Books, books, books.

For some reason I decided it was a good idea to pick up all my education books from their various shelves and put them on the floor.  I think it was in the name of organisation (failed)... or finding a book I wanted for my essay?  I'm not totally sure if I'm honest, but either way they're still right there on the floor where I put them a few days ago.

Looking at them has made me think about how the books I have bought have changed since the start of my PGCE, through my NQT until now the start of my MA.  The books I have could probably be grouped into four or five categories, and that is how I am going to talk about them.

Books from my PGCE reading list

1) Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools - Viv Ellis
2) Issues in Modern Foreign Languages Teaching - Ed. Kit Field
3) Teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Advanced Level- Ed. Norbert Pachler
4) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School - Capel, Leask and Turner
5) Learning to Teach Modern Foreign Languages in the Secondary School

Did I read all of these?  Not a chance!  As far as I remember I read number 1, glanced at 2 and 3 once or twice and used 4 and 5 for my assignments.  Worth buying?  Nope, I'm not adding up what I paid for them...

Books I was given

1) Successful Induction for New Teachers - Bubb
2) The Dyslexia Friendly Teachers' Toolkit - Pavey, Meehan and Davis
3)Reflective Practice for Teachers - Sellars.

I was sent these three by Sage before I started my NQT year and asked to review number 1.  I did that and I had the intention of reading the other two but I never did.  I think at the end of my PGCE I was fed up of the word reflection anyway!

Books I bought during my PGCE and early in my NQT

1) Getting the Buggers into Languages - Amanda Barton
2) 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers, Outstanding Lessons - Ross Morrison McGill
3) 100+ Ideas for Teaching Languages - Nia Griffith
4) Getting the Buggers to Behave - Sue Cowley
5) 100 Things Awesome Teachers Do - William Emeny
6) How to Survive your First Year in Teaching - Sue Cowley
7) How to Teach - Phil Beadle

These books were good references for ideas, suggestions and that boost from time to time when I felt like I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it!  One or two of them I'd consider useful to refer to again but they're not the sort of thing I see filling my shelves in the future.  I get most of this sort of support from twitter these days.

Books I am buying now

1) Teacher Geek - Rachel Jones
2) Don't Change the Lightbulbs - Rachel Jones
3) Teacher Proof - Tom Bennett
4) Why Don't Students Like School - Daniel Willingham
5) What if everything you knew about education was wrong - David Didau

I will admit that I haven't got round to finishing all of these yet, 4 I have had a glance at and then things got in the way and 5 I bought just as I needed to start my MA reading so all I have managed is the foreword!  These are much more like the sort of thing I am reading now, especially the latter three.  More critical, really thinking about teaching and education as opposed to just my classroom practice.  That said I needed a refresher and so have really enjoyed the first two books on the list.

Books recommended for MA lectures or for my assignment:

1) Seven Myths About Education - Daisy Christodoulou
2) The Expert Learner - Gordon Stobart
3) Knowledge and the Future School - Michael Young and David Lambert

Number one on the list could easily be in the previous category, I've been wanting it for a while and the fact that it was required reading for a lecture was just a great excuse!  The other two are by lecturers at IoE and being used towards my essay - which I don't intend to talk about until it's done.  All I will say is the module is called 'What is Education?' broad enough for a title?!

Then until now....

The picture somewhat gives the impression that I'm moving towards the light...

Keeping up the momentum? Starting the new academic year in June.

On Monday, most students and teachers in the UK will return for the last 7 weeks of the school year.  We won't though, we're starting our new academic year.  New timetables, new classes and new courses for some students.  It's exciting, and as an NQT coming to the end of my first year I'm looking forward to the change.  Starting with new classes is just what I need around now.  I've learned plenty over this year and I'm ready to have the chance to start afresh and establish some of the routines that I've not been able to so far.  However, I'm still in two minds about the change at this time of year.

I believe that the logic behind the change is to keep the momentum going throughout the year rather than allowing things to drop off during the summer term.  It certainly has it's advantages.  With no year 7 or year 12 I am gaining a lot of time over the next 7 weeks that I can use to plan and prepare.  I didn't have any year 11 and only a few hours of year 13 so I didn't stand to gain much time on the previous timetable.  I hope this gained time will mean I can cut down the amount of work I need to do over the summer break.  With 2 weeks taken up with lectures for my first Masters module and sometime needed after that for my first assignment I want to be as prepared as I can be for September.  So from a  personal point of view, this year the change should be really positive.

