So…. I have started this post at least four times over the past couple of months, but things just kept getting in the way! School related stuff, like planning, marking etc; socialising (I actually maintained my social life this term to an extent! I know, shock!); and most importantly spending time with my better half… we have now moved in together and are relishing every moment. This has also been amplified by the sheer exhaustion that is definitely more of a personality trait than a feeling!
I have decided to write two blog posts about the first term. This first one is going to be about strategies I have put in place that have worked for me this term, and the second one will be more focused on my classes and teaching and learning.
The first thing I would like to state is not only have I made it through my first term as an NQT, but I have loved (nearly) every second of it! After having a significant amount of low points (well hidden) last year, I was completely anxious about starting in September – mainly because the move from PGCE to NQT means a complete shift in responsibility and suddenly I was acutely aware that all these students will be dependant on me and me alone! I am still waiting for that overwhelming moment where I am consumed with doubt, stress or failure – it hasn’t hit yet and I am calling that a win!
One of the main things to help me this year, is to make sure I am prioritising myself. It is so much easier working on my time and not having to wait for another teacher to hear my ideas – if I want to go off the scheme of work slightly then I do! I have been giving myself the equivalent of two days off a week minimum. As much as I could live and breathe teaching, I am very aware that that is not healthy – it is necessary to have a life outside of school! One of my lovely colleagues has invited me down to the yard on Tuesdays after school, and it has been so therapeutic being able to spend some time around horses – something that I have not done for a very long time! Having something booked in every week as helped me focus and get my work done, so I don’t miss out on the fun!
Using the shared resources more is something that has also been ridiculously helpful. My planning time has been halved – there were so many boxes to tick last year, it often felt like all I was doing was ‘reinventing the wheel’ – even though that is what we were told not to do! I have contributed the odd idea to the department, but in using what is already there, I have saved myself a lot of valuable time. Marking has also taken up less time. I have managed to work out what I am marking and when so that I don’t have a lot to do in one go – I have even left myself with none for the half term which is a complete blessing.
But, finally, the main thing that has been helping me is the support I have around me. As mentioned earlier, I have recently moved in with my partner and he has gone above and beyond to make sure that I have a stress free life… well as stress free as it can be! He is so good to me and I am very fortunate… I know that he is definitely value added to my mental wellbeing staying in the positive! The other big support system is the school I am at, specifically the fantastic English department. I have got a lot of amazing friends in some brilliant teachers, that have let me observe them, shared resources with me and above all, let me know that everything I am feeling is normal! It is normal to have a class that drive you insane, it is normal to get annoyed by teenagers, it is normal to feel overwhelmed at times, it is normal to have to scrap your original lesson because the students aren’t making progress. They always have something positive to say to me and I will be forever grateful for their help both now and in my first placement.
Finished reading
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu
Jack the Ripper – Paul Rigg& John Bennett
Macbeth – William Shakespeare
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor – Adam Kay
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeymoon
I knew in my heart of hearts that my two months off would go quickly, but that didn’t stop the sheer panic I felt Sunday evening, knowing I would be starting a new job the following day. As I worked at this school during my first placement, I was grateful that I already knew the team fairly well – I had spent a few hours catching up with one of the lovely ladies on Sunday (she was incredible at calming my nerves… so thanks if you’re reading this!) and I knew I couldn’t do anything else to prepare for the job as I did not have my timetable yet.
Luckily we had an inset day Monday, so I was able to ease myself in. In all honesty, I was completely terrified and felt totally overwhelmed. I knew not much would go in so I thought I would be kind to myself and not give myself any more work than necessary! I found out I am going to be a tutor for a year 7 group, which is super exciting as I will get to experience helping out the newbies and hopefully become their first port of call over the year!
The one thing I knew I was going to have to get a grip on straight away was my own wellbeing. I have a tendency to throw myself completely into my work and think about the consequences of my own feelings later… which proved tricky last year. I am a workaholic but I know I’m going to need to try and minimise the amount of work I do at home (for my partner’s sake just as much as mine!). This week I have combated the anxiety by taking everything a day at a time and making sure I am not ‘reinventing the wheel’ by making use of the faculty’s amazing resources (my partner can vouch for how excited I get when I am looking through lessons on the shared area ).
I am also going to try and limit the amount of time I spend blogging – there were a few occasions last year when I spent well over an hour, because I was avoiding doing anything else. So I am going to trial just thinking about what has gone brilliantly and what I want to make a priority next week. I am hoping these small steps will help me to have a positive outlook on the week and give me focus for the next. There will be no doubt the odd funny anecdote included too… I have got a few um…. interesting characters in my classes that have had me in hysterics.
Things to celebrate
This week I have made a good start in building good relationships with my classes. My year 10 and year 11s are a tad painfully quiet at times, but I’ve got them working hard already so that’s fantastic. They were the two classes I was most nervous about, with the looming GCSEs in the summer. My year 10 this year couldn’t be further from my bottom set I had in my final placements last year, but I have a feeling I am going to like them just as much. My year 8 and year 7 classes are completely bonkers… which I love, but may become challenging at times. I also survived my first time on duty… which was on the first day the students were here!
I am also proud of how I have been dealing with the work load – I’ve even made sure I have time to do a bit of yoga and jogging this week (let’s see how long that lasts)! As I said earlier, the faculty is AMAZING and I know I could ask anyone anything and they will help me out with anything I need…no matter how ridiculous the question! The support I have there is the main reason I was so ecstatic to accept the job there. Most importantly the lovely head of department (who obviously has loads on her plate without adding me to it!) is my NQT mentor and I couldn’t ask for a better mentor. She helped me out a ridiculous amount last year, so I am looking forward to having her help me out this year too!
Things to focus on
During my first NQT meeting with my mentor, we discussed the targets we should make for me in my first term. The two main things that came out of our conversation were getting used to the KS3 curriculum, including how grading works, and becoming ‘warm but strict’ (she picked up on the fact that I can be a bit soft at times and I need to ensure I am using the behaviour policy correctly and effectively). As it is still early days, I am going to focus on RtL next week, hopefully getting to learn more of their names in the process (honestly makes RtL MUCH easier to use). In particular, I want to work on my year 7 group. I’ve only taught them once, but they were an extremely lively group and I need to ensure standards are set well, as they will be mixed up in the next few weeks and we will have slightly different groups.
I am also intending to continue to organise my classroom – note to self, bring my folders into school!!! – and I would like to have a look through at least the year 10 and 11’s books mid week.
The most entertaining job…
I’ve had a couple of face palm moments this week (often things I do or say oops). But here are a couple of great moments from my classroom this week…
Year 8
(Written on the board is the class’ definition of a ballad starting with ‘A ballad is…’
Me: Do we all think this is a good enough definition? Does anyone think we should add anything or change anything?
Student: Me! I think we should…. oh wait I’ve forgotten……………… OH! Yes we should put at the end ‘and it is a ballad’.
Tutor group
(I had been explaining the ready to learn behaviour system)
Year 7 student: Had this been checked out by a psychiatrist? Us year 7s have enough stress to deal with without having to worry about being in isolation…
Safe to say I reassured him that many schools were using ready to learn and that if he was concerned, maybe he should simply follow the school rules and not end up there.
