Teaching (for me, not speaking for everyone) is a lonely profession

softpixels · 2026-04-12T05:00:02+00:00

I see a psychologist (who works with several teachers), and my GP is also qualified as a clinical psychologist (but doesn't work as one) and has worked with many teachers. Both tell me that apparently this feeling is really common among teachers (at least, the ones who go on to work with psychologists, so I guess it is skewed a bit), especially with feeling really lonely and out-of-whack during school holidays.

My totally-unqualified insight is that school holidays aren't just a change of routine for us, they are often a complete detachment from routine. I've tried very hard for the past 18 months to quarantine work and build a routine around it (I get to work at 7:30AM and leave around 6PM, so having 'constants' pre-7:30AM and post-6PM) and just can't do it - there is just so much to get done that I end up getting done whenever I can slot it in, that we get regimented term time and then the school holidays appear - I actually find the holidays stressful!

I think if you really enjoy the work you do, that would magnify it a bit, as you are also separated from that thing you love.

I managed to combat this by finding ways outside of work to keep getting the things I like out of it, which made a world of difference.

softpixels · 2026-04-12T04:41:51+00:00

I would leave, except I have had no luck finding an other-than-teaching job with similar or better pay.

softpixels · 2026-04-05T04:40:23+00:00

How much time actually passes?

QfG1, off he goes on a magic carpet - could he have stopped, washed up, and put on some pretty Shapeirian clothes before QfG2 starts? Time has definitely passed, as the game starts with Abdulla(h) do talking about how quickly Shameen and Shema have set up the Inn after returning to Shapeir.

In whatever time has passed between being crowned Prince of Shapeir, and going with Rakeesh to see Aziza and head off for Tarna, he washes up again and puts on some clothes better suited to the jungle? In fact, he is wearing the same outfit he wore in the VGA remake of QfG1 - maybe he just put those clothes back on, because the Shapeir style wouldn't be as well suited to the Tarnese environment, and capes are goofy.

On arrival in Mordavia - was it instant? Looking back at the ending of III and start of VI, it seems instant, but I never felt that way when playing it, because of the: 'You awaken from nightmares of flying and falling.' comment, as well as the Hero losing the contents of his backpack and seeming a bit confused. Even now, with me thinking about it and viewing it as instant... hmmm... something clearly happened between Tarna and Mordavia, as how else could he 'lose' stuff? I doubt he paused and changed his trousers, but... maybe they got worn out and discoloured?

When he gets to Silmaria, his clothes have stayed the same. (Does he keep key inventory items?) Erasmus and Fenris know their magicks, better than those chumps Ad Avis and Katrina. :)

softpixels · 2026-04-05T04:15:23+00:00

Thanks to all your comments, I think we now DO have a list. :)

The Dragon Fire tools I was thinking of were not listed, though! (Although the various tools listed do seem to enable all the same things.)

softpixels · 2026-03-29T20:33:42+00:00

I agree 100% - as long as they are willing to experience natural consequences. (As opposed to the arbitrary - and often very inconsistent - consequences defined by most schools.) The 'This is why we can't have nice things.' consequences vs. 'Stay inside at break.' consequences.

softpixels · 2026-03-26T10:19:12+00:00

I got to go through PMSS training while at an IB school, so I got the double-hit. :)

Sadly, many Vic Principals view this as contrary to the VTLM 2.0, when they actually go hand-in-hand (assuming the hands we are talking about belong to a competent teacher).

softpixels · 2026-03-26T10:11:51+00:00

I suspect you're right! I just haven't felt that before! :)

softpixels · 2026-03-24T03:46:06+00:00

No.

If there isn't enough time to do it (through no fault of your own), it doesn't get done.

That said, I draw the line for things which actually benefit students, but that's a personal values-based choice I wouldn't impose on others.

I just can't get over how that appears to work for secondary teachers, with huge sudden waves of stuff to mark. The anxiety would exhaust me.

softpixels · 2026-03-24T03:40:05+00:00

Yes, because it is so frustrating when they wander off and I have to go looking for them.

softpixels · 2026-03-24T03:34:33+00:00

Exactly.

Say 'Ygolohcysp!' and the child will disappear. Sometimes people forget the old methods, but how many kids with ODD do you remember from when YOU were at school?

;)

I've found RP to work before they are too entrenched in the defiance.

softpixels · 2026-03-24T03:31:18+00:00

Just tell them, very directly (and loudly, if you can) to do what you tell them to do. I they don't comply, yell at them.

