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Hi there everyone,

I've just created a poll (to the left) and it would be greatly appreciated if you could read it and click on all of the options that are appropriate for you.

Just wanted to know what you're all interested in and what you'd like to read in the future.

The poll will close the 31st of July 2016.

Thanks in advance! :)

Eight tips to survive the transition back to work from maternity leave!

Recently I returned to teaching part-time after having a year off teaching. I had my bub a couple of weeks after starting maternity leave and I remember having so many mixed feelings about having time off. I was excited about what was to come, but I was also sad to be leaving students and colleagues. For me, I went on maternity leave at the end of Term 1, so I had a Year 6 class which I had to leave behind. I was so devastated as I really liked the class as a whole and I had built a strong rapport with them in that short term.

However, I didn't have the same mix of feelings when I returned to work after maternity leave. I just felt guilty. I felt guilty that I was going to be spending my day looking after 28 children, while my child was at home with his grandparents. It didn't seem right. Why was I looking after everyone else's children and not my own? 

Fortunately for me, I only had to go back two days a week and I knew he was being looked after by family. Although it was still hard.

But that wasn't the only thing I had to deal with. Teaching is always changing, always improving and evolving. In the short amount of time that I had off, so much had changed. Colleagues had moved on to new schools. There were new members of staff in their place. A new syllabus had also been introduced. And I just felt out of the loop, having not been trained in the program's we were now offering. I was no longer up to date with current research and felt as if my brain had turned to mush. I couldn't remember terms and acronyms I once used.

Needless to say, I cried all of the way home after my first day back.

But there is good news! I'm now getting close to the end of my first term back, and I'm happy to report the knowledge has slowly crept back. I feel like I'm in a better routine with juggling being a mum and working (although I still have really tough days). I also feel a little better about my son having quality time with his grandparents. I still miss him, but I don't cry the whole way to work anymore!

I thought today I'd compile a list of tips and tricks to help the transition back to work become a little easier. Now I have to say before I start, that I am no expert. I fail at these regularly... But they're just things I wish I was told before returning to work!

1. In the weeks before returning, schedule a meeting with your direct supervisor to catch up on what's been happening around the school. Take lots of notes- your memory isn't as good as it once was! 

2. Get a copy of the School Plan, to read up on what they're currently prioritising. Take note of any new programs or acronyms you're not familiar with.

3. Get a copy of the school calendar- my school actually emails it out to staff! Find out what is coming up, particularly things that involve your class/students.

4. Make a plan for home. Think about when you will do housework and maybe divide up the tasks. Plan out meals and organise getting your shopping delivered (it usually only costs around $5 for delivery). You may not always stick to this schedule, but it will bring a little more sanity to your home. Oh and remember... Keep your plans doable!

5. Try to get to work earlier so that you can do your planning and photocopying then. That way you can leave at a more decent time in the afternoon. I try to keep my afternoons sacred as my little one has dinner at 5:30pm. This doesn't give me a lot of time to muck around in the afternoon.

This is a picture of our desk at the end of my working week. Just trying to be organised and having everything photocopied and prepped in advance!

6. Work smart. That means that you need to mark as you go. That means revamping pre-existing programs and not reinventing the wheel (leave that for later on when your kids are a little older). That means grabbing your coffee and going. Yes it's nice to talk to colleagues and catch up... But don't spend all of your time chatting.

7. Remember that it's ok to say you don't understand and that you need help.  I was completely caught out on my first day back... And I just had no idea what was going on. I had to just pull the "I've just had a baby and returned to work" card. I was so nervous about admitting I had no clue about what everyone was talking about... But the moment I said it everyone became a little more understanding and tried to explain rather than assume. I was actually surprised at how many other women knew exactly how I felt, and mentioned how hard it was returning to work from Mat Leave.

8. Remember to have quality family time and time with your partner. The downside of teaching is that it can become all-consuming. I think jobs that require you to give up a bit of your heart, can easily consume a lot of your own personal time! Figure out where to draw the line. Where to cut off from work. For each person this can be different... But for me I decided that I only wanted to do half an hour of work each night once my son went to sleep. That doesn't sound like much, but I wanted to also spend time with my husband. So what I also do (because half an hour isn't nearly enough) is that I also work while my son sleeps on one of my days off. I try to have one "at-home day" and on that day is when I work while he's napping. Outside of that I have to draw the line and remind myself that I only work two days a week... I don't work full-time!

While teaching is an awesome job, it can become really taxing. Take each day as it comes and remember that you are only human. A sleep-deprived human who is a full-time mum first and a part-time teacher second!

