I thought, in absence of much blogging over the past half term (that’ll be explained!), I would do the ‘traditional’ think look back over 2011 and then forward to 2012.

So today, already a bit late(!) I’m going to look back, and the looking forward bit will be posted later this week

So here goes- here was my 2011.

BETT – The year started for me ‘properly’ with my first experience of the craziness that is BETT.  I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 days at the show, and had fun helping out with the amazing people at BrainPopUK and also Espresso and 2simple too.  I also had a go at a TeachMeet Takeover and experienced my first TMBETT (a fantastic night!)  [I’m back at BETT this year, but sadly only on the Thursday- and this year I’ve been invited to lead a LearnLIVE seminar session with some children- more details on our BETT blog- wps-at-bett.posterous.com)

TMEast- We held 2 TeachMeet Easts this year, both of which were well attended and full of super ideas.  I was really proud of how they both went, and hope to run another TeachMeet East around April/May time- so watch this space!

Conferences- This year saw me (along with children both times) being involved with 2 conferences.  One for international school head teachers in the UAE, which we joined via skype (talking about using the interenet to engage parents and children).  We also attended the Creative Partnership Celebration conference at OPEN inNorwich, where 6 children made me really proud and ‘taught’ a poetry session to head teachers based on our creative partnership work.

Teacher training- I’ve also really enjoyed getting involved with the Primary PGCE course at UEA from ‘the other side’, which is rather strange in a way since I only left the PGCE in July 2010 myself!   In May I was involved in leading a couple of sessions about the Take One Picture project and my approach to using art in the classroom, which was great fun.

I was also delighted to be asked to deliver a session around blogging, web 2.0 and e-safety, which we called ‘Putting the ‘C’ back into ICT’ as part of the ICT strand this year.  I really enjoyed the first 2 days of sessions (even though teaching 2 x 3 hour sessions a day is exhausting!) and met some fantastic PGCE students- I even think I manage to convince some to start blogging (with children and themselves) and join twitter   Sadly school commitments (more on that below) meant I had to pull out of the last day of sessions, but I hope these will be re-arranged before July so I can met some more super PGCEr’s!

Jobs- as those of you who follow me on Twitter may remember, the middle of last year was full of lots of anxiety and stress relating to jobs!   I certainly experienced the ‘darker side’ of the education employment market can be and felt, at times, quite messed around.   Typically I ended up, 3 weeks before the end of term, with 2 job offers (both temporary again for a year) one at my current school and one at another local school, and finally decided to stay where I was (since the contracts were the same)- so all worked out in the end, but boy was it stressful!

I’m hoping the same stress can be avoided this year- fingers crossed!

Finishing NQT year-  This year was also saw me complete my NQT year.  Whilst my NQT year was, of course, hard work, I really enjoyed it and feel that I have developed tons of a teacher (my reflections at the end of my NQT year are here)… that said, it is a relief not to have to be constantly recording evidence now

Saying goodbye to my first class- I also said goodbye to ‘my’ first class, a class that I suspect (and hope) I will always remember for the rest of my teaching career.  It was quite ‘sad’ to say goodbye to them, but obviously saying goodbye meant I met another group of super young people too….

New set-up.   My new class, and new year group (year 4) brought with it a different challenge, caused by my new year group being a ‘dip’ year roll wise (I blogged about it here).   But looking back so far, it’s been a great ‘change’- it’s really great having 22 children in the morning, especially with 3 adults in the classroom (the level of support, guided group work etc that we can make sure each child experiences etc…).   But it is also nice to work with the whole year group for (most) afternoons, and to team teach with our deputy head (2 afternoons a week)- there are lots more opportunities that are suddenly available with slightly more children!  (I intend to blog more about this soon!)

OFSTED + Special measures- In October we got ‘the call’ and OFSTED turned up at school (exactly 3 years after they last visited).   Whilst, of course, it was very stressful, I didn’t find the inspection process as awful as the stories I’ve heard (despite a right mess up with my first observation where I ended up teaching a lesson when I wasn’t meant to be teaching… thankfully the inspector arranged with me to come an see another lesson the next day, which went considerably better!)- our inspection team were lovely and the feedback I received was really supportive and kind.

But, the school was placed in Special Measures as an outcome of the inspection.  This has made school a very interesting place to be for the past half term.  It’s been difficult at times, especially ‘coping with’ different  reactions to the category, but there has been lots of hard work already, and I’m really looking forward to benefiting from the extra support, guidance and training that ‘comes with’ a school being in special measures- and who knows what opportunities it might throw up!

MaST-  In September I also embarked on the Mathematics Specialist Teacher Programme, which I am enjoying so far- despite spending much of the Christmas holiday writing the first assignment!  This has led to me having a higher profile in school maths wise, and I’m starting to be given some responsibility and a ‘support’ role for KS2 maths, which is a major focus area post OFSTED.  I’m pleased with this as it is the (very) start of working towards core subject leadership

And finally for 2 general things that didn’t go quite as well this year…

Work/Life Balance – still hasn’t improved much, and I’m finding myself working longer and longer at the moment, with often not doing much other than work in a week- so this is certainly going to be a focus next year.

Blogging and Twitter- I feel like I have neglected my blog (big time!) and Twitter towards the end of this year-  it’s been difficult as I didn’t want to come across as ‘moaning’  all the time, which towards the end of the year might have been the case!  I really hope to re-engage fully with all the amazing people on Twitter and to blog more frequently next year!

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How was your 2011?

Here’s to a super 2012!

Tim

One of the things I’ve noticed teaching year 4, is how ‘restless’ some of the children are in the afternoon (not necessarily just as the afternoon goes on, but at the start of the afternoon too!).  This is despite me a range of different approaches in the afternoon and trying my best to make our afternoons as varied as possible, with lots of active, child led learning etc.  Whilst it wasn’t stopping us learning completely, it was certainly having an effect

A few weeks into the half term I had a think about why this could be, and reflecting on the children’s behaviour etc in the afternoon I came to the conclusion that the restlessness was due to a few things:-

• Some of the children had lots of ‘left over’ energy from lunch-time
• Some of the children (different ones to the first group) were simply getting tired after lunch.  This may be down in part to our schools new morning structure which some of the children have found to be more ‘energy zapping’
• If children had chosen to go on the field at lunch, they had to change out of their trainers at the start of the afternoon- this lead to a fragmented start to the afternoon.
• Some of the children were still missing their afternoon break!

