The finish line?

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was gearing up to say goodbye to colleagues of 5 years and to embark on a journey that would pretty much stretch me in ways that I couldn't even begin to imagine. If you're a teacher or someone who is just about to finish their PGCE like me, you'll know what I mean. If you're about to embark on this journey, take a look through the posts I've done over the year, and you'll see what I mean.

There's always that point in whatever you do when you hit a wall and then have to make a decision; those steps you take in a marathon when your whole body is on fire. Do you collapse or do you break through?

Despite not having done a post for a while (Placement B was ridiculously busy!) I have had to deal with this wall. I'm not saying that I'm the only one, but there's a slight caveat when it comes to being an MFL teacher...

When I was learning language in secondary school, it was rare to find a teacher who specialised in more than one language. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to get into this career without have two languages at a very good level of comprehension. Not only that, but it seems (overwhelmingly) that the language of choice is Spanish, with French and (rarely) German being the subsidiary requirements.

As though fate felt like twisting the knife a little more, it just so happens that I'm a French specialist who has been doing Spanish for a comparatively brief amount of time. My tutors in Placement B threw me into Spanish (to which I am grateful, despite getting it wrong many times!) and my comprehension has soared. My pedagogical, extra-curricular and completely-unrelated-to-education talents don't seem to be helping me, and when you put me in the running with someone who has extremely high/native levels of Español, I'm left in their linguistic dust.

I've applied to several posts where Spanish is the main requirement, only to have this happen, and with 2 weeks left to go before I finish this course I find myself in a tricky situation. Will I find employment? Can I afford to remain true to the advice of being picky with where I apply (it'll be a year of NQT, so I need to make sure I'm going to be able to fit in with the dynamics as best as possible)? Will someone give me the chance to prove my talents in rapid linguistic uptake? Or should I cut my losses and remain the educated instead of the educator, heading into the realms of doctoral research?!

No sé que va a pasar en el futuro, pero ya me da miedo. Si tuviera la oportunidad, me gustaría continuar como profesor, sin embargo me parece imposible buscar un empleo. S'il y a une telle école secondaire qui a besoin d'un prof qui peut parler (presque) cinq langues et qui peut enseigner le français jusqu'au terminale, je vous attends.

"Rewards Build Addicts"

I'm about to start my research into my next assignment. While I don't want to reveal too much about the subject, I'd love to gather some views on the statement above.

According to article 'x,' the author believes that the use of praise in the classroom should be restricted. The rationale behind this statement is that too much praise builds an environment of working for behaviour instead of working for learnings' sake. They also mention that constant praise only builds 'addicts' as "praise triggers the addiction centre of the brain."

What are your thoughts? Please write them in the comments below.

Thanks =]

Assessing Prior Knowledge

As Placement B creeps around the corner, I'm starting to think about how I can pick up in classes where the usual class teachers have (bravely) left off. In the case of a Spanish group I will be taking, I will be teaching aspects of grammar and will therefore need to know where to start from; there's no point preaching about the preterite if the students are already confident with it!

A bit of searching on the Interwebs led me to this excellent poster-image-type-thing that presents a number of easy-to-implement activities that can successfully gauge students prior learning. I'll certainly be using this, for the above class and beyond. I hope that you might also find it useful =]

Teaching Styles - The Complexity Conundrum

One of the most fulfilling exercises I've performed during my training so far is to think about how I want to be perceived as a teacher. All the trainees and I have had multiple discussions on strictness, school and class ethos, behaviour management, ideology... you name it, we've fleshed it out! However, the layers of complexity keep on appearing, sometimes imposed by the situation, other times imposed by myself.

Prior to my first placement, I thought about the multiple ways in which a teacher could be perceived. For me, being the "strict authoritarian" was out of the question, as was the "do whatever you want" style. These are two points of a seemingly endless continuum with all kinds of variations and combinations in-between; enough to make the radiation spectrum look quietly understated (go geeky physics pun!). Put this alongside the fact that style will most likely change down to surroundings, and it starts become tricky...

My first placement showed me what happens when you don't adapt to surroundings. I spent time working with a KS3 group of students and adopting an approach too far on the "easy-going" side, resulting in what was a wonderful class for a few weeks as they sized me up, becoming a situation where it was difficult to regain class control as they weren't taking me seriously. Granted, this wasn't the whole class, but it left me kicking myself, saying "If only I had started more intelligently..."

First impressions really, REALLY count, and I think this is my biggest concern so far. Having now commenced my second placement and meeting my extremely lively tutor group, I already find myself in a tricky bind that I'm not 100% sure how to deal with. As if fate decided to throw me a curveball, this group contains a small number of students who are challenging to calm down and engage, just as I experienced in my first placement KS3 class. This caused me to have a déjà vu flashback to what went wrong in my first placement and throw me completely off course, resulting in it becoming almost impossible to get them to be calm, stop throwing things, not interrupt others, etc. I left feeling as though I had taken that first chance and thrown it away, with these questions floating around my mind:

Does this mean that I've blown my first chance? Can I regain control in time? What teaching and behaviour management style suits liveliness? Will the students want to engage with this stranger who's suddenly rocked up to their class? Is it necessary, and can I commit, to being more authoritarian? Will I risk losing the rest of the class if this occurs? What about continuity between teachers and the behaviour management policy of the school?

