A busy start to 80% teaching

I know this blog is not a top priority throughout my training but I feel as if it should be used as a reflective tool at least every few weeks. Unfortunately my hopes of updating it on a weekly basis have been dashed somewhat due to the planning, preparation, marking, admin and another big thing - planning my pending wedding.

Yes I know I must be mad to be planning a wedding at the same time as training to be a teacher but I am not the only one in my School Direct course and am probably the only bloke, so kudos to those ladies out there who are really doing most of the planning.

It has been a strange year with me being in two different schools, 3 different year groups and working alongside a wide range of adults. Learning names of colleagues and children alike has been a must do especially as I like to get involved in playground activities so knowing who to pass the ball to is very important!

My fiancée is a teacher too and although in a secondary school she started at a new location and job role at exactly the same time. This had been good in some ways because we can sympathise with each other on many things. Even though she is 4 years my junior, she has been teaching since 21 and is part of the SLT and holds a Literacy role in the school that requires a lot of physical and emotional strength. Someone to look up to I think and not because she is also a few inches taller than me (more so in high heels) plus teaching is something she has always wanted to do, whereas I came into the profession after a period of being in the wilderness until I decided on this being my true vocation.

Now since my last post I have been a busy man as my title suggests. Getting to know 30 students names in my tutor group, an extra 10 who come in for Maths, 3 new teachers to work alongside and a couple of TA's was the easy part. Planning lessons to make the children acquire new knowledge, think more about why things are the way they are, ensure lots of open questions are being put forward and answered, teaching 16 out of 20 hours, marking books and constantly making formative assessments, is now the crux of my week.

Turn the clock back just a few months ago and I was merely observing, taking small groups, teaching the odd lesson here and there, rarely marking and having to make quick assessments of pupils. It is amazing how much there is to take on board in this profession and I often think should I have gone down the PGCE route where it is less classroom based but then I think 'well no because the whole purpose of learning how to teach is actually being in the classroom and getting the most out of the experience before reality kicks in next year when I have a class of my own and it will be a huge responsibility'.

So what exactly have I been doing these past 3 weeks?

English was an interesting lesson because some of the students created a newsletter based on the changes to their school lunchtime table. It was intriguing to see them work as a team to think of questions to ask a variety of people affected, right from the Head to a Year 1 student. 

Getting the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY and WHEN questions was top on the teaching and learning agenda, and presenting it on a Publisher Document was a new thing I had to teach so I learnt something new too. A few were chosen by the Head to be put into the school's weekly newsletter and it was a great way to showcase the excellent talent we have in Year 5.

Topic is about the Greek Legacy and the lessons are based around how they influenced modern society so everything from democracy, the Olympic Games, Famous Greeks, and the theatre.

I planned a lesson detailing where the word democracy came from and how it is different to other ways of ruling a country.

It is a great chance to put something like the General Election into context because the children can learn so much and this will only serve to enhance their thinking skills later on in life and for when they can vote in 10 years’ time.

My Maths group is a mix of children I used to teach before my second placement and some new children. Measures and scales was on the agenda for the first two weeks and when this changed to Data and Statistics I used a lesson idea based on the book

 ‘If The World Were A Village’ that I saw being used to teach a mixed year 5/6 class last year. I know it will be challenging but will adapt the lesson accordingly.

In Guided Reading my planning for this is based on what the children are currently learning and what they will be learning next. Some of the children require a heads up in advance so this will be an ideal time to input tricky vocab and help them to answer questions next week. Themes included the General Election, Life Cycles of Animals, some Data and Statistics, and a lot about the Greeks.

As this is my 80% teaching block, for 4 days a week right through till just after half term, I will be teaching pretty much every subject. Having to work alongside 3 different teachers, TAs and a Spanish support assistant has meant my people skills are required to be in tip top shape and I need to listen to all, take in their advice and then use what I feel is important.

My two observations were English and Topic. Persuasion is the unit of the term and I chose to include a set of techniques called DAFOREST that I used last term in my second placement. Being in Year 5 my main aim was that the children were able to recognise the techniques and to use them in their writing.

