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!