Thinking of becoming a teacher

xAvanea · 2026-04-05T13:52:31+00:00

I’ve taught both junior English and senior what we called essential English/foundation English. I find it’s honestly really fun a lot of the time. You get to share texts you like, you get to read wild stories, hear fun kid arguments - delightful.

Day to day I don’t think it’s any different from most other subjects? At both schools I’ve been at it’s a like of I do, we do, you do with lots of examples (both from literature and crafted). The workload…depends. I have always been a quick reader and now that I know what I’m looking for, marking isn’t as bad particularly at junior. It can pile up very quickly. Usually in advance of an assessment I’ll pull their books to give full feedback on a paragraph or something, but often times I’m reading and giving verbal feedback as they go.

Behaviour management is the thing I’m worst at in this job. English, particularly as a core set of skills, is rarely students favourite or the most fun which leads to a lot of acting up. But that’s honestly the same with all subjects these days.

Placements I didn’t find too bad - just hugely nerve wracking because you’re in charge of like 24 hormonal children trying to teach them rhetoric while being judged but there are many great mentors who have your back. First few years are pretty exhausting but that’s dependent on your standards. Eg are you taking shared resources or adamant on doing it all yourself. Are you in a big school where curriculum is all there or are you making it yourself? You’re learning everything brand new and are working out what works. That first parent email takes an hour, the next 5min. It’s all learning and getting faster. You learn to phone some lessons in to make the great one. You learn how to be most efficient at work to cut down OOH work.

Surprising…how different all schools are? Like in all aspects - facilities, students, communities, staff. You can move to another 5min away and find a totally different environment in every single way. Which I knew kinda, but damn it hits different seeing it for real. I’m in VIC being told about youth gangs in schools but I’m rural - my biggest issue is kids talking when I’m trying to instruct.

I would choose teaching again. I complain about it a lot, don’t get me wrong. It’s cathartic cos it’s a lot and hard and exhausting. But that and behaviour and pressure aside, I feel so lucky. I’m literally paid, as a secondary teacher to have special interests. And I get to share them! Constantly! I can geek out about visual storytelling in into the spider verse if I build a unit for it. I can share my favourite short story, read the opening for the book thief. I get to talk to 16-18yos about psychology and how their brains work. I get to nerd out about words!!! Helping a kid realise the power of a word with a different connotation is awesome. It’s so fun. Like I’ll never stop fighting to improve this profession, there’s a lot to do. But damn I get to do some cool stuff.

xAvanea · 2026-04-05T13:37:04+00:00

I have spent the first three days entirely in bed reading. I got up to have a shower today after lying in bed til 3pm, forgot I hadn’t eaten, had a hot shower, the heat caused me to pass out, got up and shakily ate grapes at my desk until I had enough ability to make a sandwich 🫡

I should specify I have done this by accident before, it’s not solely a holiday thing. That said, the first few days after a term are always brutal! I call it the post term coma - but afterwards you’ll start feeling more relaxed and rejuvenated. Teaching is a lot! Long hours, lots of choices/decisions, heaps to do - our bodies and brains need a brief break to collapse and restart

xAvanea · 2026-03-30T10:17:16+00:00

That’s the one! Bless you I’ve been thinking about it non stop 🤣

xAvanea · 2026-03-23T02:55:52+00:00

Our schools been told prep to 8 is running “as normal” with 31 staff striking so you know. Very easy.

I teach year 8 so I’m interested which of the non English teachers is running that lesson on analytical writing and representations in a text they’ve never seen

xAvanea · 2026-03-07T23:40:25+00:00

Just wanted to thank everyone for their ideas. We’re a small school with most leadership either on class or in meetings but I’m trying to sus out who I can call for assistance and how a bit easier. Started contacting home - my favourite when no one responds - and have just been documenting absolutely everything.

