What are the little things in school that make you twitch?
I’ve compiled a list of 25 little niggles that have bothered me during my work in schools. Not enough to be a major issue, but possibly enough on some occasions, to be the last straw!
25 ‘niggles’ all teachers understand
- Pupils who attempt to teach you how to use your own ICT equipment.
- The dried-out whiteboard pen.
- The classroom whistler you can’t spot.
- The question, ‘Can I go to the toilet?’ followed by ‘Will you bring the key back?’
- The meeting that could have been an email.
- A cancelled lesson observation you over-prepared for (this is actually a big thing).
- Photocopier queues 5 minutes before the lesson starts
- The word pedagogy said wrongly (ped-ee-gog-ee). Ditto the word genre (gen-ree).
- An erroneous apostrophe (written by a teacher).
- Specific vs Pacific.
- Full moons and windy days – take cover!
- Other people’s Pinterest classrooms. Do they even have a life?
- There’s only decaf coffee left in the staffroom.
- Glue stick wastage, shortages and those missing a lid (top tip: use a sharp knife to cut off the dried out bit).
- Cheap glue sticks where the sheets fall out after 3 months.
- Pupils who randomly miss out pages in their books.
- Pupils’ use of a knife and fork.
- Your car being blocked in when you want to go home!
- Pencils that are only 3cm long.
- When you try to shake the printer cartridge back to life, then the ink goes all over you!
- Putting a swimming hat on a child, multiplied by 30.
- The pupil who has to touch the smartboard every time they walk past it.
- That parent who ruins your day.
- Having to lead a last-minute assembly.
- The school office manager who doesn’t trust anyone with their stationery.
It didn’t take long to come up with this list of 25 little things and I could easily find 25 more! What would you add?
Whilst most employees face the same work challenges, not everyone is fixed to one room all day with 30 pupils with a limited budget …