As it was the first lesson of the unit, I wanted to see if the children could ‘persuade’ their table partner into giving them something they really wanted. This was to get them thinking about what they were doing and the language being used. My lesson then moved on to include a piece of writing in which the children had to find words or phrases that persuaded them to do what was being asked of them. Firstly was a letter describing how amazing Hong Kong is and that people should visit this wonderful place, secondly was a speech to encourage men to become soldiers for Queen Victoria’s army, and the third was a challenging piece by a Head Girl encouraging her fellow students to eat more fruit throughout the week. I was pleased to see so many examples being given and the children has thoroughly gone through each text carefully and used a key to highlight where each part of the persuasive language was.

In PE I am teaching cricket and luckily the weather has been on my side. There is so much to go through not only in terms of bowling and batting but fielding, the rules, throwing, stopping the ball in different ways. I adapted a plan found on TES and the progress everyone has made in a few weeks is amazing and I can't wait to test our class against another in the year group.

So for another week or so this is it. I hope you enjoy my posts and please feel free to comment, share, RT or favourite. In 10 weeks I will be Qualified (touch the proverbial wood) and then 2 weeks later married. So much is happening at the moment and I am looking forward to sharing my honeymoon on a cruise somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean and reflect on the past year. One thing I do know is that it will never be the same again...

Half term review Spring 2

To say that this term has been busy would be an understatement. I could not wait to start planning for my new class and boy was I given the chance to do just that.  I was given the responsibility for planning: 3 weeks of English, 4 weeks of Maths, 5 weeks of PE, 1 PSHE, 3 Science, and 2 Topic (History) lessons, and I thrived at this opportunity.

Marking also played a huge part in this term and I have begun to appreciate the power of peer marking. I agree that children need to be training into doing this properly and efficiently but given the right time and focus it will help those same children to become better at analysing others work and gaining proofreading skills that they will transfer to their own work.

One of my next targets was to be able to differentiate work. I was told that some of the children are performing above national average (especially in Maths) and I had to ensure work was pitched at their level. I did this and during my planning ensured everyone was catered for and scoured online for resources and asked teachers in the years above for advice. At parents evening during the 3^rd week of 5, a few parents commented on the great work the mentor and I had been doing in pushing their children rather than allowing them to complete easy tasks without any effort.

My mentor was very good at giving feedback and I certainly learnt a lot from him. Being a young teacher himself, he was able to impart the wisdom of what to look out for and how to make my planning, training and teaching easier. 

At the school I was made to feel extremely welcome. The head teacher’s daughter is also on the Schools Direct course so she knew what was expected of me. I am local to the school and a few parents whose children were in a year above and below knew me from my running club and it was soon apparent that some money I helped to raise and donate from my club was given to the PTA, in which most of the member’s children were being taught by myself. I spent most of my break outside with the various cohorts and the loyalty and respect from the children I gained was spread across the school. ‘You coming to play football sir?’ ‘Here sir let me get that for you’ ‘When will you be teaching us?’ Were all comments regularly heard and it filled me with immense pride that I had both an academic and sociable sense of respect from them.

During World Book Day I took 12 children from KS2 and taught them how to interview their peers and teachers about the costumes they had worn, then showed them how to put it all together into their own newsletters. I created one master newsletter which went out to all the parents. Print outs of all are displayed in one of the main corridors with pictures of the group dressed up for the day.

Am I ready for 80%? I think the answer is yes. Will I achieve Outstanding in my QTS? I hope so. After being one of the lucky few to attend the talk by Andrew Pollard, I can see how interesting the life of a teacher can be. I do need to fine tune my classroom behaviour management and in doing so will stick close to my philosophy which is to be fair, fun and firm.

I reflect on almost anything in life from the choices I make in my wedding plans, to why did I set off too quickly in a race, to why on earth did I place those children together in a project. This is why I enjoy teaching because I can build on my mistakes and improve them day on day, week on week, month on month etc. I will continue to make mistakes but as long as I can see how to rectify them and do so properly, I will strive to be the very best I can be. I do have aspirations for the future as we all should do but for now my immediate aim is to knuckle down plan for the remainder of my training year and look forward to taking on my own class in September (which I can gleefully confirm is going to be at my main placement).