I’ve tried a few different things out over the past few weeks- including using music to bring everyone together and act as a ‘calm down’- but, by far the most effective approach we have tried so far has been simple exercise.

Now, I’ve been aware of lots of people using whole class ‘exercise’ for a range of reasons, but until this half term never quite appreciated the effect it can have.   We’ve been using a service, which I really love, called 5-A-Day which provides a range of different activities- including 5 minute ‘work outs’ and 2 minute ‘cool downs’.  [Now I have to say the site isn’t free- it's a service we have started using this year- but there is a good free trial on their website]

So each afternoon, we’ve started with a dose of excercise.  We start one of the 5 minute work outs pretty much as soon as we get in from lunch- which means that those who have to change their shoes…

a)      Can come and join in when they have changed their shoes- much less disruptive then if we were waiting to do the register

b)      Have a incentive to change their shoes really quickly!

This seems to serve the purpose of both energising those who need it, whilst also burning off some of that excess energy that others have.

We then do one of the 2 minute ‘time-2-chill’ activities- which the children are encouraged to do without any noise- this calms down + settles everyone, and we know that as soon as the time-2-chill has finished everyone comes and sits down sensibly tin their carpet places, and we are ready to begin the afternoon.     The children have fun taking part (as do I, and any other adults in the room who also have a go!)  and I can also visually do the register whilst it’s going on.

Since starting the ‘exercise’ I’ve noticed our afternoon are much calmer, everyone is more settled- it’s certainly something we are going to continue after half term.  I think I’m also going to explore using it, or another approach first thing in the morning, to see if has any benefits then too.

I’d be really interested to hear how others use exercise in their classroom and what other services/tools you use- [I’m aware of lots of people using Just Dance on the WIi, and this is something I want to try out too, but not quite sure how it would work out].  Also be interested to hear any other approaches you use for trying to ensure a clam afternoon

TH

But first a bit of background..

I’m leading some sessions to Primary PGCE students at the University of East Anglia (UEA) on Wednesday and Thursday which are focusing around ‘Putting the c back into ICT) – we are going to be exploring the use of tools such as blogs, twitter and other communication related tech in the primary classroom.

One area we will be discussing is the use of Video conferencing, and the use of things such as Skype, Eluminate etc in school.   This is something we’ve used a bit in the past (for example, linking with with @frogphilips year 6’s who taught us about google docs, linking up with a head teachers conference in the UAE etc) , but something which I feel I haven’t quite exploited to it’s full potential.

My classes communication skills and general confidence is also low.

And I also have a class assembly slot on Friday along with the next hour as our ‘blogging time’ which is lacking something.

So last night, I had a bit of an idea.  I want to use video conferencing and our Friday morning ‘slot’ to link my class with as many different people and classes as possible.

The idea is that each Friday, we would have a conversation with someone/a group over skype (or other video chat tool).

This someone could be anyone who has something to share and/or for us to ask about, whether that be their hobby, job, skill, where they live etc…  We could talk to other teachers, other classes (yes please!), authors, comedians, actors, dancers, lawyers, doctors, scientists, pilots, someone with an interesting job or anyone else.   Hopefully we could link with with people from all over the UK and internationally to0.   I’m hoping that some of you reading this will be willing to talk to us! And that I can use the power of twitter and the internet to ‘recruit’ even more people for us to talk to.

[There are obvious potential safegauding issues here, but I think today we’ve managed to iron these out- after all, it’s just about being sensible.]

This is how I see it working:-

• People ‘sign up’ to say they are interested/willing to talk to us using the form below.
• We (assuming people are willing) come up with a ‘timetable’ of who we are speaking to, when.
• The weekend before, I let my class know who we’ll be speaking to- they then have the week to perhaps do some background research and come up with some super questions etc…
• We have the conversation on the Friday- not for long- just 10-15 mins or so.
• My class learn lots, find out about something/somewhere different
• They are also encouraged to blog about what we have found out, write nice thank you notes/e-cards etc, and share what we have learnt with the world.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a one way thing- we would also answer questions etc

This could work, it could not. No-one could be willing/interested in talking to us, or lots of people could.  But I thought it was worth a try- and I look forward to updating you on how we are getting on (if indeed we get it off the ground in the first place ).

So..

Will you talk to us?  Do you know someone who might? If so please fill in the form below and we’ll be in touch.   We’d also love you to spread the word as far as possible- who knows who we might end up talking to

[Remember, we are not looking for experts, or anyone in particular- classess, individuals, education related or not- it’s all about variety- and we’ll be a lovely bunch to talk to, honest ]

I’d also, of course, be interested in your thoughts on this too!

Tim

Before.

Last year, we structured our morning, in what I’m guessing is a fairly ‘standard’ way.  We had registration/early morning work, assembly  and then an hour of maths, an hour of literacy and an hour of either ICT, RE, PE, Games, MFL etc….  In the afternoon we mainly had our theme work, which was , in theory anyway, cross curricular. (most our PE, RE, ICT was delivered in the morning, which usually formed part of PPA (which annoyingly was split into 1 hour chunks) .  This worked ‘ok’ but it was often difficult to fit things like guided reading, interventions etc in- especially those which work best with TA support (we only employ general TA’s in the AM) as I was often only with my class for 2 hours each AM,

Next year.

