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...

Hindsight, it's a wonderful thing.

This week finally saw the end of my training with my final assessment on Tuesday, I previously blogged about what that entailed.  With that over and done with I've taken the chance to think about all the things I would've done differently with hindsight, or more to the point the things that I am going to do differently from now on or from September.

1) Don't reinvent the wheel.  The first thing I've learned is something we've been told all year but that hasn't really taken effect until now. During training I've had to write up full lesson plans for all the lessons that I teach and so I've felt the need to really make them mine.  I've looked up ideas on the TES etc but only tended to use them for ideas.  My planning this weekend has been much much quicker because I've finally come to the realisation that I don't need to do all the work myself.  As long as I know what I want the students to learn then I can find resources that match what I'm looking for.  There is nothing to stop me adapting them, adding bits, removing bits etc but there is no need to do the whole thing from scratch.  I'm still putting in all the considerations I need to for AfL, differentiation etc but without needing to document this in minute detail on a plan that no one is going to read!

2) There actually is such a thing as being too organised.  You can't plan too far ahead of time, something will happen that is totally out of your control and it'll all go down the pan. There will be an assembly, students will be taken out of your lesson to revise for another, there will be an exam on, an interview candidate will be taking some of your lesson.  You name it, it'll happen.  Be organised and plan ahead but most importantly - go with the flow.  

3) Get into a routine with homework setting and book marking and stick to it.  This has been a tough one to start and stick with this year.  I only took up my classes gradually and by the time I had built up to my full timetable it was time to move onto my second placement.  I started back at my main school with great intentions, made myself a schedule of when I would set and mark homework.  It went out the window as quickly as it came.  With my training paperwork and essays to do it just wasn't possible to keep on top of it all and I'm making up for it now with a pile of books to get into.  I realise now that with the unpredictable nature of the training year with all the ups and downs this isn't surprising.  I'll start September with good intentions and hopefully stick to them!

4) Start as I mean to go on and set my expectations high.  No matter how much reading you do or how good your intentions are I don't think you can reasonably set high expectations from the beginning of the training year.  It's hard to do, especially when you begin by observing lessons then taking short sections before taking over the class yourself.  The class can be a bit confused with your role and why their teacher is sat at the back of the room.  You might want to do things slightly differently to the normal class teacher and this can be really hard to put in place.  When I returned to my school after my second placement I took over a totally new timetable from one teacher that had left on maternity leave.  I thought that this would be a good chance to start afresh and to an extent it was but I was still a trainee with a variety of adults in and out of my lessons.  In September I'll be in a new school where students don't see me as a trainee and the classes will be mine from day 1.

5) I'll never get to the end of a to-do list again, but that's ok.  It's as simple as that, I can make as many to-do lists as I want, and they're good, but I'll never get to the end of one again.  There are some tasks that will keep getting pushed to the bottom of the list as new priorities overtake, they'll get done eventually though.  I'm the sort of organisation freak that needs to be 110% on top of things but I realise now that in teaching - that's just not realistic!

6) Sometimes there are things that are just more important.  Does that job have to be done right now?  Will anything happen if I've not planned an extra day ahead? Will that class know that I had an awesome idea for that lesson that would've taken hours to plan but instead went for the quicker option that is just as effective? No, no and no.  So shut down the computer, put down the to-do list and do something else.  Take some time to myself, have a life, there is a balance to be struck between dedication and eating, sleeping, living and breathing teaching!

Can someone remind me about all this at the end of September?!

The light at the end of the tunnel... and the beginning of a new one?

I'm writing today, seven days away from my final essay deadline and eight days away from my final School Direct PGCE Assessment.  I realise it's been a long time since I last wrote anything, the blame for that partly comes down to being very busy and partly due to there not really being very much to write about.  The last half term has flown past (helped, of course, by only being 5 weeks long) and has been jam packed from start to finish.

Over the last term/half term I have taken on more hours of teaching and with that the responsibility for parents evenings, report data and everything else that comes with it.  The pressure on me has been raised higher than at any other point in the year as I've essentially been doing a maternity cover but whilst still being a PGCE student.  This has meant less regular feedback as I have not had a class teacher there or my mentor to observe me as frequently as she had been.  For all the negatives that this has brought with it in terms of pressure I am choosing to see the experience as fantastic preparation for September when my NQT workload would usually come as a shock to the system.

The last week or so has been a final rush to get my Record of Development finished.  Luckily for me I only have to compile one lever arch folder of evidence that I have met the teachers standards.  I know people on other programmes that have to hand in 5 and people in the past who had a lot lot more.  I can't help but feel like it's a box ticking exercise though, can I find a lesson plan that proves I used peer assessment?  Where is the evidence that I differentiate?  Can I prove that I allow students to work independently?  Where is my marking to NC Levels and GCSE grades?  When have students reflected on their own learning?  Clearly this list could go on forever.  This folder is meant to show how I have met all these standards 'regularly and holistically' (or a similar wording) so it is a chunky thing!  My final assessor only has about 30 minutes to go through this, meaning that much of what I am giving to her won't even be glanced at, a slightly depressing thought to say the least...  At least the stationery geek in me has made an appearance with all these tabs:

As well as making sure the RoD is up to scratch this week I need to plan my lessons for the first week back (including 20 minutes of observation for my final assessment), prepare for the final assessment interview, mark some homework, oh and write 4000 words of Curriculum Studies assignment!  Who said half term was time for a break?