Second School placement ends in time for Easter

It’s all Greek to me:WC 9^th March

This week consisted of teaching decimals and rounding in Maths; planning an eggs-periment in Science (yes it was all about eggs); how to be a persuasive Viking leader in Topic; and recounting the myth of Icarus: The boy who flew too close to the sun.

Life as a primary school teacher has meant that I have to be versatile in many different lessons, knowledgeable to some extent, and convey across to 32 children that learning is fun, engaging and worthwhile. Hopefully I manage it on a daily basis and have inspired the children to one day use the many skills learnt and to apply them in a whole manner of life situations.

Luckily for me, last term I observed a year 4 class, at my main placement, carrying out the observation lesson for the science experiment I was to teach. Little did I know back then, that that one hour would provide me with enough information to confidently take on the planning and turn it into my own words and differentiate it for my own classes needs. I did ask the class teacher last week, whilst visiting for the Oscars ceremony, where she has kept some of the resources, and was pleased to find it all filed away in the specific subject folder. This is one trait I wish to develop myself as it will enable other teachers to find resources and adapt them where required.

The eggs in question were placed in 6 different liquids and will be kept in tightly closed jars for one week until the observation lesson. This will help show the children how the shell of an egg reacts similarly to the enamel of teeth and that certain liquids will damage the shell more than others.

As for persuading a Viking leader – this was a good way for the children to use persuasive techniques. Later on this term I will be moving onto the DAFOREST method of remembering what is needed to be persuasive but this week’s lesson concentrated on Viking settlers, what they did as well as invade villages, and what makes a good Viking leader. All of this was put into a poster and the class were shown various examples including the ‘We Need You’ Lord Kitchener posters.

The English topic looked Greek myths and after looking at the story of Pandora’s Box, we concentrated on Icarus and his father Deadalus. This really excited the class because everyone dreams of flying and after showing them two different stories plus a video clip, they could see that a myth can change ever so slightly but have different parts changed to suit the storyteller and audience. At the end of the week a recount was created for their Extended Writing, and some of the pieces really showed how much had been taken on board including the spellings of challenging Greek names. 

A long wait to decide my fate: WC 16^th March

On Monday the observation part of the experiment was completed and it was amazing to see all of my class as scientists pondering the question as to which liquid did the most damage to the eggs. It was tricky because although the coca cola and coffee hadn’t seemed to do much damage, it had however stained the egg. This was hard to see at first for some children who though no damage had been made.

The vinegar and orange juice were the worst offenders and it was deemed that the sugar inside the juice and acid in the vinegar slowly eroded the egg shell within a week. The egg in orange juice was totally clear of shell and the smell was disgusting. Seeing the children’s faces when looking at the eggs via the visualiser created the ‘wow factor’ I had hoped for. Each group when given an egg to examine, did so carefully and wrote their thoughts on smell, touch and sight. 

I look forward to doing this again and possibly next time plan even further in advance with some eggs being inside the liquids for a couple of weeks if not a month.

For two days this week I had to be observed by not only my tutor (for his 4^th visit) and then my teaching interview at my main placement school in front of both the head and deputy. I was not sure of which one I would be more worried about. The person who keeps a check on me every few months and is slowly grading me toward Good/Excellent or the two at the top of the very school I wish to work at.

Firstly let’s settle the matter of the tutor observation. He hadn’t seen me at this school before and also not in this year group. I decided to go slightly outside of my observation comfort zone and teach a creative drama lesson in which the entire class was split into 12 groups to act out the 12 Labours of Hercules. It was only yesterday that they had started to look at this myth and I wanted to improve on their recount skills from the Icarus story of last week. 

In the lesson I had tried to ensure the children were evenly split by the acting skills I had seen during their play scripts lessons last term and also attempted to balance those less able students with more able whilst at the same time keeping overpowering children away from each other in case of a ‘too many cooks’ situation. It proved to be a success however whilst each group was showing their performances off, I didn’t fully explain to the rest of the class that they were to watch attentively and give a star or wish to their peers performances. This meant a few were sitting around doing nothing waiting for their turn. My tutor did commend my bravery for this lesson especially as it got everyone involved in the acting process and genuinely helped the entire class remember some if not most of the Labours.

