Back to School

Last week I had the pleasure of taking The Magic of Jack into school. I thought carefully beforehand about how each year group would receive my story and I devised different activities to engage with each year group on their own individual levels.

Having planned what I wanted to say I practiced my ‘routine’ in front of my children to get their honest and unfiltered opinion on what I was presenting. To my relief they were approving.

I packed up my trolley with my props and my que cards and headed to school nervous about what I was about to do – after all don’t they say ‘never work with children or animals’?

I headed to my first year group, Nursery, and the children politely shouted ‘hello Miss’ as we passed them in the corridors. It took me some time to realise they were actually calling out to me.

I couldn’t decide whether Nursery would be the easiest or the hardest audience. I knew they would be keen to join in the songs but I thought it might be difficult to keep their attention. However I did have two secret weapons in the group in the form of my youngest child and my niece. I hoped their interaction with Mommy/Aunty Manda would rub off on the others. I was relieved when the group listened intently to my story and joined in the singing and activities I had prepared. So on I went to Year 2.

As I unpacked my box of tricks I relaxed a little. My Nursery performance had given me some confidence and my middle child was in this year group too. I knew I could rely on her for back up if I needed it. But again I was pleased to find the children were attentive and enthusiastic about partaking in my activities. They asked sensible questions about my story and before I knew it, it was time to move on to my next year group.

Year 6 were next and I worried about these. I thought my story might seem juvenile to them considering their age and maturity, my story being targeted at a younger audience. So we focussed more on the process of writing through to the publication and I applied the same approach to Year 5. Both groups were engaging and enjoyed the tasks I set out for them. We talked about social media platforms and the pupils came into their element when they reeled off their ideas for the use of social media to market a story.

As I left school that day I felt energised and exhausted all at the same time. I felt excited by the fact the children had joined in and had seemed to enjoy what I had taken into school but I hadn’t accounted for the fact that it would be so consuming holding the attention of each year group throughout the afternoon. It was then that I felt I had underestimated the skills and patience of our teachers.

I returned to school the next day to see Reception, Year 1, Year 3 and Year 4. Reception impressed me straight away by knowing what an ‘author’ and an ‘illustrator’ were and Year 4 were very sweet making complimentary comments on their way out as I handed them my bookmark.

I wheeled my box of tricks to Year 1 and as I set up I tried to work out their capabilities. I suspected these little humans were more intelligent than I had them down for and I didn’t want to press upon them nursery rhymes if they had outgrown them. So I decided to scrap my plans and wing it. Throughout the afternoon I had found myself moving away from my more practiced ‘routines’ as I felt more at ease standing in front of a class and so, thankfully, I wasn’t panicked by this.

The Year 1s enjoyed my story, joined in my games and as we embarked on a ‘questions and answers’ segment I was impressed by the standard of questions they were asking, that was until I got asked my age and the children then seemed fixated on telling me how old their parents were (the general conclusion was that we were all ‘old’). Pulling it back I handed out my stickers and it was on to my final year group – Year 3.

I set up in Year 3 and felt extra nervous because there was someone in this audience I very much wanted to impress … the teaching assistant, my Mom. I wanted to make her proud and conscious that she was watching me, I felt myself trip over some of my questions and my cheeks burned. I could only hope nobody had noticed, I started to read my story and I began to relax. We played our rhyming game and I ran my ‘questions and answers’ segment. Again the standard of questions was really very good and I answered honestly. I received a round of applause from the children, for which I took a bow before my Mom guided me out. Had I made her proud? I am pretty sure I did!

As I reflected on my time at school I felt a genuine appreciation from all of the children and having had some of the parents contact me since to say their little people had returned home talking about having met me, ‘a real author’, I realised that there and then, in their small world, my meeting them was important to them and I hoped that, even if it was just for a little while, I had given them food for thought and a drop of inspiration.

I was later speaking with a teacher friend of mine who had children in my Year 3 group. They had told her all about my visit and she congratulated me on what I had achieved. But I felt that it was her that should receive my praise because every single working day, teachers like her enlighten our children about the ways of the world, they educate them and arm them with the skills and qualities they will need in later life. My visit gave me a glimpse of what it might be to be a teacher and it is no easy feat. She told me that ‘you have to care deeply about the kids – that’s the secret’ and I think she is right. Compassion is the key.

Being a teacher has its own challenges but I got to thinking about how these were compounded by Covid and lockdown. Engaging with the children and keeping their attention is one thing in person, but to achieve this in a virtual classroom day after day is quite another. But still they worked hard to teach our children as effectively as possible in the circumstances. As parents we were coerced into joining and assisting during this time and it gave us an insight into the reality of just what it is to be a teacher.

When I was a child, I always imagined myself as a teacher but in my innocence I didn’t know of the effort required to prepare for classes, the skills needed to deliver them every single day and the responsibility placed on our teachers to help mould our children in such a way as it has a positive impact on the rest of life ahead of them. I can see that teaching is a highly rewarding job but it is a very difficult one too and so, on behalf of me and my parent-friends, thank you for all your hard work and know that, teachers, we salute you!

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