Next year, we have decided to make a fairly substantial change across the school.  Our day will now look something like this. (obviously with break, lunch etc)

• Registration, Early Morning work and assembly.
• Then an hour and a bit that is currently being called ‘carousel’- which is going to be made up of 20 minutes guided reading (meaning we can hopefully have each group ‘doing’ guided reading with an adult twice a week), 20 minutes of phonics/spelling/handwriting and 20 mins of calculations.   I think this could work really well (but more on that below) – but am determined to give it a more ‘catchy’’ name!
•   40 minutes of ‘writing for a purpose’- where we will do what would be in an ‘English’ lesson, but the the overriding emphasis that the children must have a purpose for the writing we are working towards etc.  This will be themed into our theme as much as possible, with the aim that in the future these will just become ‘theme’ lessons.
• 40 minutes of ‘real life maths/ problem solving’- with the aim being to focus on the application of maths skills (which will be taught/re-capped in the calculations part of the carousel’)- again themed in if possible.
• 15 minutes dedicated ‘class novel’ time.
• Our afternoons will then be largely devoted to ‘theme’.  Our PPA has been moved to an afternoon block, as has all of the KS2 PE/Games teaching, KS2 MFL and KS2 RE (when it’s not able to be part of the theme).

My thoughts.

Overall, I;m quite ‘excited’ by all of the changes and the new structure to our school day.  I think it will give us a great structure to ensure the ‘basics’ are covered which should hopefully lead to an increase in the achievement, and importantly the children’s confidence in ‘maths’ and ‘English’.  We are also moving to teaching most things in mixed-ability groups which again, I’m really pleased about.

I’m also pleased as it means that we are moving even further towards a fully thematic and cross curricular curriculum- which is how I really believe we should be teaching.  It means that our ICT is going to be fully integrated (in theory anyway!) along with science (which we have just re-planned cross school to ensure a good tie-in with the themes in each year group), and that our ‘writing for a purpose’ should be largely themed as well.    

But the flip side of this does mean that the time we had for what was in our ‘theme’ is reduced, especially when our PPA, PE etc is taken out of it.  Our theme time, without ICT (which will be integrated), music (again, will integrate that throughout the year) is going to only be 6 hours (2 full afternoons, 2 half afternoons) so I think we need to be really ‘tight’ on what we cover in the theme and ensure we get the magic ‘coverage’ we need.

The morning carousel will certainly be different- but in a good way I hope!  It’s going to be a learning curve for me, especially with a focus on phonics based teaching (my phonics knowledge is low at the moment!).    Its great to have class novel time and I love the idea of dedicated calculations, which will ensure that the key calculation skills are constantly refreshed, used and enhanced.

This leads me onto our ‘real life maths/problem solving’- which, again, on the face of it I’m really ‘up for’- I did weekly problem solving last year which the children loved, and of course tried to get as much as my maths as possible to be contextual + ‘real life’- however this certainly wasn’t the case for all areas of maths last year. 

But this year, I’m determined to make everything fit really into the ‘real life’ and ‘problem solving’ ‘brand’’.  But am unsure of how to do it for every area.   I don’t want to fall into the ‘trap’ which people have already suggested in school of ‘just adding £, cm, m to questions’- as that surely isn’t ‘real life’!  Things, for instance, like place value, partitioning etc seem more difficult to give a meaningful context to (addition etc, fractions, percentages etc are seem ‘straight forward’ to develop real life contexts for).    If you have any suggestions/resources/ideas for helping to develop the contextual/real life maths I’d love to hear them.

So there are certainly ‘changes afoot’ – I look forward to updating you on how they ‘progress’!

TH

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I’m sure lots of you are just about to embark on your NQT year.  The start of the school year is fast approaching (how fast do these holidays go?!) and, probably along with it, lots of nerves, worries and anxieties about the year ahead.

Over the past year, I feel like I’ve been on a massive journey- that between the end of a PGCE year and the end of the NQT year.

I’ve been browsing the TES New Teachers web-site and forum over the past few weeks, and have seen many messages and posts from new NQT’s that really resonated with me- I of course remember feeling exactly the same this time last year (and, yes, I have to say, am feeling much of the worry, anxiety  and nerves again this year- sorry!).

This made me think and find a piece of reflective writing I did around this time last year, which basically listed some of my ‘fears’ about the next year.  I’ve decided now would be a good time to share a few of these worries with you now, and reflect on them a year on.

I’ve also then put   things that I feel about my NQT year, which I probably didn’t expect (well, not to the same degree anyway!) this time last year.

I hope this proves an interesting read for anyone, and that it goes some way to reflecting on the differences between the end of the PGCE and the end of NQT year.  I really hope this doesn’t sound ‘preachy’ in any way, and of course these are just my experiences and reflections!

3 things you may be feeling now.

Everything is down to me!

This, for me, is the ‘big one’- or at least it felt that way at the start of my NQT year!  During last summer, I all of a sudden had the realisation that everything (or pretty much everything) that happens in my classroom is down to me.

A year on, I still feel like this was still a ‘valid’ ‘feeling’ after all, there is nothing to inherit from the class teacher whose class you are ‘borrowing’.

This feeling was especially strong at the start of the year when I was sorting out things for my new class and working out how to ‘establish’ my class- afterall this part of the school year isn’t normally ‘witnessed’ on a PGCE.

But, over the past year I feel I have managed to ‘adopt’ all the small things that need doing into my day-day routine.  I also feel that the fact that there is nothing much  to ‘inherit’ is a good thing- it gave me the scope to try things out and ‘borrow’ things I’ve seen on placement and elsewhere.

The biggest thing I forgot to take into account was how helpful others will be (in ‘real life’ but especially on twitter’) and that help was only ever an ask away.  (most) In school won’t expect you to know these things and will be more than willing to help!

Everyone say’s it’s the hardest year of teaching- can that really be true?

During our PGCE I remember we were constantly disheartened when (it seemed like) everyone who came to talk to us made reference to our PGCE year only being our second most difficult in teaching and that the NQT year was ‘harder’.  Many of us were in denial- things like ‘It can’t possibly be harder than this’ were frequently heard.

Looking back on the past year, it’s very tempting to agree and simply say, yes, your NQT year is harder that your PGCE year.But, thinking deeper, I’m not quite sure that’s true.  I’ve found my NQT year, and the challenges it has presented very different from my PGCE year.