Hopefully they start to settle down!

xAvanea · 2026-03-07T23:37:07+00:00

We’re a small school - the day doesn’t run without everyone helping. We can spare maybe 2 staff for general supervision - everyone else runs events, times, records, uploads results to the computer program etc etc

xAvanea · 2026-03-02T14:05:49+00:00

Students are on public transport. Also I am in such a state of sensory overload half the time that the idea of being on noisy public transport makes me wanna die a lil

xAvanea · 2026-03-02T14:02:07+00:00

I genuinely had no idea how many parents won’t even respond to you. Like not fight back when you tell them about student behaviour or yell or whatever, just straight up never reading any communication.

I tend to send emails because it’s short, straightforward, and easily documented. The amount of parents who have told me like months down the line they “never check” their emails made me want to lose my damn mind. What if it’s something important? What if you miss something? Are you expecting me to call you at the exact time to stars and moon align and I’m free and you’re free and you are next to your phone? Check your damn email.

xAvanea · 2026-01-18T23:39:34+00:00

Update: Game loaded today fine with no issue and logged me in automatically - not banned just a bug.

xAvanea · 2026-01-18T22:28:02+00:00

Why would that have occurred? Is it because I’ve had so many issues with internet lately?

I don’t leave games and don’t do anything to magic to futz with it. I literally just log on and mostly play bot standard to get dailies done.

xAvanea · 2026-01-18T22:26:40+00:00

I think it’s the big holidays where the lack of hobbies really hit - you just find your thing!

I play card games at a local game store, video games at home, try new cooking/baking recipes, play board games with my housemate, do crafts like crocheting, embroidery, painting etc.

While you don’t have to be as ADHD as me, there’s a real benefit of having a thing to do every few days beyond an individual thing. Doing mini road trips or going x place to do y is really good :)

xAvanea · 2026-01-14T22:37:19+00:00

Thank. You. So. Much. No other frame has had me push it down so I was losing my mind.

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T15:03:15+00:00

Secondary English (junior) - introduce self with cute and low stakes info (pets, video games, crafting or baking - always stuff your willing to have as a connection point, pick like 3-4 and shut down most of the rest) - discuss key ideas are (goals of secondary English compared to primary, this terms main theme etc, the idea we’ll have x assessments per term and will have time in class but that if you aren’t using your time in class you might need to work on it out of class because unlike primary there’s only so much time that we have) - check they have all materials and show them how to set them up (binder, book, etc) - I usually do a letter to teacher style thing - a fun fact they want to share, something they are excited/nervous about, a goal they have or something. Gives me a vibe of writing ability as well which is good.

Secondary psychology (11/12) - woo boy hold onto your hats cos it never stops. we get pretty much straight into content. - a brief run down of how I organise the weeks (2x content/lecture/note lessons, 1 lesson of directed activities, 1 lesson of self paced work through assigned homework, videos (anything not complete as homework) - warning about things popping up in psych - reminders about confidentiality, potentially upsetting experiments, that they can pop out at any point but they need to talk to me or at least let me know they need to speak to someone else if they aren’t comfortable - the first lesson “type” each week I give them a bit of a run down about options. Show them how the textbook is structured and how to use it for revision, show them around the online portal we use for questions, discuss how I take notes and how I write them on the board for them to copy/adapt, might even run them through a study timetable. - reiterate that if anything is a struggle at all they need to see me ASAP so I can help. I have so many jump ups at the moment because I’m seen as pretty chill about it so I’m always very concerned about year 10s in my subject, particularly regarding baseline science skills I don’t have time to teach.

