A photo taken this morning enroute to my current job
This post is part of a series linked to the #memorymarch initiative created by Ritesh Patel for #teacher5aday. Please visit his blog post for more details and join in if you can!
“Childhood and memories in general are priceless. Yes there will be some bad memories but also some memorable ones! That’s life & we have to keep going and stay positive! This month, lets reminisce and share together.”
My first job was, like many others my age, a paper round at age 14. The pay was terrible for the work (if I remember correctly £4.25 a week PLUS a free video from the limited selection in the village shop) however I really enjoyed it. The round itself was easy enough – about 70 houses – which took about 90 minutes by foot and a bit quicker by bike. I remember the weather being generally nice which is strange for North East Scotland so I’ve probably blocked out the months of rain and howling wind.
What I really enjoyed about the job was the thinking time. The process of delivering the papers to the houses quickly became second nature and I just daydreamed my way around it. Much like today I came up with ways to link my learning together (although I probably didn’t actually realise I was doing this), whatever it was at the time. I now know that reflection of my students is one of the most important parts of the learning process. There has to be gaps to reflect both inside and outside of school.
I think that this kind of job is now pretty much obsolete with the increase in digital news consumption and the loss of local village shops to larger supermarkets however I do think that thinking time and reflection remains as important as ever. Italians have the right idea here, with aperitivo time every day where they sit, chat, read and think. It helps that there is often sunshine of course but, speaking as an 18 month resident of Milan, there is a lot more rain, fog and chill than most people realise!
That said, it is beautiful today…
Caffeine Tangent 