Kate Bohdanowicz

I start teaching tomorrow. The thought scares me. It’s not specifically the teaching or the students - it’s the idea of once more diving into the unknown.

Until I left the newspaper last July, I’d spent years in the same job. It wasn’t that it was easy (anyone who works in newspapers will tell you it’s not easy as such, although it is fast-paced and buzzy). But I felt comfortable - I knew what I was doing and I liked my colleagues. I felt in control basically.

Then I left all that and trained to be a teacher. I had to learn a million new things in an alien-working environment with people I didn’t know. I’d never worked with teenagers. I didn’t understand what they meant when they said ‘that’s peak’. Now I do. I thought that as they were in college they wanted to be there and would be interested in what I had to say. Yeah right. I’ll laugh about that one day. Right now it’s a bit raw.

As part of my training I also had to return to university; to lectures and essay writing which I hadn’t done for almost 20 years. If you’re interested, I wrote a piece for the Times Education Supplement on the shock of the PGCE here.

Yesterday, due to staff shortages, I went back to my former newspaper and did a job I’d never done before. I was nervous but thinking on your feet is exciting and now I’ve done it once, I’ll definitely do it again.

I’m a big believer in moving on and trying new things. Taking on challenges, blah blah. All that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger baloney. That doesn’t mean I’m not scared stiff about tomorrow though. Wish me luck.  

SEO stuff - Journalist, teacher, author. Yeah.