Falling off, horses etc.

I think the end of semester 1 and the holidays derailed me quite a bit.  The night of my last day of work last term, I developed a sore throat, and the next day I was sick, and proceeded to sleep away the first week of the holidays.  Not a lot of crochet projects got worked on, not much marking got done until the last few days of the holidays, not a lot of driving practice happened, and I hardly did any Warhammer 40k painting.  The second week of the holidays was a lot more fruitful: I did my marking, I finally got my Ps (only 10 years overdue, with a failed test one month before), we put a deposit on a block of land and started talking to a builder.  It was a fairly big week.

Now that I'm back at school with renewed energy, fresh independence and brimming with ideas, I'm hoping to ride a wave of being constructive for a while, ultimately leading me to make progress on the collection of my evidence for registration and perhaps also progress in my career.  I've had a few days in a row of almost feeling like a real adult who accomplishes things by herself, lives up to expectations, and has skills or gifts that are of use to others.  I've spoken with my Head of Secondary about ideas for creating a unique position for me at the school, one where I could use my penchant for enjoying fiddly, administrative tasks for the greater good of my peers.  Whilst I understand it could be a bit of a pipe dream, his positive reaction to the idea gave me some hope that I could be on the right track, finally, when it comes to my place in world of education, and also my place in serving God.

I'll endeavour to continue updating this blog on a weekly basis (that was my original goal, and that went a little by the wayside), and will make up for the recent lack with an extra post about a lesson I did recently that went rather well.  Look at me talking like I think anyone actually reads this thing.  Oh well, such is audience appropriate voice, says the English teacher.

End of Term 1 Reflection and Planning

Well, term 1 is already done.  It seems very quick, and both my husband and I are feeling great about school.  My 0.4 load has given me the mental space to feel actually human, so this is what I managed to get out of this term.

What I'm Happy About

• the progress of my classes
• the progress of the Realm of Learning
• the plans for the yearbook thus far
• the amount of planning I've been able to put into my lessons
• the very (comparatively) small amount of days I've taken off this term
• having time to work with a personal trainer
• actually having lost a little bit of weight
• sticking with my kj counter for about 2 weeks
• reactions to my crochet
• my husband's excellent rep with students and other teachers

What I'd Like To Work On

• more group work in my classes
• classroom management with my younger class
• dialling down my sarcasm a bit more
• no more crocheting in class (oops)
• gifting my colleagues more with my new crochet skills (so far, I haven't given anyone anything)
• organise 3 or 4 'Watch Others Work' sessions for next term
• collecting the evidence for my full teacher registration (ugh)
• continuing to make this blog constructive and consistently posting

if there's anyone out there...any suggestions?