Anyway, I have finished the week on a high – I am truly loving teaching Macbeth (the text I was most worried about teaching) and I am feeling more confident now I have met most of my students. Bring on next week!
Currently reading
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu (This is the book I will be reading during ‘drop everything and read’ at school!)
Jack the Ripper – Paul Rigg& John Bennett
Macbeth – William Shakespeare (Obvious reasons)
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor – Adam Kay
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeymoon (Finally… late to the party with this one, I know!)
Another whirlwind week has gone by and I can’t believe that there are only 3 more weeks left in this placement! We had another university day on Friday, cutting our week short, so this blog will be less about the teaching and more about the other parts of my week!
EPS Presentation
I’ve finally done it and it went really well! All my feedback was lovely, so fingers crossed I’ve passed! It feels amazing to have gotten it over and done with, luckily, I didn’t go my standard shade of maroon (it’s happened with pretty much every other presentation I have ever done. The one thing I find most interesting about this is that I was a million times more nervous presenting to a group of 4 adults than I am for 32 students (or less!). I knew my project inside out – better than some of the lessons I have whipped together! But somehow, I still got super shaky, living through the ‘flight not fight’ response.
World Book Day
After spending around a decade working with under 5s, it was definitely super exciting for me to dress up as one of my all-time favourite characters – Katniss Everdeen! (I nearly went Harry Potter, but felt that it’s a bit over-done). It was the easiest costume ever and I was super comfy all day… unlike some of my colleagues; my AT dressed as ‘sandman’ (had a big coat and a gas mask on) and another English teacher dressed as Mrs Havisham and looked absolutely fantastic!
I also made sure to do something World Book Day related in tutor time… only 2 students put their hands up to say they read regularly! Slightly disheartening, but not unexpected in a Netflix and social media dominating society. (I also think some of them read more often but were ‘too cool’ to admit to it.
Having all the teacher’s dress up is so simple but so effective. The school was buzzing with chatter about different books; students and staff alike guessing who was dressed as who, stimulating talk about favourite books and books we want to read. Simply magical.
Recall Day
We were back at university for another recall day on Friday, having an in-depth discussion about the old KS1 SATS and how it has impacted the way our current students feel about reading. We also got a chance to split up into groups with people at a similar stage in the curriculum practice assignment and then had a lecture about how, why and how our students should approach reading. It was super interesting and made me think about using a class novel – how much should I tell my students and how much should I get them to come up with?
I have done my best to ensure that my classrooms are a safe place, emphasising the importance of alternate opinions, both validating and expressing excitement at the more ‘out there’ suggestions. The idea that students feel like there is a ‘right or wrong’ answer to literature is definitely salient in the school I am at – most of my students (KS3,4 &5 alike) often start their sentences saying, ‘I’m not sure if this is right, but…’ and variations of this. I hate that this probably means that, at some point in their school careers, someone has shut down their opinions, saying it is wrong.
Reimagining the Diary
Unusually, I am writing this on a Saturday instead of a Friday, mainly to mention this! My university tutor is undertaking research into keeping a diary to help teacher wellbeing, inviting the PGCE English cohort along to the launch event. I was the only student attending and, when I found this out on the Friday, I very nearly changed my mind and didn’t attend.
I am so glad I didn’t change my mind. The session was both empowering and inspirational. The children’s author Mimi Thebo came and we did a workshop on diary writing, with the emphasis of staying in the body for an enlightening experience as a writer. She said that in every one of us is a poet (creative, playful, getting words down on a page and not worrying about anything being right or wrong) and an editor (focusing on the rules of the English language as we know it, making sure our work is grammatically correct and is as good as it can possibly be) and great writers have poets and editors that work in harmony with one another.
I won’t go into detail about the workshop, but I will just say that it was completely and utterly transformative for me; I aspire to be a children’s author one day myself – a fact not many people know about me – but I never find the time to commit to doing this. Seeing Mimi and hearing her astounding work (I ordered Dreaming the Bearon Amazon Prime there and then… will be beginning it as soon as it comes tomorrow!) as well as hearing her talk about how busy her life is, yet how she ensures she starts the day by doing at least 45 minutes of writing – just by cutting out some of the less important day to day activities.
As part of this research, we have been asked to keep a diary; writing every day for at least a week. I have regularly kept (and promptly stopped for one reason or another) diaries all throughout my life for as long as I can remember! I am an extremely nostalgic person and love having diary entries, photos and videos to look back on. I am excited to see if I truly find writing on a busy week day as therapeutic as I do when I have designated time for a workshop on a Saturday – or doing this blog once a week!
J
Currently Reading:
Bleak House – Charles Dickens
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Split Second – Sophie McKenzie
This book was rather odd – I cynically couldn’t put it down. The characters were ridiculously annoying and naïve, and it was the most ridiculously predictable plot with the worst possible ending – it was no Girl, Missing! However, it poses some interesting questions about radicalisation and is a stark reminder about how vulnerable children are at risk of getting involved with things they don’t understand – quite topical at the moment!
This week, I had an epiphany. This epiphany was that I can teach. I am a teacher.
No matter what happens next, with review point 2 and my PT observing me next week, I can sleep soundly knowing that when my students come into the lesson, they will leave it having learned something (the vast majority of the time!).
This epiphany has been a milestone in my PGCE career. I am no longer stressing about every little target and are looking at them as the stepping stones to make me the best teacher I can possibly be.
I want to be the best teacher I can possibly be.
So, with that in mind, I am as determined as ever to continue what I am doing, but to also let myself appreciate other things that are important in life. It was one of my friend’s birthdays this week, so I have allowed myself to have two evenings off (crazy I know) and dedicate my time to her. Yes, the work load is never ending. Yes, sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in things I need to get done. Yes, the stress that I am not working when I feel like I should be working 24/7 is never going to go away. BUT, I have been working on focusing on what I need to do to keep myself sane. Regardless of these epiphanies, I’ve been feeling more down than up this week and I can’t seem to pinpoint why. This next step in building my career is to make sure that it is manageable for me, and I don’t isolate myself in an infinite prison of work. I can be a good teacher and maintain good mental health – it’s just going to take a bit of time to work out how to harmonise the details.
Bottom set year 10, period 5, teaching tissue – so why the LOG?
Picture this….
‘Tissue’ by Imtiaz Dharker. Stunning, thought-provoking and inspirational, yet completely, utterly and astoundingly difficult to grasp. I have spoken to some teachers who still say they have no idea what Dharker was trying to achieve with this poem. Every English teacher I have spoken to has said this is, generally, the hardest poem to teach; the hardest poem for students to get their head around.
Tuesday, period 5. The end of the day, just had a break for lunch, concentration levels are low. The week is still new, there is more left of the week than done.
Year 10. Bottom set. Concentration levels aren’t best on the whole, throw something challenging in the mix and they don’t always appreciate it.
So why, why WHY did I decide to make this an officially observed lesson by my AT? He doesn’t know the class, but is obviously familiar with the lesson context, mentioned previously. (This was definitely a blessing in hindsight.) I was stressed beyond imagination about this lesson. One of my lovely colleagues said to me something along the lines of if you nail it, you’re a fantastic teacher. If you mess it up, you’re just like the rest of us – this made it feel more manageable but didn’t stop my nerves. Did I mention that I had already started Tissue the day before, it didn’t go overly that well and this is why it was moved to this lesson?
