"Thank A Teacher" - Summing up why we do what we do

If I were better with animation software, I would love to attempt to replicate something similar to this video... but why fix it if it isn't broke?

An excellent summary of some of the things that (I hope) every teacher will agree with, and that the public should be able to truly appreciate. Sure, you could be critical and say that it's a little reductionist, but life shouldn't always be about critical analysis.

Enjoy its beauty =]

Week 10 - The Week that Went in a Flash

As the saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun." If this is true, then this week I must've been having far too much fun.

This week I was able to really get to grips with the classes that I'll be teaching after half term. I was introduced to multiple key staff and the classes I'll be helping out with, and I feel that my presence is starting to be more noticeable -  even welcomed -  in classes and around the school as a whole. It's been packed with meetings, lessons, class profiles, seating plans and - possibly my favourite thing - finding and creating content to teach next term. It's been handy to have 'free time' to reflect and prepare as it gets us into a position where we are fully equipped with as much knowledge as possible of our pupils abilities and will allow us to anticipate differentiation and individual requirements... well, it does on paper anyway. Trying to remember names is hard enough, let alone all of the individual requirements of each pupil. 

Surely this will come in time?

Speaking of pupils, it was incredibly eye-opening to see how pupils of any age can show determination and a willingness to learn. In some instances the opposite was glaringly evident: a complete disaffection and lack of understanding towards the importance of education. The teachers I will be working with all have their own techniques in combatting the latter and improving the former, and I hope that I can mimic (if not, perhaps, improve upon) some of these skills. 

A first meeting with my coach also gave me time to reflect upon my learning and observations so far and what I could improve upon in the next term. My goals for this are assertiveness and improving my 'meerkat skills' (e.g. being able to focus on one pupil but have complete awareness of my surroundings at the same time). It's funny how I can feel in command of a group or class as soon as I'm into the swing of things, but getting over that first hurdle of introduction is a real block for me, even though in these instances I'm the adult and need to take control. I guess it's still sinking in that now I'm the one at the front of the class, instead of waiting for someone else to come along and take my place.

Maybe I'm scared that if I'm too assertive I'll give off the wrong impression, or my emotional intelligence will be compromised and I'll appear as aggressive rather than assertive? If anyone reading knows of some good techniques or books on this subject, I'd be grateful!

In terms of subject knowledge, I'm confident with my French. I know what I'l be teaching and to what level I need to gauge it (which, if anything, needs to be more challenging than I originally thought!) but my Spanish will be the biggest challenge. As I have been given a Y11 group to team teach, the pressure is off slightly but the group will be expecting big things from me, so it's time to really get to grips with more Spanish before Term 2 starts!

Whereas my fully-qualified counterparts will be deservedly relaxing next week, it doesn't stop for us trainees. We'll be back in Uni and no doubt regaling one another with what we've seen in our various schools and probably discussing the veritable roller-coaster of emotions that will be next term!

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Last weeks goals were to:

• Submit my essay - One more read-through (tonight!) and it'll be done!
• Complete admin tasks for Placement A - Nearly all folders up-to-date, just need to work on class profiles a little more
• Build and maintain relationships - Getting better. Again, I need to work on my assertiveness.

My three achievements of this week were:

• Teaching my first class and receiving some really useful feedback
• Feel as though the paperwork side of the course is starting to really take shape
• Being able to maintain a good life-work balance

As I am now going through a transition between University and teaching, I will not create any new targets until I have finished Week 1 of Placement A.

Parent's Evening

This evening saw the first Parent's Evening of the Y11 cohort in the academy where I am currently placed. Having only been there two weeks, I wasn't in a position to be able to comment upon most (if any!) of the progress made by the students, but it was nice to be offered the chance to observe what is perhaps one of the most important evenings for a child's understanding of their current direction, and how their parents/carers/etc. can assist.

I was lucky enough to observe parents of all varieties: those who knew exactly how their child is doing, those who have no clue, those who are extremely "into"  education and those - unfortunately - who seemingly couldn't care less. That said, it was also interesting to see how this reflected in the pupils, and it is not true that one attitude begets another. Some of the parents who were the most uninterested had a child that was extremely promising and into their education, and vice versa. Perhaps this is a lax attitude by the parent in the former, and an overbearing attitude (thus the child rebels) in the latter...

