After an epic 6-month journey of approaches, negotiations and approvals, I’m excited to share that I am commencing a part time (0.2) contract to teach Year 10 English this year.

Many colleagues have asked about how the teaching role was arranged. This time, for me, I had to negotiate a contract with a school, as well as negotiate a reduced work fraction at uni. The school teaching will officially be a second job, working for a second employer.

From what I’ve learned, my year 10 teaching for the year looks like:

• Term 1 – News media study culminating in flash fiction writing
• Term 2 – Text study leading to an imaginative/persuasive response
• Term 3 – Novel study including an analytic essay
• Term 4 – Broad text study developing understanding of intertextuality with related public writing.

The past week has been a rollercoaster of emotion, with high excitement to be at school regularly disrupted by the nervousness of feeling like a new teacher all over again (!) But each visit to the school brings a new joy: picking up staffroom keys, leaving things on my new desk, and being given a school name badge with my name on it. Even when it feels a bit intimidating, the choice to teach this year feels 100% right.