There is never enough....

I really like this article that popped up on Facebook the other day.... "The hard part - a comment about teaching". It gave me some comfort about some of the things that I experience through this new career of mine. It writes of the American experience of being a teacher - but I still think that it has valuable things to say. What I consider most valuable about this however, is not the message it gives to everyone else about 'how difficult it is to be a teacher' (as we all know we will just enter into one of those pointless "but you get all those holidays debates" and that is something that I consider beside the point at the moment), but the message it gives to teacher.

For me, at a shiny 20 weeks into this career, it says to me "Hey, don't sweat it!" - and this is advice that I find really helpful. For the last two terms my main source of angst has being "I haven't done this yet..." Or, to expand...

• I haven't written that resource booklet for any of my senior classes (at no point did I actually need to do this, I just decided that it was what I should be doing to enable my students to learn the most out of this unit) 
• I did not finish writing that unit plan so it was at a hand-inable standard 
• When I chose that play to do with my senior classes, I did not read 3 others to make sure it was the right choice
• I haven't finished the junior marking
• I haven't finished the senior marking
• I haven't tidied my inbox
• I haven't tidied my desk! 
• I haven't reflected enough
• I haven't baked for cake club yet
• I haven't...I haven't....I HAVEN'T

I allow this thought process to usually, completely take over. I feel like I constantly allow myself to live in the red and it is really tough place to try and function. I mentioned in an earlier post that I find self belief really hard to generate - but I can see now, that being in the 'I haven't place' only constantly puts myself in the mind set that I haven't and therefore I obviously cant.  I find the motto of the aforementioned article rather comforting as it puts quite plainly - there is never enough. So, the message I take from that is, stop trying to DO everything. And also, accept that sometimes you will feel a little thinly spread, but you are also in a profession with a great amount colleagues who will understand and support you. I have one major goal as I head into the second half of the year - to simplify and streamline. I want to develop strategies to work smart, to not get tied up with superfluous tasks, and to get the best classroom environment I can. So the first thing I did - I quit cake club. (Will also help the tight jeans issue - but will save that for another post).