Wake me up when September ends - will you?

I don't really know why... this will be my 20th-something come back to school, but the fact is that every September, every year I get goose bumps!

If, on the one hand, instability and work overload are upon us teachers, on the other hand, returning to school after some months engaged in far more challenging activities, requires a lot of effort and creativity to keep students focused. Rather than get used to routine, this tends to get worse making every come back to school a bit more thorny.

Anyway, all these years I have never faltered in my purpose to teach English. I am there for my students and because of them; they are not to blame for institutional and governmental changes. Bearing this in mind, my work has always been driven by and focused on student learning and development - both academic and social. Therefore, I have already set my goals for 2013/2014 which, to be honest, have not changed that much over the years. Here they are:

1. Love what I do - I chose this profession and when I enjoy what I am doing (within classroom walls or outdoors), I feel I'm giving my best and that joy is quickly grasped by students. I believe that when they feel they have committed and caring teachers, they'll achieve more;

2. Read academic as well as recreational books - this way I can not only dive into my own professional development, but also do what I most like doing (besides teaching :) of course): Reading!

3. Connect and Collaborate with colleagues, students, staff, parents... on a professional and personal level. Throughout my 20-something professional career, I've shared and learned so much that this is - as far as I am concerned - the only way we can survive, without going nuts - especially now, surrounded by so much hostility by our Ministry of Education, budget cuts, increasing number of students per class and demands in our performance...

Till now I've been fortunate enough not to worry about where I'll be teaching the coming year or even if I'll have a position at all! For completely different reasons though, I just can't help feeling anxious about coming back to school and wish I could skip these first weeks. In the back of my mind are the lyrics of a well known song and, just like the singer, I was wondering if you could just Wake Me Up When September Ends , when the school year is already well under way? Please???

Thank you for sharing your views and please take a couple of secs to answer only 4 questions in the poll on the right sidebar- no big deal, really, and all will be anonymous.

Happy school year, y'all!

"I Have a Dream"

50 years ago, Martin Luther King delivered the iconic speech "I Have a Dream" that we all know. I had planned to present a timeline, but History Channel has a fantastic short video that I've embedded below to share with you.
This speech with all the biblical associations, references to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and to the Emancipation Proclamation and the use of rhetoric can be used in class to approach multiculturalism, race relations, racism...

Happy Dreams, y'all!

Guest Post

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

The news just broadcast more cuts in salaries and the buzz word is crisis. Besides all this, the loads of paper work and the hours spent at school seem to burn all the necessary strength to face our misbehaved students and manage to involve them in learning. 
This past academic year I felt my job seemed to be dreadful routine. I needed to get some new motivation and that’s why I applied for “ Language and Methodology Refresher (Secondary /Adult)”. I asked APPI to advise me about the best colleges and courses, they suggested BELL in Cambridge. In April my application was approved and on 14th July I left my home at 3 am. Leaving my kids, being the only Portuguese teacher in the campus was a great challenge for me. I must confess I felt a bit anxious although I love travelling and making new friends. 
At 4 pm I was at Homerton College, in my bedroom. As my students would say: “Oh my God”! everything was new, the place, the people... at 7 o’clock the welcome event - the first person I met was a Brazilian teacher and we immediately started to speak English. It seems so strange, our mother tongue is Portuguese and we were speaking English, but why were we there? To improve our English, so? Let’s speak English! Since that moment, that was the only language I used. During this event we met many teachers form different countries not only in Europe but in Asia and South America. 
This was just the beginning of two great weeks of work as well as exchange of ideas, culture and knowledge. 
On Monday morning the first breakfast was in the “Harry Potter” hall. It seemed that I was a character of the film, I was a student in an English college. My dream as a kid (studying in England) had come true. 
At 9 am we met our tutor and the 12 teachers of the Methodology and – refresher- During the mornings, we were with the tutor learning new words, doing activities concerning the four skills and the different intelligences, developing new ideas for our future lessons. In the afternoon, we attended a variety of workshops either on cultural issues or practical ideas for classes. There were also plenary sessions and cultural events. In all these moments we could meet other teachers of other courses and share some more ideas.
In the evenings, after all the cultural events I had time to read my new books and the tutors’ suggestions. 
In the weekend we could visit London and Oxford, visit museums, colleges and do some shopping, of course. 
However, the days flew and on Saturday, 27th July, I had to come back. OMG... I felt I didn’t want to come back to reality. These two weeks were incredibly inspiring and motivating. I still feel a desire to read more, search more about new ideas for my lessons. 
This course was really important to change my way of seeing my job and to change the way I was working. I felt like a machine doing things automatically just because they had to be done, without much motivation. Now I feel the strength to face a new school year with a different attitude. My imagination has woken up. 
All I must say is: My dear friends, don’t deny yourselves the chance to do such a course, your students deserve it. Do it for yourselves and for your students. A course of this kind can be the turning point in your job now! So do it!

Isabel Breda

Agrupamento Escolas da Guia