My final assignment has to be on a topic related to teaching in my specialist area, so I have chosen to look into vocabulary learning.  Having got quite into the research behind my last assignment and receiving a mark I was really pleased with I have tried to put my all into this one.  The result is that I am drowning in paperwork and more data than I am possibly going to need for the essay.  Luckily, some of the data I've gathered is interesting and useful for me as the class teacher as I can see a lot about the students in the class and how they performed on vocabulary tests but it won't be a huge amount of use to me for the essay which is a shame.  I won't say too much about the essay now as I've not actually written it yet.  In summary though, I have been testing a range of vocabulary learning techniques in students homework and seeing which they prefer and why in terms of what they like and what helped them learn more.  I have also taken teachers perceptions of techniques, thanks to the #MFLTwitterati and compared this to my students' responses.  Now the task is to bring it all together...

I'd been interested in the research side of education for a while, I took a minor course in Psychology in Education in my first year at university and it's taken me from there.  Whilst most people around me have been saying how pointless they think the PGCE essays are I've been enjoying them...  I'd been considering continuing my studies to masters level part time for a while now and I've recently had an email about an information evening for a locally run masters group via my current university.  I'm certainly considering doing it.  At this moment in time I don't know exactly where it will lead me, but I've always been interested in higher education so if many many years in the future I end up back in universities in one way or another it really wouldn't surprise me.  Things are changing so rapidly in education that I don't think it can be anything other than positive for me to do it, other than the strain on my workload that is.  However, I'd rather continue now whilst I'm still in the habit of writing and researching rather than try and come back to it later on.

I've now had my last Wednesday training day (with the exception of a visit to a special school in a couple of weeks time), meaning that after half term I will be in school 5 days a week, on a teaching timetable very similar to that of an NQT.  Our last couple of training sessions have been on looking to next year and becoming NQTs and reflecting back over the year we've been through.  It seems very odd to think I only met these people last July/August and we're nearing the end of our time together.  Many of the trainees are remaining in schools in the area and so will be in regular contact but I am going to be teaching much closer to home which takes me out of the area I've trained in.  One thing I have learned this year though is that everyone in teaching seems to be connected in some way with each other and I'm sure our paths will cross again in the future.

At some point when the final assessment is done and this essay (that I am yet to write...) has gone I'll get around to summing up the year.  I guess I've got 8 weeks until the official end of the year to get that done though.  There is so much I want to start thinking about for next year!  Just need to keep myself restrained for another week or so.  For now I have 4000 words to write.

Two terms in and a nice Easter holiday surprise.

Damn body clock, I was ready for my lie in today but instead I was awake on and off from 6.45.... Is this how the holidays will go from now on? I feel as if I have survived the longest most stressful term possible, but yet I know that's not true.

6 weeks ago I returned to my main placement school and immediately took over (with the exception of one class and 3 lessons on my Wednesday training day) the entire timetable of a colleague due to go on maternity leave. This was a shock to the system to say the least, but the way my training is set up the school were acting within the guidelines and agreement of the training partnership to do it so I've got on with it.  It's not been easy, that's for sure.  I've had absolutely all of the support my mentor has time to give me, but when report data is due and parents evening rolls around there really is no replacement for having the class teacher there to advise you and back you up.  I do feel as if I've been thrown in at the deep end, but I'm continuing to tread water and I can see the rescue boat that is Final Assessment coming in the distance (sorry, I couldn't resist that...).  I'm choosing to see this past term and the one that is coming as a learning curve and something that will no doubt be preparing me for September in a way that many others won't be.

My final assessment is due any time after the May half term and I think it will be pretty early on.  For me at this moment in time it's not a scary prospect but signals the end of my assignments and at least some of the endless reams of paperwork that this course entails.  I'm sure that nearer the time it will be a lot scarier, but for now it is the light at the end of the tunnel!  After the final assessment I think I'm due to stay at this school until the end of the year to cover the maternity leave but without the pressures of weekly learning journals to fill in and essays to write at least the pressure will ease off, even if only a little and only temporarily!

This Easter holiday is my 2 weeks of lie-ins and not working in the evenings but also my chance to really get everything on track. I have to compile a record of development with all sorts of things in it that someone can look though and some how make a judgement on my suitability to teach.  It's another paperwork exercise but as I hoard things I don't think it should be too much hassle to put together in the end.

Being the end of term I couldn't turn down the opportunity last night to head to the pub after school and for once got the opportunity to talk to people that you usually only see in passing.  One conversation with a teacher who has been at the school for more than 20 years was particularly interesting.  We were talking about all the things that trainees and NQTs have to do these days to qualify and he basically said to us this: when he entered teaching it was all about fun, (if the students got exam results from it that was a bonus) but that he thinks that with everything we have to do now we're going to be the better teachers.  I'm not going to discuss this now, I think that would be a whole new blog post for another day.  But I can't help but think that with the amount of people leaving teaching so early on, that he can't be right? 

Just one more quick note, and this was my Easter surprise.... I got a tweet last night telling me that this blog has been nominated for the UKedChat Top 100 education bloggers. I'm very surprised, and I'm sure the nomination has not come off of the back of posts like this one but thank you to whoever posted the nomination.  I'm very pleased.  If you want to have a look at the nominations and vote for your favourite (or me!) then just visit http://ukedchat.com/2014/04/02/vote-for-your-favourite-uk-educational-blog/ and all the details are there. You only have until the 9th of April.

A year on, do I think School Direct was the right choice for me?

This week I have realised that it is only through talking to someone else, or more often than not in my case through writing, about your experiences that you really start to think things through.  Earlier in the week I found myself talking to someone that had some decisions to make about their route into teaching.  After listening to the decision he had to make and what he was thinking about it I told him everything about the course so far, warts and all.  We're told constantly that we have to be 'reflective practitioners' and the 40 minutes I spent talking to him about it certainly ticked that box.  A few days later and I realise it is something worth getting down in writing.

