Well, I've just completed my first week in my second placement. Spent all week observing and working with small groups. Its amazing how quickly you settle in, learn the names and find your way around!
It's really different in this school. Its a middle school, (the last was a lower school), so yrs 5-8, and has a much more secondary feel. The kids move classrooms a lot, and I'm following them round. It means not have a single classroom as a real base, although I spent most of my time in the form room. Also means working with several different teachers, which is interesting and good for seeing lots of different styles etc.
I'm enjoying it, and settling in well, and its only 5 weeks (4 now) but I'm still kind of looking forward to getting back to my other school. Its weird, because in a way I feel more relaxed in the second placement (perhaps because I feel like me 'real' mentor isn't there, or because they don't have the same expectations of me, or something) but the safety of my 'real' school still beckons.
I'm having to plan and teach (by the looks of it) more by other peoples plans, and team teach (which essentially means feeling stifled) rather than doing all my own plans on my own. I guess it should be easier, but I liked the autonomy of being able to teach the way I wanted in my first placement.
Really looking forward to having my own class now. Not many jobs coming up at the moment. Cross fingers for me!
Friday, 22 February 2008
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Applying
Well, I've just dropped my application form in for the job I've seen.
Yesterday I went for the school tour. It was a group tour, about 6 of us. Four more tours going on later that day too. We were taken around by the Head and the school was absolutely lovely! I really liked it. She explained everything and showed us everywhere from the classrooms to the staff rooms.
All the advice says to chat to the children etc but there really wasn't much chance to do that. Or at least that's how I felt, since I didn't want to go disturbing the classes etc. There was a girl sitting reading in the reception area and one of our number stopped and asked her what she was reading...masterful stroke...she may well be remembered for doing that. Next time I'll try to remember to watch out for any handy kids knocking about!
It took forever to write the application up. I photocopied the form and practised writing it up. The supporting statement was the hard bit though. I had adapted my pool application statement, and then changed it again once I saw the advert, then adapted it again once I got their forms and letterstelling me about the school...and then changed it again once I'd been around the school to add a thanks for taking me on a tour of the beautiful school and mentioned something I liked about the school that I saw during the tour.
Dropped the application form in today. Deadline for it is a week next monday and shortlisting is the friday after that, so ages to wait to see if I manage to get an interview.
From everything I've seen and heard, it's quite early on in the year for NQT type jobs to come up, so not too worried yet. Must get those pool applications in!
Yesterday I went for the school tour. It was a group tour, about 6 of us. Four more tours going on later that day too. We were taken around by the Head and the school was absolutely lovely! I really liked it. She explained everything and showed us everywhere from the classrooms to the staff rooms.
All the advice says to chat to the children etc but there really wasn't much chance to do that. Or at least that's how I felt, since I didn't want to go disturbing the classes etc. There was a girl sitting reading in the reception area and one of our number stopped and asked her what she was reading...masterful stroke...she may well be remembered for doing that. Next time I'll try to remember to watch out for any handy kids knocking about!
It took forever to write the application up. I photocopied the form and practised writing it up. The supporting statement was the hard bit though. I had adapted my pool application statement, and then changed it again once I saw the advert, then adapted it again once I got their forms and letterstelling me about the school...and then changed it again once I'd been around the school to add a thanks for taking me on a tour of the beautiful school and mentioned something I liked about the school that I saw during the tour.
Dropped the application form in today. Deadline for it is a week next monday and shortlisting is the friday after that, so ages to wait to see if I manage to get an interview.
From everything I've seen and heard, it's quite early on in the year for NQT type jobs to come up, so not too worried yet. Must get those pool applications in!
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Another half term ended.
It was only 5 weeks but it's been a long half term for me.
My year 4s are still great but as we all get tired they are pushing me to see how far they can go with behaviour - although, they're really a bit high for others too, but more for me I think.
Have been reassured that I shan't be going back into KS1, which I'm really pleased about. I'm definitely a KS2 teacher!
Went to visit the middle school I'll be going to after half term and they seem great - very much want me to do what I need to do for my standards, and not what lessons they need covering. Phew!