On Friday was the ‘big one’, I was given the task of teaching a year 6 class from my main placement, on the subject of the Ten Commandments, during an RE lesson. This was something quite new to me because I am usually at University on a Friday, or was used for PPA time both schools. Being a Christian is something I value and this is one of the areas I had a little bit of knowledge in plus I had dinner with some good friends both of whom are regular church members and gave me some very good advice.

The lesson being taught was to consider ‘How the Commandments fit in with modern day society’ and so I posed this question to the class and had a nice debate running on which of the Commandments was most important and why plus should any of them be kept, removed or simply amended to suit the religions of today. It was more pupil led than teacher led and hopefully that came across in the lesson. 

Afterwards I had to wait a full 90 minutes until the phone call and am pleased to say that it was a success. Being a trainee teacher already based at the school; having a good relationship with both the children and teachers; knowing the schools layout; their non-negotiables; and finally showing some promise during my time at the school, on top of the interview and lesson – they feel I am the right man for the job. I am not sure which year group I will be placed in but it will be in either years 3, 4 or 5.

Second School Placement completed with lots of tears WC 23^rd March

This week was the last of 5 full teaching weeks and 7 at St Peter’s. It has been a busy process especially with planning, marking, parents evening, assessments, dealing with parents, and learning a whole new set of rules and timetables.

My University manual of guidance stated that I had to track 6 students ranging from High Ability through to Low Ability. For this I needed to copy work from English, Math and Science so I did exactly that as well as a written assessment they each completed. It was very good seeing them from one sub-level to another because there was a clear indication of progress throughout. This gives me confidence in placing the correct level/mark for when assessing formatively.

I was very pleased that the final week’s English was based around creating a collaborative Hogwarts School Prospectus. Being a body-double on the set of Harry Potter I have fond memories of the films and this was a chance to link my past career with my new one. Some of the children had read a lot of the books and this made creating groups a lot easier. Initially I went down the list based on Writing Ability and delegated the first 8 students as ‘leaders’ of their foursome. Using the persuasive techniques learnt in a previous lesson plus the DAFOREST mnemonic, I gave the class 8 different ways to persuade in their writing. The end result was pretty good and I can comfortably say that they will be using their new skills in future work.

The final day for me was Thursday despite school not ending until Friday. It was very emotional and whilst I was out during PPA the children had made some cards and I was presented with a lot of goodbyes plus a Q&A session was held with the children asking me what I had enjoyed doing during my time at the school. I had a great experience, learnt so much about a one-form entry school, planned more than I could have imagined, taught some truly inspirational children and wish them all the best of luck.

Away from school I was very lucky to meet and listen to Andrew Pollard talk about his Reflective Teaching Book. He is someone who has gone from being a primary school teacher in the 70's to helping to create policies for teaching and researching into what makes children tick. I can see a lot of what he said about his younger self in myself and I wonder what the future holds for me.

Taking the metaphorical bull by the horns

I try to always use a metaphor as a title for my reflection and in this week’s English lessons I introduced the use of them with my class’s creative writing.

For the next few weeks my year 4 class are to plan an adventure story and write their own one. This is quite important because it will form one of their assessment pieces and gives me a chance to see how my 6 chosen pupils are progressing. I used Robert Louis Stephenson’s ‘Kidnapped’ as the introductory story and because it is a classic that no-one had read, this ensured everyone started on the same level and could hear me read the story without (I hoped) any of them being distracted.

One thing I could have done was to give support group a piece of information with an overall layout of what the 1^st chapter was about- I actually did this but afterwards. The reason for using this particular piece was because it introduced the hero of the story, has a reason for an adventure to begin, a cliff-hanger and a journey that the hero goes on from the very beginning.  These are all the things I wanted the class to think about when writing an exciting and tense adventure story.

My first day teaching without the class teacher in school came about on Tuesday when he was away at a course. This meant I had complete ownership of the class from registration through to the end of the day. Math’s merges straight into English without a break (unlike my main school) and this kept me on my toes to ensure the children were occupied for 2 hours. I used the reward charts to my advantage and spoke to any parents at the start and end of the day who had the usual queries. This will no doubt help me over the next few weeks with establishing firm parent/teacher relationships.