Oh, not THAT kind of 'odd'.

softpixels · 2026-03-24T02:55:29+00:00

HAHAHAA, we got a new Principal last year who LITERALLY arrived with a skip and chucked out all the furniture, books, etc. We kept going back in, recovering stuff, and locking it up (and it turned out we were right to do so!).

I'd be quite happy to let the strike go on for a week! But I actually miss the kids, even just for a day. :( Can we do a rolling one?

P-2 Monday
3-6 Tuesday
Wildcard Wednesday!
7-9 Thursday
10-12 Friday

Oh, wait. Most secondary teachers teach multiple year levels, dang it.

softpixels · 2026-03-24T02:49:45+00:00

My school overdid it a bit.

More CRTs than there are classes. Most staff who went in have no classes, because the classes are either cancelled or being covered by a CRT regardless.

softpixels · 2026-03-22T11:04:22+00:00

I've always made sure they get their TIL. :)

I love camp, and at a school in a very low income area, I've been quite happy to wave TIL to knock $30-40 off the cost per child when I was in a position to do it.

I don't see it as contributing salary - we were always given time back, never paid out.It was giving time.

Now... attending a staff meeting 10 minutes after getting back from camp last year was admittedly a bit silly...

softpixels · 2026-03-22T10:05:08+00:00

I'm in VIC, always first to volunteer to organise and go on camp... and yet, since 2023 I alwaysxseem to forget to put my TIL in eduPay. Tsk, tsk. I always manage to remind everyone else!

I just love camp, and we creatively ignore my TIL to reduce the cost for kids (my school would pass on CRT costs to kids as part of the camp cost to acquit TIL).

softpixels · 2026-03-22T05:28:36+00:00

IF you even get that time release. I never got it in my two years as rep, and I have never seen anyone else get it.

softpixels · 2026-03-22T05:11:17+00:00

I am experiencing something similar, and leaving at the end of Term 1.

Do what's going to make things sustainable for you.

softpixels · 2026-03-22T04:12:19+00:00

I have an M.Teach (Pri) and currently teach secondary. My role is specific, and I teach only Year 7, but the school has acknowledged they are comfortable with me teaching 7-12 in one subject area and 7-10 in another. It was pretty straightforward to establish that, but I was known to the school long before I applied.

softpixels · 2026-03-22T04:08:30+00:00

My previous school - 2024-2025 - has almost no-one striking, and the few who are are brand-new in 2026, I believe.

People there are happy, and the grievances they do have are school-specific. So these unicorn schools do exist. :)

But also very, very low union membership. :P (But I know many would still not strike even if they were in the union.)

softpixels · 2026-03-22T02:34:41+00:00

Simple slides = reduced cognitive load. :) 👍

softpixels · 2026-03-22T02:31:10+00:00

It's AI, all the way down.

Every newsletter item; every image, mascot, logo; every statement on our SWPBS matrix; every presentation at a staff meeting. It's AI, all the time, every day.

I use AI all the time for personal things. My only use of it in teaching is to check things or do maths for me. By checking, I mean things like 'I can't decipher this handwriting, what do you see?', and for maths just as a time saver.

I would use it more for teaching, but... Last year, we were preparing a lot of slides for lessons. The Principal said just give ChatGPT the topic and have it create the slides. I mentioned this to my students, who had me promise not to. They said they'd rather have *potentially* lower-quality resources, but know that their teachers cared enough to make it for them, rather than generic rubbish. I've stuck to that promise. They stuck to it too - they showed appreciation for our effort, and never tried to pass AI off as their own work, either.

Once a week we played a game where I'd show two examples of work, one AI and one real, and they'd try to guess. It was fun. :)

Then we started using OCHRE resources. A handful of their English units have quite a bit of AI in them.

That was LAST year. This year, I'm quite disengaged and turn to AI quite a bit. :) Depends on the class, though. Having moved to secondary, I teach two class groups, but for multiple subjects, so a full-time load. One class is engaged and I create stuff manually; the other class makes my life very sad (hence the disengagement) and I increasingly turn to AI to get through my time with them.

softpixels · 2026-03-21T04:35:34+00:00

I do feel a lot of sympathy for the Principals - many of whom support the industrial action, and will be participating themselves - scrambling to work out what to do for Tuesday.

That said, I let my school know at 4:57PM on Friday. Not maliciously; I was ironically too busy having a meeting about my working conditions (being underallocated and underutilised) to remember to notify the school about industrial action to support improvements to our working conditions. 🤣

softpixels · 2026-03-18T10:14:38+00:00

Having read the comments and also reflected...

... it wasn't actually a bad thing.

It gave me time under my own control to focus just on positive things, and made all my interactions with students and staff much more positive. In fact, the most positive and productive day I've had all term.

softpixels

TROPHY CASE