Time

It seems like everything is moving so fast around me that it is a blur as I (in slow motion of course) pace through the school. So much has happened since the last time we spoke that I don't know where to begin.

I have published a previous post which I began writing on my way home from.. Well I can't remember where now... And as you can see, it was never finished! By the time I got home from the station so many other things were on my mind that writing the blog completely slipped! That why this week we are going to talk about organisation.

Top tips:
- Get a diary. Be it from school or personal (I use an A4 planner the school gave me which I have written all the dates in already). Sit down and before you do anything else. Write down important personal dates and events. We've been so.busy this year that me and my boyfriend nearly let our anniversary go by without noticing it! By writing it down, no matter how fast the rest of life goes, you remember what's important in life. This allows you to...
-Schedule in breaks. Be it one 20 min period at work to sit and have coffee with workmates, an evening once in a while where you take no work home, you bathe, and you fall asleep at 7.15 on the sofa watching something mindless before dragging yourself to bed early. It is so important to be rested and healthy for work and regular breaks (no matter how guilty you feel taking them because you know the list is getting longer) are both deserved and vital. If you can, write off a whole day once every few weeks to completely blow on eating, drinking and doing what you like. Break the uniformity. Have a night out. Sleep all day. It will keep you feeling human and like you have a social life.
-Make lists. There are 3 kinds of lists to make this point sucessful. Short term lists you make every morning. These are the actual things you want and need to complete today. Then theres mid term lists: the stuff that is.less important right now, but you need to get to at some point in the next two weeks-end of term (clean the house is often on mine!) and then there's long term lists. These are normally the best kind as they include stuff like 'plan summer holiday, buy dress for.friends wedding, and catch up with...' they are your long term goals and are often the things you will be looking forward to most (as they will fall into easter and summer break!) always remember that on the longest and darkest day of.the year, you are still edging closer to the times when this list can be completed!

Now. The rules for the list is. Spend two thirds of your free time in a day dedicated to the short term list. Spend 3/12s of it on the mid term list and 1/12 on the long term. Anything that you can do quicker than you can write. Do it there and then! This way you are in control of your time and never feel as if you are losing focus of the bigger picture.

Other ways to keep organised include:
-Tidy your desk once a week. File everything and have a fresh mind.
-Leave your office for 15 mins a day. Being stuck in the same place dehumanises you from the kids, and more importantly, from yourself.
-Follow every request with an email. Just because you are amazingly organised doesn't mean everyone else is!
-Be careful when you will set homework. Ensure you can collect and mark it on the days that you bring it in. Write in your diary the lessons you will collect books for.
-Have an intray. Be it your pigeon hole, a stand on your desk or just a box in which you can keep papers for the week. When you clear the desk, clear the intray.
-Invest in simple things to help maintain your classroom. I have just bought baskets to keep on my desks. They have in them 6 AFL card packs, 6 whiteboards, 6 pens and rubbers for WBs, 3 thesauri and dictionaries, a ruler, rubber and gluestick. Thus means the students have access to things they need without getting up and I don't waste valable lesson time.handing out objects.

I hope some of these techniques will help some if you if you are struggling to keep on top of things. My apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes - I'm so busy, I am writing this on my phone!

Week ending 21st September

Good evening bloggers, Romans, Countrymen.

So it's the end of a long couple of weeks. Having finally recovered (mostly) from infected wisdoms and having virtually no immune system as the antibiotics wipe everything out of me. I can certainly say real life has definitely kicked in! Just sat on the DLR from seeing my brother perform at the Royal Albert Hall (very proud!) and mellowing out to some chill out tunes on my dying ipod and thought of you - yes you! I bet you feel special now. Well you should.

I firstly want to apologise to the many loved ones currently following this blog for my truly dismal attempts at communicating with normal society. I hear that balance gets easier to manage with time! Right! Now onto the thing you came here for!

The Good:

I have become the queen of detention! I know. I know. You're all thinking 'why's that so good!?', and I'm not normally this harsh with them, but I really have found that the level of respect my students have for me has jumped up! They now understand that Ihave high expextations for each and ever one of them - and I'm willing to push them to meet these!

My first handshake - building good relationships with students is vital. Get them on side and they'll be loyal forever. Learning names has significantly helped me achieve this as the kids know I know them. Other ways to build good relationships include good notes home, Merits, telephone calls or emails home, taking an interest in their out of school interests as well as their in school achievements.