Assignments, copious research, incredibly detailed lesson plans, form filling and mastering the basics of teaching are ‘replaced’ by. amongst other things,  getting to grips with everything expected of a qualified teacher, teaching a fuller timetable, evidencing your NQT standards, and importantly, developing your skills as a teacher.  These are not necessarily ‘harder’ than the challenges you face on a PGCE- just different.

I don’t want to be sick!

I remember worrying being sick- which I guess is silly really when sickness, I think, is almost inevitable in this job, especially to someone not ‘immune’ to all the germs carried by children

I’m not sure if I was more worried about being ill- in which case, my worries were right- I had some form of light cold, cough or something else on and off throughout my NQT year!

Or if I was really worried about having time off sick (probably more likely!)- but I have now learnt that it is counterpdocutive to come to work as a teacher, and attempt to teach, when you *really* should be at home.

I didn’t learn this lesson though until the first time I was off work ill, where, rather embarrassingly, I actually went into school in the morning and effectively got sent home by a group of children in my class, who took it upon themselves to go and tell our head at break that ‘Mr H isn’t well enough to be here, but he’s here because he doesn’t want to let us down’ (or words to that effect!) – needless to say the head then promptly took one look at me and told me to go home.

Saying that I have managed to get through my NQT year with *only* 2 days of sick…

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4 things you might not expect.

Your teaching style develops enormously.

Probably the biggest change for me has been seeing my teaching style develop massively.  I did realise (well hoped anyway!) that my teaching style would develop, but don’t think I quite realised that it would develop as much as it has.

I didn’t appreciate how teaching ‘full time’ gives even more time to develop the way in which you teach.  You ‘suddenly’ have a whole year to try out things, keep those that work and build upon them, whilst letting those that didn’t quite work slip ‘quietly’ away.  This sometimes didn’t feel possible to do during the PGCE- because of the simple fact that you are only ‘borrowing’ a class for a short period.

You also have the added benefit of your NQT time (which I already know I’m going to miss next year!) which can be used to see other teachers teach, both in your school and in others, so you can continue to ‘magpie’ snippets of practice that you like from others too.

You also have a whole year to adapt the way you teach to give your group of children the best possible learning experience for them. Whilst, of course, I tried to do this during my training, it’s more difficult when you are only with a group of children for a shorter period of time.   I was also able to develop my class’s (and my own) skills- for example in co-operative learning- so that we were working in ways in March that simply wouldn’t have been possible in September.

I think what I’m trying to say is I’ve found that my NQT has given me a great opportunity and freedom to develop how I teach, rather than, perhaps, trying to fit a ‘mould’ on placements. This is really the positive ‘flip side’ of having a fuller timetable, less direct supervision and the responsibility for your own class.  I really hope that I can look back next year and say that I have seem the same sort of development.

At some point, you’ll look back to something you delivered on your PGCE and won’t believe the progress you’ve made.

I didn’t quite expect to look back on plans I’d written during the (later part) of my PGCE and think, quite frankly, how poor they were.  I didn’t have much chance to try to re-use many plans for the PGCE, but when I was teaching the Healthy Living science unit which I taught during my last placement  looking back on them I remember them seeming at the time a ‘model’ unit, which I had spent copious hours planning, resourcing and preparing, I was even observed in one of the lessons of the unit and received a really positive observation report.  So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to re-look at the plans and adapt them- afterall, I wouldn’t have the same amount of time to spend on the planning this year.

When I revisited these plans, I was, in a way, disappointed at what I found- I didn’t feel they were  really awful- but they seemed to be the sort of things I could have planned quickly this year, rather than the hours and hours they took last, and they also were lacking in some key elements I had tried to really focus on (child led learning, open ended science investigations etc).

I guess this does nothing but evidences my first point about not appreciating how much I would develop over this year.  In our job there are always areas to develop and to be built upon and I guess this showed that some of the things I had been really focusing on during the PGCE had now become almost ‘automatic’ and new areas for development had become my focus.

Having your own class(es) is amazing-

Yes, I knew this would be great after ‘borrowing’ classes on placement- but didn’t quite fully appreciate how different it is having your ‘own’ class and how simply amazing it is

You get to see the development of the group of children over a whole year- rather than just a few months.  You get to get to know your children really well and use this to plan learning that (most of the time!) really fits how they learn best.   You get to see the academic and social progress of the children over a longer period- and- get to directly affect this.

It was, of course,  a great feeling to look at my end of year levels this year, and know that the progress the children had made which in the most part had met or exceeded the ‘targets’ set (of course, there were a few who hadn’t made quite the progress I would have liked)- and know that the progress was evidence that I can actually teach

But- that was nothing compared to reviewing some of the work which I completed with my class on transfer day with them and firstly to see their own reflections on the differences between a year ago and now and secondly it provided a good opportunity to reflect on the ‘social’ development of the children in my class- which I am, rightly or wrongly, even more ‘proud’ of than the ‘academic’ achievements.

So put simply- I have found having my own class a fantastic experience- far outweighing the extra responsibility and ‘stress’ it gives

It’s an even better year!

And finally- I didn’t quite expect my NQT year to be as amazing as it has been.  Yes, it’s been challenging (to say the least) in parts, but as a whole I’ve found the past year has been a super experience.  All the hard work etc is easily outweighed by the responses from colleagues, parents and importantly the children- and the realisation that you are making an impact, no matter how small, on the children in your class.

So, if you are about to embark on your NQT year I wish you good luck (not that you’ll need it of course!) and hope that you will find your NQT year to be as rewarding as I have found mine!

TH

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On Tuesday 6th September 2011, I’m hosting a live web chat here on TES New Teachers site for NQT’s and PGCE students, where I’ll be able to answer any questions about your NQT/PGCE year and answer questions about what it’s ‘really like’.  More details will be added to the TES New Teachers site soon!

If you are about to embark on your NQT year, have you seen www.nqtguide.co.uk?  This is the tempoary home to all the super articles submitted as part of the #NQTTIPS and NQT Survival Guide project.

