2012 Round-Up and Review (Part One)

This has been quite a year. I'm going to offer some of my highs and lows for the year in two posts. This is the non-bookish post - come back on Friday for my Books of the Year.

Communal highs and lows

These are some of the shared experiences that have shaped the year for me:
The London Olympics - who could forget the amazing spectacle laid before us this summer?
(and did you see Carol Ann Duffy's marvellous Olympics poem?)
The GCSE fiasco - the moment that crystallised just how far Gove's department is willing to go in 'proving' the need for systemic change in our curriculum and exams.

My personal year

This, as I said above, has been quite a year. My work pattern has changed considerably in the last twelve months, and I am no longer on the path I was following this time last year.

I started the year as a Faculty Leader in a Sixth Form College, managing a large curriculum area (English, MFL and Law) and struggling to fit writing in around the ever-extending days. I'm finishing the year working on a more flexible basis, combining supply teaching with writing much more successfully. On the one hand, it can be scary to not have a guaranteed (as far as such things ever are) income, but on the other hand, I'm greatly enjoying the opportunities I'm getting in supply to work with different age groups and the choice to work part time or to take a break between teaching placements to focus on writing for a bit. I've been able to take on more writing work than I could previously, to overhaul my website and to set up a facebook feed which points to changes on my site and collects other interesting stuff for English students (and their teachers).

What would your highs and lows of 2012 be? And don't forget to come back on Friday for the Hearthfire 2012 Book Awards!