I think we all get burned out from time to time. This was July (Australian Winter). I was about a year in to my new job and was pretty burnt out. It wasn’t a good place for a soft young teacher like me and I think that’s what this work was about. No matter how much care and support I tried to put in to this place, there was nothing that going to undo the damage of these children’s lives. A lot were really hurting and I was an easy person to take it out on. This is probably the turning point for teaching. This was the moment I realised that my heart was gone out of it. I personally changed after this and saw the rest of the time I spent there as slow decline on a ‘sinking ship’. It was tragic realisation that my career was fucked and no one was going to help me. Instead, I was constantly ‘harpooned’ until I eventually was asked to leave in late 2017. Even though there isn’t much in the picture itself, the story behind this one is of personal pain that still carry even to this day.
Sienna Michelle Armstrong 