THE FIFIETH REPUBLIC!

[StaffRepFeistyClub]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

Do not give the staffroom password to others just in case it attracts the wrong sort

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

Link for households of school staff/children to order tests to do at home.

Can someone lock the door and stop me reading any more threads about "healthy" people in their 40s and 50s getting vaccines.

I need a pep talk.

Apparently I need to stop putting myself down and being so self deprecating. I know I do this because I am usually spouting stuff and nonsense

Ok, post one thing you are good at Piggy. Without adding "but so and so is better" etc!
Imagine you are someone else and you would be more positive, if that makes sense.

Pep talk? I know who gives a good pep talk!

Being self-deprecating is a nice trait (and nicer than the alternative). Problem is, schools are full of people who are not in the least self-deprecating and tend to believe you if you put yourself down.

I'm not suffering fools very gladly today. Had to call my mum to be talked down from a sister in law situation. Also had to teach maths to a girl who was sitting in departures at Delhi airport. BING BONG every 2 seconds.

Need to go and scream in a fast moving car or something.

Piggy - why do you need to do that?

Things good about piggy:

Kind
Sensible (no drama!)
Intelligent
Well-read (War and Peace!)
Dedicated
Helpful
Supportive to colleagues
Patient

Add to the list, piggy

Aww , thanks Chris! I feel better.

See now its I find that extraordinarily hard. Without saying something silly or unimpressive, which is what I tend to do.

Wise.

Measured.

So, the positive feedback I always get is funny and clever.

I fear these may be insults.

Problem is, schools are full of people who are not in the least self-deprecating and tend to believe you if you put yourself down.

This is so true. It is usually because they have framed the put downs in the first place so they believe the negatives to be true.

Imagine you are someone else

I think the fictional someone else might say I was 'a force to be reckoned with' or very passionate about my beliefs....I don't think that's a good thing in teaching though.

Piggy who told you you “need” to do this?

Did your schools do those god awful 360 review things as part of a promotion pathway? I managed to avoid ever having to fill one in. Like I'm going to give entirely honest feedback about what I think of a deputy head.

I cannot talk about myself without being stupid . I have always been bad at self promotion. Even if I have an idea I tend to say I read it somewhere else. I don't know if it's a female thing, a family, thing, or a cultural thing.

smile , I have been told this three times by headteachers now....almost like they think I am a bit flippant or don't have enough conviction in my own abilities. I wonder why?!

Surely we have not much been in school with the new variants to say either way. Only in Kent in November when it carried on increasing.

piggy
Your posts make me think I would really like you as a colleague. You know a lot and are kind. You explain things 🙂. You are funny too but I don’t think that is an insult!

Kind, caring, funny, clever, brave and prepared to stand up for things....

Aww shucks.

Piggys Pep-talk
You can and have given us -
A friendly punch on the arm;
A steady hand on the shoulder;
A wise word;
A kick up the bum.

Oh, and joy at your ability to go all shades of red when reading MN 😉🍓🤭

On my counsellor training people at the end of the course had to write what their initial preconceptions of you were compared to what they thought at the end.

50% started out thinking I was arrogant or full of myself then later decided I wasn't and thought I was intelligent and considerate and honest and straightforward and came to appreciate that.

50% thought from the start that I was well informed and reflective and open to sharing but aware that other people took that as threatening.

Super weird. I still have the envelope full of anonymous responses.

Piggy all I would say is don't take your school response as fact. I just had an afternoon dept curriculum meeting online and someone started out by basically attacking me for something that I couldn't possibly have known ie. the trainee contacted me at the end of a half term asking me to retrospectively observe and give fully filled out feedback forms on all of her lockdown lessons to which I said sorry too much, I wish you'd told me at the start of this term and I've have done that.

Acting professional tutor or whatever it's called started out our department meeting saying 'you know that was only two lessons right? and I had to do them myself?' and I was like, no, I didn't know that. I was asked x and responded y and if you'd had an issue with it I wish you would have contacted me at the time. She kept repeating this 'only two' business and I was like yep, didn't know that, it would have been helpful to know what you needed me to be doing for her at the time because then I would have kept on top of it. At one point she said yes I did tell you and moved swiftly on - actually at NO point in my dealing with the student has it been explained to me what my role is, how often I need to complete obs forms etc.

Really hostile and unpleasant and a pretty shitty way to start a 2 hour meeting with a camera into your living room. It's reminiscent of the counselling course and puzzling over why some of the people in the former 50% were so hostile.

piggy might it help to practise saying nice things about yourself in the mirror? I know that sounds a bit weird, but it might help to tell yourself what you are good at so you get used to saying those things out loud. Then you can move on to saying those nice things about yourself to other people. I'm quite self deprecating too normally, but I've been really pushing myself this year to blow my own trumpet a bit more. Not that I'm going for promotion or anything (nobody seems to be leaving, so there aren't any promotion opportunities in my current school), but I get sick of the same people that I don't rate that much getting recognition that the rest of us who are better at our actual jobs but worse at telling people about what we're doing get overlooked.

Yep, Piggy you should scroll up and read all those comments properly out loud without cringing or caveats.