‘It is what it is.’ (Part 6/6)

(A series of 6 short posts, where I think out loud about where I’ve been, where I am, and where I want to be.)

‘Finishing is better than starting.

Patience is better than pride.’

Ecclesiastes 7:8

As the 2022 summer term began, I took time to create a goal to give me clarity of purpose for the final weeks of my last job as a classroom teacher. I kept my intention in mind, ‘to work closely with the children, their parents and my colleagues to provide a strong, secure foundation for us all to build on’, and it helped me to focus my attention on what was important.

Individually, in groups and as a class, the children and I frequently discussed the move to Year 1. I reminded them of how, at the start of reception, they had all come together for the first time. I encouraged them to be a strong team, to show friendship and kindness by supporting each other and asking for help when they needed it. I taught them a song (which my granny used to sing to me, long before Barney & friends filmed their version),

‘The more we are together, together, together,

The more we are together, the happier we’ll be,

My friends are your friends, and your friends are my friends,

And the more we are together, the happier we’ll be.’

(to the tune of ‘Did you ever see a lassie?’)

After the whole school ‘move-up morning’, I used our interactive whiteboard to display photos of the children in their new classroom with their new teacher and teaching assistant. I underlined all the potential positives of the Year 1 classroom: “You’ll have your own tray with your name on!”, “You’ll have your own chair and table space!”, “You’ll be able to play on the Key Stage 1 play equipment every day!” …

I think it’s fair to say, the children, their parents, my colleagues and myself all had a sense of closure when our time together came to an end, and we were all ready to move on to the next chapter.

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I still don’t know what my next chapter will be – and I ‘have need of patience’. My belief in the potential of shared reading to build communities has not gone away, my motivation to work with children and families is as strong as ever, and my desire to remove obstacles that prevent children from learning to read remains.

I want to use my wide-open hands to:

Take off anxiety,

Take off stress,

Take off pressure,

Relax into reading,

Bond through books.

‘Do what you can,

with what you have,

where you are.’

Theodore Roosevelt

info@readwithjulia.com