However, despite the over the top anxiety, the lesson couldn’t have gone better! (Actually, it definitely could have for reasons I will explain in due course… but in comparison to my expectations, it was the best it could’ve been!) The students were actually able to prove they understood (on a basic level) the poem and seemed to make progress in how they structure and write their ‘PEAL’ paragraphs (I mean we’ll see if they remember everything for the end of unit assessment, which will most likely be after half term!)
I also managed to tick off one of my targets – adapting the lesson as I go to meet the needs of pupils. I had a little… moment of human error. I may have been too prepared for the lesson, printing off the resources before checking them properly. I had typed up the paragraph we wrote together the lesson before, with the intention to have them underline where we would have met the assessment objectives. I then had another model paragraph ready, cut up so they could piece it back together. Turns out I had used the same paragraph for both activities, making the latter redundant… not my smartest move! However, I felt it was important to be completely honest with my students. They are all aware that I am a trainee teacher, and I feel that they empathise with me and – dare I say it – like me more because of my honesty with them. By treating them with the respect, on the whole, they have been completely respectful to me back. I like the idea that by showing them that I make mistakes, it makes it ok for them to make mistakes too – and that’s important.
After the lesson, I felt elated and relieved. However, the stress has come right back around again…. My PT is observing me with this class again on Tuesday. She is a deputy head, so hopefully they will behave… they definitely had ‘wind syndrome’ today, so I wouldn’t want a repeat of that!
Impostor syndrome strikes again
One of the things that I can’t seem to stop thinking about is how other teachers feel about my teaching. Every teacher seems to have their own personal list about what makes a good lesson, and they only seem to vaguely overlap with main ideas. This leads to me getting very varied feedback and can be completely confusing at times.
The one thing I find particularly hard to deal with, is when teacher’s interrupt my teaching to make a comment to the class. I know it is meant with the best intentions, and I am also completely aware that this is their class, and they are ultimately responsible for their progress – I am a complete risk in the eyes of education.
One moment that has particularly stuck with me this week, was when I was doing a preparation for the end of unit assessment. They were due to plan their assessment with their class teacher on Wednesday, as my PT meetings clash with that lesson, and she has taught travel writing many times before, and has a really clear idea about what she expects. Now, I knew that the students were going to write a piece of travel writing to entertain. We had looked at writing to inform and to persuade as well, and as a result used their ‘FASTER CARS’ acronym for what to include in persuasive writing.
I was taking general feedback about what makes good travel writing. I have been working on how to give students ownership over success criteria and, after spending a lot of time having to shut students down because it isn’t what I want them to come up with, I have found the easiest way to do this is to write down everyone’s answers and then come up with a final list. One of my higher ability students suggested FASTER CARS, and I added it to the board. In my head, I thought ‘great, a lovely little afl piece I can use later, asking them why we wouldn’t include this if we were writing to entertain’. Whilst I was writing this on the board, the class teacher addressed the class, completely shutting down the idea and explaining why that wasn’t going to be the case.
I know exactly why she did it, it just felt awful at the time. I felt completely undermined, more so because she didn’t give me a chance to see what I might’ve done with that information, or even catch my eye to see if it was ok to address the class. Moments like this throw my confidence and make me feel like just a trainee. I know it might sound silly because that is, in fact, what I am. But the majority of the time, as mentioned in my introduction, I do feel like a teacher. It’s just those moments that make me question my role in the classroom. Why am I doing this? Why am I humiliating myself?
Finishing travel writing….
On a slightly better note, I swiftly moved on from that moment and the students wrote their assessments on Thursday. They worked so hard! I have started marking them, based on the English Language Paper 1 Q5 mark scheme and grade boundaries and, so far, everyone has been on or above their target grade! It is such an amazing feeling!
… and starting 19thCentury Prose round 2
So, after finishing travel writing, which has definitely been my favourite SOW to teach, it was time to move on to 19thcentury prose. I recycled the introduction lesson, playing the Dickens’ game and research. It was a complete dream planning the second time round – I already had an idea of how to improve my planning, resources and teaching.
This was the sheet I used last time, for the research project:
They also had to find 10 more fascinating facts for homework and print out any pictures they want to use on their posters.
I found that some of this research was not directly relevant to the texts we study, and that it could be more useful to focus on gender and class, as opposed to London. Moreover, I had them take a page in their books and draw their own grid, with the intentions of having it filled in by the end of the lesson. I found that a lot of students spent nearly as long drawing and perfecting the grid than they did actually researching, and that a lot of them didn’t get at least 5 facts in each section – which was my minimum aim.
This is the new resource I created:
I figured that if they had a print out of the sheet, they would be able to take it home to finish off for homework (a fantastic motivating factor!). I also added to this homework, by telling them to find 5 fascinating facts about Bleak House. I am hoping that this will help them to have an idea about what the mammoth novel is about, before approaching it with them next week.
My hard work paid off – this was definitely an easier way to do the research! I also asked them to pair up and split the research, as we didn’t have as much time as I would’ve liked (Friday timings are slightly shorter and I was in a year 10 assembly that ran on for an extra 5 minutes = 10 minutes of lesson time gone… plus we had to actually get to the computer room!). The majority got at least 15 points down, and they worked well together to finish off their research… although they will be dismayed when they see I have put them in different groups on Monday!
J
Currently Reading:
The Eolian Harp & Kubla Khan – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Kubla Khan is now one of my favourite poems. It is a unique poem, interweaving the ‘sublime’ with the exotic, creating a beautiful Romantic masterpiece.
Bleak House – Charles Dickens
Animal Farm – George Orwell
A Monster Calls –Patrick Ness
More than one tear was shed in the reading of this book – cancer being an illness very close to my heart. I loved reading about a boy struggling with accepting his Mum’s inevitable death. A very accessible book, an easy read but a sensitive topic… may not be suitable for all students!
It would be apt to describe this weekend as a rollercoaster – not the cheesy metaphor suggesting that there have been a lot of highs and lows – but more to describe the sheer elation that this week has brought along with it!
Most importantly, I did not have a low point at all this week! Yes, I have felt tired, completely overwhelmed and have been worrying about whether or not the students have met any of my learning objectives at all… but I have not felt consumed by panic and anxiety – a first for me!
As well as this, my AT has agreed with me that I will be starting to be alone in the classroom with the year 9s we share, I have shared a few resources that are being used with the faculty (one of them being an important literacy focus sheet that all year 9s will be sticking in their books for as long as they teach the 19thcentury unit!) and Friday brought two massive highs: a fantastic UT visit and finding out I have got a distinction in my first EPS assignment.
So, all around, I am very happy! Now, I know a few people may be thinking that I am boasting about my good fortune. This is not the case – the main reason I am writing this down and sharing it on the internet is that will undoubtedly need a reminder of how good teaching can feel at some point over the next few months – (probably on multiple occasions!). So, anyone reading this that knows me…. When this inevitably happens point me in this direction!!
Alone in the classroom
My AT had popped out a few times last week, never for longer than a few minutes. The first time this happened I completely had an internal freak out – what will I do without my safety blanket? How will I know if I am completely failing these amazing students in front of me?!
