Image credit.
I regularly find myself saying, ‘Every day is a school day’. Perhaps working my entire adult life with teenagers has encouraged a puerile sense of humour but it does amuse me to use this expression whilst I’m actually in school.
However, I think seeing every day as an opportunity to learn something new isn’t a bad way to live a life and I’m learning new stuff all the time. As an example, I set one of my colleagues the challenge to come to each departmental meeting with a new animal fact and consequently I have learned that:
- A snail can sleep for 3 years – imagine that!
- Elephants can smell water from up to 12 miles away
- If you were to shave a tiger you would find that its stripes are also on its skin
I also happen to think that learning is part of the job of being a teacher – we’re trained to reflect on our practice and consider ways in which it could be improved – we are the learning profession. Plus, thanks to a succession of Education Secretaries (and especially the groan-worthy Gove) who seem hell bent on making their mark, we teachers have to be a pretty adaptable bunch. Being a good learner helps you to adapt.
So… ‘Every day is a school day’ seemed like an appropriate tagline for my brand new blog in which I’m hoping to share some of my views, experiences and what I’m learning nearly a decade into my teaching career.
There’s a lot of negative stuff out there about being a teacher – especially about how we’re all drowning in paper work and miserable – but, despite being fully aware of the challenges, I’m an English teacher who still loves this manic, exhausting, hilarious job. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be*.
*Except perhaps a princess or a millionaire or a best-selling writer.
The Learning Profession 