The end of the beginning

The end of week 1

So, this week has felt like a bit of an eternity. On top of regular planning, teaching, meetings, marking etc. my wisdom teeth decided it was a great idea to become so infected I could barely move. Yay. Now on two types of antibiotic and more painkillers than you can shake a stick at, I am trying to recover, and continue to stay on top of work! 

Worst part of the week

Is a drama lesson that we planned to have with two year 11 classes. I teamed up with Miss E to introduce the theatre space to our year 11 class. Mistake no. 1 was deciding this would be a good idea, but we ploughed through. We registered the class in English and walked to the theatre, only to discover that we were unable to get into it! I had to stand around with 40 year 11s, whilst our lovely TA went to find someone to open the door. In future, I will check the morning of my theatre lessons that the space is fully accessible for when I need it. I will also try to get a key for the outside door and have an emergency game up my sleeve for the boys if a problem should arise again. This unfortunately meant that the boys were springing off the walls before we even entered the space. 

We finally got them sat down and handed out the theatre 'rules'. I talked through these (with constant Low Level Disruption) and asked the boys to prepare to step into the space. Some of the young men decided it was funny to create a square as I had asked them to make a circle, this elongated the time it took to settle and further disrupted the class. I will remember to praise those following instructions before I attend those that do not. I will ignore a lack of instructions as long as possible so as not to give attention to the behaviour. 

We settled on making two separate circles and discussing the families of Romeo and Juliet. We covered why the families hated each other and how they fought and insulted one another. Making clear the difference between Baz Luhrmanns interpretation and Shakespeares original text. This is where I made my biggest mistake. I told the boys what we would achieve by the end of the lesson. A slo-motion fight. On the word 'fight', all hell broke loose. I blew my emergency whistle and asked those who were following instructions to sit down. This meant I could break up and settle the few students who were not following instructions. Unfortunately this took a long period of time. To avoid this is the future, I will not inform the students of what we will achieve by the end of the lesson. Instead, i will take small steps to cover only as much as they need to know to complete the next step. 

At this point, I decided to focus my attention on those students who wished to participate. I spoke very quietly and asked those students who wished to learn to come forward. I demo-ed and then we practiced slo-motion punches forward into the air for several minutes, after which each of the students picked a partner and practiced slo-motion fighting with them. I walked around the space offering guidance and tips for those who were participating correctly and monitored the bad behaviour of individuals as it cropped up. This left the particularly naughty students at the edges of the room being ignored, and so soon after, some of them joined the group. 

Although not completely successful at the end of the session, I have identified students who must be monitored closely during drama lessons and reminded myself that praise and not feeding bad behaviour is key. This is made slightly difficult by some students (whose behaviour is so bad it puts others at risk) however, I am sure this will be overcome in time. 

Best part of the week

Is another drama lesson, this time my year 9's. Once again I registered the class upstairs and we walked to the theatre, this time getting straight in (as the room had already been unlocked for the previous class). I stopped the students outside the theatre and quietly gave them instructions to sit quietly in the stalls filling up from the front. One student refused to follow instructions properly and so I sat him separately to the rest of the group. Although he fussed at first, he settled once I started talking. I will remember that by quietly holding him back and politely asking him to complete my instructions he responded quickly. 

I explained the rules quickly and all the students followed my instruction to enter the space. I ensured I kept my voice calm and controlled. Our first game was to count from 1-20 without talking over each other. The students found this too difficult, and so I reduced the number from 20 to 10. The students kept trying to discuss tactics and so I reminded them that this would cause anticipation and frustration. I then asked them to lay on their stomachs and close their eyes. This reduced the chatter and helped focus. We eventually hit 10. I will use this game in class to help focus the group if I feel they are being too disruptive or excitable. 

We moved on to a visualisation task. I asked the students to walk around the room. I practiced the whistle and all students stopped. I praised them for this and asked them to ensure they were in a space away from others. I then asked them to lay down where they were and close their eyes. I told a story of about a beach, I walked around the room and did not change my calm and slow voice if asking students to stop talking or close their eyes etc. as I spoke. Even though I did not use names, all LLD stopped during the story. 

