Introduction
After 5 weeks of assignment work, time in university and some much needed time off, it was time to get back into teaching again. It’s crazy to think that, as I am writing this, there are only 4 weeks of teaching left and, on my reduced timetable, that leaves just 30 teaching hours! Having a reduced timetable has been both a blessing and a curse. I am loving being able to leave work at school, freeing up my evenings for me – I even went on a run for the first time in just under a year! But, in school hours, I grow to be rather bored – particularly as year 12 have had a study week this week, reducing my contact time even further and meaning I had no tutor this week! Nevertheless, it feels great to be back in a school environment, and even better to be at this school with the delightful English faculty and my lovely students! I’m definitely looking forward to the next few weeks!
Friendly Faces
All throughout P2 and P3, I would find myself getting to the department before a lot of others, so I figured I’ll leave a bit later on my first day, as I don’t have anything to do. I had neglected to check the roads, I came across double roadworks and it was super busy. Nice one. This is so highly unlike me, I take after my mother – always ridiculously early as opposed to later – so this stressed me out no end. I thought I was in the clear… until I realised that I had missed staff briefing. Woops. Commence a few jokes at my expense!
But, other than that, my transition back to school went very smoothly! I bumped into a few of my students as I made my way to the faculty (from a different car park, as I arrived too late for the main car park – the school buses and cars dropping off students were swarming the entrance!) and I ended up having a good chat with one of my 9X5 students, who I (sadly!) won’t be teaching this term. So, despite my late start, I felt uplifted knowing that a few of my students were genuinely happy to see me!
My first lessons observing in 9Y3 and 10X5 were fantastic. It was so lovely being able to be in the classroom with them again, student after student after student told me about how they were happy for me to be back – some even disappointed I wasn’t teaching straight away! It honestly felt amazing – just as good as going back to see all my babies at nursery after being away for a while!
9Y3
My first lesson teaching fell on Thursday, with my year 9s. I was slightly nervous going back – especially as (other than the 25 minutes in the interview) I hadn’t taught anything for 5 weeks. I knew I’d still be able to do teach, I just didn’t know to what standard my teaching would be and, more importantly, how much progress my students would make.
The lesson was the second part to the lesson I had observed on Tuesday – looking at AQA English Language paper 2: question 4. After refreshing their memories about the differences between methods and techniques (I think they finally get it now!) we read a new source about a trip on a slave ship, to compare to the source they read on Monday, about Ellen MacArthur’s world record journey.
The beginning of the lesson went well – my AT observed for the first 10 minutes, commenting on how I couldn’t stop smiling (I’m super lame – I was so excited to be back in the classroom!) and some great discussion was being had about the writer’s perspective and techniques used. Sadly, time got ahead of me and I gave them an example of a top end paragraph, asking them to tell me what makes it good. I totally underestimated how much time would be needed to make this an extremely beneficial task – it would’ve been better used in a lesson where the objectives and outcomes were to do with forming paragraphs, not just getting to grips with the question itself.
I had intended for the class to plan out three paragraphs, using a planning grid, and then write up one paragraph for homework – modelling the first paragraph plan on the board. As time was short, and it took me a while to elicit the sorts of responses I wanted (a couple of my top contributors were off sick!) we only managed to plan together one paragraph – with, essentially, the same ideas as the ‘perfect’ paragraph. I was kinda kicking myself here – it would have been much more useful for them to have a go at planning in this lesson, so I could pick up on anything they were unsure of, and then look at good examples in the following lesson. The last part of my lesson was rushed and it felt like I was back in P1 or 2 again – not adapting my lessons as I need to do. I thoroughly enjoyed being back in the classroom, but I was disappointed in myself for taking such a big step backwards. It’s very easy to say that I’ve had a while off, but I will be in this same situation with completely new classes of my own next September – I need to step up my game!
10X5
I taught my first lesson back with this class this morning, as their usual class teacher was on a training course. I had a cover supervisor in with me for a bit at the start and the end but, again, I was on my own for the majority of the lesson. I had in my head loads of funny comments from members of this class – annoyingly I have forgotten them all… I need to start remembering to write them down straight away!