So, when he had the conversation with me about him dropping his presence in the classroom to one lesson a week, I had a tangle of conflicting emotions: my AT actually thinks I am a competent enough teacher to be left alone – I must be doing great! Versus AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!
However, when the time came for me to be left alone for the majority of the lesson, I couldn’t have loved it more! It really felt like they were finally my own class; I’m not just borrowing them for a bit here and there – I am their official, real, true-life teacher for these two schemes of work. It felt amazing. I could feel myself oozing with confidence and this worked wonders in engaging my learners. I am so excited for the next few weeks, finishing off 19thcentury prose with them!
On a side note, one of my highlights this week was reading a section of Bleak House with my year 9s. I had one boy reading as Jo, a cockney, very poor and young street sweeper, and another boy reading as Lady Dedlock, a very wealthy, fashionable lady. They completely nailed the parts and it was an absolute pleasure to witness! It was definitely one of those that-is-why-I-have-gone-into-teaching moments! J
Rising Star – 6thform helper!
It is worth pointing out here that I will not be completely alone for 3 of my lessons a fortnight – I will be having a ‘rising star’ in with me. The rising stars programme is for sixth form students looking to put something extra on their CVs/ personal statements – they pick the subject they are interested in and work as a kind of TA in the class.
Boy does this take me back! The whole reason I am an English teacher is because my incredible A-Level teacher took me under her wing and allowed me to help out in a few of her classes. I can honestly say that without that experience, I would not be where I am now. She completely inspired me and made me feel as if I was good enough to make a difference in other people’s lives, and it is an experience that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
And now I am standing in front of a class of students, with the opportunity to do the same to my rising star…. And I am not even qualified yet! This student is also in both of the year 12 classes I will be teaching, and he even asked me excitedly if I would be taking their classes soon! I am completely keen to get him helping out as much as he feels comfortable with – I gave him a particularly difficult passage form Bleak House to read and he nailed it! Very proud already… and very excited to hopefully inspire him as Mrs M inspired me!
EPS assignment 2
As mentioned before, today I found out my last assignment achieved a distinction, which I am completely over the moon! The main area of improvement I had was to write more on how this will impact my own practice, so that is something I will keep in mind for my next assignments.
But for now, this is done and dusted, and it is now time to face forward to ensure that I do not let my standards drop – something that is a very real possibility, considering the difference in workload on this placement, and something that I plan on being completely honest about! In monitoring my work ethic in this way, I hope to be able to pinpoint any reasons as to why I perform in a certain way – I like lists and organisation… this worked in my undergrad and will hopefully work for me again this year!
As I believe I have mentioned previously, I will be looking at high achieving sixth form students and how feedback can be used to aid pupil progression. This assignment is pass/ fail – not at masters level – thus the stakes are much lower, so I feel way more comfortable about taking my time with it, prioritising my lesson plans. Although, saying this, I plan to get the majority of my reading done by this week, and begin to look at pinning some teachers down to interview in the near future! The only thing I am worried about, is that the research will be boring or will not be of any use to anyone. Feedback, in my opinion, is one of the most important things in teaching, and I want to be able to give my learners, present and future, every opportunity I can to achieve and even surpass their target grades.
University Tutor Visit
It felt pretty surreal to have my UT observing me so soon into P2 – that is, until I realised that we are actually half way through P2 now! (Pretty scary when I think about the amount of work I need to cover with my classes before their end of unit assessments!)
Friday timings are slightly different in this school, as they have extended tutor time, and I had already agreed to take the tutor session before my UT timetabled our observations. I had a few stressful thoughts – there are a lot of lovely students in my tutor group (year 10s) but they are probably the least engaged class I have worked with so far and will constantly chat throughout any of the sessions. I am a little unsure as to whether planned tutor sessions for every tutor is fair to the students – I have many fond memories of tutor time just being a bit of fun – light relief from the heavy work load placed on secondary school students! Obviously, there are some issues to cover, but surely it should be down to the tutor to decide when and how they deliver the topics?
That being said, the session I delivered today was ridiculously interesting! So much so that the class was completely engaged, and nearly all the chatter in the class was about the topic! Very exciting to me – especially with my UT watching! We had a look at algorithms, self-driving cars and thought experiments (much to many of my tutees’ delight, we watched this clip from The Good Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWb_svTrcOg) Following this, we had many interesting discussions about ethics and whether it is right to prioritise ourselves or our loved ones instead of thinking about the ‘greater good’.
I’m not going to lie… the nervous sweats had started before then and they weren’t letting up for my year 9 lesson I was being formally observed in! To have both my university tutor and head of English in with me – and me wanting to impress both of them! – was a little too much for my stress levels to deal with rationally! But, much to my relief, the feedback I had was completely fantastic, and I am still aiming for the ‘very good’ teacher pen profile – a realistic target for me, which is good to know!
I think part of my success today was down to my subject knowledge – I taught a lesson where my students wrote a piece of travel writing about Fiji. Those who know me, are aware that Fiji is my favourite country in the whole world, and I hold it very dear to my heart as my beloved grandparents lived there for 3 years. Being able to tell my class little anecdotes – even having one of my students (usually too ‘cool’ to appear interested in anything I say) putting her hand up to ask in awe “Wait, miss have you actually been here?!” – felt completely amazing.
What was even more amazing was marking their work this evening. These students who have never set foot in Fiji – some of them had never even heard of Fiji – have convincingly written about ‘Kava’ and ‘Fiji time’. I can’t even put into words how proud I am on them… I can’t wait to tell them on Tuesday! And, even more importantly, I believe I am doing my grandparents proud, following in their footsteps with both Fiji and teaching!
J
Currently Reading:
Poppies– Jane Weir
Another one of the anthology poems! Again, I have found I really enjoyed this poem – even more excitingly for me, one of my bottom set students gave a beautiful explanation as to why we wear poppies (even referencing In Flanders Fields!).
The Importance of Being Ernest – Oscar Wilde
I have finally finished this play! Again, I am obsessed with it – I love Wilde’s works! The twist at the end was completely fantastic and I am tempted to do some extra reading around it, to see if any contextual factors influence my reading of it! I will definitely be reading some more Wilde in the near future, however, for now, I feel as if I should move to reading something maybe more contemporary?
Bleak House– Charles Dickens
Still persevering with this epic novel! I am enjoying it and, the more my AT explains little parts of it, the more I am truly appreciating Dickens’ genius!
Girlhood– Cat Clarke
I always find YA fiction easy to read – in some ways it is more addictive than some of the other genres I read, as they are often very accessible and easy to read, as well as including gripping plots. This was no exception.
Girlhoodfollows the protagonist, Harper, who goes to a private boarding school as her family won the lottery – the day her twin sister dies. It is a story about friendship, mental health issues and family. It is definitely more for older teenagers to read, there are a lot of mature themes to deal with, as well as (as far as I remember – could be wrong!) some coarse language. Nevertheless, there are a few interesting twists – predictable, but enjoyable all the same!
So, this week has been significantly more intense than last week. I have classically gone and done what I always do; agree to take too much on. At the beginning of the week, I agreed to go and talk to the Ofsted inspectors for university, which not only but a halt on my planning time, but also meant I had to rearrange my PT meeting this week. On top of this, I had my university tutor come to observe me on Tuesday afternoon and, despite her being so lovely, I found myself getting unnecessarily nervous for this. So, let’s just say the stress was ramped up a level and I ended up breaking down a bit on Wednesday. However, my lessons on Thursday and Friday proved to be a million times better and I have started the weekend with a new instilled confidence in myself.
