A Great Week - Thank You!

The last week has been surreal. Great, humbling, but odd.

It began on Tuesday with the arrival of the proof of my textbook. This has been a labour of love over the last year. Dozens of Word documents that had become very untidy with edits, redrafts and amendments all of a sudden became a textbook. The designers have done an amazing job and it is something that I feel really proud to be have been involved in. Now I need to get reading, with my red pen, to really make it as good as it can possibly be. Read more about it <here>.

On Wednesday, I then got an email to say I was shortlisted in the TES Teacher blogger of the year. I was initially pleased enough that Andrew Old recommended me as potential nominee on his blog (see <here>), but to be shortlisted was a very pleasant surprise. There has been a lot of Twitter conversations about tickets, prices etc. I'm going to make an effort to go, as to be honest, I doubt I'll get invited again any time soon! See more <here>

Saturday was then the second London RE Hub conference. Using the power of social media, we had an event attended by around 120 people. There was a great buzz in the hall of the London Muslim Centre / East London Mosque as we discussed key subject knowledge. I'm genuinely amazed that people would give up their Saturday, and some pay out of their own pocket, to come to an event I've organised! None of it would be possible without such a great team; huge thanks to [L to R] Claire, Deborah, Kate and Julia. We were still smiling at the end of the day:

While I was at the conference, post arrived, which I only opened on Sunday - my invite to Buckingham Palace! The CES nominated me for my work in Catholic education and I was put forward by the DfE too attend. Mobile phones need to be switched off, so no live tweeting the event or selfies with Liz!

I think as teachers, when recognition and praise comes your way, it can feel a little awkward.

I know I am not the greatest of teachers, although I'd hope that most of my lessons are informative and useful for my students. I know there are areas I still need to work on, and improve on. I also know my priorities have shifted somewhat since becoming a dad last October. I also know there are lots of teachers working at capacity who never get a word of thanks or recognition on a daily basis; that's not right.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all those who put faith in me or put me forward for these things; it means more than you could ever imagine - teachers thrive on praise just as much as students do! Thank you.