The Not-So-Secret Diary of a Teacher

Aoife Condron, 30, Mainstream Primary Year Six school teacher from Co.Offaly. B.Ed  from St. Patrick’s College. Currently living my best life in Brisbane, Australia. Teaching for over nine years. Huge fan of The Gram (@teacha­­_efa) for ideas, inspiration and working collaboratively. As teachers, our greatest resource is each other. Passionate about kindness and well being.

My alarm goes off…

I groan and snooze at least twice. I have not yet embraced the early bird Aussie lifestyle! Yet getting up to sunshine each morning is so much more appealing than defrosting my windscreen each morning. I usually make myself a coffee to have on my drive. My school is about 40 minutes away from home.

I am responsible for…

Delivering the Australian Curriculum to my Year Six (Sixth Class) students. I am also responsible for planning engaging unit plans and lessons, working collaboratively with my year level team, keeping up to date with personal development, meeting with parents, collating data on my students to inform future planning, assessment for and of learning. I am also responsible for influencing my kids in a positive way. This is my passion and one of the main reasons why I love my job.

My typical day…

School starts at 8:30 am and finishes at 3:00 pm. My day is broken up into 3 blocks. The first and middle block are 2-hour learning sessions and the last consists of one hour. These are my key learning times with the kids. I generally like to get the core subjects of English and Maths taught in the early sessions and then all other curricular areas come after. We practice mindfulness, gratitude and relaxation after second break too. I also run a small little Irish Language and Culture group once a week for the students at my school. It’s quite beautiful to have a slice of home right here in Brisbane.

The best part of my job…

Seeing and hearing the positive impact that I have on a student/family. Feedback is so important to me as a professional and it fills my heart with gratitude, pride and love that I can have helped so many children in a variety of different ways throughout my career to date. This is what drives me to do what I do and gives me a strong sense of motivation.

The most challenging part of my job is…

Knowing when to take a step back and to remembering that self-care is not selfish. This job can be all encompassing at times and there is an ever-present risk of a non-work-life-balance to grip hold of you. It’s very difficult for me to let things go as I am a perfectionist and a workaholic in nature but for my own mental health it’s important that I put my well being first sometimes. As the saying goes, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” Fill yourself up first, so you have the best version of yourself to offer the kids.

I am inspired by…

Every single teacher account on Instagram! Since starting my account @teacha_efa over a year ago, I have been blown away by the level of talented, committed, creative and kind teachers in our community. For sure, I have found my tribe. I am also strongly inspired by those I currently work with and have worked with. Your colleagues and friends are such a strong component in building you up to the teacher you are and want to be. Surround yourself by positive and motivated people.

After work…

I love to get lost in a book. I am partial to a Netflix binge and popcorn feast. I will be taking screenshots of 100 different ideas on Instagram to incorporate into my lessons/planning. I will be relaxing with friends or my partner. Occasionally, I will drag myself to the gym. I am blessed to be currently living in Oz, so there are heaps of awesome things to do at the weekend too, I adore a good beach day.

The mottos I live by…

“Kindness costs nothing yet gives so much.”

“Students who are loved at home come to school to learn, and students who aren’t come to school to be loved.”

Check out all about Aoife’s Aussie journey so far HERE.

Tags: TeacherNot-So-Secret Diary of a TeacherCPDExpat TeacherIrish Teacher