It showed the importance of measuring progress, identifying strengths of every pupil and finding out their opportunities for improvement. The teachers whom I observed had data, reasoning and effective solutions to back up their observations and, in some instances, the disbelief of the parents that their child could be "under-performing." On the whole, it was a very positive experience and one that demonstrated to me that you should know your pupils but also make sure that those who are looking after them are also kept in the loop.

The Y11s need to realise that time is rapidly running out. Those who are on target need to push themselves over this final hurdle, and those who are slipping really need to envisage how results day is going to feel when they see that below-C grade and know, deep in their heart of hearts, that they could've done better...

Week 9 - School: Keeping things Cool

[Caution: mini-rant ahead, but it does come with a reflective solution!]

Teaching is a daunting task. Especially in the first few days of a new school or placement. New faces, many of whom are staring back at you expecting you to come up with something interesting and informative, can be a pretty confusing and scary place.

In short, it's been a challenging week. Emotional bank accounts have been stretched, emotional intelligence has been tested and expectations have been reformed. Strike action around the UK also had an effect on both teachers and pupils, bringing to light some of the aspects sometimes disregarded in the classroom, but that's not for discussion here. Not now.

However, some coping strategies have helped me to keep my cool and be rational about things. For instance, it's my first week. It's not a race. It shouldn't be a big deal that things haven't gone to plan as that seems to be the very nature of teaching. While it is good to rant and let off some steam to some trusted parties, it's equally as satisfying to be able to draw a line under a lesson, a day or a week and then continue with a fresh outlook.

This is the method I plan to use with my students... when I find out who they are!

Unfortunately, I can't really blog about anything else this week as I've either posted about it during the week or I haven't been able to do much else due to the aforementioned craziness. I just hope I can build my confidence back up quickly...

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Last weeks targets were:

• To make a good impression on my first placement - I hope this has been the case, although it's been remarkably difficult to tell!
• To maintain the positivity - Trying my utmost to chalk this week up as an 'experience'...
• To maintain good time management - No problems!

My three achievements are:

• Getting my first essay to a near-complete level and starting the second one (keen, I know!)
• Successfully mapping-out my placement academy and even being able to direct others around it
• Getting to know some of the kids and my pastoral group a little more

Next week, I hope I can:

• Submit my essay and have that weight off of my mind
• Have all my admin stuff for my placement finally sorted and ready for a full-steam-ahead approach after half-term
• Keep building relations with my new team and key contacts

Lesson Outcomes - Reworking the "Must, Should, Could"

The academy in which I'm currently training has a policy that every lesson should include (at least) two vital components - a lesson objective and lesson outcomes under the categories of must, should and could.

In brief, for those who may not be aware of this practice, the outcomes are statements that a class should be aware of during, or preferably at the start, of the lesson. In general, it is planned and expected that all students will be able to attain the "must" level, many will be able to get to the "should" statement, and a few would be able to reach what is expected in "could." A worked MFL example could be:

Learning Objective  - To describe actions that will happen in the future. Pupils:

• Must be able to indicate actions they will do in the future using the "aller + infinitive" model
• Should be able to indicate the actions of others in the future using the "aller + infinitive" model
• Could be able to indicate actions in the future by conjugating verbs in the future tense 

My interpretation of this has always been that the progression through the stages happens sequentially, e.g. hitting the "must" first, then the "should" and then, if time and ability allows, the "could." Also, if students can hit the first outcome then they are not only achieving the lesson objective but they are then also ready to move onto the next level.

However, a talk on Gifted and Talented students made me rethink this a little more. Instead of starting students off at "must" and then waiting to see who can progress, why not start students off at different points? Lower attainers could reach for "must," and higher attainers go for the "should" and/or "could?"

I can see why this idea would be ideal for differentiating ability levels; all students would be able to pick where they start, giving them some level of autonomy and responsibility, and those who wanted a challenge wouldn't necessarily be forced to start with a topic that they may find too easy.

Nevertheless, surely this method must be used with caution. Perhaps an able student is having an off-day and wants to take the easy route; would this show progress? Would setting work of different levels overtly to the class create a rift between pupils of different attainment levels? Are we doing pupils a disservice by asking them to take on a higher-level task when we may not have enough evidence of their grasp of easier tasks?

As per usual, the answer more than likely lies in the context of the lesson. No two lessons will be the same, thus no two approaches will ever match completely. I still intend on trying my original method and this reworked method, however, just to see how they both pan out!

Ethos

Last week really struck a chord with me when it came to thinking about Ethos. This can be applied to multiple areas - personality, interactions, a classroom, a school... from the micro to the macro, you find ethea everywhere.

