It’s been a difficult week for my ego. Occasionally, we all encounter tricky teaching situations, and students who make us question our skills and our life choices. At the start of the week, I felt like a rubbish teacher. That’s a problem because a fair chunk of my identity is pinned on being a good one.

For the first few years of my FE career, mates from my showbiz past as a soap actor thought I was either having a breakdown or engaging in immersive method acting. They could not conceive of me choosing this job.

I loved showbiz. I’ve had big nights out with film stars, lost weekends with the cast of several soaps and jetted off to parties in exotic locations. I even had my hen night in the Groucho Club. Nicole Kidman was in. She declined a chocolate penis. Whatevs.

I’m glad I lived that life for a while, but part of that life, whether as an actor or a screenwriter, is about waiting to be picked. I love what I do now, but more importantly, I have some control over it.

As I strolled through the station on my way home from London, I was deep in thought about how to claw back my teaching confidence with a fabulous class. My adult learners in the community are in rehearsals for a performance of Mamma Mia! They encounter daily challenges in their lives, but have thrown themselves into our show with enthusiasm. I couldn’t be prouder or more impressed.

I wanted to somehow connect this film star to my students’ performance of Mamma Mia!

We’ve repeatedly watched bits of the Mamma Mia! movie to get us in the mood. You know the film: it’s the one where Meryl Streep does Abba, while James Bond croaks dad karaoke…Yet it’s brilliant. Most students had already seen the film and loved it.

Anyway, I got in the empty lift to my train’s platform. A bloke dashed in and reached past to push the button, nodding an “excuse me” as he did. It took me a few seconds to register where I knew him from. Then it hit me. It was the Hollywood actor Dominic Cooper, one of the leads in the Mamma Mia! movie.

Bloody ’ell. This was an actual elevator pitch but I wasn’t sure what for. I wanted to somehow connect this real-life film star to my students but I’d never done this before.

I dithered. Could I bring myself to tell this total stranger about our show? How his performance was important to my learners? I conducted a brief dignity audit while dithering a bit more. Then the lift doors opened.

I can’t recall what happened next. All I know is I have a picture on my phone of me grinning like I’ve got a banana wedged in my trap, alongside a patient, knackered bloke on his way home from work. I was mortified but it was worth it. My students were delighted and I have never felt more like a teacher - in a good way.

Sarah Simons works in FE colleges in the East Midlands. @MrsSarahSimons