Ofsted Round 2
Not long after getting an email, about Ofsted coming to carry out the second half of the university’s inspection, the course leaders sent another email around asking for volunteers to come and speak to the lead inspector. As I had a free in period 5, I offered to come into university, which meant that I sacrificed my planning time, to speak to Ofsted.
Obviously, I am not sure what the outcome is, but the inspector seemed very happy with what we were telling him about the course… fingers crossed to stay outstanding!
University Tutor Visit
As previously mentioned, I was a complete nervous wreck thinking about the university tutor’s visit; I didn’t know what to expect and had no idea how the class would react to my lesson – after the supply teacher incident, my confidence was knocked with this class.
My lesson was the third lesson on Shakespeare sonnets; we focused on the meaning of sonnet 18 and began to compare it to the beginning of sonnet 130. I managed to ensure that every child had contributed verbally, at least once, during the lesson, thanks to my handy ‘good names’ list on the board. I have to say; a lot of credit goes to my gorgeous year 7s… they worked so diligently and had some fantastic comments – I am continuously and regularly very proud to be teaching them!
It didn’t take long for the nerves to wear off to be fair, I got into the swing of the lesson pretty quickly and my confidence grows every time I teach something, and they prove to me in the plenary they have understood it.
I had a meeting with my UT and AT after this lesson and they both had super nice things to say. We worked through my targets for the rest of placement one and my UT noted that, if I gather enough evidence, it seems as if I am teaching at a ‘very good’ standard; for those of you not familiar with PGCE talk, this is the highest you can be. It’s safe to say that I was elated and extremely proud of myself – all the hard work looks like it is going to pay off!
I am going to leave this section with a part of the email that my UT sent me, as a follow up to the visit:
‘Joanne, you should be really proud of the lesson that you taught. You have a calm and confident teaching persona and it is clear to see that you have already established a lovely rapport with your learners: well done. You used a range of questioning techniques to ensure that all learners were involved in the lesson and made progress, and you demonstrated some live modelling with the visualiser.’
Debate Mate
One of the English teachers runs the ‘Debate Mate’ club after school on Wednesdays and, as I didn’t have a PT meeting this week, I came along to help out. Debate Mate is basically a club to help students with their debating skills and they also have an opportunity to compete in national competitions. (Click here to watch the 2018/19 launch video).
I only teach one of the students who attended, but it was super nice to be able to meet a variety of different students. It also amazes me at how much talent lies within the midst of the student body. The students that spoke, spoke eloquently and with such passion and confidence… at the ages of 11-14!
Midweek Breakdown
You would think that after all this great news at the beginning of the week I would be feeling elated and confident in my role as a teacher, that is what any normal human should feel after such fantastic news. Tuesday evening, I definitely felt that way! But for some reason come Wednesday evening I felt my panic and stress levels begin to rise and I just felt utterly overwhelmed and helpless. I negotiated with myself and only checked over my lesson plans for the next day before having an early night.
I’m not going to go into any details, I have no idea as to why this happens to me. It happened the previous week, but I presumed it was a one-off ordeal. It’s starting to become a pattern mid-week, so I am just going to monitor myself and adjust what I am doing accordingly.
Back on Track
Despite this set back Wednesday evening, Thursday proved to be a great day. The only lesson I had to teach was the lovely year 7s…. but, unfortunately, my AT was off again so I was in with a supply! I began to feel the beginnings of panic but held myself together – I knew what I was going to teach (thanks to a kind teacher who talked it through with me in the morning) and I was confident that I knew the lesson well enough, so I only really had to think about behavioural management techniques – that and pray they would be better behaved than last time!
My plan was to give them between 20-30 minutes to finish off their poetry comparisons (I’ve started marking these and some of them have blown me away – there aren’t many adults I know that can write this eloquently about Shakespeare, let alone an 11/12-year-old!), and then we were going to move onto their spacing task for this fortnight – viewpoint writing. The spacing task was to get them to agree or disagree with the statement: ‘‘Parents today are over-protective. Children should be allowed to take part in risky experiences to prepare them for later life.’
Yet again, I have to give credit to the year 7s. They now completely see me as their teacher – it is just the sweetest thing. I felt fully in control all lesson and, despite a few of them getting excited about the spacing task (one kid was adamant that if you went to the park without an adult you were extremely likely to get kidnapped, another asked what would happen to you if you got kidnapped) – I managed to keep them all on task appropriately so I’m calling that a win!
Progress with a Student
One of the biggest achievements for me this week is making progress with one of my more difficult students in year 9. I can’t remember if I have written about this before, so I’ll just do a quick background: one of my year 9 students has a lot of additional needs, which has related to him being off task and disruptive in lessons. I’m not going to give any details, but there are considerable reasons behind this that I am aware of and I have agreed with the normal teacher that she will help me with him. He very rarely does anything more than write the date in his lessons.
Due to him being in Ready to Learn or being excluded, he has only been in the class twice before, and I have only taught part of one of these lessons.
In fact, it is very rare to have the whole class in – more often than not there has been at least 6/31 off for various reasons.
The first full lesson I taught them… there were only 2 off and I had to adjust the seating plan accordingly. On the whole, my behaviour management was not great in that lesson, but I am going to focus on the positive in this section.
I managed to get him to verbally tell me which introduction was better and why; he responded accurately giving valid reasons behind his opinion. He took himself off to refocus during the lesson but, for me, the biggest win was getting him to stand behind a chair at the end of the lesson. It was period 5, so obviously they are all keen to leave, but I have been insisting on silence and order at the end of the lesson to maintain control of the class. He rushed to the door just as the bell went and I calmly asked him stand behind his chair. After reminding him to do this a few times, also informing him that I too would like to leave, we compromised with him standing behind the closest chair. At the end of the following lesson, I got him to stand behind his own seat.
This might not sound like very much, but I did not think I would even get to talk to me in a respective manner, let alone get him to follow my instructions and even begun to do some work. In just a week I have gotten so far with him, thanks to the teacher working with me acting as teaching assistant as well. I am hoping to see more progress, hopefully he will get to the stage where he participates in a lesson without causing too much disruption, even if he doesn’t do it whilst I am teaching them. It’s the smallest steps that feel like the biggest in learning to teach.
EPS SEND Assignment Feedback
On a final note, we got our feedback on the first part of our SEND investigations and I am thrilled to say that not only was my feedback good, but it was also extremely helpful. I have never had such specific feedback that I completely understand and agree with before. I’m not going to look at my assignment until next weekend, but I am glad that my mind is at ease with regards to this.
Teaching Targets
Last Week’s Targets:
Examples & subject knowledge: Subject knowledge is going to be one of those I will be constantly improving, so I am going to remove it from my weekly targets – I am aware I am going to have to adapt and learn as I go, especially as I move from school to school over the PGCE year. With regards to the examples, I am becoming more confident and finding that planning my examples into my lesson plans really helps me – even if I end up not using them and eliciting a model from the students.
Questioning: I have been attempting to use think time, something that is definitely a lot easier in theory than in practice, but I have come to the realisation that before I can even think about attempting some of the more advanced teaching skills, I need to work on my basic questioning skills.