My main lesson objective in English for this week was to teach the proper use of similes and metaphors and although it took a while I am confident that most of the children can correctly use the both of them. I gave everyone a list of well-known similes and metaphors, and allowed them to describe their hero with them if needed. For the more able, I wanted them to think of their own or at least change them to make it more appropriate.

My two observed lessons were English and Maths and both had a lot of constructive criticism. The main thing I need to do is ensure silence is kept when asked for. This particular class hate to lose table or Dojo Points so are excellent tools to use when giving or taking them away. A sand-timer is also a good visual for the children to see when I set a quick task such as tidying away desks or finishing up a piece of work, I do need to get a few into the habit of not watching the sand run completely down or a clock on the IWB countdown from a minute, as this will defeat the object.

Differentiation is also a hard thing for me at the moment as there are some children working at almost year 5 level. I overcame this by looking at the Math’s work for the years above and gave them a lot more independency with less input. This was I can see who truly has a grasp of certain parts of the curriculum and those who actually coast through the easier work but then struggle when it gets harder.

Next week is assessment week and rather than the usual SAT’s past papers in Reading and Maths, the children will also complete a Written task (essentially the adventure story I have been teaching then to plan) plus a Reading Age and Spelling Age test. As this will take out the majority of the mornings next week and with World Book Day on the Thursday, I have got quite a different week to the other 4 whilst at my second placement school. This is a good opportunity to see how a whole school approach is to assessment and also to mark work alongside other teachers for moderation.

I have planned a World Book Day project similar to one I undertook last year when I was a TA except this will be more structured and I have included the chance for older children to mentor the younger students in KS2. 

The University is Alive With The Sound Of Music

Yes it's in the title, music was the lesson taught at Reading University this week, and I also joined the School Choir.

Most of you reading this don't know me but I grew up loving music; from singing Scouting songs around a campfire, playing the piano from the age of 11, to singing at every step along my educational path. I found a passion for drama on top of all this and decide to follow a dream of becoming an actor (see previous blog posts to give a more detailed breakdown on my previous career).

Extra-curricular activities
Anyway why did I join the School Choir? Well, the music teacher is teaching the KS2 children some Christmas songs for a concert and I didn't want to miss out on both performing and assisting. This combines fun with learning and it ticks off Standard 8 in the process. The children were surprised that Mr Harte was in the music room and made a bit of fuss but hopefully the novelty will wear off next week. I am using this experience to hopefully assist with the end of school production and also add the responsibility to my teaching repertoire because it will give weight to any interviews in the future. 

Guided Reading
I taught a good lesson using only a picture to get my group to think about how the illustrator gains sympathy from its reader without the use of text. One thing I should have done was to give pen and paper to the children and asked them to write their thoughts and feelings down rather than me asking them and doing it for them.

Marking my 1st set of English papers
The Year 6 were given an English Reading SAT's paper. This I welcomed because it will enable the teachers to see how the cohort has been developing since the start of term. I can also see how my Focus Reader (a University based task) is doing since I started working with him. I wanted to gain experience of marking papers so only did the unambiguous questions which didn't require much thinking.

Year 3 observations
I have literally been all over the school these past few weeks and that is precisely what I should be doing this Autumn Term. I spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning with a class in Year 3 AND I was able to see: a guitar lesson taught by two external music teachers, a topic lesson based on the compass points, Maths lesson looking at subtracting two digit numbers and both a guided reading and English lesson focusing on letters and sending mail. 

i saw some excellent transition tactics being employed. The pace of the lessons meant that for their age, the children didn't spend too much time on their own during the lesson. I can see that for Year 3 it needs to be a gradual process to becoming more independent learning especially so soon after being in Year 2. With 2 TA's in the class as well, both knew their class tasks and all of the adults moved about the different groups to ensure the teacher spent time with as many of the class as she could. This is important because each child feels as if the teacher isn't just concentrating on the lower or higher ability groups.

