When do we as teachers, students, workers, textbook-readers, essay-writers, lesson-planners actually have time for hobbies?
The answer is, of course, we don't have enough time for hobbies. I am a teacher by day, student by night and on the days where I am not in a classroom, I am working a part-time job. So on those rare days (like today) where I can sit and relax, I am very thankful!
Although this season of life consists of hard work and little time, I am so very grateful to be here. I had a difficult time getting into this internship and every day I'm in the classroom, I feel that I am passionate and driven to do my best and I absolutely love it; all the effort was so worth it!
Writing used to be my number one hobby. I would write poetry a lot or whenever I was having a rough/stressful day, I would write for hours about my feelings or stories that I would come up with on the spot.
The best advice about writing that I have heard was that there is no such thing as writer's block; you simply write yourself out of it! You start slow by writing things you see (even write about the fact that you are experiencing writer's block) and then you allow your brain time to get creative ideas flowing again.
I feel that writing yourself out of a writer's block is a practice we can use within the classroom because it forces kids to power through difficulties which will help them on tests such as FSA Writing and helps them develop creativity.
I also recently discovered the love of cooking. I have always loved cooking shows, especially anything with Bobby Flay as the chef (since I am sightly in love with him) so I chose to put them into practice one day and I loved it. My favorite dish to make is either home-made Mac & Cheese (Buffalo Chicken Mac or even Sriracha-Bacon-Chicken Mac) or Red Thai Curry.
Here is a list of my favorite hobbies:
- Singing too loud in my car (listening to Hamilton the Musical, Nora Jones, Adele and Frank Sinatra)
- Watching Netflix (Series of Unfortunate Events, Walking Dead, Bates Motel, Bob's Burgers, The Crown, Peaky Blinders, cooking shows)
- Writing stories, personal anecdotes and poetry
- Driving out to the beach really late at night to walk and talk with my friends
- Dancing to music whenever I'm in a silly mood :)
As far as Spring Break goes, I will probably complete all of the things on my hobby list but I don't have any plans thus far! I also enjoy hiking and Zumba so I might fit those in to my Spring Break!
As a future educator, I feel that getting to know your students is of vital importance, therefore a blog post or creative poem/project about who they are might be a very useful for the beginning of the school year!
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI admire that you enjoy Zumba! I literally tried Zumba once and I was TERRIBLE at it. There was absolutely NO WAY I could keep up with everyone in the class. I was completely confused!
I also agree that we don't have time for many hobbies during this semester. I have a pile of books sitting in my room and I literally feel sad when I look at them because I know I probably won't get any free reading time until the semester is up. It'll all be worth it though!
We are juggling so many roles right now it's impossible to keep up. I totally understand where you're coming from and sympathize with you. We'll get through it!
Absolutely we will get through this semester! I completely relate to your unfinished pile of books by your bed (mine is a mile high). :-)
DeleteThis post is super relate able. I can definitely appreciate your lack of hobby time. In those instances when I actually do have free time, most of the time I don't even know what to do. I used to write a lot as well, mostly short stories. Sadly, I spend so much time writing for necessity that I don't often write for fun anymore. "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is next on my Netflix list. My list of shows I need to watch and/or finish is beginning to look like my list of unread books.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the "writing yourself out of writer's block" idea. Usually, I will come up with an idea for a short story or something and write as much as I have time for. Later, when revisiting it, if I get stuck on something I will just start describing a scene or character in as much detail as I can. This will usually result in a bunch of new ideas for that story to pop up or it will spark another idea altogether.
ReplyDeleteHey Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love singing to Frank Sinatra in my car too! He is one of my favorite singers and I think his voice is amazing! Hiking is also one of my favorite hobbies; I love the outdoors, and I feel like hiking relieves so much stress for me.
It is tough to balance what you love to do, working, studying, and teaching. It can be exhausting in fact, my hobby perhaps my first year of teaching was napping. I love how interspersed the images with your text.
ReplyDelete