My 3Gs of finding positivity in teaching

A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others - Salvador Dali

If this is true then colour me inspired because my class of aspiring artists have churned out some smashing work this week.

Growth

Emory Douglas, an artist and activist who took part in the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s USA, has been the model of our artwork this week. In celebration of Black History Month, we have explored some of his work and created our own artworks in his style.

If there’s one subject that my students already do far better than me, it’s this one. There’s not a huge amount I can teach some of them so they have been given all the time and space they need to work their magic. Meanwhile, I supported those less artistically inclined in a classic blind-leading-the-blind scenario. Thankfully, I’d taught it once before so it wasn’t a total mess this time around.

Here are some pieces that I genuinely have a lot of love for:

An original take on a phrase we all know very well.

Love that this one tried to make the words seem stormy with a calmer image in the corner.

Absolutely no prisoners taken here. Love the ambition.

Nothing makes me feel more alive than trying to be this. Genuinely.

I wasn’t sure about this, given it’s footballing roots - I felt it, perhaps, diverts from its inspiration a little more than I'd hoped. However, the student - a Liverpool fan in case you were wondering - justified it well by reminding me of the following…

Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo lost a baby not long ago. The following week, he played against Liverpool. In minute 7 of the game, the Liverpool fans sang this song to Ronaldo - Utd’s number 7 - in a show of support and togetherness, something that he expressed sincere gratitude for. What a uniting force sport can be.

I subscribe to the belief that, at times, our education system narrows our children’s field of intelligence and discourages individuality and smarts in all their wondrous forms. Here’s where they need to be let off their educational (and entirely metaphorical) leashes. Give them the tools, see what they can create.

As a result, I’m so often amazed at how capable the children are. I’m not saying ‘hang these pictures in the Louvre’ but I am so impressed with their choices and skills considering they really did this work in almost total independence. I couldn’t have done this at their age. I’d argue I couldn’t now.

Giggles

I don’t watch the news. At all.

I try to ignore it online, too.

I don’t find the information useful in almost all cases; it simply annoys me or bums me out. Call me a coward or a basic b****, whatever - I just don’t really have the stomach for the relentless doom and gloom.

Instead, I follow an instagram page called The Happy Broadcast (https://www.instagram.com/the_happy_broadcast/?hl=en) that tells me all the great things happening around the world. I’m still abreast of the big stories - Ukraine, Israel, David Beckham’s documentary - but it doesn’t dominate my mental health.

I also find that, on social media, the algorithms are throwing me a lot of the same stories and opinions relating to education. However hard I try to make it all about the positive strategies and development opportunities, they creep in. This echo chamber of negativity can make it difficult to remember what we love about our jobs, even when they are feeling challenging.

I’m going to make sure this newsletter remains a beacon of positivity.

What made me laugh this week?

Trying to encourage the correct behaviours out of a child having a rebellious streak during an assembly only for her to wear her dress over her head and look like E.T. in a cardigan.

Couldn’t hold it in. Had to laugh.

To my relief, this actually diffused her mood when we got back to the classroom and the rebellion came to a halt.

Must make sure I apologise to my colleague doing the assembly though.

‘Sorry about ET at the back there, she wasn’t really feeling the maths chat.’

Gratitude

Another practise in positivity.

We were blessed with an incredible learning opportunity last week to round off our WW2 learning.

One of our student’s great-grandads - all 103 years and 7 months of him - came in to tell us about his involvement during the war.

His memory of the events was staggering, down to specific dates that events took place.

For over an hour, he retold his adventures: sailing on a warship from Scotland down to the Horn of Africa, up along the African East Coast and through the Suez Canal, all to reach the Mediterranean.

Get this…

While there, he stumbled across a photo during a battle he took part in. On the back was the name of the girl in the photo and the studio it was taken in.

After the war ended, he travelled to Italy (no phone, no Google, nothing) to find her - and was successful.

To this day, they remain in contact. He has visited her family and she his.

What a story.

How to find more of my work:

You can access the rest of my blog posts retrospectively by clicking here or searching 'Diary of a Teacher' on Substack. It's completely free to subscribe and you can have all your posts sent straight to you if you do so you never miss out. 

As well as blog posts, I'll be uploading episodes for my podcast, 'Diary of a Teacher: Life Lessons from the Classroom' on the same site. Just explore my page and click 'Podcast' at the top to find all the episodes. 

You can also find my Positive Teacher Journal on Amazon. With it, you'll have the space and guidance to make positive weekly reflections on your teaching for up to the next 3 years and a collection of wise and humorous quotes from those closest to me - now available by click here.