This time last year I'd applied, been selected for interview, taught my lesson and been offered a School Direct place for 2013-14.  I'd not yet graduated, I was still living up in Lancaster finishing off my degree and working part time for the Students' Union.  I'd applied for a million and one other jobs in other sectors from the Civil Service to British Airways, from Tesco to TUI.  It seems a million years ago from today...

I'm not ashamed to admit that I wasn't 110% convinced that teaching was going to be for me.  It was certainly something I'd considered on many occasions, and I was always pretty sure that teaching was something I could do well in and would enjoy, but for some reason I had never fully committed to the idea.  I  knew that I didn't want to do a university based PGCE, which, as far as I knew at the time, left me with Teach First (who had already turned me down) and School Direct.  I applied for School Direct on the basis that it was worth a try and I didn't have anything to lose other than the time it took to write the application.

Prior to my application I'd not had a huge amount of recent experience in school, I'd worked with 11-18 year olds on a Widening Participation programme in my first year, but the last time I'd spent an extended amount of time in a classroom was when I'd been there as a student myself.  This was actually one of the reasons I didn't apply for a university based PGCE, I was positive that they wouldn't accept me, the requirements always sounded pretty rigid.  I didn't have the free time to get this experience until later in the year, spending a week in a Boys Grammar school whilst I was still at university and another back at my old secondary school.

I came onto the course in August 2013 with the attitude that I would complete the year, no matter what, probably do my NQT year and then re-evaluate if teaching was for me.  The government bursary certainly made this a more appealing and possible idea than it would've been if I was in another subject area.  As I write this in March 2014 I realise that this 'no matter what' attitude was never realistic.  The first term was make or break.  I'm certain that someone who did not enjoy teaching and wasn't at least slightly good at it wouldn't make it through that term.  By the end of the first half term I'd already made up my mind that I'd made the right decision.  If you didn't truly see a future in teaching you wouldn't put yourself through this course, it's as simple as that.  Especially when the nature of School Direct is that the school dictates a lot of the programme and has a lot of flexibility in how your time is spent.  This has meant that their expectations of me have taken quite a jump since I left for my second placement.  It's a challenge to say the least, but one that I'm rising to and being supported with.

It's at this point that I realise how much better for me it has been to do School Direct as opposed to the 'traditional' PGCE.  I have to say though,this is a very personal choice and certainly wouldn't be for everyone.  For all the flaws that people can point out about School Direct I am certain of one thing - so far it has been fantastic preparation for my NQT year.  In fact, to roughly quote an NQT at my current school in a text to me recently: 'With all this going on you'll be able to cope with anything in your NQT year!'.  Some people might describe it is a baptism of fire, or being thrown in at the deep end.  Undeniably this year has been tough so far and isn't showing any signs of letting up until my final assessment is over sometime in June.  Balancing the PGCE assignments with the increasing teaching timetable is certainly the hardest part, something we have in common with those on Teach First at this time of year (although I acknowledge they have been on a higher timetable since day one).  There have definitely been days/weeks where I've been very jealous of PGCE students that are in and out of schools and have more time to focus on their essays, even if it's only a little more (I'm not sure of the numbers here).

There are still many question marks out there that hang over the future of Initial Teacher Education and teaching qualifications in general.  It is only now, a year on, that I really appreciate the variety out there.  All of these courses have their benefits for different people and I don't believe that any of them are turning out a different quality of teacher to the next.  It's a highly individual choice and you only get out of it what you put in.  Personally, I wouldn't have chosen a QTS only route as the academic side of things was important to me and still is as I am considering continuing my studies to Masters level at some point in the future.  One persons idea of their ideal route into teaching will vary wildly from the next and it takes a different type of person  to get through Teach First to that of a university  based PGCE.  I think School Direct, or a SCITT programme with PGCE award, falls somewhere roughly in-between the two.

Writing this blog this afternoon has been my 'break' from planning and assignment writing.  A social life hasn't been something I've had this year that's for sure!  I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in June and cannot wait until September, as long as I get my summer first!

Nearly half a term has passed and no blog post...

I was doing so well with keeping up with my blog that sooner or later it was bound to go wrong. There has been so much going on since Christmas that I've not really had the time or the motivation to get around to writing. However, I couldn't let the entire half term go by without even a single post.

The 5/6 weeks since the Christmas holidays have ended have flown by and I think that's down to the fact that we've been all over the place.  The first 4 weeks were on placement in our second schools, these were selected so that we saw totally contrasting school.  This meant that I went from a mixed gender comprehensive to an all girls grammar. It really was a contrast and I wasn't sure what to expect from it. I enjoyed the experience and it was a really good school, but I'm not sure that a single sex grammar is where I'd like to be, not right now anyway.  There was just something I missed about teaching mixed classes.

Right now I'm on a research placement for my next assignment, two weeks in another school researching an area of school improvement. I'm still not 100% sure where I'm headed with it but I'm sure it'll come together in the writing, at least I hope it does. I'm enjoying the chance to be in another school and to be able to step back totally and observe. I'm missing teaching though, there is only so much observation someone can do before they want to get back up there and do something!

Whilst all this has been going on I've started to apply for positions for September and am pleased to say that I got an interview with the school I first applied to and will be starting with them in September. It is a school out of the area I have been training in and is much closer to home cutting my journey to school in half.

I'm looking forward to going back to my main school after half term, although I think I'll be having a lot more teaching hours and I'll be taking new classes so it'll be a shock to the system!

