#youngteachers

when i was in the sixth grade i had migrated back to my hometown of Toronto after living in Delhi for half a decade. i was new to the school and i had a really hard time fitting in - having moved from a very academically oriented private school to a very liberal, think creatively public school was a huge transition. However, at the end of the school year my sixth grade teacher, Ms. Kumar, she made us all write notes to everyone in the class. literally, attendance sheets in front of us and i wrote to everyone. i still have all the notes that were written to me. that one, Ms. Kumar wrote to me - it meant the world to me then and it means the world to me now.

i have since grown up to become a teacher myself and as a young educator, i now realize the power of the words. I never thought i was “bubbly” at that age — I didn’t look like my peers. my goals in life were to go to mall and get the clothes everyone else was wearing. i didn’t think i added much to anything really. i used to just do my tests and try to fit in. i tried so hard, it was so crummy. but, this story isn’t so sad — i figured it out and these are just stories of once upon a time.

Our kids like games and hate speaking English early in the morning. And in that case, a good warming-up activity is a key thing of a successful lesson.

One our students is really into searching, exploring and solving, he likes puzzles and riddles. He is a bit lazy and he doesn’t seem to like language classes at all (especially when I make him speak).

Once I decided to give him somewhat like an “easy treatment”. We didn’t start our lesson with twisters or any other speaking activity, instead, we gave the boy a word search. He was so excited! He started looking for the words, he was eager to find them and afterward he read them happily without mistakes.

So, thanks to one of our professors, we discovered the world of “busyteaching”, where you can make your own word search or a scramble, exchange worksheets with other teachers and discuss your work with colleagues from all over the world.

Here are some of our “masterpieces”:

Last year, I did a post about my PGCE year and I think it’s about time I made a similar post with my thoughts and feelings, along with some advice and tips, after finishing my NQT/ first year of teaching. Yikes.

1. The first lesson

Don’t worry about the curriculum, you need to spend the first few lessons setting rules, giving out books and doing fun activities which involve you and the class interacting. You want to get to know your class and vice versa. I started lessons with games like two truths and a lie, I would initiate this with a class with something like:

1. I’m a black belt in freestyle fighting.

2. I used to be a hair stylist for celebrities.

3. I’m a semi-pro skateboarder.

The kids would have to work together to guess the lie and I’d go around the class making noises and facial expressions to give them a hint. Then the kids get to come up and have a go.

I’d lead onto something where the class are split into teams and use this to see their competitive side and also have a look for the leaders, introverts, bullies, lazy kids etc… This might be something like a quiz, maybe about the school?

Example:

Q1: Which teacher has worked here the longest?

(Not only will you get to know the school but the kids are given questions that they can really have a good go at, no need to sit there going “OMG HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW THAT!” they should all be able to have a good crack at it.)

Don’t forget, you’ve got to fit the classroom rules in their somewhere. I get the kids to come up with the rules, we write them on the board, after some consideration and discussion, then all the kids write them in their books and sign it. The next time I mark their books I sign it too. (I normally do this at the start when they get their books but you could do this at the end too).

And when you’ve done all that, it’s normally the end of your first lesson! Woo, go you!

2. Over planning lessons

I over planned the shit out of my lessons. I always thought kids would finish activities way before they did and ended up having to finish a lesson halfway through the main activity. I think this is really about getting to know your class, who are the kids who finish work fast, but not always correctly, and those who take time to make sure everything is perfect but take a good hour. This takes time- I suggest spending your first few lessons really getting to know your class.