This Week’s Targets:
Questioning: Building on what I have previously said, I have noted to adapt my questioning techniques depending on what I know about the learner I am questioning: ability levels, any SEND or any prior knowledge. To do this, I am going to attempt to use Bloom’s Taxonomy, something I am going to have to read into a bit more before I can make effective use of it. My university tutor suggested I laminated seating plans so I could write next to the student what kind of question I should be asking them: to monitor who is contributing to the lesson and to what level their answers will be. I am going to attempt to include this into my planning – hopefully it will be effective!
Assessment for learning: another target that has cropped up this week, is that I have been neglecting to use assessment for learning techniques to gauge if learners know what they are supposed to be doing; particularly when I give input or set an extended piece of writing. On Friday, I used a few techniques (thumbs up/middle/down; temperature check; common problems) to assess this, and already I am seeing a difference in how well the students are understanding my instructions. As noted in some of my earlier blogs, one of my biggest concerns is that I am not clear enough in how I speak to the pupils, thereby I am wasting my time and their time by having to consistently reword my instructions because I wasn’t clear enough the first time.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
J
Currently Reading:
The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry
Reading first world war poetry on Remembrance Sunday – the centenary of the end of WWI no less – made the readings ever so more poignant. Poetry is one of those beautiful forms where the poet can express a multitude of emotions in written word – often, in my opinion, much more effectively than prose. I find that poetry is not the same read inside my head, so I often read poetry aloud to myself, in doing this last Sunday it made me realise how important this poetry is in remembering those who have gone.
The last surviving English veteran of WW1 died in 2009; in keeping the heightened, harrowing images of ‘the war to end all wars’ alive through various creative means, we are able to remember and be thankful to all of those who fought for us to live the lives we live today, also, hopefully, serving as a reminder to what we should never have to live through as a species again.
The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
So far so good! I’ve not read much but I am looking forward to reading some more this week!
Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
I have finally finished this novel and I reluctantly say that I did not particularly enjoy this novel. However, I can totally appreciate why people do love Woolf’s writing, the description is detailed and eloquent and her characterisation is phenomenal – I just did not overly enjoy the story.
Dark Woods – Steve Voake
The main gist of the story is that two children go off exploring in the woods near their campsite and a man finds them and drugs them, bringing them up to his cabin deep within the mountain forest. He then shows them that he can bring dreams alive; all he wants them to do is go into his dreams and bring his dog back to life. But there is a twist: he has brought Cal’s nightmare to a reality, and the kids set it free to torment them as they try to escape.
This is a novel that you really have to suspend your disbelief for and I find, when reading children’s and young adult novels, that I read them slightly differently to how I would read other novels; I imagine what my childhood self would’ve thought about them. Bringing myself back to opening up my imagination in any way possible, I am finding I am actually really enjoying this book. It is a simple horror for young people and holds the same gripping nature I would find in that of a Stephen King novel, only made accessible for the younger generation.
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism – Clara Claiborne Park
The chapter I read this week was about her daughter’s experience with language – how long it took her to be able to communicate her unique way of seeing the world. The more I read into autism, the more I feel as if we are extremely fortunate to have these individuals in the world; different perspectives bring layers of meaning to an otherwise mundane world.
Another week has flown by, and my head has once again been bombarded by pedagogy – starting placement next week will be a refreshing change! Sitting here on Friday, as I begin to write this blog post, I am looking back over the week and Monday feels like months ago. Yet, at the same time, I cannot quite believe that the past month has passed by so quickly. I am definitely looking forward to relaxing this weekend with a few of my old uni friends!
First Tutorial
We had to sign up for one-to-one tutorials with our tutor last week, and I was eager to get this done as soon as possible, mainly so I could clear my head with someone who knew what was expected of me. We talked for quite a while, and I expressed some of my concerns about getting in front of a class for the first time. I am so used to observing, or acting as a teaching assistant, that I am starting to freak out a bit about making the transition into teacher! She made me feel heaps better about it, and we decided that the best approach for me is to jump in at the deep end and teach sooner rather than later. As much as I hate to admit it, that will probably be the best way for me to get over these ridiculous nerves as quickly as possible! Watch this space… I could be saying a completely different thing next week!
National Poetry Day
I wouldn’t be an English teacher if I didn’t acknowledge that it was National Poetry Day on Thursday! In spirit of this, our lecturers gave us a small anthology of four poems all written by female poets and taken from the current AQA GCSE Poetry Anthology. The poems were:
– The Emigre by Carol Rumens
– Poppies by Jane Weir
– Tissue by Imtiaz Dharker
– Kamikaze by Beatrice Garland
I focused on Kamikaze to begin with, after quickly reading through all four I found I was particularly drawn to the narrative. It follows a story about a Japanese girl’s father, who left to be a suicide bomber but came back, bringing shame to the family. I fell head over heels in love with the poem. The language is beautiful: ‘strung out like bunting on a green-blue translucent sea’; ‘dark shoals of fishes flashing silver as their bellies swivelled towards the sun’; ‘cairns of pearl-grey pebbles’, as well as presenting a powerful thought whether it would have been better for her father to die a ‘hero’ or live but bring shame on her family. I always find it interesting looking at different perspectives on the war, particularly after visiting Laos and seeing the devastation the ‘bombies’ from the Vietnam war, amongst other places.
We were then given the task to work in pairs to create a lesson plan for one of these poems. As much as I loved Kamikaze, the poem my partner and I chose to write the plan for was Tissue. It is such a beautiful poem, and I love the use of homonym ‘Tissue’ and the process of it starting as paper and becoming skin. The more I read it, the more I came to appreciate it. I will explain the lesson plan we made a bit further down.
On National Poetry Day we were asked to get into groups to perform different poems, and we were all given different ways in which we should perform. I won’t go into detail, but it just reminded me how powerful it is to see a poem performed, and how that could be used as a way to get my students to actively engage with the text, rather than just listening to it being read by me.
The Planning Process
We spent a lot of time in our sub sessions talking about lesson planning, focusing mainly on medium term and specific lesson plans. I am going to focus on the lesson plan I created with my partner, and the turmoils we faced whilst we attempted to perfect the timings and activities.
Our initial idea was to explore figurative language in Tissue. We drew upon ideas, decided to do various activities and then hit a brick wall. How where we going to cover everything in a one hour lesson? After getting a bit of help, we realised that it would be more beneficial to us and the students if we were more specific with what we wanted the learning outcomes to be – in other words keep it simple and specific. So we narrowed it down to imagery. Turns out this is just as vague so eventually we narrowed it down to the senses and then our plan took place!
I’m including a picture of our plan, it is hella messy because we changed it heaps, it is also not 100% finished as we discussed a lot but ran out of time to write it down! However, I am confident that we have refined our plan and it is now a teachable lesson. This was also due to, I believe, finally getting a mock up class list so we had an idea of how we could differentiate the lesson. This made it somewhat easier, but I think it will also be a million times easier (note easier not easy) when I know the children I will be teaching well enough to adapt the lesson for everyone. (I know that probably sounds optimistic but we’ve all got to aim somewhere!)