Term One - SURVIVED!

It's Christmas eve eve and I've reached the end of term one!  The university gave us all an early Christmas present today, marks and feedback returned from our first assignment.  Luckily my Christmas is not spoiled- I passed at Masters level.  The assignment was to look into the theory behind one of a number of areas and then apply the theory to the schools that we're training in.  It's nothing like anything I've done before so it was hard, but it's over and done now, onwards to the next one!  The feedback the university gave was really useful and detailed too which I was really impressed with.

I've had my last week at my main school until February which was weird.  In January I'll be going to my contrasting placement, an all girls grammar school.  I'm only there for four weeks, but I'm looking forward to it.  The good thing about going to my second placement straight after Christmas is that it takes away some of the work load over the holiday, the school have piled me up with text books and they've let me know roughly where the classes are up to but until I've been there observing for a couple of days I'm not really going to be able to get on with any planning.  I'm using the time to get on top of paperwork and other such exciting things!

The scary thing about January being around the corner is that I will have to start looking out for jobs to apply for.  I've been told that jobs for September are posted in January so even though I've only been teaching for a term I have to start applying.  I'm mainly keeping my eye out for jobs near to where I live and in the area I'm training in but will look further afield too.  I've seen adverts for jobs at British Overseas Schools in places like the USA which really interest me, they're not an option for now but definitely something I'll keep an eye on in the future.

At the same time as the job applications and my second placement I have to be preparing for my Enhanced Studies placement.  The Enhanced placement is two weeks spent in a school researching an area of their school improvement plan before we write another 4000 word assignment on it.  I'm looking forward to doing something really different and to getting to see another school, but I know I'm going to find it difficult.  I've been in contact with a school that is happy to take me so that's the first item checked off of the list.

I cannot believe how fast this term has flown by, if time could slow down a little so I can appreciate my two weeks off that would be lovely!

School Direct: the 10th week of teaching.

The last time I wrote a post I was embarking on my first half term holiday as a School Direct trainee.  It left as quickly as it had come and whilst I packed quite a lot in, I still didn't achieve as much as I wanted to in those days off.  Part of that has to come down to planning two lessons that I didn't need to teach as I had a training day that I'd forgotten about, that was...annoying.  I do feel that my planning is getting quicker though, I'm learning not to be too much of a perfectionist and not to try and cover all bases.  As much as I'd like to have great lessons every time I've learned that in reality that just doesn't happen, and I'll do myself no good in trying.

As well as wanting to have a life beyond planning, the other reason for speeding up the process is that I have an assignment to get written.  All through my undergrad I was always ahead of deadlines, it was never something I had an issue with, so not being able to be 110% on top of things has thrown me a bit.  I'd already come to the realisation that I'll never reach the end of a to-do list again so I'll just have to add this on top.  It's also a very different type of assignment from anything I'd done before.  The closest I can get to it was a piece of coursework I did for my minor in first year, Psychology in Education, but that was a long time ago!  I think we're all very used to being given a title and being told to get on with it, so having something as wide as this is a bit of a shock.  In theory it gives me a lot more freedom to do what I like, but at the moment it's just a bit nerve wracking as I'm not sure whether or not I'm doing the right thing.  Only time, or the university..., will tell I guess!

A while back I mentioned that I'd started using a tool called Class Dojo, so I thought it was about time to talk about how its been going for me.  At the end of half term I gave out reward points and a little medal (a flashing pumpkin for halloween, of course) for the students that had been using the target language the most.  I also gave out some notes to take home to say how well they'd been doing.  I did this with my year 7s who had been the classes I was testing Dojo with.  I was really pleased to see how happy they were to be getting these, especially the notes to take home and stick up on the fridge.  From the start of half term I have been keeping the points going on a running total, the students get to see how many points they have at the start and end of each lesson, and the change in their behaviour when they hear that points have been awarded is really noticeable.  I've started using it with year 8 too, so I'll be interested to see where that ends up by Christmas.  I'm still ironing out the issues, like making sure I'm fair and being able to give the points out quick enough to have the right effect but I'm definitely getting there.

Also before half term I put myself forward to be one of the student reps, which means I'll be sitting on a regular meeting with the staff that organise our course.  We had rather a long list of feedback to take this time, but most issues were easily ironed out and seeing as it's the first year of the course problems are to be expected.  Representation has been something I've always been interested in and I got involved a lot at Lancaster.  It's even something I looked into for full time work, co-ordinating academic representation in Students' Unions.  I think it will always be something I'm interested in, I guess later down the line it will come back in involvement with Student Voice/School Council or similar.

I've not talked too much in these posts about my actual training and what I'm working on, I guess that's because I was getting to grips with the basics and getting used to being in the classroom.  My main targets at the moment are working on using the target language in the classroom (with my target language prompt sheets and Class Dojo) and student independence.  I'm trying to talk less and get them doing more, both through more active tasks and encouraging them to be more independent in what they do.  I've been using 3Bs before me (brain, book, buddy) for a while now, but I've added a 4th B.  I wanted to try out something I've read about, a 'help desk' which could include different things each lesson, a dictionary, a conjugated verb, a grammar rule, anything.  Students then visit the desk when they feel they need it.  Making this into a 4th B was a little tenuous, and not the best language I know! Spanish has become "el boletín" (noticeboard rather than desk) and le bureau des renseignements.  I'm not sure how this is going to work out but I'm giving it a go this week and will report back!

Languages show live, parents evening and the end of the first half term.

