The juggle:

Preparing pack lunches (well some mornings) and ensuring that my daughter and I have a decent breakfast. Coming home after a long day, to the office otherwise known as the kitchen. There I’ll put my earphones in, my mobile phone in my pocket and make phone calls whilst I work. This is mostly to my mum or my son who is at university and other important members. Weekdays it’s a dance of work, travel, and study and more work. Weekends its managing the home, being a chauffeur and keeping fit some family time and planning or preparing for the week to follow.

The struggle:

My job at the moment is being an all singing, all dancing, jack of trades master of none…(well maybe one, possibly two) whilst studying on a masters degree.

Changes in teaching Design Technology involves the compulsory teaching of food technology. The DT department at my school is made up of four teachers and three technicians. We generally would teach a ‘specialist’ subject that matched our trained or industry background. Within Design Technology mine is all things Graphics, however, I also teach art, or otherwise known as Art & Design, which is in the camp of the Art Department. I have my feet in both camps. In a school environment, this can be like a game of hopscotch, where I find it difficult to separate the two as I can comfortably dance across both boundaries. Anyway, I am faced this year with having to teach a combination of Graphic Design, Food Technology, Textiles, and Resistant Materials. Also A-level Textiles and Photography.  All this alongside my other roles as a mother, daughter, artist, etc.

The struggle of the juggle is having the resource of time and energy to do all these things. And well. Whilst trying not to drop any balls.

So this week I have taught year 7 and 8 cooking. Year 9 Graphics, Year 12 textiles, and Photography and have learned to use the sewing machine. I’ve even practiced using the pillar drill in advance for when I teach woodwork to year 7. Luckily that will be next summer term. however, in January I’ll be making a Kimono and cushions using the sewing machine. On the positive side, I’ll be ambidextrous and my home may look prettier from making cushions and curtains. I’ll also have a wider range of meals to cook.

But my awareness is with the amount of planning, assessment, evaluation, reports (reflection) for school and the exact for my MA, I need to find a way to be disciplined with my time and management of it.