Class Readers
We also had a look at class readers, the text (generally a play or novel) that a class will read together and follow along at the same pace, usually over a few lessons. We discussed various ways to approach class readers and also talked about the advantages and disadvantages of using them.
We then got the first few chapters of Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, and were asked to try out a few techniques to read them in a group. I think the resounding thing our group found was that, even as literature lovers, we found we got distracted easily for a range of reasons. The text itself was phenomenal and I have definitely decided to put it on my to read list… so why did we find it so hard?
Reading out loud can be a nerve racking thing, everyone slips up now and again and it is easy to get bored if someone is reading too fast or too slow. For me, the best way we did was the ‘popcorn method’, where the reader can nominate anyone to read and each person only reads as much as they want to. This kept us on our toes and, interestingly, we found ourselves picking on our colleagues that did not appear to be paying attention. Now who knows if this is something the children will do or if this is just the teacher within us all making an appearance!
Inclusion and SEN/D
For our first masters level assignment, we will be following ‘learner x’, a pupil with SEN/D (Special Educational Needs or Disability) and we had the introductory lectures to this task this week.
My favourite of the lectures has to be the one where we had people from a SEND department come in and talk to us, bringing along a few students with additional needs. Hearing the students side of their school life really hit home – I know inclusion is important of course, but knowing the little details that could change the child’s day for the worse only emphasised to me that it is of the upmost importance that I get to know my students as well as I can.
I am actually looking forward to this assignment, and eagerly anticipate next week when I hopefully get to meet my learner x.
Observation Versus Judgement
This will just be a brief note here, mainly to remind myself if I ever forget. Observations are what you actually see, judgement is what I think I see. For example, an observation would be that children have their heads down on their table, a judgement would be that these children are not engaged. Use the observations to back up judgments ad explicitly state what I have seen in my assignments – every judgement needs evidence!
First Impressions
Most excitingly this week we got to meet our personal tutors for our first placement, well I say personal tutor, in my case one of the deputy heads came to greet us due to unforeseen circumstances. It was honestly such a relief to be able to have a little chat before starting next Tuesday, and having a few trivial questions answered.
The school I will be working at has a ‘ready to learn’ behaviour management scheme in place, which is basically a zero tolerance method. I am grateful that all the behaviour management is in place for me to use already, as I feel like that is one less thing I need to worry about when I teach for the first time (scary how this is getting closer and closer!). It is also a Catholic school and I am excited to see how faith is integrated into the English curriculum.
Transferable Techniques
Working with a collapsed text: Using all the words of a poem (or any other text) put in alphabetical order and ask the students to create a piece of creative writing only using the words provided. Also, using a word wall – where all the words of a poem (or other text) are blanked out and words are revealed one by one (or however you want to do it).
The ‘popcorn method’ for class readers
J
Currently Reading:
The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry – Edited by George Walter
Back to the world war poetry again, I think I’m gonna alternate each week between this book and the contemporary poetry book. One poem that particularly stood out to me this week is August 1918 (In a French Village) by Maurice Baring. It is a short poem, only having 2 stanzas, but the contrast between the 2 stanzas was what really grabbed my interest. The first is a beautiful description of village life, and this is juxtaposed with distressing imagery of war and death.
The Tempest – William Shakespeare
I have just begun Act 2 of the Tempest, and I am further reminded of the interesting character of Caliban. I can remember having discussions at school whether he was evil or whether he was merely an innocent being that Prospero is abusing. I also can quite confidently say that I have no idea how the play is going to turn out! To be fair to myself, it has been over 10 years since I last studied the play. I am excited to remind myself about the play and to follow the characters into the unknown for the second time in my life. This just goes to show that rereading a text is never a bad idea!
Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
The more I read this novel the more I fall in love with it. Woolf is quite clearly an ingenious writer, to cover so much detail over a course of a day is astounding! The part I read this week focuses on Mrs Dalloway’s daughter Elizabeth and how she has her own independent mind. Her relationship with Mrs Kilman is a bit confusing, potentially because I have the bad habit of skim reading, or could be that way on purpose! I am still not sure if Mrs Kilman loves her or is jealous of her… or both! I am also waiting for the climax of the novel… I feel as if there is something building and Mrs Dalloway will be the cause of some great distress. Time will only tell if I am way off the mark or not!
Junk – Melvin Burgess
This book was harrowing. The book follows Gemma and Tar as they both run away from home and go live in squats and, not surprisingly due to the title of the book, become heroin addicts. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but the changes you see in the characters – particularly Tar – just emphasises how ‘junk’ can destroy someones life. There were moments where I was nearly brought to tears (probably would have been brought to tears if I wasn’t reading it on the bus!) and it really opened my eyes to how important safeguarding is within a school! (Definitely would have had a different reading if I read this as a teen!) If someone at their school noticed that Tar was being abused at home, would he have run away in the first place? How different would their lives have been?
This is definitely a book aimed at an older reader, with themes such as drug addiction, prostitution, abuse, rape, pregnancy and abortions, a heroin addicted baby, homelessness amongst other things found throughout the novel. I would definitely be reluctant to recommend it to students until I knew they were mature enough to handle these deep issues. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating read and I am intrigued to watch the BBC adaption in the near future!
After meeting a few of my PGCE colleagues at the weekend, I was eager to start on Monday. Still buzzing from the excitement of primary placement and desperate to start work in schools, I was eagerly anticipating the week ahead and finding out in more detail about how the PGCE is going to work.
EPS, Sub & Placements
The course itself is split into three parts: EPS (Educational and Professional Studies – the ‘core’ teaching theory that is applicable to every PGCE student), Sub (the subject you will be teaching, obviously English in my case) and school placements. We have two weeks of initial university work before going to our first placement school on the fifth week.
I am equally nervous and excited for my first official placement in a secondary English classroom, especially when I found out I would be teaching a lesson or part of a lesson by the end of this placement. Will I be able to put into practice all I have learned and said I could do? What will my lesson be about? Will it be something I am confident in or will I have to learn something new myself in preparation? How much support will I be given? What will my class be like? What age group will I be teaching? Will I know any of the students through the volunteering I have done in this city before?
Teacher Standards
In order to be seen as a competent teacher, there are certain standards one has to meet. These standards are used throughout a whole teaching career, and the way you meet them develops as you gain more experience. The standards are:
Part one:
Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils.
Promote pupil progress and outcomes.
Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge.
Plan and teach well-structured lessons.
Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils.
Make accurate and productive use of assessment.
Manage behaviour effectively.
Fulfil wider professional responsibilities.
Part two:
Appropriate behaviour in and out of school.
Treating pupils with dignity and observing proper boundaries.
Safeguarding pupils’ well-being.
Showing tolerance and respect for the rights of others
Not undermining fundamental British values.
Proper rear for ethos of school – including high standards of punctuality and attendance.
Awareness of, and act within, statutory frameworks that apply to teachers.
The fact that gaining QTS (qualified teacher status) relies so heavily on these standards made me panic a little at first – what if I can’t meet all of them? Or what if I know I can but can’t provide sufficient evidence? However, after rationalising my thoughts, I completely understand why these standards are in place – teachers are such respected members of society and there are many ways that we have to safeguard ourselves as well as the young people we teach. I am confident that I will be able to meet each one of these standards with amples of experience and, hopefully, this time next year I will have my own classes in my NQT (newly qualified teacher) year.