This weekend marked the end of my first half term in school and 10 weeks on the School Direct programme if we include the two weeks worth of summer school.  In many ways it has been a long half term, and in others the last 8 weeks have just flown by.  Until now I have been teaching four hours a week on my own and observing and helping out in 6 others.  I've been taking bits and pieces of starters, plenaries and half lessons in years 7, 8, 9 and 10, some French and some Spanish.

A week or so ago now another MFL trainee and I went to the Languages Show Live at Olympia.  It meant losing the usual weekend lie in and getting on the train nice and early in the morning and making our way across to Olympia, with the usual barriers that Transport for London like to throw in for good measure!  There were loads of stalls and so as well as attending talks on using the target language in the classroom and the new national curriculum for 2014 we managed to spend quite a lot of money...!  We justified it by saying that we're investing in our future by helping ourselves to do better this year, at least that's what we've convinced ourselves of anyway!

As I've been teaching year 7 on my own for a few weeks now they are my classes and so I took the lead in talking to the parents on parents evening this week.  Although I went to year 11 parents evening a few weeks ago I didn't really participate other than to add a couple of comments so this was quite a big step up.  At first it was quite scary sitting on the other side of the table and telling parents how their children were getting on in my lessons but by the end of the evening I realised I was actually quite enjoying it.  It was really interesting to get to meet the parents and hopefully I'll be able to see the effects of some of the things we talked about when we're back in the classroom after half term.

Unfortunately this half term break is not going to be that relaxing.  I've had a weekend off but work starts tomorrow as I not only have 6 hours of lessons to plan for the first week back but a 4000 word assignment for the PGCE and I'd really like to get at least a first draft done.  I might even have to pop into school at some point to help plan the primary link we are starting in November.  Hopefully I'll get it all done, but it'll be nice to not have to get up quite so early every day in any case.

Busy, busy, busy!

Since my last blog post around three weeks ago a lot has been going on and it's all gone past in a blur!  I've taken my first whole lessons with my two year seven classes, taken starters and plenaries with year ten, helped out with year eight, nine and eleven and been assigned a tutor group to help out with.  The anonymous buddy system we have at school is making things better though - we've been assigned someone that we can leave notes and buy little gifts for.  My buddy has bought me chocolate and biscuits so far - I think they've got me sussed - and they've left me notes like 'eat away the stress' and 'share these and make everyone love you'.  Just the sort of thing you want to see at the end of a busy week.

Reality is finally beginning to set in as I arrive at school at 7.45 and leave for my 45 minute journey home at 17.30/18.00.  I'm forcing myself to take time for myself at the moment as I'm more than aware that if I don't set aside this time now when my workload is comparatively light, there is no way I'll be able to do it later in the year.  I'm doing something I really enjoy and going to the adult music school at my old secondary school once a week and something I enjoy considerably less - exercising at the gym. My ex-headteacher used to tell me that she played in the band as her 'Wednesday night music therapy' and I can see why she did it now (and still does), it's something that I have to keep up/

I've been getting involved as much as I can at school at the moment, especially whilst my timetable is light enough to allow me to.  This meant that last week I went to year eleven parents evening and shadowed my mentor.  She only has one year eleven class and I'm in with them once a week as well as their GCSE speaking interventions after school so I've got to know them a little bit which was useful.  A couple of weeks ago we all spent the day off timetable for what was called 'Shaping the Future Day'.  Each form was competing in a variety of tasks as part of their college (the school is spilt into 3 colleges [houses]) for a trophy.  These tasks were intended to represent the school values of commitment, respect, self-belief, excellence and strength.  The school also has a system of rewarding these values for points for each college and prizes for students.  This has only just relaunched so I'm yet to see quite how well this works, but I like the look of it.  There was also a presentation for each college where all year sevens and new members of staff in the college were called up to the stage to be welcomed into the Academy.  I must admit that I was sceptical to begin with but it was actually quite a nice session.  I spent Shaping the Future day with the form of one of the MFL teachers but I've now been assigned to another form which is really nice as I'm getting to know another group of students and learning about the role the form tutor plays.

I'm starting to get used to school policies and the way things are done.  For example I know that I need to wrack my brains for a good word before staff briefing on a Friday as we have a toy dog that gets thrown around to decide the word of the week.  We've had things like punctuality and confidence so far, but my mind goes blank every time!  Another policy I'm getting to grips with is the marking policy... I won't go into it, but lets just say it's time consuming for me at the moment!

In terms of my training I am still going to other schools every week for Professional Studies days, the most useful one that we've had before was on behaviour management and inclusion.  Three students with different Special Educational Needs came to speak to us, we were all very impressed with how brave they were to come along and speak to 26 trainee teachers!  There was one blind boy, a girl with dyslexia and a boy on the autistic spectrum.  They told us about how they find school, how their teachers help them and most importantly what LSAs do for them.  All three of them told us that they couldn't get on in school without the LSAs that help them.  It was really good for us to hear from the students themselves rather than the theory of it all the time.

My focus at the moment with one class is classroom management and with another is the use of the target language.  I'm using Class Dojo to help with both of these things.  Class Dojo assigns each student a little avatar and then you can reward certain behaviours and give red marks against others.  I'm using it to keep track of when students spontaneously use the target language.  I've helped them along with this by providing target language prompt sheets with questions like 'est-ce que je peux enlever ma veste?' and 'puedo abrir la ventana?", just the sorts of questions that they would ask during the lesson but that they can easily say in French/Spanish.  I'm also using it to reward hard work, team work and listening to instructions as well as warnings for talking out of turn and not being on task.  I've only used it for one lesson with each class so far but I'll be keeping an eye on how it goes.