I’m going to start by posing a question- which I’d be really interested in hearing your thoughts on

What is a ‘Primary Ethos’-, an indeed does it exist? What does this phrase mean to you?

Now for a bit of an explanation and my thinking on this…  [before this, I think I need to say explicitly that these are, of course, my own views only]

Perhaps this post will show my naivety as a recently qualified teacher- and I apologise if it does!

The phrase ‘primary ethos’ probably ranks at the top of my ‘most hated jargon’ list for the past academic year- here’s why…

When I joined my school last year, it was in the final stages of a major transition from a 4 form entry middle school (year 4-7) to a 2 form entry full primary school.  The past academic year was the first year that we had classes from reception to year 6.

Because of this (and a comment on the last OFSTED report), there was (and is) a great emphasis on creating this ‘magical’ thing of a ‘Primary Ethos’.  The phrase was used, or alluded to, frequently over the past year-

But, even from the first training day back last September, as a complete outsider and ‘newbie’ I (along with a few other new members of staff) was struck with 2 things:-

1. Everyone seemed to know or be saying we were working towards a ‘Primary Ethos’
2. No-one seemed sure of what exactly this meant.

Now of course, I couldn’t really help with number 2 either- and I still can’t.  I really can’t put my finger on what a primary ethos is.  When I joined, we very much ‘looked’ like a primary school, and had done since the school started in taking into reception. (i.e. children stayed with one teacher etc)

I’ve been praised for having a ‘good primary ethos’ and been told the atmosphere in my classroom is very ‘primary’.  Many people in the school put down the ‘primary ethos’ to what happens inside a classroom and the teachers approach to their class.

But here’s the problem with this phrase for me, especially in reference to my classroom.  I think (well hope) I create a supportive, fun and enjoyable learning environment. I always try to put the children first, make learning relevant, offer a high level of pastoral care, try to involve parents and generally ensure that children enjoy their time at school.

And I don’t think this is any different that any other teacher.   Yet these are some of the things mentioned when we talk about creating a primary ethos.

So, if this is what a primary ethos is, then I would question if there is such a thing- as after all, don’t all schools (primary, secondary etc) aim for the same?  Is there anything really primary about this?

But saying that, I do know that the school I teach in now feels much more like a primary school then is perhaps did a year ago.

So this makes me think that perhaps there is such a thing as a ‘primary ethos’ after all.   I think this might ‘just’ be down to he fact that the school has adjusted to having the full primary age range, and there are no longer any ‘gaps’ or ‘top heavy’ years.  The school feels ‘together’ and has a clear direction.

But-

Here are some of the things that have been put down by others to helping create a primary ethos over the past year.

• Adding (wonderful) murals to the previously, rather stark, school corridors.
• Reducing the use of worksheets and text books.
• Having a common timetable and breaks throughout the school.
• A major focus on making learning relevant, linked and ‘real life’ throughout the school. 
• Blurring the subject boundaries.
• Making more use of our amazing woodland.
• Having a focus on celebrating achievements- both from in school and those outside of school
• A focus on creative work, and allowing the children freedom to express themselves and their learning in many different ways.

But looking at this list, I have the same problem- isn’t this what all levels of the school system aim for?

Don’t all schools need a positive physical environment, a shared identity, work that is stimulating and that has a ‘point’, be a place which children enjoy and which value the ‘whole child’ and allows them to express themselves.   Do we really want to compartmentalise learning at any stage in a child’s education?

Are we really talking about  a primary ethos, or something more general?

This is all rather circular (as my thoughts on this have been all year) and leads to the question again

Is there such a thing as a ‘primary ethos’?

I’d be really interested to hear what you think.

TH

]]> http://classroomtales.com/2011/08/28/whats-a-primary-ethos/feed/ 8 tomhenzley http://classroomtales.com/2011/08/04/teaching-42/ http://classroomtales.com/2011/08/04/teaching-42/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:02:53 +0000 tomhenzley https://classroomtales.wordpress.com/?p=688 ]]> In my last blog post, I said that next year would ‘certainly be different’- and that’s for a very good reason!

[As a bit of forewarning- this post is a lengthy, and should be 2 posts, but it’s difficult to split it!  I do hope you bear with me, as I’d really value your thoughts and opinions!]

As those of you who follow me on twitter may know, next year I’ve got an ‘interesting’ class arrangement, which ultimately means I’ll be the lead teacher for a group of 42 year 4’s most afternoons.

[Now, I have to say from the outset, I can’t really ‘complain’ about it at all- as I have a feeling if I wasn’t doing this next year, my contract wouldn’t have been renewed at my current school.]

Let me explain how all this has come about.  Basically, due to a myriad of factors our year 4 next year is a very small year (42,- when our other years are all oversubscribed at 60/62), and with budgets being what they are, it has left the school in a rather tricky situation.  So it was decided that in the morning, we would keep the classes as they are this year (2 separate classes, of 20 and 22), and in the afternoon I would be the ‘lead’ for the year group, which would function together as a year group.  It’s important to state that we are ‘officially’ not collapsing the classes- as there will always be 2 adults in the afternoon.   I’m going to have the support of one of our amazing TA’s who we have just appointed as a HLTA for 2 afternoons, and our Deputy Head  (with no HLTA) will be  supporting me  the other 2 afternoons. (the other afternoon is PPA- with the Deputy and HLTA).  This means that, at least when I haven’t got the HLTA, I’ll ‘kick off’ the learning to all the group, and then we’ll adopt a range of different ways of working (which I’m still getting my head around!).

How I feel about this prospect changes frequently- one moment I’m excited about the potential, the other I’m panicked about how it’s all going to work.  I thought I’d write a blog post- to share my thinking, but also (rather selfishly!)  try to help me make sense of it all!

Potential

On one side, the situation has huge potential to deliver a whole host of benefits.

I can see 2 main ways of working it- either being very perspective and ‘traditional’, or being very collaborative and  child led – now I don’t think I need to say which one of those I prefer .

