Real, Not Ideal

 There are two days left until school starts, and I fully admit that I am not ready. I woke up early for a PD day on Thursday, and BOY was it a shock to my system. I also haven’t been in a classroom since March, and it feels intimidating to have to start in a new school. It feels like Grade 9 all over again! I’m starting this year on a long-term supply which I am entirely grateful for. However, this was not the case a year ago (or even two weeks ago). I’m from Ontario where permanent teaching jobs are few and far between. I’ll get there, but for now, I’m happy to have a job teaching English for a couple months. If you’re in the same position as me, I have some advice for you based on my experiences from last year. Enjoy! 1.        Network, network, network. Way back in the summer of August 2020, my dad kept telling me and my sister about networking. We joked that it was the word of week for a while. As it turns out, he was 100% correct. Because...

               Yesterday was my last official day of working in Castleford. That brings tears to my eyes. I should be having a leaving party or something right now. I’m really sad! I spent a lot of yesterday crying and feeling really sorry for myself. It's the end of an (albeit short) era.  I’ve taken a long time to reflect on this past year and collate some of the things I’ve learned. I’ve been doing these posts for a while. On last year's post, I gave some stellar advice (in my humble opinion), and I stand by all of it. This year, things have been a roller coaster. I’ve learned a lot.   1.       You never know what help is out there unless you ask. Rosie is the one that told me this initially. I have learned this on two occasions. There was a time this year where marking was piling up. We had difficult exams to mark, books to mark, and I was staying at school until 8:00pm. E...

Seeing as the first week of school has passed and the real year is about to start, I think it is an appropriate time to share what I have learned in my first year as a teacher. I shared my knowledge on studying abroad , and I think it reached a few people who needed it. Now, I want to do the same for first year teachers. Teaching is difficult in the UK. There is a lot of pressure on teachers and there is a heavy workload. My friends back in Canada don’t have to deal with the same system, but I hope there is a small tidbit you can take from this.   1.       Find your Marigold Before I started last year, I read an amazing article titled “find your marigold.” Apparently, other plants grow really well when they are next to a marigold. Using that as a metaphor, the writer of this article encourages first years to find the person who is going to help THEM grow. I am lucky enough to have my marigold in my department. She connects with me on ...

I’m going to go ahead and say I am a self-proclaimed expert on studying abroad at this point. I did for the first time three years ago in Leeds and last year in Cardiff . At this point, four of my friends (that I can remember) have reached out to me to ask for advice on the subject. All of this is to say – take my advice. I know what I’m doing. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you may have already heard some of the things I have to say. I wrote lessons learned in Leeds   and lessons learned in Cardiff posts after I completed the years. However, hindsight has given me even more to say on the matter to make your study abroad the best it can be. Also, congratulations on doing this. I mean, have you ever heard someone say they regretted studying abroad? 1.        Don’t hang out with solely international students. This is my biggest piece of advice. That’s why it’s number one. In my experienc e, international offices are great ...

Hello hello, friends! I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve done one of these posts. Reading over the one from last year , it’s hard to believe that graduation wasn’t that long ago. Now, here I am at the end of my full-time education career. I now get to enter an actual career! This year has simultaneously been the longest and quickest year of my life. The days were long, but the weeks were short. Naturally, that came with some learning. 1.        No roommate is perfect, and it’s not always their fault. Living with people is hard. Everyone has grown up valuing different things as part of a household. It can be really hard to bridge everyone’s expectations. As a result, people start judging others for their ways of living. I think the important thing to keep in mind that no one is perfect, and you also have flaws that the others will pick apart. I, for example, am loud and I sometimes forget to wash my dishes o...

These are my favourite posts to write, and I haven’t done one since last July . This year has been a difficult one – and not just for me. I managed to pull off some pretty great marks, and I also got into some amazing schools in two different countries. Ultimately, it’s been pretty up and down. I already mentioned my weight problem , but some really great things have come out of it as well. I have no complaints here. I think my experiences have shaped me into a stronger, more mature woman. Here is what I learned this year: 1.        Bullies truly are the ones who have more insecurity – especially in adulthood. It’s another year that I’m shocked to add bullying to my list. This happened right at the beginning. It was online bullying, and it was done by someone who bases their story on being bullied. The worst part is that this individual has a large presence in my school. They are known and adored all around campus, and I had the unfortunate luck of...

I've been trying to look back on things I've written about in previoussummer, and I am struggling. As I wrote on Tuesday , I'm not very "on the ball" in the summer. I think this is a good time to share my actual reflections about my time abroad. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't write it as soon as I got home. There are certain things I've realized only in being back for a while and settling in. It seems like I should be settled in at this point, but I'm really not. I keep saying I was thrown into life as soon as I got back. There are certain things that I've realized since I've been back, and there are certain things that are simply reestablished. There are also things about my adventures in here that have a significant importance. 1.        Coming home is a more difficult transition than one would think. This is surprisingly more difficult to write about than I would have thought. The thing is, I'm struggling to transition back t...

Well, I feel like writing this blog post is coming to you on the perfect day. After months of a backed-up inbox, I have now brought my emails down to the magical number of zero. Not going to lie, it feels pretty good. I have a few weeks left overseas which includes a lot of travelling, but I’ve realized how much I’ve grown since I’ve been here. And, of course, I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned as an adult. I wrote a previous version where I was 83 days into my time away from home. I’m now over 200 days in, and I feel like I’ve learned and grown so much more in the months since my last post. I’m near the end of my time away from home, but I can feel myself shift into a more adult frame of mind. This is what brought me to that. 1.        Friendships will change. You get older, you finish school, and people move away and get married and have their own lives. The things you used to base friendships on no longer apply to friendships. You’r...