Semester 2 is coming!

Image: Oleksandr P

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

Oprah Winfrey

Are you jumping into July?

The first half of the school year is nearly completed. Reports are being written, reviewed and printed. Principals will have ticked boxes on charts to demonstrate student growth and school achievement. End of term assemblies are in the final stages of planning and rehearsal and finally, after all the rain, school and District Cross- Country events have been run.

Teaching can be a thankless, tiring, task that challenges your patience. When you are feeling this way, the holidays loom large on the calendar, so close while being too far away at the same time!

The 10-week term was introduced to Australia in 1987. For those teachers who experienced the transition from a 3-term to the 4-term year, retirement must look a full moon, bright in the sky.

Teaching can also be full of smiles and heartfelt moments of children achieving their goals.

The bigger question is what should be taught in classrooms. How to line up quietly before entering the classroom or using manners? The news media recently pumped out headlines similar to these, marking the start of the new term. Student behaviour is much more this, just ask any teacher or their family!

As we move into the cooler months the incidence of coughs and sniffles are on the increase. The recent school holiday offered an opportunity to recharge, but how many of you are already feeling like that you are running close to empty?

What are your top tips for keeping healthy during Term 2? Being thankful is a practice that can develop and maintain a healthy mindset.

For this purpose, there is a distinction between giving thanks and being thankful. There are so many things that we give thanks for in our lives, our mothers and fathers, acts of heavenly beings and entities and for the food we eat. It is important to give thanks.

Being thankful is being aware of the things in our lives that make each day special. This can be harder to feel on some days but is worth looking for. This feeling is unique, specific, can be felt in the moment or self-sustaining across time.

Being thankful is felt in the present.

Teaching can sometimes feel like an exercise in search of being thankful.

What are the things you are thankful for?