But, to sound somewhat egocentric, what about the ethos of my classes? And to sound less egocentric, how will this ethos benefit those of the students?

This is no simple task as there are just so many concepts to consider... 

Is it vital to get the ethos settled before I start? Is an ethos a static or variable concept? Will my ethos be constant or malleable? Does this ethos need to be explicitly stated or implicitly assumed? And where do I even begin in my definition?!

While I'm sure that my environment will shape some of the factors of the ethos I choose to create, I hope that I can apply a few key principles that I hold in everyday life towards this seemingly mammoth feat:

• Respect and trust are earned and never commanded
• It's not a bad thing to make mistakes; it's disastrous not to learn from them
• Everyone has the right to an opinion and to be heard
• Embrace diversity; reject intolerance
• Strive to be happy
• Learning should be inherently fun; therefore, teaching should be the best job in the world!
• If life ever gets too much, look up at a clear night sky. Pause, reflect, and change your mood for the better (this is actually a really good trick for getting yourself out of a funk... try it one evening; space is amazing!)

To get these (and what will be many, many more ideas) into a sort of mission statement is going to be tough. I guess we'll have to see how well I can transmit this into the classroom. No doubt I'll blog about it again soon!

Week 8 - Teaching Beyond the Subject

It's not very often that I get reminded of the times in my life that I'd much rather forget. Sure, I get those moments where I remember doing something completely embarrassing and wishing that the ground would open up beneath me, just as we all do (...or at least, I hope that we all do), but this week has made me reflect heavily upon a few key points in my education, and my reasoning for wanting to become a teacher in the first place...

Once again, I felt lucky enough to have my topic for the week (Pastoral Aspects of Teaching) complement my location for observation days - an academy where, just over a year ago, there were threats of closure, mass behavioural issues and a pupil roll so small that many primary schools could outnumber them, with a catchment area of one of the most deprived areas of the UK. While this seemed like my greatest challenge so far, the knowledge I gained - and the opinion of the academy as a whole - were much different to that which I was expecting.

To jump on a bandwagon and call someone, somewhere or something "awful," "under-performing" or "risky" epitomises the experiences this academy has endured. In a "Don't knock it until you've tried it" way, it seems as though the past of the academy continues to haunt its present unfairly. The community structures, language employed, and overall ethos of the academy shows a phoenix that is rising rapidly (which is pretty useful symbolically as the phoenix is incorporated into the logos!) from what was a dire situation. Use of vertical teaching, as opposed to traditional horizontal structures, a behavioural system that focusses on the "self" rather than just the "mind," and continuity and clarity between staff ensure that all students are taught not just to pass a test, but to make their way after school into whatever they'd like to do.

This holistic approach is employed in a microcosmic fashion into lesson planning. Lesson objectives and outcomes can be the typical "Learn x nouns" or "Understand the difference between imperfect and preterite tenses," but in a PE lesson (volleyball) I took part in today, the outcomes related to teamwork, communication, and just being a well-rounded person. There was no relation to any volleyball-specific rules or techniques; it just seemed implicit that improvement in the sport would come from being a good team player.

As a bit of background, I am pretty bad with sport. This is not only due to a duff knee, but mostly relating to an experience back when I did PE at Secondary School. In the "Let's play rugby in the freezing cold without any instructions" method of playing, I was unable to score, let alone get a grasp of what to do. The teacher - feared by most - found the best way to motivate me was to pick me up by the front of my collar and shout at me, with all but a centimetre between our faces, to "get better." From that moment, I loathed PE, so when I was told we would be doing PE today, I was not only out of my comfort zone, but I was mentally sprinting away from it as fast as my dodgy-knee would allow me.

But, the approach taken by the students and staff at the academy had me wanting to learn and to do more. I was shocked by my willingness to play and, at the end of the session, my desire to keep going and to improve. It was the ethos of community and team-spirit that did this, and where the point of this post comes in - If an ethos this strong and all-encompassing can make me want to continue doing PE, then there are methods at play that I must certainly make use of in my own lessons. While knowledge is a key factor in schooling, it must never, ever be forgotten that a child comes to school to prepare for life after school, and it is our duty to teach the whole child.

How easily I can incorporate this approach into an MFL lesson remains to be seen. Perhaps teamwork can be incorporated in a group translation, or peer reinforcement via a conversation group? Right now, I can't see my students running around a sports hall, but then, I don't know what invigorates them just yet. Maybe watch this space for the début of the MFL-volleyball technique...?!