Going along the child led/directed route, we have the immediate benefit of having an ‘extra adult’-  after all, I’m used to teaching 30 without any additional adult support, so  when you look at it as 42 with an additional adult suddenly doesn’t seem too bad.   I also have to admit that I’m looking forward to teaching 22 in the mornings- not that it’s necessarily ‘easier’ but I enjoyed on our transfer days being able to give each child that little bit more ‘attention.’

If we are creative, we can use the situation to our benefit- we can input together, and then split off into the different classrooms for group based work, with an ‘adult’ in each room.  We could also carousel activities- perhaps something that is more ‘input heavy’ delivered by me, and some follow up/collaborative work supervised by our wonderful HLTA- of course, when I have our Deputy Head- 2 groups could receive ‘input’ (I hate that word, but you know what I mean) at the same time- either on the same topic or as part of a carousel . We also have the potential to let the children direct where the want to ‘go’ to a greater degree and be able to provide the adult support as needed.  All of these turn what on the face of it is a large class, and give them the benefits of having smaller classes.   I’m going to be able to spend time with both groups (i.e. I think I want to avoid a situation where one group *always* has the HLTA/Deputy head)

We can also leverage the benefit of having a larger group for discussion, debate- there may be times where it makes sense to have all the children ‘together’ for the whole afternoon.  I’m also looking forward to being able to use the learning spaces available to use flexibly (I’ll have *my* classroom, another classroom next door, an outdoor classroom area straight outside our fire door, and cloakroom/corridor space) and giving the children the choice to work where they feel they will work best etc…

It’ll also make it easier to manage some things- for instance we have decided to run a theme called ‘The show must go on…’ in Autumn 2- a mantle of the expert (hoepfully!) based theme based around the children putting on a Christmas Musical- this instantly seems easier to manage with just one group!

So I can see a lot of different potential being opened up here- as long as we (in which, I guess I really mean me, as the children will be up for anything!)  are willing to work in slightly different ways, then I think it can work.

Worries

But then, I also have frequent worries about next year.  Now, I think (well hope anyway!) most of these will disappear or be resolved when we ‘get into’ next year.   I have to be honest though, one of my overriding thoughts is that perhaps, as someone who has only been teaching a year, I’m not quite experienced enough to manage it all- my head teacher clearly thinks otherwise, and keeps saying it has the potential to have huge benefits for me- but that’s only if it goes ‘right’- if it doesn’t work, or I don’t manage it effectively, I can’t help but thinking it could have a potential to be detrimental to me too!

My immediate worry, was of course, how on earth I’m going to manage to ‘teach’ to 42 at once- as in where are we going to ‘fit them’- but I think I’ve solved this by arranging my classroom so it has perhaps one of the biggest carpet areas seen, and putting some of the desks that were in my room into the corridor so they can be moved into either room as/if required in the afternoon.

But one of my main worries is how I’m going to create cohesive classes/groups- especially in the afternoon. But I’m also concerned that it’ll be more difficult to create a ‘4H’ identify for the morning- that, i guess in a way,  I’ll loose some of the benefit of having ‘my own’ class.

In the afternoons, we are brining together 2 classes, who have got used to working separately and having ‘competitions’; with each other etc.  The year 3 teachers joked to me that they had just got the classes to have very strong group identities- but I do worry getting them to ‘gel’ together in the afternoons may be an issue- especially since we are working as separate classes in our new, very structured, mornings.

I know I really need to create a different ‘identity’ for the morning (4H and the other class) and then afternoons (year 4)- but am unsure how to do this.   I want to use the ways I manage behaviour, the extra rewards, our co-operative learning approach etc that I offer with both classes (and my class in the morning), but know that my year group partner may not want to take these up too.   I guess I worry that if we don’t get it ‘right’ we could be in a very difficult situation, and I could almost ‘loose’ control of the group,  I also want to make sure that it doesn’t feel like it’s 4H with the other class ‘tagged on’ in the afternoons, whilst on the other hand making sure 4H don’t feel like the ‘loose me’ in the afternoons.

Whilst having our Deputy Head is great (and I’ve got him for more than was originally planned), I’m also worried that we need to get the children used to working in one way or another- it could be very confusing for instance if EVERY afternoon when we had our Deputy the children were taught as 2 separate groups, when they will have to get used to being together when we have our HLTA.   Teaching as 2 groups could have some benefits sometimes (and I’m sure we’ll use it), but if they are used to working together as 42…   do we really want to confuse the children?

However I obviously need to use the fact I have an experienced teacher as my ‘additional adult’- so will be planning our work so that sessions where we will benefit from having 2 teachers are when we have our Deputy.  I’m hoping we can also team teach, and perhaps do some input with the children together and then split and develop the learning further etc…

I’m also concerned about how I’m going to group the children in the afternoon.  I like to work in collaborative learning ‘teams’ of 4 (mixed ability) which stay the same for a term (if possible- so the children get used to supporting each other in their learning etc)  so will be aiming to do this in the afternoons to.  But I have the question of do I group them cross class, or keep the groups to within their class.

The perceived wisdom on twitter (and my overriding thought) would be that I would be best to group them cross class.  But this in it’s self causes some questions, especially if it ‘disrupts’ both morning classes when perhaps this isn’t needed (I know that sounds strange) and also as to how the children will re-act to working with people in different classes, who works where (especially when we decide to split them for input etc) etc…  It also takes away another bit stability for the classes in the afternoon, who will not only have to get used to new teachers, a new way of approaching the curriculum(being rolled out across school), working together in the afternoons, and then being in groups with people they aren’t necessarily used to- will this just be too much? Especially to start of with?

I could also keep them grouped in their classes- this would give my class, at least,  the opportunity to really develop their learning teams (as I’d keep them the same as the morning- I worry they may not work as well if they aren’t in them all day), and also make it easy for when we split off ‘4H in one room, the other class in the other’ – I’d of course have to make sure I , the deputy and HLTA spent time in both classrooms to be fair etc. ( I guess this may be selfish of me, as it enables me to keep ‘my class’).  But I’m conscious this could lead to the feeling that the other class are ‘tagged on’ to my class.

