Recharge Your Teaching Batteries


Reading time: 3
Creativity

Anna Wells

Anna has an MA in Applied Linguistics and came into teaching via Schools Direct in 2013. She currently works at a prep school in Greater London teaching English and has previously been an Assistant Head, focusing on assessment. She is a self-confessed football nerd and...
Read more about Anna Wells

How can you recharge your passion for teaching?

It’s the holidays and the living is easy. Hopefully, the last school term is a distant memory, and everyone is focusing on packing suitcases and seeing family and friends you haven’t seen for a while. However, the new term is just around the corner; for some of us a new teaching post beckons, for others it’s a new class in the same environment.

8 Ways to Reignite Your Enthusiasm for Teaching

How can you get the motivation to start again? How can you refresh your passion for teaching that you once had?

Here are 8 ideas that will hopefully get you started!

1. Library

Go to your local library or bookshop and look at all the shiny new picture books on display. Think about how you could use them in your classroom and how excited the children will be when you show them the front cover!

2. Pinterest

Go on Pinterest and look at classroom displays. The environment you work in can often contribute to your general mood; maybe it’s time to give it a refresh and add some colour or new decoration? Pinterest may show you how to decorate a classroom if you have infinite hours in the day and employ a team of minions, but you can always dream!

Why not download Teacher Toolkit’s display resource?

3. Reading

Dig out your books from when you were at school and look at how far you’ve come … You’re now teaching children like you and sharing the essentials to get them through life and into the career they have always wanted. Sometimes it just takes a few minutes to realise the importance of our job and how it benefits young people in the long run.

Take a look at Teacher Toolkit’s recommended reading list.

4. Discuss

Engage in an educational debate on Twitter or another form of social media, to remind yourself why teaching is so important and why it should stay at the forefront of the government’s minds. While I’m not suggesting protesting at the gates of Westminster, keeping up to date with changes in policy and interacting with people who make those changes will always keep you one step ahead in your own career.

5. Apps

If you have a laptop/computer or iPad at home, play around with educational apps and see if you think they would work in your classroom. It only needs to be a few minutes out of your day and you can find some hidden gems! I heard about Incredibox at a talk about using ICT in the classroom. It’s great fun and my class ended up using it in their assembly as background music to their original rap!

Try Teacher Toolkit’s technology posts for ideas.

6. Sports

Try out a new class or course during the holidays? Maybe it’s something that you’ve always had a passion for, or something that you’ve been nervous to try but just needed to work up the courage for. You could then make a promise to showcase it to your new class or incorporate it into a lesson. I’m moving house this summer and am looking to join a sports team – please feel free to ask me if I’ve actually done it!

7. Video

It may sound a bit of a cliche, but if you are feeling de-motivated the quickest way to solve it is by watching a TED talk. They are usually reserved for INSET days, but you could get ahead of the game by watching one from the comfort of your sofa. One that is most watched by school teachers is Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on Creativity in Schools. It usually stirs something inside of me after viewing it!

8. Relax

Finally, make sure you have a full and proper break from your school. Appreciating the time away from work will make you feel better about going back. If you are constantly doing ‘school stuff’ every week of the holidays, there will be no motivation to produce great lessons in September – you’ll still be exhausted from July!

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holidays!

 


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