At the end of the lesson I asked students why we had done this type of activity. The students understood that they behaviour in other lessons had been excitable and too loud. We discussed how the activities could be applied to the lesson (eg. before bursting out in speech, count down from 3 in your head slowly and calmly and see if you still want to do it.) I will reflect on this again as a starter in my next lesson with them. I was impressed by their new found focus and whilst I understand that this will not last into next week. I have something I can remind them of as my expectation for the future. 

Things to remember

• Praise is key.
• Ignoring bad behaviour where possible will stop feeding the attention.
• Small steps - even in instruction.
• Not advertising a telling off.
• Differentiating tasks mid-way through can be more successful than sticking to the original plan.
• Calm voice, closed eyed and visualisation and a way into focus.
• Reflection of expectations constantly. 

Quote of the Day

One good teacher in a lifetime may sometimes
change a delinquent into a solid citizen.

Philip Wylie

Day 1 in 'The Office'

Day 1

Ok, so even though today is the first official day I can get in, I think I'm one of the only people here. Miss E, the other, lovely NQT, has also been in. Which has been great as we've been able to help each other a lot and keep each calm in terms of getting to grips with our new classrooms etc. I have stuck up loads of posters and English-y displays all around my room and have finally finished sorting through the previous teachers resources so I have (a bit of) an idea of stuff I could work with already.

What are you teaching?

I have; after a long and difficult time sifting through paperwork and reading a great deal, decided (mostly) on what I will be teaching for this first term. Below is a list of the classes I have and the first topic we will be covering:

• Year 7: Top Set (9 lessons per fortnight) Novels - The Hobbit
• Year 7: SEN group (1 lesson per fortnight) Experience and Understanding through drama. 
• Year 8: Tutor Group. 
• Year 9: Mid Set (9 lessons per fortnight) Novels - Stone Cold
• Year 10: Mid/Low Set (9 lessons per fortnight) Unit 1 GCSE - Of Mice and Men (yay...)
• Year 11: Low Set (8 lessons per fortnight) Unit 1 GCSE - Romeo and Juliet compared to Cultural Heritage Poems from the AQA Anthology. 
• Year 10: iGCSE group (1 lesson per fortnight) - Pass...

I will also be taking on a KS3 and separate KS4 drama group and will be teaching a year 8 group their drama lessons. So as you can see, I'm a busy bunny at the moment! What with writing lesson plans, organising possible clubs and settling into a new school - I really have my hands full! 

To do list:

• Write up lesson plans for first few days and collate resources. 
• Finish overview of GCSE MTPs for this HT.
• Plan for and advertise drama groups. 
• Get set up on SIMs at my school so I can access data asap (already spoken to ICT so fingers crossed for a speedy set-up)
• Keep smiling!

Quote of the day:

What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honorable than teaching?

Harriet Martineau

A new school. A new term. A new teacher.

Introduction

Ok, so it's the start of term and I'm a little anxious. Nothing to do with 'will they like me?' or 'am I good enough?'. I know I can do it - I've been teaching English, Media and Drama for a year now. What's scary is I'm now completely on my own! All the books in the world can't make up for the fact that come Monday morning, I will have 5 (lovely - I'm sure) classes of boys all expecting me to be their guru. Their guiding light... and all that... 

First Impressions

The school is great. There are lots of resources (even if some are a little old) and the Eng Dept have tried their best to keep on top of tatty books etc, to keep standards and expectations high. This, for me, is nice. I know that when I hand out those books, I can be confident in knowing they should be returned in just as spotless a fashion. 

Teaching staff are nice, very supportive and I do feel one of the team already. I am particularly grateful that there is another NQT starting with me. So we can fall back on each other if need be. She seems so much more confident about everything and has far more experience in teaching English than myself (which is scary as I feel very out of the picture as I was expecting to be teaching a LOT more drama than I am.) 

I already have plans for separate KS3 and 4 drama clubs and am looking into options for future GCSE classes (hoping that if I'm forth coming and enthusiastic - I can be HOD within 3 years by fluke!) So I know I need to work hard and impress them this year. 

What to do now

I guess the first thing is to settle into lesson planning and find the data for my new classes. I am setting a goal to be ready for the first HT by the end of the weekend. It's a big ask and I'll have to be really focused (something I'm currently finding hard to do as the summer hasn't quite worn off yet!) But I know once I get into a groove, I can hammer out lesson plans easily. It's all about remembering that you're there to guide them, they are there to do the work. 

Quote of the Day:

"The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth."
Dan Rather