How I measure Success

What get's you out of bed in the morning?

For me it's the students I get to work with. I don't think there are many teachers who get to enjoy such positive students interactions. I know I didn't when I taught in Mainstream schools.

I feel like I've traded up. These days I get told, by students, that I'm good at what I do. I like that! I much prefer it to some of the things I've been called in schools! I won't post them here but feel to drop me a line and I shall share my personal top-five.

But it's the successes. For confidentiality reasons I can't go into too much detail but I can say that I've had students achieve amazing things! I have some great adventures with students in finding ways to best help them access subject matter. I worked with one year seven student who had been unable to engage in education for some years; he had struggled to engage with anything much apart from Pokémon. So, I taught him English, maths, and three sciences through the medium of Pokémon. Evolution was a cinch! (if you know, you know!)

I've taught English language through the medium of Warhammer 40k, Dungeons and Dragons, and boxing. I've taught physics in terms of footballs, music festivals, ice-cream, and boxing. I've taught chemistry in terms of Angry Birds, angry bees in a box, and (you've guessed it) BOXING. I've worked with a lot of young boxers!

What I really want to say in this little thought burp is a thank you to all the people have thanked me. The mother who's daughter was so anxious she never turned her camera on, who, after she completed her GCSEs sent me a picture so I would know who I had helped. The students who tell me that they look forward to my lessons. The grandmother you dropped me a email let me know my student had dropped his "dunno" future plans and gone on to study business after smashing his predicted grades. The parents who's son started engaging in education for the first time in years with me and has now re-joined mainstream education. I thank you all and many, many more. They'll probably never read this. But I thank them anyway.

It's great doing a job where you make a difference. That's what gets me out of bed in the morning. That and coffee.