would help the guys.”

“You did, did ya?”

“Jonny said he’d help. ”

 “Hell no, it’s the first I’ve heard of it Boss. We gotta cut him loose, know what I mean?”

“Now c’mon guys, it’ll be cool. We’ll be outta there before you know it. All I need is...”

Big Jake leant forward and blew a cloud of cigar smoke in Mickey’s face. “All you need kid is to go back and tell them you’re not gonna do it.”

100 words ...returning...

I haven't done one of these for ages. Have been exceptionally busy since term started. (Goodness, how I hate that excuse! But I really have!) 

I have been working with my (92 year old) Grandfather to help him write his memoirs. Each week I visit him (he's in a nursing home) and download the next lot from the dictaphone. I then type it up before visiting him the following week and sorting out parts which I couldn't quite make out.

So far we have covered his war years and his working life as well as what he could remember from his childhood. It has been absolutely fascinating.

As we draw near present time I will have to embark on the editing process; so far I have been pretty much typing up verbatim. The aim is to eventually make it into an e-book for all the family to read and maybe to get a copy professionally bound for him (Thanks to the lovely SJ for that suggestion)

I am going to go through his photos and scan those in to be inserted at appropriate places and have also been adding links to elaborate on various things that he has mentioned.

Oh yes, been teaching my (enormous) mixed age class of 35 year 4 and 5's too!

And been starting to look through my nanowrimo I did in June to edit that.

Parents evenings are looming and I STILL haven't got the decorating done. 

But I am NOT bored which is always a good thing (in fact I don't think I can remember the last time i was bored to be honest. Sometime before becoming a parent perhaps?)

Anyway enough of that. I will endeavour to do some more of these as it is a great way to practise my writing. Still no luck with any competitions...

Here is this week's piece.

Link to Julia's place is http://jfb57.wordpress.com/tag/100wcgu/

Find the others at http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=168507&type=basic

Mists of time

As the steam rose from her mug, June stared through the once clean windows . The pain would pass, they told her, we’ll keep in touch.

That had been in Spring.

Words spoken after her darling Doug had finally lost his battle.

Summer had been and gone, the pain remained sharp as ever.  Promised visits not made. “Call soon. Must dash. X ” the text had read.

 Autumn brought its muted hues, lace cobwebs jewelled with crane flies. A golden anniversary remembered alone.

A buzz from a drawer: “Plane booked. All 2gether 4 Christmas x”

And winter will bring them home.  

Thank you for reading. I will be on half term next week so will visit the rest then. I am hoping to put some sections of my nanowrimo on here; comments, as always, welcomed.