A teacher friend just sent me this.
If - the teacher's version.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are lost plans and screams that it was you
If you can trust yourself when all others doubt the marking,
But make allowance for their tantrums too;
If you can wait for pupil progress and not be tired by waiting for that penny to drop,
Or being frustrated about fronted adverbials, don’t deal in that new fangled jargon,
Or being confused by connectives, don’t give way to conjunctions,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise for OFSTED think they can't be fooled:
If you can plan lessons—and not make plans your master;
If you can personify outstanding—and not make SATs success your aim;
If you can meet with Bus Stop Divisions and Column Addition,
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by IEP reviews to make a trap for carefully laid plans,
Or watch the children you gave your plans to, confused and puzzled,
And reassure and build ’em up with well-used tools:
If you can make one heap of all your marking
And risk it on one turn of green-and-blue,
And teach, and start them up-leveling again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about academies;
If you can force your TA and tea and biscuits
To serve your turn long after they are at home,
And so hold on when teaching alone
Except the skill which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can trust yourself when all the SLT doubt you,
But make allowance for their data analysis too;
If you can teach and not be tired by teaching,
Twisted by SDPs to make a trap for carefully laid plans,
Or being confused by targets about, don’t deal in targets,
Or being surrounded by unicorns, don’t give way to unicorns,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise for OFSTED think they can't be fooled:
If you can talk with pupils and keep your marbles,
Or walk with Head teachers —nor lose the common touch,
If neither OFSTED nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all children count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of silence,
Yours is the Classroom and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a teacher, my friend!