Anyone Anyone Anyone

I'm having a moment of curiousity. I wonder if anyone is actually reading my words.
I don't know that I'm that concerned about an audience for my thoughts, rants and random ramblings but it's nice to wonder if someone somewhere reads and smiles for a moment, thinks for a second or even nods slightly in agreement.

Blogging is an interesting exercise because it is a way to write and explore anything. I'm sure some people get it just right but on day 12 (well technically 11 because of my day of no writing) I'm still trying to find my voice and work out what I want to achieve with this blog.

I like purple. In fact, I'm rather addicted to the colour. As I enter a shop my eyes automatically gravitate towards this colour in all its hues. Stationary shops are particular favourites of mine because they often have whole sections dedicated to my colour. Purple pens abound by the dozens in my household.

My other favourite use of purple is through my hair and this is becoming much easier to achieve. There is something very satisfying and refreshing about colouring my hair with various shades of purple. It brings me a gentle joy and delights some of the young people in my life. I have a reputation that I have come to uphold of being an intensely purple person. It's kind of like being a lavendar superhero.

So maybe my blog is just as simple - a way to colour my life with words. That will do for now. That will do.

Fads and Fashions

It has become the thing at the moment in education that we should develop a very 'human' relationship with our students - show them we care, that we have an interest in their lives.

Well wow, shock, horror, amazement - tell me something I don't know.

I have always taught from a position of I am interested in these children, students, young people and I want to learn from them as they learn from me. I really really really don't want to be told how I should feel about my job and the emotion I should bring to it. I find it disrespectful and demeaning. People should teach in a manner that works for them and that works for their students. It has to come from where they are at and not where some person in admin thinks they should be teaching from.

It makes my back teeth grind and my face do that terrible screwy up thing every time someone stands in front of me and starts doing the 'love your students' talk. Do they hear themselves at all?

Just as every student has their own preferred learning style, teachers are individuals who must find the way that they teach best. Yes, it is valid to remind us to respect and nurture students but don't make it a one size fits all kind of caring. I just want to get into the classroom and get on with it. I want to enjoy learning and value teaching. I want to go into my classroom and see students engaged with their own views of the world. When I can't do that anymore then I'm going out to make coffees or help people shop for a good book or any hundred other things that are out there.

So please people who are at the top of the teaching totem pole, let me do my job cause guess what I know how to do it well and I really do care.

Mottos & Mantras

I like mantras. They make me feel like I'm going to achieve something, that I'm reaching for a goal, starting afresh.

It's quite silly in some respects but in others it shows how powerful words can be. We really like to find that something to hold onto. Those words inspire us to stick to our guns and keep trying.

I always have this idea of wiping the slate clean and beginning again - starting fresh to reach that end point.

I'm sincerely trying that in all aspects of my life at the moment. It is good to learn from past mistakes but its not good to be burdened down by them. I'm happy to be fifty but I don't want to believe that the best is done with yet. I am shaped and a little scarred by what fifty years has done to me but I'm hopeful of what the next fifty might bring.

I want to write, read, walk and breath. I want to love my husband, see my children find their bliss, help my family and friends move into their future paths. I want to try new challenges and travel new places. I want to sit on a beach in the early morning and know I'm home.

Anytime you say yes to something you are saying no to something else. And conversely every time you say no to something you are saying yes to something else.

I like this saying - I like the potential of the decision - the opportunity that is held completely in my hands.

Today I make decisions - Today I will say yes to so many things and no to others.
 

How exciting that can be!

Just Breathe

Breathe!

I'm all about the breathing. So often I feel like I'm holding my breath and don't even realise this until suddenly all at once when I do breathe I feel the tension leave my body and a weird calmness takes it's place.

We spend so much time waiting for when it's the right time to  relax and enjoy the moment that too frequently we miss the opportunities altogether.

This 100 days I'm determined to remember to breath -I'm not going to get it right all the time but I am going to remember to breathe. There is something quite magical about breathing - we do it so instinctively so maybe this is a bit of a signpost of how we should live our lives.

My sister made a good comment today about something my dad used to say, the sun will come up again tomorrow. So true. No matter what goes right or wrong the day passes, the moment moves on and we keep living. I guess it means that getting hung up on stuff doesn't change anything. We will be breathing regardless.

I think that sometimes we find it so easy to spend money, have things, fill our world with stuff when all we need is each other, the basics and breathing.

I'm really trying to find ways to spend less - it just should not be that difficult. Food, petrol, bills - what else is really necessary - ah yes, the internet! Well it takes time to break bad habits but these 100 days are for taking a good hard look at things and seeing how they can be worked around or turned towards a better path.

Right, breathing is a good place to start. I'm going to concentrate on that today.