We all know that schools can be frenetic places to work, with teaching one of the top three most stressful occupations, therefore things that we can control such as our mindset, perspective and attitude are paramount in order to start the year on a positive note. As William Johnsen said “if it is to be, it’s up to me”.
Hello everyone! My name is Adam Barrett, and I run the Instagram page @mister_muinteoir_ where I showcase my day to day teaching, the ups and downs of the real teaching world, as well as support student teachers and NQTs as they find their feet in the teaching world.
Ciara McGuane is the Summer Course Director for Rahoo.ie.
Her career highlights include being filmed by BBC London teaching in the classroom and guest-lecturing at the Institute of Education in London. She has worked as a teacher, school leader, teacher trainer and initial teacher training tutor prior to setting up Rahoo.
Financial well-being is very important. It means having security and freedom of choice in the future. It’s sometimes difficult to establish good financial planning habits.
Workplaces should recognise and celebrate the day in a way that best supports their own dynamic and be careful not to fall into the trap of celebrating well-being on only one day of the year to mark this day! Well-being is not and should not be a gimmick or PR stunt!
As educational research develops and pedagogy adapts, there are more and more expectations of and accountability measures placed on teachers and school leaders. Yet, in the face of educational reform, the mechanics of a school stays the same, for example timetables and class sizes.
Being an Essentialist is not about vowing to say no more – it is about regularly asking yourself “Am I investing in the right activities”? As teachers, we have so much choice about how to run our lessons or what resources to use – but if we spend an hour preparing jazzy resources for a 45 minute lesson (we have all done this!) instead of marking those assessments, is that really better for our students and ourselves? Does the output justify the input?
It can be daunting too as you begin to think about some items you may need for starting off, especially if you haven’t seen your classroom yet.
It is so lovely to check in with you again! It has been such a crazy two months since I moved to Dubai to teach here. Every day I feel a little more settled!
As you may know by now, I’ve recently announced that I am moving to teach in Dubai in the UAE this August. I had planned to begin my teaching journey in the UAE in September of last year, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, things didn’t go to plan!