And with that, my initial Uni and CPD block is complete! Now it's time to dive head-first into my placement A and start trying to amass all of this superb information I've been given into a working model; to become a teacher of today, and not one where fear is the teachers' ally.

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Last week, my goals were:

• Continue to improve on being a "morning person" - Better than last week, but the cold mornings aren't helping!
• Have all my questions answered before next week - As prepared as I can be!
• Consolidate all information from this teaching block - It's all typed up, but whether I can apply it is a different matter...

My three biggest achievements this week were:

• Completing several teaching tasks with very little time to spare, including some in Spanish
• Having conquered my fear/uncertainty about participating in sports in schools
• Feeling prepared to enter my first placement and turn all of my theory into practise

My three goals for next week will be:

• To make a good impression on my first placement
• To feel as positive as I do now about being within my placement academy
• To ensure that time-management is kept on top of as I am positive that my workload will soar over the next week!

Week 7 - Behaviour Hurdles and Being Human

(As a quick preamble, it seems as though previous posts have been a bit too lengthy, so I'll do my best to keep this one short(er)!)

This weeks' topic of study and placement fell hand-in-hand this week; not entirely sure if that was planned or if I was just lucky! Either way, we were looking further at behaviour as a concept and how to manage it.

Without a doubt, behaviour - specifically bad behaviour portrayed by pupils - was one of my biggest fears before going into teaching. I'm not a confrontational person by nature, and before I came to University I was an introvert of epic proportions. For most, including my parents, they thought that I wouldn't consider becoming a teacher because of this fact. I mean, how would 5'7", not-particularly-big-neither-particularly-svelte me be able to manage a class of 30+ pupils who just don't want to learn about passive phrase structures in French?!

This week helped me enormously, and built upon some pre-reading that I have done and some conversations that I've already had. The focus in education has shifted from traditional, punitive measures to a more positive ethos; one in which, ideally, behaviour issues don't even have a chance to start.

While there are countless theories, ideas and scholars observing behaviour management with a fine-toothed comb (our cohort group even started trying to make a "behavioural issues triangle" based upon the traditional fire triangle... you can never have to many schemas!), it was extremely refreshing to see these theories being put into practice. Nowhere is this more true than in the classes I observed on Thursday at "The Studio," an off-site unit where students with the biggest behavioural issues come to study and then eventually reintegrate back into mainstream teaching.

I won't lie; the aspect of going there for a day scared me. I know that kids can be brutal, and my head was filled with images of chairs being thrown and violence kicking off*... but I had forgotten one vital component - the teachers. In the case of 'The Studio,' the teachers are remarkable. To say that they have the patience of saints is a gross understatement, and their determination, level-headedness and, overall, calm human approach diffused some really difficult situations but they ever had a chance to start. You could really tell that they had the pupils' interests at the heart of all that they did, and their explanations of why - why the teachers were there, why the pupils were there, why new targets were set every morning, etc. - created an ethos of trust, inquisition and stability in a situation that, historically, could have turned out just as I had envisaged.**

I can't wait to try out some of the things I've learned this week and so far over the course, and the time to do so is coming up very, very rapidly! To quote a lecturer from earlier in the week, I intend on acting like "the swan." That's to say, above water (what the students can see) I'll be gliding along confidently, but underwater (what I'm feeling) my feet will be going like crazy.

Hopefully it will get me somewhere, and get this 5'7" MFL teacher on the road to being an outstanding teacher!

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My targets last week were:

• Get stuck into first assignment - in progress (and enjoying it, oddly!)
• Improving punctuality in the morning - still need to work at this...
• Survive 'The Studio' - done, and thankful for the experience!

My three big achievements this week were:

• Planning my time effectively to do all of the required reading, get my assignment started and still have time for a social life
• Feeling more able in my interactions in Spanish
• Making it to the end of the week and not feeling shattered!

Next week I hope to:

• Continue improving on being a "morning person"
• Get all of my questions answered before immersion week starts
• Consolidate as much information/"little tips" from the past month into a guide for when I start teaching

* On the subject of negativity surrounding pupils' behaviour, isn't it funny how the public, and the media, seem obsessed with the 'bad school?' Take a look at a TV guide for a week and count up programmes that fall into this category, or news mentioning things such as "the most likely names for badly behaved students" (then again, it is the Daily Mail, so take it with an ENORMOUS pinch of salt...)

** The students were no-where near as bad as I envisaged, by the way. They were tough, and there was definitely some work to be done in order to get them back on the right track again, but they were in very good hands!