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Monday 16 July 2012

Back to School Panic

Why is it that no matter how much work you put in on the holidays I never seem to feel organised the day before the students come back to school?  We have such a busy term 3 at school and I already feel overwhelmed!  Dancing, swimming, gymnastics, excursions (2 of!), Education Week, Book Week oh and we also have to fit in all our other learning as well.
I sometimes feel like we have such a crowded curriculum and although we often see the media headlines that scream about low literacy and numeracy levels across our country and that schools should be going "back to basics", this sometimes seems so difficult to navigate.
I like many other educators know that literacy is the foundation of all other subject areas and I try to spend as much time on this as I can during each school day.  I know that it is important for children to get a well rounded education but it seems we are taking on so much more that eats away into our time teaching fundamental skills.  I often feel like I am having to be very creative with my timetable to fit in all that we have to cover and then something new gets thrown in like a visit from the Little Athletics or Auskick or the Rugby League (all Aussie football) and that is going to take up an ENTIRE morning when I would prefer my students to be reading, writing and getting "back to basics."
Over the last thirteen years I have been teaching I have seen a huge increase in the amount of "programs" that have been introduced to classrooms including sex education, cyber safety, dog safety, pet responsibility among others.  Some of these are more in the realm of family responsibility in my opinion.  Am I being too critical?  I often feel I am required more and more to be a parent rather than being a teacher.  At the end of the day I want to be able to say that I gave each of my students the ability to read, write, problem solve and to use numbers in a practical way as a minimum, but I am more often feeling that this is being compromised.
Does anyone else feel this way?
Well my goodness that was a rant wasn't it!  But I do feel a little calmer if not organised and ready.


1 comment:

  1. My goodness Tan. Teaching sounds very challenging indeed! I agree with you. As a parent, I would much rather my child's teacher be concentrating on the basics. I would be more than happy to take care of the rest. That's my job. Pet responsibility? Really? Oh dear...

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