I could also mix it up- and have them in teams from within the classrooms, but when they go off to work in different classrooms/split input etc, there is a mix of groups from my class and the other class in both rooms.  This in some ways seems to combine the best of both worlds. But would this be confusing? Should I just go the whole hog and mix them completely?

Then there’s also the other worries- things like managing 42 reports (as I’ll have to report on everything expect maths/eng for all of the 42), parents evenings. engaging all the parents etc- but I’m going to deal with these when I get to them!

I’m also worried that I won’t have thought of something major which needs considering/thinking through!

I’d be really interested on your views on all of this- especially about  grouping and how I could organise the children and  work the afternoons.

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I guess though, all in all, I’m trying to treat next year with positivity.

It has the huge potential to teach me a lot about teaching, make me think differently and allows me to explore different ways of doing things.  

I just, for the life of me, hope it goes ‘right’!

TH

I don’t think I could have started this blog post in any other way.

I’ve survived.  I’ve completed my NQT year. I haven’t been eaten alive (not quite anyway), and thankfully many of the fears I had at the start of the year soon vanished.

But, what a rollercoaster of a year.  It’s been tough (as I knew it would be) but also full of loads of highlights.  I’ve purposefully left it a while before writing this post, as I wanted to ‘dust’ to begin to settle on the past year, but this will now be the first in what will hopefully be a series of posts reflecting on life as an NQT.

So to start off, here are some of my highlights from the past year…

Learning lots- I’ve learnt more over the past year than I have in any other year.  I said a very similar statement at the end of my PGCE year, but have learnt even more this year.  Teaching ‘full’ time is certainly very different to being a PGCE student, and suddenly lots of things ‘become’ your responsibility.  Whilst I’ve learnt lots about ‘teaching’, I’ve also, through the children in my class, (as corny as it sounds,) learnt lots about ‘life’.

Having own class- It’s been really great to have my ‘own’ class, who I could develop and really get to know.

Developing teaching style- I’ve really enjoyed being able to develop my teaching style this year.  I’m certainly a different ‘teacher’ to the one I was at the start of the year (and hope next year I can say the same!), I’ve enjoyed giving children more responsibly for their own learning and developing a creative, co-operative approach to teaching.

Engaging parents- I’m delighted that I’ve managed to engage all but one of my classes’ parents in some way. Our website has certainly helped, as has been more successful then I could have ever imagined.  It was also great to welcome lots of adults into school for our various bring an adult to school days/afternoons- and this is something I’ll certainly be continuing next year.

Extra Curricular activities- Probably one of the things I’ve enjoyed most this year are the extra curricular activities I have been involved in.  Whether it was getting children writing their own novels, having fun with science or working with a super group of young people in ‘Twist N’ Turn’ (our own ‘take’ on a glee club style group).  I’m going to try and incorporate some of the ways I have run these activities into my day-day teaching next year.

Sharing work, ideas, experiences. I’ve enjoyed sharing my experience and ideas at TeachMeets, BETT, through blogs etc.  But, for me, what has been most powerful has been enabling the children in my class to share their learning and experiences- as well as sharing our learning through the website, my class (or part of) have spoken to an international head teachers conference about using the internet to help learning, lead staff meetings, created videos and ‘taught’ head teachers at a creative partnership conference. It’s been a delight to see the joy and enjoyment of the children when they are able to share what they have ‘been up to’ and I’m determined to find even more ways for them to do this next year.

Lovely, thoughtful, comments-  But my biggest highlight must be the lovely comments that I’ve received at various points over the past year. These are always unexpected,  but have always made me realise why I’m teaching!   I’m also indebted to a group of parents who pretty much ‘accosted’ our new head teacher when they realised my contract wasn’t able to be renewed- which had a big influence on her decision to keep me!

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Whilst there has been lots of highlights, I wouldn’t be being truthful if I didn’t admit there were also a few ‘negatives’ this year.

It’s certainly been an emotional rollercoaster this year. Mainly caused by the relentless hunt for jobs- not helped by being, quite frankly, messed around by numerous schools.  Not having a job for September until a few weeks ago certainly took a toll.  I’m delighted that I’m staying at my current school for the next year (as there are lots of exciting changes in store, more on those in another post) but can’t help remembering that I’m, yet again, only on a 1 year contract, and that I’m likely to face the same anxiety next year.

I’ve of course had my fair share of problems and areas that I needed to develop.  I’ve experienced first hand ‘reports hell’ (hoping I’ll find it a bit easier next year…!) I’ve certainly learnt you can’t please everyone and have had my share of ‘difficult’ parents, ‘interesting’ behaviour and the general trials and tribulations of teaching.

It’s also been interesting going into an environment where the majority of teachers are high or middle school trained and to a school which was in the first year of operating as a full primary- there has certainly been some ‘scepticism’ towards the way I have tried to teach this year, which has made me questions and re-evaluate the approach I have taken (certainly not a bad thing!)

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But whilst these have been on one face negatives, I’ve. of course, learnt a lot and developed loads from these experiences.  I know some things to try to do differently next year, and what to try and keep the same.

I’m really looking forward to next year.  I know it’s certainly going to be very different and hopefully I’ll enjoy it and learn as much as I have this year!

TH

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As you may have noticed, this blog has been re-named- from Tales from an NQT to simply classroom tales- partly because I can’t think of a better name for it as yet!

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It’s around this time that I had hoped to be able to post announcing the ‘publication’ of the NQT Survivial Guide, incorporating #nqttips.    I have received over 25 super articles from people across the twittersphre, and have collated over 400 tips via the #nqttips hashtag.

However, it is with disappointment, that I am not able to post today announcing it’s publication.  But rather am having to post announcing a slight, and temporary, ‘change in direction’ for the guide.

You see, I have simply taken on too much.  It hurts me to say this- as I always try to do what I set out to do by the deadlines I set myself, but, for once, I’m going to have to admint defeat (of sorts).

