Learning to Teach

Yay!

Finally done!

I think I can officially tick everything off the list and hand in my year 2 DTLLS folder tomorrow! So happy it's all done though I don't quite believe it yet. Until Lesley my tutor takes it off my hands at my tutorial tomorrow and I can leave college knowing it's all done, I don't think I can fully call it a day yet. 

I don't think I know quite what to say yet about the whole course. We have a celebration evening in July at which we all need to give a short presentation about the high points and challenges of taking part in the course.

I think my overwhelming feeling at the moment is pride in myself! I think having studied for two years and taught a class independently for this last year, alongside having a demanding, full time job (!), I'm really proud that I've managed the workload and done well and also enjoyed it along the way!

I am relieved that next year I can just concentrate on teaching my class and not have to write assignments, reflections, prepare for observations, keep writing lists of things to do or check my portfolio is up to date. I'll also have more free time as I won't need to use holidays to spend time in class. So, overall, I'm looking forward to a simpler year ahead next time around.

I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching this year. Despite their challenges, my class have been fantastic and I've so proud of them and the steps and achievements they've made for themselves. Getting a qualification in English for some learners actually does help them move on in life in a very practical way, some are now employed or have a clear sense of what they want to go next to progress. Others just enjoy being with supportive people, having a group to offload to first thing on a Monday morning and making smaller steps in their English skills. I hope to see some familiar faces when we come to re-enrolement and initial assessment in September.

So nearly there now! Only just getting round to posting on the blog as until a few weeks ago, I was getting to the end of my tether with the studying and teaching. The mammoth Action Research project, the then additional essay on evaluation, the prep for my third observation as well as planning and running my class… oh yeah… and having a full time job (!) was starting to get to me a little. I just had no weekend for about a month and it felt like I had to be doing something with my time towards my teaching all, the, time! 

However, I've now had a few weeks of distance and some positive feedback on the work I submitted and I'm in a better frame of mind to reflect with some perspective! I was really pleased to get a 'first' on my AR project which I'm really proud of. All the time spent on drafting, making graphs and referencing really paid off! Just really glad to get that one out of the way as it's definitely the most significant piece of work we have to do in this second year of DTLLS.

I've also had 3 weeks off from teaching (bless the Easter break and my class falling on a Monday morning) which is a very welcome! We've had a venue change for my class as the centre I teach at is being renovated. So we're now at a junior school about 10 minutes walk from the original site which causes some disruption with learners arriving at different times. As we're also at a junior school, everything is mini! Smaller chairs, tables, and a board that I have to sit next to write on! So it's changing how I plan sessions and the activities we can run. Makes me very grateful for the well equipped space in the children's centre and the flexibility it gives me.

So we're into the final term next week and it's all about the build up to the writing exam! Most of my learners passed their reading at the end of the spring term so the writing is the final piece of the puzzle for them to pass their level! I really am getting nervous for them as I really hope they are successful and can see their progress and have confidence to approach their final exams. We're going to do some intensive writing skills sessions during the early weeks of the summer term and then we'll be quite quickly into the exam dates. This is to try and give enough time for a re-sit if they need them. 

In terms of my own course, I have a final taught week in mid-May which should tie up some of the final assessments. I have to have one final observation and a few more hours to go till I reach the overall total of 150 teaching hours. Then I want to have everything handed in by early July then I'll be free! Free for the summer holiday!

My action research project is due in 2 weeks and I've done… nothing!

Well it's been 6 weeks since my last post and a jam-packed 6 weeks it has been.

Thankfully, the promise that DTLLS year 2 would be less demanding academically is true, it's all focussed on teaching practice. Either it is less demanding or I'm simply blocking out all the work I have to do! (could be that...) 

The main piece of work is our Action Research project which was the main focus of the last block week in September. I had no time to write a de-brief of that week as after our block week, teaching started, and as I have my own class this year as a paid tutor, my every spare minute has since been spent on planning, marking and making sure I'm doing all the paperwork correctly!

So back to block week 1. It was great to have a full week to dedicate to learning and covering all the action research topics within a few days helped to cement what's required for that element. Initially it was challenging to think of what to research as I wanted to choose something relevant to my classes and try and tackle something that does cause confusion, stress, or doesn't quite fit easily into my current practice. That, and choose something relatively simple to conduct in amongst teaching my group!

So I have decided to tackle ILPs which are the individual learning plans that each learner (and tutor) should complete to keep track of their goals, progress, thoughts and feelings on the course. Currently they are quite a tokenistic document, often completed in a rush at the end of a session resulting in brief, superficial comments that lack depth and links to what has been studied. 

Next week I have my assessed, professional discussion with Michele to outline my plan for the intervention. I am pleased with my plan so far, though it needs tightening and relevant theory adding. I do need to be careful that I make the intervention small-scale and not try and revolutionise the ILP which would need lots and lots of thought. Will most likely find a balance between the number of versions that currently exist.