So now it's Saturday and I'm sat in front of the X Factor writing this blog at the first opportunity I've had.  I know everyone told me I'd have no social life this year and I knew it was going to be hard work but reality has hit now.  How long until half term?

School Direct: Reflecting on every breath, or so it seems!

The key to teacher training, or so I am lead to believe so far, is reflection.  In fact, it would seem like I have to reflect on every waking breath!  For anyone that doesn't know, these reflections are used as evidence that I have met 8 standards to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).  In the past there used to be something like 32 of these, each requiring a folder full of evidence.  Some training routes still require a folder per standard, which can be confusing when trainees within one school are on different programmes.  As I'm doing a PGCE I will just need one folder at the end of the year, this includes my weekly journal, a reflection on each of the standards and yet more paperwork and forms.  As well as this I will complete 3 assignments over the course of the year, they are Professional Investigations: Professional Studies, Enhanced Studies and Curriculum Studies.  I only really know anything about the first one at the moment and that the Enhanced Studies will be researched whilst I am on a two week non-teaching placement at another school.  I'll also be doing a teaching placement for four weeks at another school, this has to be a contrasting school to my main placement so I presume it will be a grammar school.

Over and above my training requirements I'm trying to get involved in other things going on around the school.  So far these have centred around my own department, I've gone along to after school sessions, marked some primary transition work and even been out to a primary school to talk about how the school can work with them on some MFL sessions in year 6.  This week I get the chance to be involved outside of my department when the students are off timetable for the day, working on activities in their form groups and colleges (or houses).  As far as I know this event is to start off some competition between the colleges for the rest of the year and to encourage what has been described as a family feeling.  I'm really looking forward to it and think this has to be one of the main advantages of School Direct as it is allowing me to be part of the school from day one and really get involved just as any other member of staff.

In terms of the school/PGCE balance things are going fine so far, but I can already see that changing as I start to take over starters and parts of classes bit by bit from this week.  I'm conscious that there is going to be so much to do and so little time to do it in, but I knew that when I applied for this programme so it's just something I'll have to deal with.

On a less personal note, the ITT figures for this year have been released recently.  They show that whilst there were many many more applications for School Direct than places available there were many places left empty, I think it was around 45% or something similar.  It seems that this comes down to the schools involved in the process.  As schools have a much bigger say in the selection of trainees than they would with PGCE placements they are applying the standards that they would in selecting their own staff.  Unfortunately, this seems to mean that there are many unfilled places for teacher training this year, as less PGCE places were available.  Although the quality of School Direct training is high, there won't be enough Newly Qualified Teachers around at the end of it.  What worries me is that the mistakes made this year are going to tar what could've been a very successful programme in the future.

Three days in and not a student in sight.

After all this time I can finally say I have started School Direct and am officially a trainee teacher!

My first two days in school were INSET days, or Professional Learning as the academy I'm at calls them.  I've been to all the same sessions as the usual staff as well as some specific sessions for new staff members and trainees/NQTs.  I have a feeling that I'm going to be swimming in paperwork this year, and next for that matter.  I have journals, assignments and reviews to complete for my university, but at the same time I have reflective logs, records and more reviews to complete from the academy.  It's going to feel like a lot but hopefully it should make it all easier for me at the end of the year.  For those that don't know, there are 8 teachers standards that all trainees must meet in order to be awarded Qualified Teacher Status and these have to be evidenced in a portfolio at the end of the year.  At the end of the day it's all about ticking boxes but if I don't collect all the information and evidence as I go along it will be a total nightmare.  I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go about managing all this yet but I'm sure I'll get used to it once I'm settled into school.

I guess I'd never really considered how much has to be done in those couple of days before school starts.  As well as attending all the training sessions the staff were sorting out timetables, seating plans, books and boxes.  As a new member of staff I had to get my laptop sorted, get an ID badge, class keys and access to the car park, not to mention sorting out somewhere to keep all my stuff in the day.  All seems straightforward enough but it takes a while to deal with.

Today was the first day of term at my school but unfortunately Wednesdays are my training day out of school and so I missed it.  It was good to see all the other trainees today, there's been so much going on that it feels like ages since we last saw each other, in reality it was only Friday but we had plenty to catch up on.  It's at this stage that we realise the variations from school to school.  We have all been assigned different amounts of hours on our timetable, different expectations for when we will take over the class and access to different resources in school.  I think this is part of the draw of the programme, in theory it can all be tailored to our needs, although at the outset it does seem a little inconsistent.  We still don't have a concrete schedule for our training, and there is still some confusion on where we will be, when we'll be there and who we'll be with but I'm sure it'll get there soon enough.  What I do now know is that I will be spending the first half term in January in two other schools, 4 weeks in a school contrasting to my own and 2 weeks researching in another school before returning to my main school.

There is just so much to take in that I'm trying to take as many opportunities as I can to write my thoughts down and get things straight in my head!  I'm observing classes tomorrow and Friday before the weekend so I'll be able to get a sense of things and start with that in mind next week.

It's been a long time coming...

I acknowledge that this blog has been a long time coming, I've not written in more than a month and then every time I intended to write this week and last I drew blanks.  It's not that I've got nothing to say, more that there has been so much going on that I'm still trying to make sense of it all myself!  Since last Monday I have been on a summer school before I start at school next week.  As anyone who has been reading these blogs from the outset will know it's been very much a step into the unknown for all of us on School Direct.  To be totally honest there is still much to be found out, the more we find out the more we realise we don't know.  But that goes for many things, doesn't it?

