Wait! What? It's 2018!!!

WAIT! WHAT? HOLD ON! HIT THE BRAKES! IT IS 2018 ALREADY?! What have I achieved in 2017? Ermm… phew this is hard…I mean I must have done something productive somehow, somewhere right?

I don’t even have the time to reflect on this because my work is sitting here doing the hula in front of my procrastinating self. Oh please, please, please tell me I’m not alone in this?

Dear fellow comrades in battle how can I be the perfect “I’ve got this all sorted out” kind of teacher. I'm picturing the famous ‘We can do it lady’ with the red bandana flexing her biceps. Don’t know her? Here she is….In her full glorious self.

Ok….alright, I know it's cheesy but HEY! IT’S BEYONCE she counts right?

Ok, jokes and self-mourning aside, the new year has arrived and more hustling and bustling needs to be done and I’m really excited to see what the future brings. But there is also my thesis to be written and the upcoming exams. Yikes!

Here are my top 3 new year Survival tips.

So may the odds be ever in your favour!

First of, have a weekly planner, one with boxes that you can write a few reminders or schedules in. Colour code the names, timings and appointments so it’ll be easier to scan through with one look eg. coffee date in pink and assignment due dates in red. I don’t know about you but writing in the dates and filling the boxes makes me feel less anxious and like I have my life together. Hey! Don’t judge me.

Secondly, organize your classroom. It may sound like a no brainer but it has helped me and my partner get things done faster and easier. Some days, our activities may end faster than we’ve planned so by knowing where things are and what we have in our inventory, we can whip out activities from our boxes of materials and create a new activity in no time.

Last but definitely not the least, time to yourself. I can’t stress this enough because teachers being teachers, we tend to take work back home during the weekends or after hours because 24 hours just isn’t enough sometimes. Go get a massage, have a glass of ice cold soda that makes your nose scrunch into future wrinkles, laugh out till you cry with the family and enjoy yourself. As cliché as it sounds, trust me, recharging on the weekends will get you through the 5 days in a jiffy. When a teacher’s well-being is taken care of, the children in her care are automatically taken care of. So take a full 12 hour ‘nap’ if that’s your idea of recharging. You do you!

And that’s it folks, my humble tips to keeping things in check. Bring on 2018!

image credit goes to Beyonce