Opportunity

It seems to have been sometime since I sat down and wrote a lengthy blog entry that might be worth reading. I don't know what that is but I now have the urge to talk. lol ;)

Things have been really busy here for me. Teacher technologies and my training courses have been a big hit. I've been running courses all over the shop and have even started to work with the local university. I've just been asked to do a lecture/workshop in the lecture theatre at Flinders uni! and I'm writing a book for teachers too Crikey! Seriously though, this year has been really good for me in many ways.

Before I Left Birmingham I could never see anything else that I'd like to do for a living other than teaching. Things have changed a lot this year and although it was very hard to be pulled away from a job that had clearly become a rather large part of my life, I am glad that it happened and that i didn't simply subsitute my UK classroom with an Australian one. From what I have seen and learnt so far about the Aussie Education System that wouldn't have been all that happy a situation for me anyway - I would have been most confused with the lack of structure and planning that I seem to thrive on in the UK. To hear that you can ask a teacher what they are aiming to achieve in a lesson and they have no idea is rather terrifying to me and raises all sorts of questions!

Having had the opportunity to develop my professional skills and confidence has done me the world of good. I now understand that I have a lot to offer where as before i was always suspicious that I wasn't good enough and that people were seeing things that simply weren't there. I have learnt so much about new technologies and my IWB skills must have sky rocketted - When i look at flipcharts I used to use in the classroom I now see lots of holes and plenty of potential where I used to see a completed activity - It will be very interesting to see how this new knowledge presents itself when I return to full time work in my old position. Perhaps I have simply lost track of what it's 'really like'. I do know that I have to be careful about my time upon my return.

The interesting thing is that now I can see me doing lots of different things. There are far more doors open to me. I'm not just talking about a door to Australia from the UK. That is a decision that is yet to be made but I actually mean a much smaller one. What will I do for a living in the future? Don't get me wrong, I love teaching and it is very important to me. I will always be a teacher. I hope I will always be teaching students too but I have to admit that I also enjoy teaching the teachers and sharing my knowledge and expertise.

I recently recieved two emails - both from good friends - one informing me of an opportunity to earn £500 a day consulting for a large organisation and one informing me that 16 people need to be cut from the workforce of my UK school due to falling roles. In the past these emails would have afforded a rather different response to the one I felt. Instead of seeing the consultancy option as an immediate dead-end ( How would I get time off from teaching to do that?) and fearing the idea that I might lose my job with cutbacks, although I am pretty sure that my job will be secure for as long as I need it, i saw opportunity.

I have realised that I actually capable of a lot more than I thought and i am curious that the opportunities that have opened up for me here might also open up in the UK. With a gentle knock who knows what might happen?