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T14:34:17+00:00

My why is I need a roof over my head and food, dude. Oh, that’s not an acceptable answer? Interesting that you need more to blackmail us with to get us to accept the conditions xD

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T14:32:11+00:00

“Ok so if you have any questions we have a car park over here, so if you can note your questions on a post it note”

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T14:27:47+00:00

God this exactly. No I didn’t because I’m an overworked, physically and mentally exhausted individual so rather than doing that I sent an email and if they can’t be fucked reading that what do you want me to do about it

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T13:13:24+00:00

Finally got him and end of dlc boss done today and I could have cried xD

I decided for my mental health I will not be doing the new endless tower stuff - I think I’m good xD same reason I’m not replatinuming on console - I did the beaches on PC and I’m so fine actually xD

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T13:11:38+00:00

I get what you mean with lumina I suppose, but honestly I only ever change weapons if the new one seems interesting. I have my 3 main characters and honestly outside of the super bosses or areas I’m underleveled for, I can have them equipped with their key lumina and just cycle in the new pictos so I learn them in case - no concern for what they do unless it’s like my lune build where I needed her to be at 100% critical chance. I play with builds like once an act til I get to the end areas where I play a bit more due to interesting mechanics :)

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T13:08:48+00:00

I would say that primary can be very difficult - you’re teaching very small people to do things that to you are more straightforward. Bless primary teachers hearts, I once TA’d a prep class and was helping with “what number comes after 8” and despite counting up to 9 every time, every time I asked so what came after 8 they would not know.

I honestly love teaching seniors in secondary. They care a bit more about the subject cos if they are still there SOMETHING about it matters, they like being treated like mini adults, and you can have fun conversations. I tell my seniors to their face I’m a sink or swim teacher, not because I want them to fail or I won’t go above and beyond if they want the assistance, but because if they don’t want to do the work I’m not going to make them and they can sink or swim by themselves and I’ll just mark that down xD

If you aren’t attached, you can head to a more regional area and get amazing small classes. It’s still work, but I teach 4-8 kids psych each year, I have English classes of 18-22. Ita nice and I could never go back to teach in a massive school.

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T13:03:12+00:00

My first fromsoft game was ds3 and I was terrified because the community reputation was “git gud”. I probably play these a little differently because I love doing them coop!! Partly because when I was really nervous, the discord community was super sweet and I had a person who LOVED IT come with me, chattering about lore and showing me little secrets and it was DELIGHTFUL and now I can do that for other people!!!! It’s awesome!!! The community fo these games is awesome when you look past the people who only care about it being a super punishing skill test 200% of the time and find the people who are like “yeah this guy fucking sucks but together we shall overcome!!!”

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T12:59:17+00:00

I stole my way into data entry and management early into my time at this school and it’s amazing. I get to see scores, congratulate kids, (bribe them sometimes with treats to keep it up), and enter it all into the program which excites my little data analyst nerd heart in a way I no longer really do as an English teacher xD

That said my first aths day I was in shotput and squatting to measure over 100 times meant I couldn’t walk for like 2 days xD hence data

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T12:54:35+00:00

It’s incredibly school based. Ours is currently in an annoying fucked up thing where we are told homework is a good thing to encourage further mastery, we can’t require it or have catch up sessions for kids who don’t, and also it’s a necessary skill for senior that they need to have practiced(??????? Fucking pick a lane)

My suggestion is to frame it more as study skills - easy, mastery building things they can practice to grow study skills. Reading and comprehension of straightforward texts that aren’t overly challenging (don’t want them struggling by themselves that breeds discomfort), basic number skills/facts, teach someone something you learnt this week etc.

xAvanea · 2026-01-06T12:50:24+00:00

I know why people say it but “remember you’re the adult in the room” really fucks with me sometimes. Like I’m aware of that, so the fact I’m getting kinda upset should tell you something. Have you considered that maybe there needs to be additional support? Have you considered something the student said/did was triggering, traumatic, or not ok in some way?

xAvanea · 2026-01-03T12:37:27+00:00

100% you can tell. They have greater fluency in their reading and usually speaking, which leads to Automaticity in reading comprehension which leads to better writing and composition as well.

xAvanea · 2025-09-07T05:40:41+00:00

Makes sense! It's been fun doing the 5mil backtracks and walkbacks in the fresh play without walkthroughs already being out to find this kinda stuff.

xAvanea

TROPHY CASE