Tag: thoughts

Tips for jumping between year groups in primary.

Posted on by rebekahkitchell

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

First steps.

Posted on by rebekahkitchell

After being offered an official place on the Teach First programme, I feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of preparation I feel necessary (I am sure that I will never feel fully ready to start teaching – like any new job, I believe you can never be too prepared).

It has been over a month since I was offered a place and I am starting to feel more prepared as I begin to tick things off my list. I must spend the next 7 months familiarising myself with the primary national curriculum and filling in any gaps I feel I have in this curriculum.

Whilst doing so, I find myself lacking confidence in many of the areas. This worried me at first and I kept asking myself “How are you meant to teach this when you don’t even know what a verb is!” I really have doubted myself, however I just need to remember that I haven’t ‘learned’ how to write, read or speak the English language since I was a primary school pupil. Of course there will be gaps in my knowledge – but the information is there, I just need to tap into it! (I find this to be true as I re-familiarise myself with verbs/nouns etc)

So if you are in a similar situation to me – do not overthink how much knowledge you feel you lack. Trust me when I say that it will come back to you – it might take some time but if you really are invested in this career path (as I am) you will find that time and you will enjoy that time.

I would advise you to invest in some CGP books for the specific area you may not feel confident in, use online resources such as bitesize (they have some fun quizzes to test your knowledge as you learn/remind yourself) and don’t feel ashamed to ask your friends and family if you can test things out on them. (I spend a lot of time on Skype with my Mother telling her all about how the Romans invaded Britain and I will continue to tell her all about any of the areas I familiarise myself with as I progress.)

I am a very visual learner. I enjoy creative outputs and find creating colourful worksheets helpful when trying to remember information. I have a sketchbook where I jot down information on specific subject areas. I have a subscription to TES and try to spend time reading interesting articles that apply to my future teaching career. I printed off the National Curriculum for myself as I like to highlight things and prefer reading things that are physically in front of me and not on a computer screen.

But that is just me. Find the best way for you and implement it. Do not feel embarrassed to not be familiar with specific areas of the Curriculum. I am 27 years old – I have been out of primary school for a long time. I studied art and photography at University at BA and MA level. I haven’t had to think about the history of England for a long time, I don’t spend my free time doing science experiments and I do not need to think about the specific type of word I use when writing a sentence. This is what I tell myself when I feel overwhelmed or doubt my ability to teach. I know I will be a great teacher – and I know it will require a lot of work.

Will it be worth it? I am absolutely sure it will be. I am excited, nervous and a little scared to continue on this journey and I hope this blog will help me with these feelings of nerves. Maybe I will also help others in this situation. I do not know where this blog will go (or whether it will go anywhere, it could just be a personal journal that only I read) but either way I am happy to publish my journey and thoughts online. (I am sure there will be a lot of cheesy endings to blog posts on here – that’s just the kind of person I am!)


Take care, I’ll see you next time.

– R