Thursday, 13 December 2018

Day 7 #5Good2Bad

Wow, a week has gone by since I kicked off this challenge and it seems to be going really well. I have a couple of students that come by and let me know how their day went and I seem to look at each day with a renewed light.

5 Good


  1. Cub leaders meeting - What an amazing bunch of people!
  2. My year 13s getting more complex integration
  3. Realising I am helping a student in real need.
  4. Tutoring a student and seeing the positive impact
  5. Taking about cubs and the transformation in some of the kids that come along

2 Bad

  1. Getting told off for letting my class out 5 minutes early
  2. Getting home too late!

Day 6 #5Good2Bad

Another school day and a reflection that is based on school and home. This challenge has made me look at work-life balance and look for the good in both scenarios. Making me think about the positives is really powerful at changing my outlook on my day and not just focusing on a specific lesson or student that has had either a positive or negative impact!

So here are my

5 Good
  1. Watched one of my favourite films
  2. Had an evening nap
  3. Finished marking a set of papers
  4. Helping more students with this challenge
  5. Making my colleagues laugh

2 Bad
  1. Ridiculously tired - This term needs to end soon!
  2. Not getting through to some of the most disruptive students.

Tuesday, 11 December 2018

Day 5 #5Good2Bad

5 Days in and I am now in a place where it is becoming harder to think about the bad. Spending so much time trying to work on good has had a real impact on me. Today's were really focusing on making me and those around me happy so far more energy is being spent on the good things during the day.

5 Good

  1. Catching up with Friends unexpectedly
  2. Playing cards with the kids
  3. Great lessons all day
  4. Got home early
  5. Arranged a surprise for the lovely Mrs C

2 Bad

  1. Very tired - Not sleeping long enough
  2. Seeing students unhappy!


Monday, 10 December 2018

Day 4 #5Good2Bad

Another weekend day and this is a dramatic change from #Teacher mode to #Dad mode.

5 Good


  1. Refereeing for my sons game really unexpectedly so I was charging around the pitch with my Christmas Jumper on!
  2. Cameron's game ending in a draw after being 2 - 0 at halftime
  3. Isaac's game being another goal fest winning 11-1!
  4. Arranging Christmas Carpool Karaoke with some of my Colleagues
  5. Being sociable with some friends and sharing some Christmas Cheer
2 Bad

  1. Not spending enough individual time with all of my children
  2. Not finishing the Christmas decorations
Weekends are an interesting time to reflect on as it isn't really something that I really do as the weekends are usually spent being dad's taxi taking my children to one place or another for an activity and actually by reflecting I have started to think about how to make the rest of the weekend a far better experience with my children. So yesterday evening, I put a good Christmas film on and let the kids sit in front of the TV eating pizza and watching a film. We never normally eat in front of the TV but this was a great treat for us all.

Saturday, 8 December 2018

Day 3 #5Good2Bad

Being the weekend is a whole different dynamic.
Instead of being in the classroom now it is family time and this is a whole different reflective insight. I guess though this feeds into a different type of wellbeing and it all fits into our mental health. The difficulty at home is not dwelling on the times today when parenting skills have not gone the way I wanted but to focus on what was still on the most part a positive day.

To the Challenge:

5 Good

  1. Lay in! Wow a full 7 hours sleep
  2. Helped my eldest finish his delivery round for this month
  3. Took my boys crossbow shooting
  4. Helped my Dad with a couple of jobs
  5. Cooked a lovely dinner 
2 Bad
  1. Bedtime routine went very south
  2. Got cross about my children's amount of screen time!
It is really easy to focus on the bad bits especially when it lands at the end of the day, which is really sad as for the most part of today, apart from trying to get my children off their devices, has been a really enjoyable day!

Day 2 #5Good2Bad Daily Challenge

Today was a mixed bag but I am going to stick with my plan of 5 good things and only 2 bad.

5 Good

  1. Made some Cool Pompoms and taught some students how to make them
  2. Found my missing puzzle piece!
  3. Good teaching day with engaged students
  4. All of my students were compliant today
  5. Made most of my students smile today
2 Bad

  1. Had a difficult conversation with a colleague
  2. Got kicked in both legs playing football.

I hope that if you decide to join me and reflect on your own day you do the 5 Good things first rather than pick the 2 bad and start with them.

Let me know if you do and don't forget to tweet #5Good2Bad

Friday, 7 December 2018

Day 1 of The #5Good2Bad Daily Challenge


The last few weeks have had me in a bit of a tailspin of doom. I have felt under pressure professional and not been able to see the positives at work. This nearly stopped me coming to work but I am one of these resilient people that no matter how annoyed or grumpy I am I always feel the need to do the right thing. I also had a student also tell me about the troubles they are having so I came up with this challenge.

Rules are simple:-
5 Good things that have happened during the day and 2 bad.

My Rationale is that by being made to think about 5 good things it shows you that today was good and only having 2 bad means that there is a space to reflect on them but not take up too much space.

So Day 1 of the Challenge was yesterday.

5 Good

  1. Great crafting evening with my Cubs Group
  2. Helping a Student that really needs it
  3. Learnt how to make pom-poms - never done it before
  4. Finished Christmas Cards for Children's Ward
  5. Had an amazing lesson with my year 9s
2 Bad

  1. Finding out one of my students is in real need of help
  2. The realisation that I can't fix everything.

I also reflected on compliments as I don't think I am as good at accepting them as I thought I was. We are not very good at accepting things at face value and instead of trying to diminish them. I have been really guilty of that but yesterday so many people paid me compliments in various forms, your a good teacher, you obviously have a caring nature, I feel that I can talk to you, have made me reflect on the good that people try and share but sometimes we don't listen straight off the bat.

If you join in this challenge then share on twitter or in the comments
#5good2bad