Taking on a Tutor Role
Our first guest speaker of the year was an experienced Deputy Head teacher, who came to talk to us about the pastoral side of teaching. It was interesting to have the role of a tutor put before us so early in our teacher training – nevertheless I agree with how important this role is.
It got me thinking about my own potential tutor classes, and how I would go about being in a pastoral role. He told us all that teachers should ‘generate the sort of adult we would be happy to live next to when we are old.’ That is it. That is what, as a teacher, my ultimate goal would be. Yes getting students to achieve their target grades or higher would be an amazing feeling but at the end of the day, school is such a minute part of a persons life and the different experiences a teenager may face during this time will ultimately shape them as a person, regardless of socioeconomic background.
Interestingly, he noted that ‘parental income is the biggest hurdle to overcome for pupil progress’. As well as this he suggested that children with illiterate parents or even potential refugees will struggle more in schools simply because they don’t have the extra support at home. This highlighted to me how important it is to get to know my students individually to ensure that nobody is struggling just because of their life outside of school.
Ultimately, I feel as if the guest speaker was trying to say that it’s not just in your lessons that you may find yourself caring for these students. It is important to acknowledge them as individuals and to give them appropriate support as and when they need it – whether that be in the classroom, tutor time or on your breaks. You never stop being their teacher and even the the little things you may say to a child could resonate with them for a lifetime.
Online Safety & Safeguarding
Facebook isn’t cool anymore… Instagram and Snapchat are the social media sites that today’s young people are using more regularly. Not only now are we the generation of ‘A*-U GCSE’s’ but we are now the generation of Facebook. Apparently the biggest group of people joining Facebook at the moment are women over 40, whereas young people are more concerned with keeping their ‘snap streak’ with their best friends as high as possible.
The online safety lecture we had with a retired police officer was honestly one of the most interesting lectures I have ever had. Filled with statistics, like the previous paragraph, he told us about the good and bad sides of the internet. It is not the technology itself that is bad but rather the behaviour of the humans using it.
The recent Fortnite craze also posed some questions regarding he safety of using it’s online mode – many parents have been setting up a closed group for their children so they can only talk to the people they actually know. We were also warned to have plenty of parents asking us about how to get them off video games!
We also looked at the slightly darker area of the web – and I warn you not to read this paragraph if you are sensitive to issues with children and sex. Sex education is in place in most schools, but according to this speaker not many schools tackle the issues of online sex education. Apparently the average age of a child accessing porn is 11 and there are many ways in that children are groomed and abused online. Sexting is also an issue that is not explained properly to the children – how are they to know that sending or receiving a pornographic picture of an underage person is a criminal offence even if they are underage themselves or if it’s their photo they are sending. One key thing to focus on is scalability, durability and audience. Any photo sent online – regardless of the platform it is shared on – has the potential to be seen globally by any type of person and will be on the internet forever.
I believe it is important that we as a society talk about these issues. Keeping a taboo on these subjects only discourages children to come forth with any issues they may have, and that could have a detrimental effect on some of these young people’s lives.
This leads nicely onto the safeguarding lecture we had following this. A DSL (designated safeguarding lead) from a local school came in to train us in safeguarding. I am not going to dwell too long on the safeguarding aspects – I have had regular training since I first started working with children a decade ago – but it is still important to talk about.
Talking to people outside of university, it surprises me how some schools will have people in their settings without telling them basic healthy and safety rules – including their DSL.
I can’t think of anything more important than the basic safeguarding rule of just pass it on. If you have any concerns, no matter how small: whether it’s something you see; something someone tells you or just a gut feeling… it should not be kept to yourself! If a child is disclosing you something use TED questions – Tell, Explain Describe and always tell them you have to pass it on if it concerns you, write it up and get you both to sign at the front and also next to the last sentence.
It is all very well and good saying it won’t happen where I work, not at this school. I cannot think like that, we all should never think like that. I already know too many people in my personal life that have experienced abuse, a few of them when they were minors. It needs to stop. Acting in loco parentis puts the responsibility of these young people into our hands as teachers and I strongly feel that by committing to a teaching career we have to do anything in our power to keep these young people as safe as possible.
What is the Role of an English Teacher?
This is the question we have been looking at all week in our ‘sub’ sessions. We have had many a heated debate, looked at different theories about the origins of English as a subject alongside the differences in the precious national curriculum and the 2014 model. One of the most interesting to me has been Cox’s five models of English teaching: Personal Growth; Cross Curricular; Adult Needs; Cultural Heritage and Cultural Analysis.
At the end of the week we had the opportunity to work in small groups to create a short video depicting the roles of an English teacher. We chose to make a mockumentary starring ‘Louise’ Theroux… it was a lot of fun to make and I offered to edit it over the weekend.
One of my favourite things about the course so far is that the English subject tutors have been showing us different ways of teaching by getting us to carry out the activities. This has been extremely useful and has helped me to think ‘outside of the box’ when it comes to lesson planning.
Some of the key ideas we came up with for the role of an English teacher are:
Teaching the SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) basics
Teaching both canonical texts alongside other forms, i.e. media, non-fiction etc.
Carrying out formal assessments to check progress
Facilitating work
Build skills necessary for the outside world
Ensure wellbeing
Differentiate between learners
Encourage creativity and personal growth
Transferable Techniques
Drama starter – get the students to organise themselves without talking
‘Diamond 9’ tasks – where the most salient point is at the top and least salient at the bottom
iPad work – creating a short film about a certain topic
Counting down to regain the attention of the class
Checking that the task is understood by asking someone to repeat it back to you before starting
J
Currently Reading
Contemporary Poetry: Poets and Poetry since 1990 – Ian Brinton
Ok I have to admit, I didn’t read the amazon description fully and I presumed this was an anthology of contemporary poetry. This is actually a companion to contemporary literature which has actually proved to be rather useful. I am currently half way through the first chapter ‘approaching contemporary poetry’ which so far has offered an interesting insight into the beginnings of the contemporary movement, however, I am looking forward to reading the texts later on in the book!
The Tempest – William Shakespeare
Shakespeare is one of those authors who is inevitably going to come up during my teaching time, I would imagine that his works are taught regularly in every school by pretty much every English teacher in the UK. I first read The Tempest in year 9 and it is the first play that made me fall in love with Shakespeare. I am rereading the text to both refresh my memory of the play and to begin to explore how I may go about teaching Shakespeare.
Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
I actually started reading this novel earlier on in the year, but lost it! I happened upon it after moving to my university accommodation and decided to continue with it. I was just about half way through with the novel, so I was reluctant to start it again (I quickly reminded myself of the plot… thanks to spark notes!). This is the first Woolf novel I have read, and I can see why she is such a popular author. The character of Mrs Dalloway herself is interesting, I thoroughly dislike her but also I am hooked and am fully interested to find out more about her past and how the rest of the plot is going to unfold. Will she stay with her husband or will she reignite her relationship with Peter? What is going to happen at the party? What role does her daughter play in all of this?
Junk – Melvin Burgess
I have actually yet to start this novel, as I have only just acquired it through the young adult and teen fiction library at university. I have heard a lot about it, it was discussed a few times during my children’s literature module for my undergraduate degree. I am excited to start it this weekend!
Much Ado About Teaching 