The school is 4 times as big as the one I've been working in and is a different world! Everything works differently and I shall get completely lost. I can see the advantages though -loads more resources, loads more people to bounce idea off of. I'm, interested and excited in a nervous kind of way about going there.
I've written a supporting statement for NQT pool applications -and this week I've seen the first adverts for NQT suitable jobs in my area starting in Sept. I'm going to ring tomorrow to arrange a visit and get an application form. Scary!
Been ill all week with the most horrendous cold which is probably 80% sinus infection. I WILL go to the Doctors next week. I've been suffering since about October and I just haven't the energy any more!
When will the mornings get lighter and the days brighter?
It's bizarre - I enjoy teaching but it's such har work, and the mornings are so dark and glum, that I often don't feel like going in, even though I know that I enjoy most of the lessons and the kids are lovely.
Hoping that better weather and lighter mornings, and not being sick all the time, will improve matters.
Anyway, shouldn't be on here. I have a mountain of paperwork and assignments etc to get done. Holiday? What holiday?
My year 4s are still great but as we all get tired they are pushing me to see how far they can go with behaviour - although, they're really a bit high for others too, but more for me I think.
Have been reassured that I shan't be going back into KS1, which I'm really pleased about. I'm definitely a KS2 teacher!
Went to visit the middle school I'll be going to after half term and they seem great - very much want me to do what I need to do for my standards, and not what lessons they need covering. Phew!
The school is 4 times as big as the one I've been working in and is a different world! Everything works differently and I shall get completely lost. I can see the advantages though -loads more resources, loads more people to bounce idea off of. I'm, interested and excited in a nervous kind of way about going there.
I've written a supporting statement for NQT pool applications -and this week I've seen the first adverts for NQT suitable jobs in my area starting in Sept. I'm going to ring tomorrow to arrange a visit and get an application form. Scary!
Been ill all week with the most horrendous cold which is probably 80% sinus infection. I WILL go to the Doctors next week. I've been suffering since about October and I just haven't the energy any more!
When will the mornings get lighter and the days brighter?
It's bizarre - I enjoy teaching but it's such har work, and the mornings are so dark and glum, that I often don't feel like going in, even though I know that I enjoy most of the lessons and the kids are lovely.
Hoping that better weather and lighter mornings, and not being sick all the time, will improve matters.
Anyway, shouldn't be on here. I have a mountain of paperwork and assignments etc to get done. Holiday? What holiday?
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Another month..
...gone by. It's amazing how quickly it's flying now. Some days quicker than others. Some lessons quicker than others!
Today I taught a lovely RE lessons, talking to my yr 4s about Sikhism - they're so interested and full of questions (which I can't always answer!) and enthusiastic to learn.
An hour later I was coviering the Yr 2 class from hell and crowd control was definitely the correct term for it!
For a while we sat on the mat and talked about transport and they were pretty good (low level disruption but nothing too awful) but as soon as they had to go off to their tables and do some work it was horrible!
The 'good' kids were desperately trying to get on while I constantly stamped on (not literally, though I felt like it) the horrors who at best were wasting time, and at worst were walking round the class bothering each other and waving scissors about.
Even that wasn't so bad, but when they had to change for PE..aargh!
Thank God someone else was taking them for PE - I ended up tidying the room for about 20 mins and then just really trying to recover before picking them up again to get them changed for hometime.
Getting changed again was better - lots of stickers and stars given out!
I was knackered at the end of it. More knackered than a whole day of teaching the yr 4s!
Thankfully my mentor has promised me I won't have to return to that class - if I had been in there all the time I would probably have decided teaching wasn't for me (if I hadn't had a nervous breakdown already!)
I had to talk to me DRB and my mentor very honestly about not wanting to go back into the class and why (which was a bit worrying) but it was worth it.
If you have trouble on your placement make sure you tell someone - something good might actually come of it!
Today I taught a lovely RE lessons, talking to my yr 4s about Sikhism - they're so interested and full of questions (which I can't always answer!) and enthusiastic to learn.
An hour later I was coviering the Yr 2 class from hell and crowd control was definitely the correct term for it!
For a while we sat on the mat and talked about transport and they were pretty good (low level disruption but nothing too awful) but as soon as they had to go off to their tables and do some work it was horrible!
