Ah, small talk. Do you remember it? It was the oil that eased the hundreds of interactions we would have in any given school day. It was how we made every pupil feel valued, how we kept on good terms with all our colleagues and how we did our best to build bridges with parents.

And then it all ended. Whether you were working in school during lockdown or teaching from home, small talk would have largely disappeared from your daily routine. And, unfortunately, that will mean you are out of practice as we all return in September.

So, what might that lead to in those first few weeks of school? I can sum it up in three words: awkwardness, aggression and fatigue.

The reason for this is cognitive overload: our brains will be spending much more effort traversing the multiple stimuli that a school day throws at us.

That means we won’t be able to automate as much as we would like to, and more cognitive effort will need to go into mundane tasks such as small talk.

We will be tired. The effort of all that chat will sap your energy reserves. We will be grumpy: clear links have been made between fatigue and heightened emotional responses. And we will make things awkward: unable to fully keep a grip on a conversation, we will likely say “yes” when we meant “no”, or agree when we definitely shouldn’t have.

So what are the options? Well, it depends on how far you want to be an accepted member of the team. You could just blank everyone who tries to talk to you but, while you’d avoid awkward conversations in the short term, you would just be creating awkward relationships instead.

Or you could do the parent thing and only half listen while muttering “yes”, “oh really” and “not today”, at well-spaced intervals. But you may suddenly find yourself manning Year 9 PSHE post-lunchtime and doing bus duty with no clue how you got there.

I would take a different approach. Honestly, everyone is going to be in the same boat and pulling together as a team is what teachers do best. So find some time in the first week to socialise in a socially distanced way with your closest colleagues.

If your brain can’t take it, tell them you need a talk break. If you say something stupid because your social filter is off kilter, say sorry and move on. And if someone is really angry at you for saying the awkward thing, just remind them to stay 2 metres away from you at all times.

Yes, small talk can be annoying and, in September, it may be riddled with booby traps, but teamwork in teaching should be our top priority. And that is something worth talking about.

Gemma Corby is a Sendco and freelance writer

This article originally appeared in the 4 September 2020 issue under the headline “Remastering the rusty art of conversation”