#TeachingHero

The newest #TeachingHero is @StickCole1971 - another lovely human bean spreading positivity amongst our profession! To get involved with your own interview, get in touch!

What motivates you to work hard?
Honestly the motivation still comes from the kids, especially the ones who need us the most. The ones you know don't, for whatever reasons, have the support at home. I have felt this even more since I became a parent. As a leader I can hopefully have a far reaching impact. I do have a strong sense of pride in what I do and like to think that each day I leave school I can put hand on heart and say I have done my best for my kids and my colleagues and hence the school as a whole.

Where do you go for personal and professional support or advice?
I currently job-share in a year 3 class. I am fortunate to have the most amazing job-share partner. She supports me as a professional but also as a mum. I also have particular friends/colleagues whose professional judgments I trust. For example after 4 years as a maths intervention teacher I have found the teaching of writing last term and area I needed support with. Our english lead is luckily also a very good friend. I knew she would be honest and supportive so I asked her to support me. The worst thing? The opposite of this. When people are supposed to be supportive but actually too entrenched in their own views/opinions that they don't really support. TBH I know this is something I need to work on and be more assertive!

What strategies do you use to manage workload and protect your well being?
Workload - this is a really tough one. Funnily enough I don't find the volume of work the stressful thing, it is the amount of work that I sometimes have to do and still not feel prepared eg replanning sessions/resources I know were used last year but no-one can find! 

As a class teacher you don't really always have the power to influence this. There are certain things that have to be done, there are always things that we feel are 'paper' exercises and don't 'benefit the children'. That is where, as a member of SLT, you need to try to communicate to all staff why these tasks are needed, and of course if they are not STOP! Teamwork is essential. Let's not recreate the wheel. Let's share and have professional dialogue to cut down on planning etc. We need to share our expertise to help each other. I think we need to be more honest and say when we are feeling overwhelmed. You need head/DH and SLT who will be understanding and support rather than judge.

What advice would you give anyone who felt like giving up?
I think we all feel like giving up at times, It is the sadly inevitable side effect of wanting to do a good job in such a difficult profession. I would say try to get to the nub of what the issue is. I find it is often a small thing that can build. It may need a small change or to accept that you need to make some changes eg extra responsibilities that take too much of your time or needing a challenge out of your classroom. Battling negativity. Hmmm, this is another hard one. It is so easy to get in to a negative place. My JS partner and I have written a list of all the things that have gone well v badly and were surprised that the first list was longer. We then wrote a list of things that weren't working and steps to make them better. Obvious but it helped. Try to avoid the negative people at school.

Sum up our profession in 5 words.
Crazy, rewarding, varied, worthwhile, challenging.