Joining a new school on my birthday – Yes I am 31 years young!

This week was a first for me because I had never started a new job location on my birthday and also kept it quiet to pretty much everyone. My second school is a small one form entry school with yet again one male teacher although there is a male TA and he is an avid PE teacher.

My mentor is said male teacher and he will be mentoring me under the guidance of the headteacher whose daughter is also on the Schools Direct course and used to be a GTP assessor so knows a thing or ten about student teachers. I had 32 children’s names to learn, which I managed by about Thursday. Using surnames is also a good thing because there are 3 children with the same name and it also helps when they have done something wrong or I want their attention quickly. I remember being called Schiffer or Schiffer-Hart when at school and sometimes it was endearing because it showed teachers were bothered to know both my names. 2 parents whose children are in my running club are also at the school but not in the class although one has a nephew in my class and was shocked when I told him how I knew his aunt.

As part of my Schools Direct training I am required to be in charge of planning for the Core Subjects and have already gone through the Writing, Reading and Math’s levels to see the pupils progress. Math’s for this Year 4 class is quite high and one of the pupils is working towards Year 5 levels already. I am sure that with my recent teaching in the year above, I will be able to push him and ensure he doesn’t stagnate.

Each day there is a Daily Challenge on the board (similar to rise and shine) and the children also go out for reading with either the class teacher, TA or myself and this allows each child to read to an adult at least once a week. A times table board shows who is currently working towards their targets and a big deal is made when someone moves up to harder multiplications.

Over the week I slowly got to know the children, implemented my own style of teaching and followed the class teacher’s advice as to what goes where, who to keep an eye on, which children need an extra push, the class reward system, and behaviour strategies. I brought in some prizes for the Pirate Points Board and at the end of the week even taught Art in which the children coloured in a Scuba Diver which will attached with a photo of themselves and moved up the board to win some prizes.

There is a spelling test once a week linked to Read Write Inc, Mathletics is a new Math’s programme the class use to improve their subject knowledge, a mental math’s test is also weekly and both are things I will need to factor into my planning once I become their main teacher after half term. I may be at a new school but many of the things are the same and those that are different I can perhaps adapt and use when back at my main placement school or next year. I do have a few teaching ideas for this class and will discuss them accordingly. 

Being an avid footballer, I am also able to join in at break and lunch times with my mentor and get involved with football games in the schools sports cage. I think I need to improve my skills though as some of these children are whiz at it.