7.45 AM: My day starts early. I try to get into school as early as I can, depending on childcare, it really sets me up for the day. I get settled and catch up on anything I might have missed. It’s a good opportunity to check in with my mentor before the busy day ahead. It’s also a good time to get any printing done and gather any resources I need for my lessons, I feel that being organised calms some of my pre-lesson nerves. Oh, and I get a coffee – that sets me up for the day!
This term, my timetabled lessons have increased. Before Christmas I might have done 1 – 2 lessons a day and now I can expect to deliver 2 – 4. When I’ve got 4 lessons to prepare for, deliver, and reflect on I have to be really organised. I can definitely feel that I’m becoming more confident, which is encouraging.
I have found that the best way to engage with the students I am teaching is to be really clear with my expectations for them. Creating a climate for learning and using different behaviour techniques has been one of my main challenges, but my mentor is really supportive and I have learnt lots of examples of best practice in my formal training sessions which we do on a Wednesday. This is where I get to learn pedagogy and subject curriculum to improve my teaching.
9.20 AM – 11.00 AM: Double Lesson with Year 9 English. I really enjoy teaching this class as we are starting ‘Of Mice and Men’ which I studied myself at GCSE. The students are engaged and I have lots of challenging tasks planned which I am hoping will stretch them.
During my lessons today I have noticed that my subject knowledge is improving rapidly. The schemes of work and resources available are of a high quality anyway, so I’m learning as I go and I’ve got the freedom to amend and add to lessons if I think it would be beneficial. There are so many people around for support as well and they are always happy to help if I have a subject question. I find that being in the workroom is invaluable because you absorb the conversations and the knowledge of your colleagues around you. I’ve been surprised how much I’ve pick up just by listening.
1.00 PM: One important part of the experience is keeping in touch with fellow trainees. We have a WhatsApp group and we try to meet for lunch if we can. Today we had time for a really good catch up. It’s nice to share stories with people who I know are going through the same thing.
1.30 PM: Planning for the rest of the lessons I am teaching. I like to get a couple of days ahead.
3.00 PM – 3.20 PM: Tutor Time. I love getting to know the students at tutor time. Today we are doing the weekly quiz where they compete against each other and learn some general knowledge of the world!
3.30 PM – 4.00 PM: Today we have a team meeting about GCSE. I am supporting a Year 11 group so this is really informative and will help me in planning my resources. My day usually ends at about 4.30 PM, I stay later if I can to plan for the next few days, as I feel more focused at school more than I do at home but most colleagues have left by now.