That said, I know that it will be strange for any new staff starting in September.  Taking over classes that have had 7 weeks with someone else.  They will have settled into ways of working that suited the last teacher and already have books with their names on.  I know this happens to an extent anyway, but certainly as a new teacher last September I felt like I was stepping into someone else's shoes mid-year rather than starting anew.

So, what does it mean for the students?  It means that year 9 students moving into 10 are getting started on their GCSE courses earlier and in theory getting into new habits and routines before September.  It won't make much difference for 12 into 13 as starting the A2 course after the AS exam is pretty common practice.  The 7s are excited about becoming year 8 even though academically speaking I'm not convinced of the difference they'll notice and the same goes for 8s into 9.  For the 10s into 11 does that mean the pressure of their final year is going to start earlier and last longer?  Will it give them extra drive or will it have the opposite effect?

I'm not sure what differences I'm expecting to see, will we still have the 'end of the year' feeling or will it be overshadowed?  We still have Sports day, Sponsor day, trips planned and year 7 induction days, so it is bound to feel like the summer term still.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone else that starts their new year next week or anyone that has a comment to share on this practice.

Is the mojo making a comeback?

During the half term break I posted about feeling like I had lost my 'mojo' for teaching over the first 8 weeks of the year.  I had an immense response from NQTs, trainees and experienced teachers echoing my sentiments and giving words of support/advice.  The post was shared on the TES website (see link on 'My Writing Elsewhere' page) and got even more comments, this time from people I don't know at all.  I really appreciated it and am so pleased to see that something that I wrote for my own ends, to make myself feel better and get things straight in my own head has struck a chord with so many people.  That said, I'm not sure that in itself that is a good thing, should so many people be feeling this way about the profession?  Thats a whole debate in itself I'm sure.  Despite this, I still don't claim to write the views of all NQTs, maybe not even the majority.  This blog is, as it always has been, my space to let out my thoughts and if others read it and get something from it, that's all the better.

So, what did I do about the lack of mojo?  First I took some time off, I didn't touch anything related to school for the first weekend of the holiday and I made plans that would take me away from the computer from Friday night until Sunday afternoon of the weekend before the return to school.  This left me with the week days which I balanced between seeing friends and family and planning.  My aim was to plan all my lessons for the first week back and to have a clear picture of where I was heading for the rest of the half term, something I had struggled to do previously.  Moving to a new school with new schemes of work, classes, policies and procedures had meant that I wasn't able to be as prepared as I would have liked to have been before September.  Now that I've settled into the school and have half an idea of how things worked it was easier to plan for the half term.  I've not done this in spectacular detail, but enough to help me know where I'm headed.

When I was planning my lessons I reminded myself of the sorts of activities I used to include during my training, the sorts of things I enjoyed delivering and that the students were engaged with.  I spent quite some time taking templates for quizzes and other tools from the TES to replace the things I lost when I moved from using Notebook to PowerPoint.  Whilst taking lessons from the TES, why reinvent the wheel when there are excellent MFL lessons out there already?, I adapted them and added my own stamp to them.  The lessons that I planned felt like they were mine again and I was more enthusiastic to teach them.

I got things into perspective, thought about what had to be done and when.  I reminded myself of something I had learned during the last parts of my training year - you'll never do it all.  I will never be on top of a to-do list again, and I have to realise that it's ok!  I emailed a few people about things outside my department that I'd like to get involved in, things that whilst being work related would be enjoyable for me and remind me of the parts of school life that I went into teaching for in the first place.

Clearly I wasn't expecting a miracle cure. I knew that just getting it all off of my chest and changing the way I approached some things wasn't going to solve all my issues, but it certainly helped.  I didn't start the half term with thoughts of leaving and I've still not counted the teaching days left until Christmas (although I've been informed it's 20-something?).  I'm feeling better.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that the mojo is back and we're only a week in, I'm under no illusions, things will get hard again.  However, I've had a long week with a parents evening, some stressful days with behaviour and marking and the knowledge of a collection of data deadlines coming up and I'm not feeling like I want to jump ship.  That's an improvement, right?

I've got my next NQT observation coming up on the 19th, I don't imagine I'll blog before then but I'm sure I'll be turning to twitter for advice.  Looking forward to hearing from other NQTs about their mojo and how they're getting it back.

So, apparently I'm an NQT now?

