tes – A Teacher in the making

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted here. Not only in regards to my own journey to becoming a trainee teacher, but in regards to life in general. Covid-19 happened / is still happening, a global pandemic that has probably changed life for everyone and we have been reminded, again, of the awful injustice that is still happening today around the world. At the moment, our concentration is on demolishing racism from this world. The Black Lives Matter movement is one that I will always support and will stand up and shout about. Racism is still very present in our society (even if many people may claim it’s only in America) we know it isn’t.

The importance of this movement reminds me of part of why I want to teach. I want to help instil knowledge and interest in children. I am going to be working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds and I can’t wait to help make education a fairer place for all. Part of the knowledge and information I will teach is how to treat everybody fairly, regardless of where they come from, their skin colour and more.

I was brought up in a foster family and was given a unique upbringing where I was an only child with over 120 siblings. This upbringing, and my parents in general, taught me to treat people fairly, to never judge a book by it’s cover, and to invest time in people and learn about their history, their lives and their goals. If I can help a group of children be open-minded, kind and treat people equally, then I will have mastered one part of teaching.

Alongside everything that is going on in the world, I have been completing a Primary Mathematics SKE with TES. This SKE has helped me develop my understanding of Primary Mathematics and the pedagogical skills I will need to successfully deliver this subject to my pupils. It was very helpful as: I was given a wealth of resources which will be used in school; developed on my own curriculum knowledge and began to develop specific pedagogies relating to this subject. All of the information and skills learned during the SKE will be applied to my teaching in September.

I am reminded about how important reflection is in life. I have always been a big advocate for reflection as I have had to do a lot of it throughout my degree’s. This is a skill that relates very well to teaching as it is very important for me to be able to critically look at my practice, research, skills and development as I progress through my programme and teaching career. Being able to be critical of yourself and not only see negatives, but see positives and learn from these will be key to my development as a successful teacher. The Mcber Report goes through this in depth and it a resource I will refer to in the future.

I am coming to the end of my current job; I leave on the 17th June 2020, just in time for the beginning of my Teach First summer institute programme. I am very excited and slightly nervous to start summer institute and ready start my journey to becoming a Teacher!

That’s all for now, but I imagine I will be posting much more in coming weeks as I fully immerse myself in the world of teaching. Stay tuned.

Hope you are keeping safe and happy in this very weird time.

– R

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

Tag: tes

Another Update

Tips for jumping between year groups in primary.