I think of it this way: I can’t do anything other than being a teacher. I’m not good at anything else. I don’t love anything else. At the end of the day, being a teacher is central to my identity and without it, I would really struggle to feel professionally fulfilled. There are a lot of people who are in love with the IDEA of education – 30 angelic, adoring faces starting up at you, desperate to glean the pearls of wisdom you so sagely drop from your mouth when they least expect it…so the first time a kid swears at them or they have a fight in their classroom, or students falling asleep in class, or administrators who seem determined to get you sectioned, or colleagues who talk shit about you behind your back or even to your face, they realise that they can’t do it.

Summer school just ended last Thursday. I am already planning and looking forward to the first day of school. I can’t wait. THAT is what being a teacher is all about. My instinct is telling me that you should take the plunge. My instinct is usually pretty good with new teachers.

I am starting to feel like this. I feel lucky to say I can’t imagine wanting to do anything else. Every day I get a little bit better. “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.” Confucius I like this bit a lot too…

5. Every teacher second guesses themselves about whether or not they should be in education. The good ones do it more often than the bad ones. It’s called being self-reflective. A teacher who is not self-reflective is dangerous and ineffective. I never think that I’ve done anything well, and am rarely satisfied with lessons or assignments. I’ve been teaching eight years and I’ve never taught anything the same way more than once. I push myself to be better than I thought I could and I surround myself with people whom I see as better than me to keep pushing me. That’s a professional learning community and it’s one of the great joys of education.