The 'good' kids were desperately trying to get on while I constantly stamped on (not literally, though I felt like it) the horrors who at best were wasting time, and at worst were walking round the class bothering each other and waving scissors about.
Even that wasn't so bad, but when they had to change for PE..aargh!
Thank God someone else was taking them for PE - I ended up tidying the room for about 20 mins and then just really trying to recover before picking them up again to get them changed for hometime.
Getting changed again was better - lots of stickers and stars given out!
I was knackered at the end of it. More knackered than a whole day of teaching the yr 4s!
Thankfully my mentor has promised me I won't have to return to that class - if I had been in there all the time I would probably have decided teaching wasn't for me (if I hadn't had a nervous breakdown already!)
I had to talk to me DRB and my mentor very honestly about not wanting to go back into the class and why (which was a bit worrying) but it was worth it.
If you have trouble on your placement make sure you tell someone - something good might actually come of it!
Sunday, 13 January 2008
New term, new class, new me
Well, I've been back to school for just over a week now and I can't believe how much more confident and relaxed I feel!
I can't work out if it was just the christmas break, being in a different class (away from the troublesome child who drives us all up the wall!) or because I'm finally in the year group I always thought I'd want to be in.
Somehow I feel like all the things I've been struggling to put together over the last term have slipped into place when I wasn't looking over christmas, and now I am able to relax and teach!
Weird.
I feel quite confident.
And now they want me to plan and put together a class assembly - parents invited! Arggghh.
'Think of the standards you'll meet' my mentor keeps saying!
I feel the pressure of the paperwork now. Making sure I am covering any standards which look a little bare - making ticksheets for observers to use to say I hit certain standards, and then making sure I do it well on the day!
I had the best observation done of my teaching the other day. Everything went so well!
And the best thing, is that my mentor, when she realised how much happier I am in yr4, is looking into me doing at least part of my final teaching practise in yr 4, rather than all of it in yr2.
Woohoo!
Loving it.
I can't work out if it was just the christmas break, being in a different class (away from the troublesome child who drives us all up the wall!) or because I'm finally in the year group I always thought I'd want to be in.
Somehow I feel like all the things I've been struggling to put together over the last term have slipped into place when I wasn't looking over christmas, and now I am able to relax and teach!
Weird.
I feel quite confident.
And now they want me to plan and put together a class assembly - parents invited! Arggghh.
'Think of the standards you'll meet' my mentor keeps saying!
I feel the pressure of the paperwork now. Making sure I am covering any standards which look a little bare - making ticksheets for observers to use to say I hit certain standards, and then making sure I do it well on the day!
I had the best observation done of my teaching the other day. Everything went so well!
And the best thing, is that my mentor, when she realised how much happier I am in yr4, is looking into me doing at least part of my final teaching practise in yr 4, rather than all of it in yr2.
Woohoo!
Loving it.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Christmas!!!!!!!!!
Well, I've been through a few weeks of doubting myself and come out the other side as happy as I can be! Christmas at school has helped - I'm in my element - and the lack of a proper timetiable for the last week and a half means I haven't been planning anywhere near as much. I feel confident and happy and excited again now. Thank God!
It was last day of school today, and over christmas I have to do a medium term plan for yr 4 history and I'll be teaching the first 2 weeks of literacy so I need to roughly plan those - and detail plan the first week, but that'll be fine.
It's a bit worrying changing class - just as you get used to one class I have to move up to another - 2 year groups above. I look forward to it, since I think I'd rather teach yr 4 or 5 anyway, and there are less than 20 children with no SEN, which will be lovely. I think I'll enjoy the level of work more, and the fact they need fewer concrete resources - yr 2 maths is all multicubes, number grids, number cards, rulers - and that's just one lesson! It takes ages to organise just the resources. And last term I was differentiating 4 ways - this yr it's just the main class and some extension work for the G&T's! Heaven.
Yep, pretty happy.
I even got to go to my own son's school play - I asked at the beginning of the course and my lovely mentor said she'd see what she could do - and in the end our TA covered for me while I went off early for the afternoon. It's always worth asking (in a deferential, 'I know it might not be possible' kind of way!)