See what I mean about complexity? While I'm not afraid to take on this challenge, I am afraid that I will end up being known as the "trainee who couldn't control his class." 

Onwards and upwards...

Data, Diversity, Double-checking and Delving into the World of Employment

The post-Christmas stint back at University has been very welcomed. Lots of information to mull over, chances to flex our brains in various ways, time to relax and panic (a little!) and I think we're all prepped for our next placement.

Lectures and experiences in data management and diversity have really got me excited about the 'other parts' of being a teacher. I'm no maths buff (a.k.a. 'mathlete') but I'm pretty nimble around an Excel spreadsheet, and my experiences of school have shown me that inclusion is something that really needs to be focussed on. From a personal perspective, the LGBT areas are ones that need support (come on, now, using 'gay' as an adjective to describe something negatively is so 1990s!) and I would very much like to offer my support wherever possible.

We've all completed our Masters-level assignment, too! I'm hoping that it gets me a pass at M-level as the guidance was a little bit contradictory, but only time will tell. The nice thing about this was, as I handed the assignment in 4 days before deadline, I was able to offer my assistance to others that were finding the project difficult and non-native speakers of English who wanted their language double-checking. It was nice to be called upon and to be able to help!

The only thing worrying me, more than anything possibly in my life right now, is what the future of my teaching career holds. I'm about to start a placement with a team and in a school that I'd more than happily want to work in as an NQT and beyond, but in reality, the job scene in Bristol for MFL teachers right now seems... well, non-existent. I, like several others on the School Direct course, are nervous as we thought that the SD route included employment at the end of the year, but it seems as though we may have all misinterpreted this.

I know it's only January, but it already feels scary.

Applications and Interviews and Jobs (Oh My!)

It's all starting to get a little hectic again. Even more so now that job adverts are starting to appear and all us PGCEers are feeling the bite of assignment deadlines, preparing for Placement B and thinking about getting a good start in the very career that we're learning so much about.

To put it in a 'light' way, I'm feeling something like this right now:

Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic, but all this talk of jobs is making me a little nervy. Many questions, lots of preparation and no guarantee of employment is a very scary position to be in...

Anyway, below is some information that's currently being discussed online about job applications in the teaching world. I thought I'd summarise it here to get my thoughts in order and to help any readers if they're in a similar situation:

• When looking at ads, ask if you are right for the job and if the job is right for you. If either of the answers is no, don't go for it. It's better to concentrate on one 'dead cert' than it is to waste employers' time and money
• Have a sceptical eye in interviews; scope out the school and make sure it's right for you
• Read and use the Person Specification carefully for each application; they look similar but can differ substantially, so a 'blanket application' won't work
• Try and visit the school if applying to it; it gives a good impression and allows you to do the aforementioned scoping!
• Remember that the children come first. We are here to teach kids and help them to develop all manner of skills, not just 'develop our own pedagogy'
• A mismatch between degree title and the subject you want to teach is not always a disadvantage; use specific examples and enthusiasm to make the application shine through
• Be confident in the use of data interpretation and analysis; apparently heads of department love it!
• Don't share out your personal statement too much. While it's good to have it double- and triple-checked, it also means that too many amendments lead it to being not as personal as it should be...
• Check your SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar); a large majority of applications will be binned on the basis of small errors
• Have these questions in mind during the process: Why your subject? Why this school? Why this post? Why teach?

Year 8 Aspirations - An initial analysis and call for assistance!

So that Christmas break went extremely quickly...

I'm find myself feeling gradually more and more confident within the classroom after completing Placement A and being back with my colleagues at Uni. As the course is progressing, all of these pedagogical terms, phrases and acronyms are really starting to sink in, and I can see how being a "reflective practitioner" is contributing to my development day by day. It's also great to see my colleagues experiencing the same thing and to observe how we're moving away from the shy, new trainees into professional purveyors of education. High 5s all 'round =D

This week I am in a different academy, looking at Y8s in particular. The trend so far seems to be that Y8 is nationally (if not internationally) the Year in which things start to 'dip,' particularly around attendance, aspirations and engagement. In fact, in asking a few friends and reflecting upon Y8 myself, we can't seem to remember much about that time at all... to us, and to many others, it seems a bit of a non-year.

The question I have been posed with is: how can Y8s regain their motivation for learning? They're no longer the babies of the school, and they haven't quite reached GCSE Options stage yet. To them, it's another year in the education cycle but it's also a time of change, particularly biologically. 

Not identifying and intervening with 'the dip' can lead to a negative learning cycle, details of which I won't go into here as I need to do some more research first, but I would like to ask any readers these two questions:

1. Can you remember what Year 8 was like for you? Do you agree that it was a year in which nothing much happened, or were your experiences different?
2. If you teach now, what are your opinions on your current Year 8? How do you motivate them to remain impassioned by learning?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!