Looking back with hindsight, realistically, there was no way I was going to be able to edit together the guide in the summer term- as an NQT I had rather underestimated how crazy the last term is, and this was coupled with a rather roller coaster of a time hunting/securing jobs and a multitude of other things that got ‘thrown’ in my direction.

I also know, that I feel pretty much drained and worn out, and that if I don’t make sure I have a proper break for a good portion of the summer holidays then I’ll burn out next term (especially considering what’s in store for me next year- but more on that in another blog post).  My plan is to spend the next week working (since school is actually open) and then to go back to Nottingham, collapse  and ‘chill out’ for a few weeks (including a nice break away in Tuscany ).

As tempting as it is (and believe me, it is!), I know that I mustn’t commit to publishing the guide over the summer break- else I stand the risk of not giving myself a proper break.  This isn’t to say it’s not going to happen, but that realistically it’s unlikely to happen.

Now, that, to me, is a massive shame, as I know the content I have already collated will be useful to NQT’s starting this year (and indeed, I’ve received lots of requests to know when the guide will be available).   So I’ve got a tempoary solution, which I hope all the contributros will be happy with:-

All the content we have so far, will be added to www.nqtguide.co.uk (currently empty) over the next week, to create an on-line mini-version of the guide.  

This will contain all the submissions I have received,which will be placed on-line un-edited (i.e. as I received them).  None of the tweets will be on the site (sorting these into categories is a big task), nor will any of the ‘narrative’ which will tie the book together.

When the book is published, the articles will be taken down, and replaced with the published version of the guide (which, of course, will be a free download, with the option to buy a physical copy of the book).  Putting the content on-line is a small task compared with editing, proof reading and page setting the book.

This means that the content is available to NQT’s starting in September.  It also relieves some of the time pressure from me.  I can then work on the book, and will aim to have it published before Christmas (hopefully significantly before!.)

It could be, that towards the end of the summer break, the book is ready- and if so, it will, of course, be published.  It really depends on how much work I can get done on the book over the next week or so, and how much work I do when I’m back in Nottingham.  But I don’t want to, at this stage, commit to this.   I know the PGCE guide took at least 90 hours to edit and page set, and this was with the help of lots of people, and I can’t commit to spending this amount of time this summer.

If you have contributed to the guide, please let me know if you aren’t happy with the above- if I don’t hear from you I will assume you are, and your contribution will be added to the site.

I will post again when the site is ready.

I am sorry to have to postpone this, but do hope you understand.

Tim

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PS- I will post a review of my NQT year/reflections/what’s in my head at the moment soon, but felt this announcement was important to make first.

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Crazy!

And it’s only 2 weeks until I’ll (hopefully!) be signed off on my NQT year.

It only seems like a few months ago that I met ‘my’ class for the first time on our transfer day, but in reality, that was nearly a year ago, and in 7 weeks time, I’ll be saying ‘goodbye’ to them, and sadly also to the school.

Thinking back to transfer day, I remember feeling very overwhelmed- I think it was on that day that the reality of being responsible,on my own, for the group of 30 students who were sitting in front of me really hit me!  I vividly recall being shocked by the difference between my year 5 placement class and ‘my’ class of soon to be year 5’s.  I spent a lot of time wondering/panicking about  how on earth was I going to manage to ‘bridge the gap’ between the end of year 4 and what I had seen towards the end of year 5.  

I now, of course, fully realise that a lot can happen in a school year- and nearly a year on, I feel that I can say ‘I’ve done it’- I’m delighted by the progress of my class- yes academically, but, for me most importantly ‘socially’- I really feel proud of the way my class now work together, share their learning and how they are becoming to feel more confident in taking control of their learning.   My class, of course, are not ‘like’ my year 5 placement class were- after all, everyone is different, and trying to produce a ‘clone’ of my placement class was not my aim.

I’m going to start this half term by showing my class the work they did for me on transfer day- I’m really interested to see what they say, and hope they are as pleased with their progress as I am!

The past 2.5 terms have not been ‘easy’ by any stretch of the imagination- I’ve, of course, have had trials, tribulations, problems, and moments where I simply wanted to run away and hide!  There are certainly things that I will do differently next year.    But, I’ve had many more really positive moments, lovely comments and amazing experiences.  This blog post would become even longer if I reflected on these fully- so I’ll save that for another post at the end of my NQT year.

Importantly over the last 2.5 terms I have learnt tons, been lucky to have many new experiences, and has developed ‘me as a teacher’ in many, many ways.   I feel that I have achieved lots, but that, of course, there is still more that I could have achieved.

The next 7 weeks, I’m sure, will go quickly, and as always there are lots of things going on!  I’m really looking forward to this half term and the many things we have planned.   I know it’s going to go quickly, and that I’ll soon have to ‘let go’ of my first class- but I also know that I’ll remember them and the great experiences we have shared together for the rest of my teacher career.

The next 7 weeks are also full of uncertainty for me.  I’m still jobless for September, and I hate not knowing where I’ll be teaching next year.  I’m really hoping that the fact that I’m on the Norfolk re-deployment scheme will help this half term, as heads can recruit me without having to advertise etc (hopefully will be an attractive proposition given the timescales) and a few jobs are starting to be advertised- so hopefully all will be ok- but I can’t stand the thought of not teaching a class next year!

So 7 weeks… not long at all!

TH

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One of the big things that I’m involved in in the next 7 weeks is the next TeachMeet East (our 3rd!)-   Teachmeet East:Summer Inspiration – which is going to be held on 25th June (less than 3 weeks away) in Norwich.  Why not join us for an afternoon of fun, inspiration and ideas? Check out full details here.   We are encouraging people, like has happened in previous events- to come from further afield and make a weekend of the event in lovely Norfolk, and will be organising social events for the Friday night (as well as the teacheat on the sat) if there is enough demand!  So why not join us?

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Linking into my job ‘plight’ above- if you do teach in Norfolk, and your school has an unexpected vacancy for next year, please let me know, and/or your head know about me- heads can recruit me straight off the re-deployment system without needing to advertise, meaning they can fill vacancies really quickly!

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