Do you have any other tips and tricks for surviving the transition back to work?  Comment below.

Returning to Teaching from Maternity Leave

I haven't been writing much lately and that's because in October 2014, I found out that I was pregnant after two years of "trying". Earlier that year I was diagnosed with PCOS and so through diet, exercise and metformin, I was able to successfully fall pregnant.

I took an entire year off from work once I had my bub, but I have now returned in a part-time capacity. I'm only working two days… and I've come to realise that two days is really tricky. Two days away from my little boy seems like FOREVER, and yet when I'm at work, two days is far too short to get everything done. It's also hard because while you're part-time, you're sometimes expected to program and do work like that of someone working a full load.

Anyway, my first day back was horrendous. I had to firstly find something that fit my new, squishy body. I then had to find my handbag, a USB and a pen to write with. On my way to work I had to fight back the tears because I knew once I got started, I'd never stop. When I finally arrived it was a Staff Development Day… WHICH WAS AWESOME because I thought I could acclimatise to everything. But then I was hit with "pedagogy" and "theories" and "PDPs" and all of these new acronyms I had never heard of before.

Image taken from BuzzFeed.com

I felt out of my depth.

I've been back to work for seven weeks now and I'm happy to say that my brain is starting to work again. Terms are coming back to me and so is my confidence (although it's still got a little while to go). Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to update my THRASS and spelling resources. I will share my ideas here with you all -- so watch this space.

I will also be sharing a stack of ATSI websites/ resources and interactives that I have found whilst on Mat Leave just in time for NAIDOC week.

And finally I will be sharing my TOP EIGHT TIPS for heading back to teaching from Maternity Leave.

So keep an eye out for my new posts and feel free to comment below with you 'back to work from maternity leave' story. Surely I'm not the only one who found it difficult???

Simple ideas to make my job easier!

I am a massive fan of VISTA Print. Particularly when they're having a huge sale. Two years ago I decided to make some business cards which simply said 'A note from Mrs Sellen'. Simple idea right? Well I have used them almost every day of the past two years. On these cards I can send home simple reminders about notes that are due in to school, and I can also send home little notes to parents about how well their child has been doing in class. The kids love them. The parents love them. And they're so simple.

I originally got this idea off PINTEREST (where all good ideas come from) and I've modified it slightly to better suit my classroom.

Here is the original idea (click on the image to head straight to Pinterest):

Here is what my modified version looks like:

If you are lucky enough to get a really great deal from VISTA Print, you might get 250 of these for free. This time round I paid $9.99 for them. As I mentioned before, they've lasted me two years so it is definitely worth the investment.

This year as I'm going on Maternity Leave I decided to make a bunch of labels (in the same design) to stick to the things that belong to me that I will most probably leave behind. Teaching can be quite expensive and I don't really want to buy a lot of these resources again. So for $9.99 I bought 140 labels with my name on it, so that I can mark my belongings (I will be taking a lot of things home too). 

Here's what my labels look like:

It should take about 7 days for them to arrive as I just got standard shipping… but I can't wait! I want this transition into Maternity Leave to be as smooth as possible!

WOW where did the year go?

It seems to be that time of year again where I find myself freaking out about the year ahead and my list of "things to do" keeps growing. 

It has been almost a year since my last post. As you can imagine, the year fills up and you find yourself drowning in various commitments. 2014 was a HUGE year for me. I had a great time teaching Year 5 and I also had a great year personally. I found out in September that I will be expecting a bundle of joy in May 2015 and so my priorities around work and life have shifted dramatically.

I will be going back to work for 2015, however, this time I will only be working for one term. Over the next couple of weeks I will share how I've set up my classroom spending the least amount of money as possible and how I will hand-over my class to someone I haven't even met yet. I want to be kind to this next teacher, but I also don't want to do their whole job for them. It will be a balancing act. BUT I already have a plan and *fingers crossed* it works :)

Like any year it's important to start the year off with a diary. For me, this choice was far harder than usual as I will only be working for one term. I needed a diary that would suit me in my professional and personal life. So this year I decided to go with a kikki.K A4 Weekly Leather Diary. It's a weekly diary (which I love) and it has plenty of space to write down notes and anecdotal comments from the teaching day. There is also a significant amount of space for the weekends (the most important days of the week) and it has monthly planners. Click on the image of the diary to be redirected for the kikki.K website. If you buy from the store, they also throw in a free pen. I LOVE BARGAINS! 

That's it for now… I will be back shortly with MORE amazing Back to School ideas!