I'm sure I'm echoing the sentiments of many an NQT when I say that it hardly seems that long ago that I was starting my training, and gaining QTS was a distant goal. Somehow though it is the end of August and I'm on the brink of starting my first job as an actual proper grown-up that's expected to educate a fairly large number of 11 to 18 year olds. Why am I not panicking yet?! As I watch all the panic going on over twitter I wonder what is wrong with me, I'm not panicked about it all yet. I realise this is probably a good thing because I'm not losing sleep and still enjoying my lie ins but I can't help but feel it is going to hit me like a tonne on bricks on Monday night on the eve of my first day.  Note to self: make fun plans to take my mind off of the next day!

It's not that I've forgotten about it all. I've been getting myself ready, the classroom is done, seating plans are sorted, the first week of lessons are planned and I've been talking to colleagues that I'll be sharing classes with.  I think I've done almost everything I can before I go back but I can't help but have that feeling of having forgotten something.  I'm really pleased to be starting at a new school, totally fresh slate after my training, but I do long for the simplicity of going back to familiar surroundings.  Turning up for INSET knowing where everything is and who the important people are, where to go to get my resources for the week sorted and already sorted with email etc to keep me in the loop with what's going on. All of those things are outweighed by the excitement of what's to come. Next week, this term and this year bring with them a whole host of firsts, some of which are:

- My first form group.  I loved shadowing a group this year but I'm looking forward to having my own year 7 group. It's going to be extra work I know. They're new and I'm new, we'll have to be on this learning curve together, I'll just have to try and keep a step ahead.

- Teaching 6th form for the first time. This is going to be a tough one, year 12 and 13 are shared between myself and another NQT in the department. We're as prepared as we can be so far and the department seem to be on top of things, knowing we're going to need support with it.  This is a challenge I'm really looking forward to.  During my training I only observed post-16 and taught an activity or two as the school didn't offer my stronger language.  I've done my reading and have started to plan though and my mentor from my training gave me plenty of hints and tips.

- My own classroom.  During my training I carried round my laptop bag, stuffed full of goodness only knows what as well as wrestling a book box and fairly often a caddy with my other bits and pieces in it.  I really don't know how I managed it, I lost count of the times I dropped things in the corridors!  This year that problem is gone, no rushing between classrooms/floors and leaving things behind.  The room is mine.  I've rearranged the tables, decorated the walls and filled the units with all those things I'm used to carrying around. What a relief.

I think my training has prepared me for the challenges of this year as well as it could have.  I was discussing this with another School direct trainee and we agree that due to the nature of our course we feel well prepared.  We've tackled large timetables, taken parents evenings solo, entered report data and had to handle marking and assessment from fairly early on.  At some points last year this felt like being thrown in at the deep end but I appreciate it now.  I know this year is going to be even harder work in terms of timetable and mark load but it's not as big a step up as it could be.

There are other things that my training has prepared me for.   As an NQT I still have to prove myself against the standards and have regular observations, although nowhere near as regular as they were at the start of my training.

In the last month or so I've taken joint responsibility for @NQTuk and #NQTChat which has put me in contact with more NQTs than I've ever realised were on Twitter. This has been great for hearing everyone's stories and sharing problems/ideas around.  Also recently I was contacted by Sage the publishers about reading a book on the NQT induction if they sent me a copy, so of course I said yes - what teacher turns down a free book?!

So, the book is Successful Induction for New Teachers. A guide for NQTs and Induction Tutors, co-ordinations and mentors by Sara Bubb.  The first thing I'd say about the book is that your need for it really depends on the sort of training you've had and the people you've had the chance to spend time with. One of my closest colleagues at my school last year was an NQT and so I saw the sorts of things she was doing and she was always giving me help and advice.  Also, after our main training sessions had finished we had a session on the NQT year and what to expect and so I think the main bases were covered.

That said, for the person that feels clueless or needs something concrete to clutch hold of then the book is what you'd expect.  It starts with a chapter on looking after yourself and covers areas that I guess I'd not considered like bullying and the inevitable topic of stress.  It goes on to summarise what induction is and what is required of you and your school as well as any other involved parties.  There is a whole chapter on the standards that I feel is wasted if you trained under the current standards as they are the same. I understand that in recent years this has  not been the case and so this may have been more necessary.

One key thing I feel the author has missed out on is the power of Twitter.  She dedicates quite some time to talking about the message boards on the TES website and the support to be found there. I won't deny that it is a good resource but I don't think it's necessarily as active or as useful as twitter.