Our University partnership is the only one in the country to be running things this way with a summer school, and we're one of the biggest too.  The partnership is made up of the university, two sets of students from academy chains and a consortium schools from my local area.  As well as providing an interesting variety of people from different backgrounds this has caused some confusion at times.  We're all working towards different goals, some with a full PGCE and QTS with 60 Masters level credits and some QTS with 40 Masters level credits, and that's just our partnership, countrywide there is even more variation.  As well as this, the students from the academy chains seem to be expected to do a lot more from day one, regardless of whether they are salaried or non salaried, they will be teaching their own classes from the beginning.  One thing this week has made me realise is the role our schools will be playing in our training, a lot of the responsibility is in their hands as opposed to the university or even the lead school.  I guess maybe I could've deduced that from the name though, couldn't I?

Being one of those people that likes to be in the know and in control I'm pleased to have the details of my first assignment, the deadlines of all assessments and a rough idea of what I'm aiming for at the end of the year.  The content of the sessions has been elements of Professional Studies and Curriculum Studies to prepare us for the classroom, much as with the usual PGCE I believe.  This has been a good kick start to get our brains into gear, but I need a context to put it in and try it out before I'll really learn it's value.

I have to say that one of the most valuable parts of the summer school has been getting to know the other trainees.  There are 26 of us in our consortium from a range of subjects and across nine or ten schools.  This has been really good as we've all got to know different people and attended different subject sessions but we've had sessions together as well.  During the year we'll be meeting weekly for our Professional Studies sessions so it's important we get on, and luckily we have.  I've read enough articles, blogs, forums etc now to know that we're going to need each other to keep ourselves sane this year!

I'm starting in school on Monday with two INSET days, looking at the timetable from school it looks like it'll be pretty intense but I'm looking forward to getting to know the other staff and getting settled at school.  Unfortunately Wednesday is our first training day so I won't actually be at my own school for the first day of term.  I'm still unsure of how much observation I'll be doing before I start teaching, hopefully this will become clear on Monday.

For now I can only apologise, my brain is frazzled and I've just written my thoughts as they come out of my head.  I've not left myself time to read it through so I imagine the spelling and grammar is appalling but I'd rather post something than nothing.

Wish me luck, I'll blog again at the end of week one if I'm still in one piece that is!

School Direct: Criticisms and variety, don't tar everyone with the same brush.

About a month ago I wrote this post about School Direct and the unknown aspects and misconceptions.  Since then there have been many more articles that only seem to further these misunderstandings.  The coverage of School Direct in the news is overwhelmingly negative and I believe that a lot of this is due to misunderstanding as opposed to criticism of the facts.  I am going to use this opportunity to give my views on some of the criticisms I've seen around:

1) Trainees will not see the same variety of schools that they would via a university-based PGCE route.

As much as this may be true to some extent all School Direct trainees will be expected to spend time in more than one school as required for obtaining QTS.  In fact, some school consortiums are able to provide their trainees with experience in a greater variety of schools.

2) Trainees won't get the important reflection time away from school that they would if they were following a university based training route.

I don't know how this will work for those trainees not gaining a PGCE, but I know that one day a week I will be training in curriculum and professional studies away from my school with other student teachers.  This will give me the opportunity to meet with other students, like I would do had I been at a university, and discuss issues and share experiences with them.

3) There won't be a strong enough focus on theory and academic study.

Again, although I don't know quite how this will work for non-PGCE trainees (presumably in a similar way to the non-PGCE GTP route) but so far I am under the impression that there is still a strong academic focus to my course.  I will be attending university for 2 weeks next month with full days of curriculum and professional studies.  I will still be required to complete academic assignments in order to gain my PGCE and I am still expected to study the same texts as the university based PGCE courses.

As far as I can tell so far, many of these criticisms of School Direct would also apply to Teach First, SCITT or the previous GTP.  

I understand the concerns related to applications and the knock-on effect this is having for university providers and this is certainly an issue that can't be ignored.  That said, in the cases where the School Direct training route also leads to the award of a PGCE I don't see the downside or the risk to teacher quality.

The variety of provision for School Direct across the schools and universities involved is yet to be seen, some with PGCE, some without, some with a wider variety of experience than others.  I guess what I'm saying is when making judgements about School Direct this variety must be kept in mind and we mustn't tar all of the training providers with the same brush.

New Staff Day - the picture starts to get a little clearer.

Being a School Direct trainee, I was very surprised to be invited to the New Staff Day at my school.  I guess it's not that surprising really, but I didn't expect the school to treat me as 'one of their own' so to speak.  My first impressions of the school are really good, and today has made me all the more excited for what is to come.  As it was a New Staff Day I was there with a total mix of people, other trainees, NQTs, teachers, subject leaders and cover supervisors.  What I was really pleased about was that we were all treated equally and as trainees we were just as valid a part of the group as anyone else and the same provisions had been made for us.  I'd been a bit worried that I might be a bit of an outsider as a trainee but today proved me wrong.

In terms of support and other training I think I've been very lucky with the school I'm going to be training at.  As a new member of staff each person has been allocated a buddy and those of us that are trainees, NQTs or in their first three years of teaching have also got a mentor.  We got the chance to meet them today and spend a little time in our departments to have a look at things and a bit of a chat.  In terms of other training, there are the usual non-pupil days each term as well as weekly sessions on various topics so it seems that there will be plenty going on that can only work positively for me during my PGCE.  If nothing else, the one thing I will have taken away from today is that I will be training in a very supportive school where everyone is willing to help you, and if this year is anything like I've been told it will be then I'm going to need it!

