The Beginning

I guess this is a little late for my first blog - but to be honest this scares the life out of me !!! A journal for everyone to read is rather scary.

My career as a TL has just begun and not without frustration. I work in a small Christian school and I took over a library in a state of utter chaos. Nothing was where it should be, the building is far too small and we are constantly having trouble with our editing software. I am also viewed as the person who provides NCT for the 'real teachers'.

My career began as a classroom teacher in secondary. I enjoyed the interaction with the students and even enjoyed the content. But after a while it became rather mundane. I felt I was teaching the same thing every day with little or no variation - the beauty of mathematics. I was kicking back one Saturday afternoon with the classifieds and a bottle of the good stuff when I came across an ad for upper primary teachers in a p-12 school. The plan was to teach primary for a while and dazzle them with my math skills. The bonus was no more before or after school care fees because my girls could attend the same school. The interview was actually kind of fun and needless to say I was offered the job on the same day. The only dilemma I faced was that they had offered me the position of teaching Grade 1! Can you believe that? After some soul searching I accepted and I enjoyed the experience for a little while. I found it rather funny that I was teaching Year 11 OP maths and then 7 short weeks later I was doing the Hokey Pokey and teaching the alphabet. But like all good (and not so good) things it came to an end. The position of TL became available and I applied, crossed my fingers and toes and got it. So this is now my challenge.

Not only have I been working very hard on changing the attitude of the teachers, but I have been working hard at changing my own. Yes, I was once a biggot who believed that the TL job was easy! Boy! was I wrong! I am now beginning to collaborate with teachers and training them into including me in their planning. I am enjoying it and despite the challenges and frustration I haven't made too many enemies yet.

I keep telling myself that I am an important part of our school and it is my job to help my (yes, MY) teachers do the best job they can. Why? because that is my job. I am there to help my teachers and ensure they have every possible resource (either human or material) to teach our students. I have begun my career by teaching the children how to study and write assignments, developing a literacy program, designing the NEW library and even a little fundraising and tutorng. Nothing like hitting the ground running.

Stay tuned - I'm sure the rose coloured glasses will eventually fade and I will let my annoyance fly within this space.