Well Happy New Year! :) 2012 already! I can't believe how fast time seems to be going. It makes me sound old but every year seems to get shorter, maybe it's because I have so much to do. My list just keeps getting longer and longer!
The year began on a high after celebrating with family and friends watching some local fireworks and a rather drunken game of scrabble! That was fantastic and New Year's day (after I had apparently decapitated the reindeer in our hallway on my return from the party!) was great too spending time with my family, but then I realised that it had been a month since I had worked.
A whole month ... surely it couldn't be, school's had only been closed for 2 weeks, yet it had been a month. No work on supply means no money :( so I began to look for some work. Imagine my relief when I found some supply work as a nursery nurse for 4 days. So I quickly accepted it and prepared myself for 4 days with little children! Then at 7:30 this morning as I was getting ready I received a text to say that the booking had been cancelled for the whole week. Not only that I had already turned down some work from another agency because I had this booked. SO that is how my day began this morning.
So today, I spent the day on the phone to my agencies. Yes agencies, I have three agencies which are trying to find me work and none of them had any work available, yet all of them are taking on more and more teachers to the agency.
At the minute I seriously feel that I have wasted a year of my life and that I am worse off. I could be in a job earning money, working with children and be guaranteed a wage without the worry of not knowing when I am next going to work.
I know I am lucky because I don't have anyone relying on me, however I still have outgoings and I still need to live a life so have I wasted a year? All the job interviews I have had say I need more experience, but how can I get experience if I can't get a job and I can't even get supply work.
I know it is early in the year and hopefully something will come up in the next couple of days so I can just get by, but will my dream of getting a job come true this year? There are no jobs in schools and yet there is apparently a shortage of teachers and more teachers being trained.
On the other hand I have been taking down the Christmas decorations and planning some of my tutoring work and trying to gather some ideas to do if I do get some supply this week. I love crafts and things and with the Olympics coming this year I thought about making an Olympic torch of resolutions for children in the classroom. Each child could write what they would do on a flame and then they could be put coming out of a torch and put on display so the children can see it throughout the year, things can be added and taken away throughout the year too.
One thing that I have found that I can use in any KS2 class to is compass points and the kids love it. Depending the age of the kids I ask them to tell me where North, South, East and West are and then asking them to show me where things are that I say my pointing themselves in that direction. I then ask them to make a list of things in a group and tell me what direction they are in. For older children I have given them compasses and asked them to tell me exactly what direction it is in. The kids love it. They love it almost as much a loop cards so I always carry a few packs in my bag! So simple yet so entertaining!
I know some of these ideas may seem simple but as an NQT I am still finding my footing and coming across different ideas so please feel free to share some of your ideas too, and keep coming back as I find some other lesson ideas that I can carry with me all over! I'll be updating the blog all the time!
Fingers crossed that things work out, if you have any thoughts or comments about supply teaching or teaching in general, I would be interested to hear them.
Thanks for reading!
Louise :D