Later this week I have a social event organised by my lead school, meeting up with other trainees, getting all the important questions answered and getting the all important DBS check out of the way with (I just hope the effort I went to getting the Belgian and Spanish ones sorted is worth it...).  I've finally heard from the University about the Summer School, it'll be nine days at the end of August, residential at the University and no charge - food and room are covered in our tuition fees they say.  It looks like it will be 9-5 curriculum studies one week and professional studies the other.  If all my questions about the structure and assessment etc aren't answered this week then I'd hope that by the end of the summer holiday I'll know it all.  Especially as I start at school the following Monday!  My teaching hours and what days will be spent training are still a grey area, but it's getting there now, slowly but surely!  At least I finally have my degree result, that's something!

School Direct : Preparing for the unknown.

Recently I've come to realise how much misinformation is out there about School Direct and so I wanted to start this blog with a bit about that.  When telling people that I'll be doing School Direct at least one person, a teacher I might add, said to me 'oh yes, because they've got rid of the PGCE haven't they?',  I've also seen newspaper and internet articles that make all sorts of claims about the School Direct scheme that are either untrue or taken out of context.  For anyone reading this that doesn't know about School Direct I'll tell you a little bit more.  School Direct allows schools to pick their own trainees and train them along with a local provider.  Some of these programmes will just lead to Qualified Teacher Status but many of them will also lead to a PGCE, some with credits towards a Masters course.  Trainees on the School Direct scheme will be subject to the same standards as those training via a PGCE and therefore will have to spend time in more than one school and meet all the Teaching Standards before being recommended for QTS.  I think in general the confusion is occurring due to the variety of options available depending on the lead school providing the training, including the fact that some trainees will be salaried and others won't.  The School Direct isn't the only route though, PGCEs are continuing to be run as usual, this is just another route, much in the same way as the GTP was an alternative option.  Personally I much prefer the idea of School Direct as I'll be in school from day one, getting involved in school life but still gaining the PGCE qualification preferred by some schools and often required for teaching abroad.  I understand that taking part in School Direct this year is taking a big step into the unknown, for example my provider is yet to 100% finalise the structure of the course, but I find this exciting.

Taking this step into the unknown means that preparation is difficult.  I've got myself a stack of books and am reading my way through them.  I'm also trying to follow as many blogs and reading other articles on education as I'm realising how fast things are changing and the importance of keeping ahead of the times.  I've also started some observation and spent two days in an all boys grammar school this week which was really interesting as it was different to anything I've been in before.  I've got a week lined up in a Primary school which is compulsory before beginning my PGCE and I've arranged to spend a week in an MFL department back home.  Other than that preparations are generally all paperwork- I've had application forms to fill in from my school, a DBS check to pay for and a bit more reading!

Anyone else stepping into the School Direct unknown?  Join the TES Community forum here.   Get in touch with me on Twitter @BexNobes or via the group.  Really looking forward to talking to more trainees-to-be!

What happens now?

If my experimenting with the tools on this blog have gone to plan then when you read this my undergraduate exams will be over! At 11.30am 5/6/2013, I finished my degree!  Now that my life isn't full of revision I think I'm going to feel a little lost.  Fear not- I won't be sat around twiddling my thumbs for long, preparation for September is top of the list.


I've bought all the books that I've been told I need, problem is they're all lined up looking pretty on a shelf in Essex... and I won't be joining them until the end of the month.  Being the busy person I am I've had to line up some bits and pieces to fill my time.  Admittedly I don't really know what I've got myself in for with a couple of the things yet!  One is working with year 6 pupils for an afternoon teaching them French and Spanish.  I think the activities etc have been planned already and I'll just be involved in the delivery but it should be fun all the same.  The other activity is working with Secondary students who are coming onto campus to hear about university life and the courses on offer to them.  I'm looking forward to talking to them about studying languages, even if they all say 'oh but everyone speaks English so learning languages is pointless' that'll be something for me to think about in time for September.

The university that will be awarding my PGCE requires me to spend a week in a Primary school and a bit more time in a Secondary school.  I've got a week in a Primary organised back in Essex and I have a booklet full of questions that I need to complete before my 2 week course at the university in August.  As for Secondary, I'm due to spend a couple of days in a grammar up here and a few more back at my old school nearer the end of term.  I was hoping to fit one more school in there, but I just don't think I'll have time!  I've not been given anything to observe in the Secondary classes though, so any suggestions, especially MFL specific ones, are really appreciated!

Whilst I'm on the subject of school experience, I understand why the majority PGCE courses require a certain amount of experience pre-application, but I think that they could be missing out on good applicants.  I've done plenty in the past, from running a French club with another student, leading the lower school band and being an associate form tutor to a year 8/9 form group whilst I was in sixth form, but none of it was recent enough for the requirements of some institutions.   Whilst I've been at university I've worked with Secondary students as a Student Ambassador, running activity days to encourage them to consider Higher Education, but I didn't do this for very long before the closure of the department I was working in.  Other than this I've not had any experience with school students, especially not in the classroom.  I believe that my other experience, with my part time work, helping to run a student society and being an elected representative of the Students' Union is what helped me get onto the School Direct scheme, and helped me prove that I would be capable of teaching.  I understand the reasons behind the requirements but I can't help but think that this means losing out on those that haven't always wanted to teach.

One final thing, for any other School Direct 2013 participants, having seen the lack of a forum covering this area on the new TES Community pages I decided to start one up, you can find the page here: http://community.tes.co.uk/school_direct_2013/default.aspx so please come along and join us.  We're hoping that the forum will be a good support network to share problems and ideas come September.

I tweet with the username @BexNobes and I'd love to hear from you if you're reading the blog.