Journeyman Read Online Free

an opportunity, and the kudos I received at school was enough justification (let alone all the other positives).
    Signing the contract was my first of many career mistakes, however. I instantly decided that signing guaranteed me superstardom and riches beyond my wildest dreams and, as a result, there was no need to concentrate on my GCSEs, in my opinion. I just downed tools at school.
    I still took all my exams and picked up some decent results (five A–Cs and five Ds) but I could and should have achieved so much more.
    Not that this bothered me in the slightest at the time. In a display of arrogance I did not even go and pick up my results, confident in the misguided idea that I would never need them. I was busy preparing for the next chapter of my life and conquering the world of professional football. It did not quite go according to plan…
    • • •
29 OCTOBER 2012
    I have somehow managed to make it to half-term at the school. Teaching is so much harder than I imagined. That extra £1,000 in my last pay packet was a tax rebate, by the way – just another illustration of how far I have fallen financially.
    Currently I am teaching ICT, maths, philosophy, citizenship, science and a little bit of football. It seems ironic to me that the one area in which I am an expert is the one in which I do the least.
    I pretty much resigned last week. The headmaster asked me to a meeting and said he wanted to retain me after my one-term contract expired. He asked me how things were going and, as he’d caught me in between my worst couple of days, I told him exactly how I felt: ‘I’m teaching lots of stuff I know nothing about.’
    He seemed to sympathise with me but I was warming to the theme, going on to say I did not think teaching was for me and that I wanted to resign as soon as possible.
    As I have no other job lined up, was that a brave or stupid thing to say? Over the past month I had applied for five jobs and not been asked to even one interview! It seems, worryingly, that I am over-qualified for most of the positions I have been pursuing.
    However, I’ve decided being unemployed is better than my current reality – I simply do not look forward to going into work. I know in my previous job I was lucky enough to get paid to indulge in my passion, but I also loved going in for training. There were plenty of times when things were not going well personally or professionally but as soon as I got onto the training pitch all those problems dissipated and I felt free. Working at the school is so different, probably because I am absolutely winging it. I’m frustrated that the school has got me in this position. How can they put someone who has never taught before, or had any formal training, in charge of a classroom? I used to think I was a resilient and focused person but now all I think about is quitting.
    Having written that, I do think in the back of my mind I could actually become a good teacher within a year or two. The real question is: do I want to go through all this shit to get to that point?
    I recently had one of my lessons observed by a senior member of staff who graded me on criteria set by teaching governing body Ofsted. You can be marked as either ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. I also looked for ‘crap’ but apparently that is not one of the options.
    Anyway, I surprised myself by earning an overall ‘requires improvement’ grade with some elements of ‘good’ thrown in. The person who graded me said she was really impressed, considering I only had three weeks’ experience. I do like building relationships with the pupils too, which helps, although sometimes I probably blur the line between friend and teacher by engaging in some of the classroom banter.
    A couple of days after that meeting with the headmaster I told him I would at least see out my contract and re-assess the situation nearer Christmas. I am sure I can do this now and, more importantly, be