It was last day of school today, and over christmas I have to do a medium term plan for yr 4 history and I'll be teaching the first 2 weeks of literacy so I need to roughly plan those - and detail plan the first week, but that'll be fine.
It's a bit worrying changing class - just as you get used to one class I have to move up to another - 2 year groups above. I look forward to it, since I think I'd rather teach yr 4 or 5 anyway, and there are less than 20 children with no SEN, which will be lovely. I think I'll enjoy the level of work more, and the fact they need fewer concrete resources - yr 2 maths is all multicubes, number grids, number cards, rulers - and that's just one lesson! It takes ages to organise just the resources. And last term I was differentiating 4 ways - this yr it's just the main class and some extension work for the G&T's! Heaven.
Yep, pretty happy.
I even got to go to my own son's school play - I asked at the beginning of the course and my lovely mentor said she'd see what she could do - and in the end our TA covered for me while I went off early for the afternoon. It's always worth asking (in a deferential, 'I know it might not be possible' kind of way!)
Monday, 26 November 2007
Time flies...
...when you're incredibly busy.
Well, last week was good.
By the end of the week of my last post I was knackered! I was also doubting myself quite a bit. The kids had been restless and generally not very well behaved and I spent ages being convinced it was my fault but I've since learnt that they were hellish for everyone!
I told my tutor of my ingrained terror of maths and she observed me and reckoned I was actually fine...it's all in my mind! Also found I am getting over sensitive to behaviour and noise levels - I told my mentor that at one point I stood there thinking 'too much noise' and I suddenly realised that there was barely any noise, and the chatter was about work anyway!
So, I taught about 50% last week - a full day on monday, then 2 lessons a day for the rest of the week - no teaching friday: it was planned but had to change.
This week I'm back at lectures 2 days a week.
Today I did Literacy and Numeracy skills tests - I PASSED!!! I PASSED!!! I failed the online Numeracy skills test every single time and was convinced I would fail - I went into a massive panic and tbh, the mental maths bit was just awful - I barely answered any questions and some I had no idea how to do and I was absolutely depressed as anything. Then I got onto the second bit and the questions were almost so easy I was thinking I must have missed something. Still I passed (still can't believe it!)
Just ICT to do now.
Anyway - teaching most of tomorrow - Literacy, Numeracy and Geography. IWB went crazy last week and couldn't use it at all, it was hellish. Don't know if it's fixed or not, and not sure how to teach what I'm going to teach without it :o(
Planning's taken forever. Folders/portfolio taking even longer...now I;ve got assignments to think about too...not enough hours in the day.
Well, last week was good.
By the end of the week of my last post I was knackered! I was also doubting myself quite a bit. The kids had been restless and generally not very well behaved and I spent ages being convinced it was my fault but I've since learnt that they were hellish for everyone!
I told my tutor of my ingrained terror of maths and she observed me and reckoned I was actually fine...it's all in my mind! Also found I am getting over sensitive to behaviour and noise levels - I told my mentor that at one point I stood there thinking 'too much noise' and I suddenly realised that there was barely any noise, and the chatter was about work anyway!
So, I taught about 50% last week - a full day on monday, then 2 lessons a day for the rest of the week - no teaching friday: it was planned but had to change.
This week I'm back at lectures 2 days a week.
Today I did Literacy and Numeracy skills tests - I PASSED!!! I PASSED!!! I failed the online Numeracy skills test every single time and was convinced I would fail - I went into a massive panic and tbh, the mental maths bit was just awful - I barely answered any questions and some I had no idea how to do and I was absolutely depressed as anything. Then I got onto the second bit and the questions were almost so easy I was thinking I must have missed something. Still I passed (still can't believe it!)
Just ICT to do now.
Anyway - teaching most of tomorrow - Literacy, Numeracy and Geography. IWB went crazy last week and couldn't use it at all, it was hellish. Don't know if it's fixed or not, and not sure how to teach what I'm going to teach without it :o(
Planning's taken forever. Folders/portfolio taking even longer...now I;ve got assignments to think about too...not enough hours in the day.
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