This morning I was up and about early after a night of very little sleep (nothing new there!) getting dressed for work. I officially return to work in early July however, in a moment of madness, I agreed to a request from the Head of the Sixth Form to moderate some Extended Projects.
Due to my husband bringing home the lurgy from work, we all currently have awful colds and coughs so, I went to bed last night and awoke this morning regretting my act of generosity when I agreed to the moderation! On arrival I felt nervous and trepidatious – I am not sure why, perhaps because I had been away for what seemed like an age & had not visited as much as I had promised. On entering the office I was greeted by the same familiar faces (plus a trainee teacher) and the same familiar decor – I was a relief to be greeted by such familiar faces – the nervousness and trepidation I had experienced moments earlier melted away. At that moment I recall thinking how much I actually missed my colleagues and the safe, mostly predictable environment of the school.
What then ensued was a speed catch up with everyone due to the inevitable registration bell tolling. It was then I realised how much I had actually missed and how things were about to change quite significantly. I learnt of colleagues who had applied for vacancies at other schools and those that were leaving, to the future aspirations of the newly qualified teachers in the department (which involved travelling & teaching abroad). It seemed that the department was about to significantly change again and in my absence I was being left behind – everyone seemed to be setting new challenges and goals for themselves whilst I would be returning to do the same job in the same way. Although, whilst on maternity leave I have been thinking of new, innovative ways to teach the topics that I have been teaching for a number of years now – in fact one of these so called “new” methods are not not new but are “new” to me & my methods of teaching such as a blog for my students or the use of QR codes to encourage students to read scientific reports of psychological studies etc. However, whilst on maternity leave I have also observed Mr Big’s career advance ten fold – which is absolutely fantastic – but, it has made me consider my own career and the direction which I would now like it to take, now that I consider my child bearing days to be over!
So I have begun to consider the possibility of another teaching post in a different school or even a career outside the educational field – this has been occupying my mind more and more it seems. I then realised what I needed was a new challenge, something to aim towards which involved developing existing skills and gaining new skills. I didn’t want to be a “lifer” as a friend and ex-teacher at the school called me in jest – I want to do new and exciting things like my other colleagues had planned and be just as successful. So, the questions still remains as to what I would now like to do, as I am now feeling ambitious again and it is at the same time quite thrilling but, scary.
mummymootwo 