Anyway, this lesson was all power and conflict poetry revision – a simple starter and plenary with the bulk of the lesson focusing on them creating revision cards. The vast majority of the class worked on this diligently (earning themselves 2 house points!) and some students enjoyed doing this so much, that they asked to take them home to finish! It’s refreshing to see them taking so much care in their work – and also makes me feel great as every student can tell me about most of the poems! (Remembering quotations and AO2 points will be the biggest challenge for this group I feel.)
However, there were the usual boys playing up. I knew this was partly my fault, because I said they could work in groups of their own choice and I should have moved them away from each other straight away. I always find it hard with this class to be rigorously strict, as the more I tell them what to do, the more they don’t do it – and I’m not looking for a confrontation. I said to them that they could talk, as long as the work was getting done.
Whilst I was setting the task, however, they wouldn’t shut up, so I moved them to the front on the warning that they would be split up if they talk over me again. They kicked up a fuss about moving, so I gave them there official ‘warning’. Honestly, I am still confused about how ready to learn works in this school, and I am unsure as to whether I am using the right language with them – they ask me things like ‘does this count as a c1’ and I am at the front unsure – I have seen different teachers do it in different ways and, unlike my first placement school, there doesn’t seem to be a completely clear system about what counts as being ‘not ready to learn’.
I continued to use praise, like I had been doing, and found myself consistently coming back to the group and pointing them in the right direction. I knew they wouldn’t do the work that was expected of the whole class, so I broke it down and told them to try and get at least one thing written down for each poem. Verbally, they were talking through the poems with me (when they weren’t pretending they couldn’t see me and carrying on their lovely conversations!), but I would regular tell them to write something down and come back to find just the one more word written on their page.
However, on the whole, I am proud of this class – their average target grade is a 3, and they remember way more than they thought they would. This class will always prove to be a challenge, but this is why I love doing it. Never a boring day!
I was going to end this section on the previous paragraph but, shortly after writing this in 5th period, one of my amazing students came to find me and give me the revision cards she had finished at lunch time! She was so proud of herself and knowing I had inspired her to work that hard made feel absolutely fantastic! Great start to the weekend! The only downside is that she is the sort of student that works tremendously hard, puts so much effort into her work, but doesn’t make the progress she deserves. Scanning over her work I have noticed she has left a few things out – but at least the majority of the information on their is accurate!
Curriculum Research Assignment
Due to my many, many, free periods, I decided to make a solid start on my final assignment. I have decided to look at the diversity of the KS3 and KS4 English curriculum, focusing on ethnicity and potentially gender (depending on the word count allowance!). There are two reasons behind me doing this: Firstly, I strongly believe that each student should be made to feel welcome in the classroom, no matter what they are leaving behind at home. Secondly, the school I have got a job at are looking at shifting the year 9 curriculum around a bit, focusing on diversity.
I have had a pretty productive week regarding this, completing the majority of research into ethnicity and the curriculum. I am hoping to get the majority of this done before May half term, so I can enjoy my time away! However, this will mean a lot of hard work next week and the week after… particularly as it’s my birthday this weekend and one of my best friends is getting married next weekend!
J
Currently Reading
The Paper Menagerie and other stories– Ken Liu
I have, effectively, abandoned everything else I have been reading to read this. My boyfriend recommended it to me and, as he is about as far from an avid reader as one could possibly get, I was slightly uncertain as to whether I would enjoy it that much. But, since beginning it, I have completely fallen in love. This week I read The Perfect Match and Good Hunting. The first based around the idea of technology taking over, with a virtual assistant, similar to that of Alexa or Siri, and how two peoples relationships change as a result. The second based in China, a completely beautiful story about how the old magic of China has disappeared, bringing along a new magic, again focusing on the relationship between two characters. I won’t say any more than that – don’t want to risk spoilers! But, honestly, each story I have read so far has been remarkably original and a delight to read! In light of my current assignment, I am tempted to work one of these stories into the curriculum!
Much Ado About Teaching 