Maybe do lessons that don’t involve too much writing? Just one main task that will take them a good 20-30 mins (designing a front cover for a book they’re going to start reading etc…) this will also give you ideas about the kids. The ones who go “Can we do this in pairs?” tend to be (not always though) the lazy kids, but this long activity will let you see each kid’s style, the messy but innovative, the shy but hard worker, the loud but neat etc… then  you could always make it a competition with sweets for the best one (kids frikken love competition, I had Year 11s, 15-16 year olds, crying over lollies when they didn’t get 10/10 on spellings, seriously) and then you’ll see their true colours…

3. Your department and staff members

This is the biggy, are you gonna get along with your HoD, will the other teachers like you or will they think you’re just a kid trying to stamp on their toes? I was lucky to have one of the best teams I could wish for, we’re a small team of 6 English teachers (one is a SENCO and one is SLT so kinda more like 4) but we all get along and support each other. I have some of the best laughs with my team and I can honestly say that’s really, REALLY, important. If you don’t get along with your department, go to the others! I was paired with a History teacher as my mentor and unfortunately, we didn’t really get along (he’s gone now so no biggy!). Your school should supply you with a ‘buddy’ or ‘mentor’ who is outside your department and is there for moral support. Mine sucked. BUT my team was great. So, please, don’t be worried if you don’t get along with your department or mentor because, as the baby of the school, there will ALWAYS be someone who wants to help you.

Teaching staff. Now, some of you will be like me. I’m 23 but I look about 16. It’s kinda hard to get other members of staff to talk to you like an adult when they’re so used to teaching kids who look the same age as you. DO NOT BE DETERRED. This is actually one of the best things I have going for me. ‘I’m so young and innocent with no outside knowledge of the world please help me oh mighty senior teachers’. Everyone LOVES being asked for advice, makes them feel good, respected, it boosts their ego- so play that game. Be so polite and lovable that people WANT to help you, all the goddam time. I mean it. I get sent resources all the time, it’s great!

Also, get to know the non- teaching staff, you want your TAs on your side, the cleaners, dinner ladies, caretakers (the amount of time I’ve left my car parked on the goddman car park when the gates are locked- you need those types of friends). They will 90% be the nicest people you’ve ever met (except one cleaner who never EVER smiles at me) and they will seriously help you when you need it.

4. Parents’ evenings

I said it. The dreaded evening for NQTs, especially when you look like you couldn’t get into an R rated film. So now you’ve convinced your kids you’re an actual teacher who knows what the’re doing it’s time to convince the parents.

I was lucky that I work and live in the same area, I already know some of the kids’ parents from previous jobs, family, the pub etc… so they’re always fun, the kids hate it because you’re interacting with their parents like an actual human being but their the parents you know will have your back when their kids calls you a ‘bitch’ or something along those lines… Now, I’m lucky that I haven’t had a terrible experience with a parent yet. I say this because I know what classes I have next year and I’m sure my luck will change... but as long as you act like a confident, organised, well-respected teacher that is how you come across. I had all my data printed out, all my kids with a picture of their faces on the desk, I jotted little notes down next to each kid to remind me of things like “awful with homework but great in lesson”, “talks over others but has great ideas”, “hasn’t got the best spelling but has excellent vocabulary”... there’s nothing worse than sitting there and being like “Well, er… he’s super neat.” have something written down.

If I really like a kid I’ll start by saying “Can I just say how much I enjoy having *name* in the class.” straight away, the parents are on your side, they’re already thinking ‘this is gonna be a good one’.

When you get to the naughty kids, try to still be as positive as possible “Now, there was the incident the other day where *name* was talking and I asked him three time to be quite and unfortunately I had to give him a ‘Call Out’ (after school detention); however, since then *name* has behaved better”. If they’re really badly behaved I’ll ask the kid questions in front of their parents like “Do you think what you did the other day was wrong?” the parents sit there, staring at their child like an vulture waiting for something to die- until they answer.

Try to finish with something positive and say “If you ever need to contact me, this is my email address.” I’ve only ever been contacted by a parent once by email but it nice for them to think they can contact you if they need to.

5. Have a life!

This year might not be as draining as your PGCE, or it might be worse, either way I can 100% say that I really enjoyed my first year of teaching, much more than my PGCE and having a life really does help to make your year better. Go out with teacher friends, go out with your other friends, go out with your parents etc... Please make time for yourself. You will, no doubt, become absorbed with work, with the kids, everything that comes with the job. You will have dreams about classes, nightmares about it, but PLEASE make time for ‘Netflix and chill’ or W/E you wanna do!