I am in no way an authority on teaching, learning or training to be a teacher. However, I am fairly new to teaching and trained recently, so I remember how daunting that Summer was before I trained. Perhaps now, because none of us know what September will bring, the thought of training to teach in September is even more worrying- so I wanted to collate and share some of the advice I was given before, and whilst training to be a teacher. I trained almost three years ago now, through a Schools Direct Secondary Route, and still teach at that same school today. Here are my top ten tips for trainee teachers: 1. Take on board all feedback. Your mentor, people in your department and other members of staff will have an absolute wealth of experience behind them that they will want to share with you. Taking on board feedback and adapting your teaching to reflect this is one of the best ways to flourish as a teacher. There is nothing more frustrating than a trainee who doesn’t take on board your feedback. Lesson observations, written feedback and mentor meetings will become a massive waste of time if you are not actively showing that you have heard what your mentor is saying and that you are actively doing something to implement their feedback into your lessons. 2. Fall in love with your subject. As cliché as that sounds, it is vital that you know your subject inside and out. In ‘How to teach’ Phil Beadle says “good secondary teachers have subject related passion pouring from every pore” and there is a lot of truth in that. Now, I am not saying you need a PHD in English literature to be an outstanding English teacher, however when you are the teacher in the room you are the expert, so it might mean doing a little wider reading over the Summer or even a Subject Enhancement Course. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you at least understand the basics of your subject. Now, I’m going to be contradictory here, please don’t think I am saying you need to be an expert when you arrive on day one for your training, a lot of your training will consist of subject knowledge enhancement but you should at least know the basics. 3. Take a break. An exhausted trainee is no good to anyone. You can’t be your best in the classroom if you’ve been planning lessons until 3am and you certainly won’t be your best at home where it truly matters, if you are exhausted. It’s so important to understand how much teacher training can burn you out. It is vital that you take time out and have some down time. It doesn’t matter what you do, walk on the beach, spend time with the family or binge watch a Netflix series - but put the pens down, the books away and take time to recharge. You’ll be a much better teacher for it. Many teachers reach burn out, and fall out of love with the job! It’s ok to take 5 minutes out sometimes, your emotional well-being comes first and it’s so important to look after that. 4. Check out other teachers. One of the most valuable things I did in my training was request to observe other teachers. I was very lucky to train in a brilliant department with some really experienced teachers. Watching how they did it was, and still is an incredibly invaluable experience. They all teach in very different ways, with different styles and incorporating different pedagogies, and being given the opportunity to observe these staff teaching in all different key stages was critical to my training. 5. Remember why you are here. There will be times throughout your training when you feel overwhelmed and it can be easy to forget your sense of purpose. It’s so important to remember why you came into teaching in the first place. It might be your passion for working with young people or your passion for bringing your subject to life, but whatever the reason- hold onto it! I remember seeing a TED talk by Rita Pierson, ‘Every Kid Needs a Champion.’ It was shown to me by a teacher who led the training and is to this day one of the best teachers I have ever worked with. It gave me such a sense of purpose and made me realise how truly important our job is! I still to this day watch it whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed or am lacking that sense of identity. It really is true; every kid does need a champion! Which brings me onto my next tip... 6. Get to know the kids. Nobody, no matter how qualified, will ever be able to convince me that outstanding teaching isn’t based on relationships. Stacey Goodman summarizes this perfectly for me in an Edutopia article when she says “teaching through relationships, when done well, recognizes the human stories of the learners themselves (they are not blank slates), as well as that of the teacher. It is an approach that embraces our complex identities, biographies, and the stories we bring that serve to humanise the subjects we teach”. Every child we teach has a back story, get to know them! Our pupils home lives, their experiences and their special educational needs all play a significant role in how they learn and their behaviour in your classroom. Teaching is all about relationships, build them with your students. 7. Ask questions. Nobody is expecting you to rock up on day one of your placement and be an expert. Each school runs very differently and then departments/key stages run very differently and it’s ok to feel overwhelmed by it all. It is so important that when you feel like this you ask questions! Too often, trainees can feel like they are in the way or inconveniencing staff - but at the end of the day we are all in a school for the same reason! We love our subject, we love working with young people and we love teaching and learning, and sometimes in order to do this to the best of our ability, we need to ask questions! 8. Follow up behaviour issues. Tom’s been chatting throughout your lesson, you’ve issues several warnings and it’s resulted in a break time detention. You’ve got printing to do for period 5, haven’t had breakfast yet and need to catch up with your Head of Department about the GCSE lesson you are planning. However, the most important thing you can do is follow up Tom’s detention. It sends a clear message that you won’t tolerate that level of disruption and helps him to understand that you have high expectations and he didn’t meet them. Does this mean Tom will never chat in your lesson again? Absolutely not, of course he will. However, it sends the message that it isn’t acceptable and perhaps over time you’ll benefit from a behaviour change in Tom when he understands that you are serious. A little sub tip here is always be consistent! If you’ve given detentions, chase them up! Consistency is key. 9. Celebrate the successes. Teaching is a hard game, but, the most rewarding one you can play. You will face many setbacks throughout your training, maybe you applied for the dream job and were unsuccessful or spent your weekend planning an observation lesson and it goes completely up the wall - these things happen! So it is vital that when you’ve had a good day, you celebrate it. Maybe you’ve gotten through to a student that you never thought you could, or had a brilliant lesson with your most difficult class, celebrate this! Each positive experience will make you a better teacher, as will every set back! Learn from each experience; they are valuable to your progression. It’s important to be reflective, as educational practitioners we must reflect on everything we do, pedagogy, assessment, behaviour management all of it! Learn from every single experience. 10. Have a support network. One of the most vital things I had during my training was a close group of friends to rant to on a Friday night in the local pub after a bad day. We shared ideas, resources, experiences, sob stories and even a group chat. It was so important to have a group of people, going through exactly the same experiences as myself to support me through it! We worked together and saw each other through what was a really tough year! Training to teach isn’t easy and having a group of people to support you through is so important. So there you have my ten top tips for trainee teachers, but below are some further tips, collated from people from different areas of teaching that I would have found really helpful before starting out: “it’s a time to mimic... try every style” · Heather, Science Teacher and Lead Practitioner “Don’t panic, take every day as it comes and make sure you are prepared and planned for everything” · Rachel, Science Teacher and KS3 Coordinator “Be adaptable to everything” · Hannah, Year 4 Teacher and Assistant Head Teacher of Child Welfare “Ask for help when you need it” Ciara, Spanish Teacher and Assistant Head Teacher of Teaching and Learning “Share with your fellow trainees. Whether its resources, ideas, support or biscuits- you’re going to get each other through this” · Lyndsay, Teacher of English “Do not try and reinvent the wheel- if it’s a good resource, use it” · Danielle, Teacher of English “Don’t believe all the negative stuff. Find a school and a style that suits you and your situation and you will love it” · Dave, Teacher of Science/School Wellbeing Lead "Teaching is a very interweaved world, you'll be surprised who knows who- leave a positive footprint where ever you go" · Lauren, Teacher of History and Politics “Enjoy what you do. It took a lot of hard work to get to this point so embrace it” · Louise, Head of Religious Education Department
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AuthorMatthew Jones - Teacher of Religious Education |