Now, as stated in my about, I am completely inexperienced in teaching. I have yet to begin my training and will not be fully immersed into a classroom until next September (after an intense summer training programme with Teach First.) This does not mean I do not read important articles and try my best to keep up to date with new teaching ideas.
I have a subscription to TES and find it a very interesting read. I do not read every article in every issue – I try to pinpoint articles that are mostly relevant to my career and issues that surround education in general.
A particularly interesting article I read recently was titled “Primary: 4 tips for teachers jumping between years” and can be found here.
In this article, an experienced teacher discusses how difficult it can be to jump between years in primary school. She highlights how important it is to do your revision in preparation for the year change. She talks about how you should ask for help from the right people – including asking your SLT for support. (I honestly am still not clear on what the acronym SLT stands for in this context – I assume it stands for ‘School Leadership Team’ as she then goes on to discuss training courses you could take outside of work.
The article highlighted some interesting tips that I am sure I will need when teaching in a primary school. It also highlighted my lack of understanding of teaching acronyms (of which I know there are many!) but, more importantly, it reassured me – the author ‘Lucy Moss’ is an experienced teacher and even she realises she needs to revise subjects, she needs to re-familiarise herself with different year group’s expectations and she isn’t afraid to ask for help when it is needed. This is something I needed to hear – going into a career with an overwhelming amount of gaps of knowledge and understanding can scary. Knowing that even experienced teachers need help and still revise is very reassuring.
So if, like me, you are doubting yourself, just remember that even the most experienced people in your field need a helping hand at times.
Catch you next time.
– R
A Teacher in the making 