Then it's on with the teaching! I've taken a bit of a risk this term and have employed a 'project' approach with my learners who are going to organise a charity cake sale. The idea with this is that rather than teaching different topics week by week, the learners will cover a variety of curriculum areas 'subtly' and engage the learners' enthusiasm!

So far this is working really well and I'm so proud (and thankful) to my learners for getting on board and really being creative with the idea. In the last class before half term we used a discussion about which charity to fundraise for as an assessed informal/unfamiliar discussion. It was brilliant! After feedback from my first observation  of the year (grade 2 - happy with that) I said nothing and just let them get on with it, only noting down reminders for when I'm writing up the reports. The learners were fantastic, sharing ideas, encouraging one another, higher level learners directing others to conduct research within the discussion and making a decision independently that they're all happy with. So, so proud of them!

Moments like that are making all the thinking, planning, making resources, planning, researching, planning, painstakingly completing schemes, sessions plans, tracker documents, my course file, planning, marking work and compiling useful feedback worth it though. The first year of teaching is tough but I am getting used to it now and relaxing about the amount of detail I need to go into and giving myself a break that everything needs to be perfect all the time (it doesn't, you can just be honest with learners and it's fine).

So this is officially my last blog post of the first year of DTLLS.

Despite the hard work (and I'm still finishing tiny bits and pieces off!), I have loved my first year of teaching. I feel so much more confident in my subject area and even though I still have lots of learn about teaching English, I'm looking forward to the second year.

Some exciting news is that my interview for the role of part-time tutor was successful so next year I could even be being paid to deliver sessions which will not only support the financial aspect of taking on the course, will also mean I can teach independently. Joan's support this year has been fantastic and I'm so grateful for being placed with such an experienced, calm and caring tutor - I have learnt a great deal from her and will miss being able to check out, 'Is that right Joan?' (particularly on apostrophes...)

As I type, there's a discussion on the radio about the length of the Summer holiday, debating whether it should be shorter. At the moment I definitely need a 6 week break! All our learners have achieved something this year whether it's a unit or a full Functional Skill in English. Next week are our final Level 2 exams for the last couple of learners then I'm done for the year! I've also been supporting some Family Learning classes where we're doing phonics (which I knew nothing about before having a look at some research!), so another week of that and initial assessment next week to hopefully develop the group into a Functional Skills class next year. 

Some of the main things I've learnt this year:

To make sure activities are SMART (particularly assessable) and actually useful rather than just fun! Though I do still love playing Countdown...

To embed individual goals into the session and use knowledge of learners to make sessions relevant and interesting

Not to assume learners already know the basics! Always refresh simple ideas

Set expectations and code of conduct as it'll help later down the line, when learners attempt to take phone calls in class!

Make use of current affairs, local interest topics or pop culture to provoke discussion and inspire written tasks

Vary methods, visual and activities that involve physical movement have worked well recently

Often learners need more guidance that I think they do

Next year I'm looking forward to our research project and am starting to think of ideas that I might work on... If I'm very conscientious I might blog about ideas over the Summer, but to be honest, I doubt it! I might just get round to organising my resources so I don't spent hours laminating and guillotining next year.

Till then, let's hope for some sunshine!

So we're definitely in the home straight now... I'm aiming for my final tutorial on July 3rd to hand in everything for Year 1!

Still got quite a bit to do before then including 2 pretty major assignments but it's all in hand :) At this stage it's lots of bits and pieces to do like signing off all my contact and self-directed hours and making sure all my tutorials are minuted in my personal development journal (aka the really dull bits I've been avoiding for months).

One thing that made me think on our final input day on Saturday was the feedback I got from my DTLLS tutor regarding my lost observation. I think up to now observations have gone unusually well and I've had really positive feedback with minor tweaks suggested for development. However, this particular time, a learner had been repeatedly using her mobile during the session which I hadn't noticed or challenged. I discussed this with Joan after the session and then again with Lesley in tutorial and though I genuinely didn't realise at the time (though I should have!) it did bring up some interesting thinking. 

Lesley said that in my 2nd year she really wants to see me be more independent and 'own' the class more. Which made me think about whether if Joan wasn't in sessions, would I behave differently and manage the class in more of my own way? I did think that perhaps I am accepting a lot of how things have been for that class for some time, even down to the arrangement of the tables, the playing of the same spelling game... hmm... I had said with regard to the phone incident that if I had control of the session from the start of their coming together as a group, I would have probably started the course by facilitating the setting of ground rules which I could have then referred to and actively challenged...

While Joan's support and knowledge has been massively important to my successful completion of my first year of teaching, I would enjoy the opportunity to be more independent in year 2.

I also have an interview for the role of part-time tutor on Friday which I am preparing for throughout the week. If I'm successful in teaching in a paid capacity, this would automatically mean I wouldn't need a LAL tutor in session with me for insurance purposes and I'd be on my own! Eek!