Maths Test for all of Year 5/6
On Thursday another SAT's paper was sat except this time covering Year 5 as well. This is because we stream in 5 classes and this will give a chance to see not only what needs teaching but also whether some children need moving around the classes. We have had a few new students and despite a few bits on informal assessment, I feel a test will show the real ability of a student. That is just my opinion but with something like Math's it is vital each teacher knows that what they are teaching matches their students' level of learning. 

Yet again I am pleased this has happened because my Focus Math's student is in my class and I can quickly see what she needs immediate help with.

Second Guided Reading Session
Picking up from what I noted on Monday, I ensured my group had pen and paper to convey any thoughts they had by simply looking at a second image I showed them. Some of the vocab learnt in the last lesson was remembered and my Focus reader came out with an amazing metaphor saying 'the people on the top deck of the ship were huddled around like penguins trying to keep warm'. 

Plans for next week
I spoke to my mentor about how my two lessons went and how I adapted my teaching strategy. We spoke about a pending Science lesson that I am planning based on Light and how it travels in a straight line. She wants me to think how to challenge the Gifted and Talented children in my questioning.
In my Personal Learning Profile, I added that I will be focusing on Year 1 Phonics over the next two weeks and she gave advice on which classes to observe and for what I should be looking out for. As well as this I will be getting a day's worth of Phonics Training at University so it will consist of a lot of new learning.
One thing she did like a lot was that I have been updating a personal calendar on the schools Public Data drive and ensuring everyone can see what classes I am observing in, when I am teaching and what meeting I have planned. This will be beneficial across the whole school. 

In just one day I learnt how to teach a terms worth of music
It does sound extreme but on my University Centralised Training day it was spent with the lovely Jay Deeble, who has been teaching Music for many years and even assisted with the first ever National Curriculum when it was introduced in the 1980's.
To start with we looked at the Universal words for reading music, Ta and Ti. This system allows the value of each note to be clearly represented no matter its placement within the beat/measure. The folk song lyric "This Old Man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb, with a knick-knack paddy whack, give my dog a bone, this old man came rolling home" would be said, "titi ta titi ta titi titi titi ti-tiri titi tiriti tiritiri ta titi titi titi ta".

In our tutor group we worked on some exercises that included clapping a rhythm or the pulse. The teacher is expected to distinguish for the children to help less able.  
We built on this by working as two big groups then three groups to make a canon (same song being sung but at different start times). It progressed into even smaller groups and finally a big challenge where everyone went solo. 
LO: To maintain a tune.
SC: I can add/find rhythm. I can clap the pulse I can work in a group, pair or solo

The tradition SO, MI RAY, DOE and La were then introduced as a way of remembering the different pitch of a song. These are familiar to me from The Sound of Music.
We were given a few songs to practice on Xylophones, Metalaphones or Glockenspiels and asked to come up with different ways of playing the song. Changes could include; the pitch, tempo, playing in octaves, two songs at same time, or even different notes, 

Teaching music in KS2 will vary from school to school and indeed cohort. Some classes will pick it up quickly whereas elsewhere only a handful would have any musical experience. By gradually increasing the difficulty of the lesson, each child should feel as if they have made progress. 

To appraise a music unit, we were given the Mnemonic  CLASP.
C- Composing: Creating a piece of music
L - Literature studies: looking at the background of music
A - Audience: Listening and giving feedback
S - Skills: Oral/Aural, Technical and Notating
P - Play: Performing

The National Curriculum literally has two parts.
1 - Performing and Composing
2 - Listening and appreciation

When analysing, students should be thinking about a variety of questions:
Concepts - What was understood and what was needed to understand?
Attitudes - What did you demonstrate and what was the attitude to the performance?
Skill - What did you do and what did/could you do better?
Knowledge - What did you know and what did you need to know?

Music can be linked right across the curriculum but it rarely is. A story or poem could be used for composition plus it could even be linked to Geography or Science. 

Summary of the week
Yet again, this week I have a lot to think about. I look forward to teaching much music and will adapt the things learnt today.
Marking my first sets of tests was tough because it made me realise even more that the future of others in my hands and I have to be thorough and fair in everything I do.