Without giving a chapter by chapter run down of the book there isn't a huge amount more I can say. To me I felt that I was reading things I already knew, either because my training had prepared me for it or through common sense. This book would serve as a good reference to make sure that all parties are singing from the same hym sheet so to speak and I can see that it would suit some people but I'd save the £23.99, find support in school and online, carry over everything you learned at training and if you still need something do your research online. Is this a good book? Yes. Is it well written and easy to read? Yes. Would I bother to buy it? Unfortunately, no.

Just a final plug for NQTChat.  This week we're talking about hopes and fears for the start of the year, please join us at 7.30 on Thursday - all welcome!

Bex-Trex into the NQT year with further study on the horizon...

After spending just one year at my training school I didn't anticipate finding the end of the year and the process of moving on to be too difficult.  It's been a roller coaster of a year with more ups and downs than any other, some provoked by the training and some more specific to the school but ever since my interview I've been looking forward to moving onto pastures new in September and saw that as the real start for me.  There are quite a few staff leaving the school this year and many of them have been at the school for a long time so I wasn't expecting much from the students by way of reaction, especially as I've only been teaching my current classes since February.  I'd not considered the impact I might've had on the students I taught but bearing in mind the short amount of time I'd been there and the fact that I was a trainee I thought I'd slip away fairly unnoticed.   So when a year 10 boy stayed behind at the end of the lesson on Monday to tell me that he felt he'd really improved whilst I'd been teaching him and that he wanted to wish me luck at my new school it came as a shock,  especially when I opened what I thought was a card that turned out to be a little wishbone charm on a chain for good luck.  Over the course of the week I was given a poem by a year 7, a cupcake from another and a card from brothers in year 7 and 9 one of whom is in my tutor group and the other I taught.  What meant the most to me though was when another year 10 boy tracked me down to give me a card and told me that he didn't care that people were laughing at him for it because he really wanted to give it to me.  In all this reflection we've been encouraged to do all year, even when we're told to think of the impact we're having on the students we teach this sort of impact was something I'd never really considered.

The process of leaving one school and starting at the next has overlapped in the last few weeks when I have had the chance to visit my new school, collect my timetable, see my classroom and meet all my new colleagues in my department, some of whom are new themselves, including my NQT mentor.  I have been lucky enough to be taking over from the nicest, most organised lady in the world who has tidied the classroom, prepared everything for me for September in terms of classes and as she is retiring she is leaving me with a lot of her resources.  I've got more resources now in terms of textbooks and teachers books than I have seen all year and feel like I'm ready to hit the ground running.  The novelty of having my own classroom has spurred me into action when it comes to displays and resources.  As much as the classroom is in a perfectly useable state I want to make my mark and the best way I can see of doing this is to take down all the current displays and replace them with my own, reorganise the tables and fill the shelves with the resources I have accumulated over the first year.

Moving into my NQT year I had intended to continue my studies by starting on a Masters course and using the 60 credits I have built up from my PGCE.  I thought that after juggling School Direct with the PGCE essays this year I should continue with the momentum and get straight into it.  Throughout the course I've been interested in the research side of things and have actually enjoyed some of the essays at times when my colleagues had been complaining about how pointless they were.    I can see that it's certainly a side of the course that you either love or hate and how useful you find it depends on what you intend to do later on.  Having studied a minor in Psychology in Education at university I was already interested in educational research so it suited me just fine.  This early on in my career I obviously don't have a clear picture of what I want to do, but there is certainly an appeal in heading into research or training or back into higher education later on so the Masters will be something I do, I just need the breathing space this year to work out the best way of going about it.  I'll be going to ResearchEd in September though to satisfy some of that need, I'm looking forward to it but just hoping I won't be out of my depth!  I've started myself on a reading list already...


I started this particular blog a year ago, unsure of quite where I was going with it, who would read it and if I'd even keep it up.  I was pretty sure that the only people that were going to read it were my parents and my grandparents and that it might not really be worth continuing.  A year down the line I'm pleased I stuck it out.  I've been really surprised with the sort of responses I've had and particularly happy with the messages I've had from other trainees and those going into their training this year that have been reading and contacted me to let me know that they've found it useful or enjoyable.  I also think that writing the blog has helped me do something that was drilled into us throughout training - reflection.  With this in mind, I'm hoping to continue the blog into my NQT year.  Now that my training is over and I won't have essays etc to be reflecting on I guess the content of the blog will take a slightly different angle but I don't want to give it up just yet.