As Teach First 2020 Summer Institute is just around the corner (we start on Monday) I have been spending a lot of my ‘spare’ time (when I say spare time, I mean time outside of my full-time job – luckily I finished this job on Wednesday) over the past couple of weeks preparing.
Unsurprisingly we were given a reading list to familiarise ourselves with prior to beginning the five week summer course. I am not the best at distinguishing between whether a reading list is something we need to just be somewhat comfortable with, or whether we’re expected to have read it all. I always opt for the latter – better to be over-prepared than under-prepared in my opinion.
The reading list included six fantastic texts, which I have found myself fully engaged in! Me and my partner have been getting into a better routine (up at 6-6:30am) and the first couple of hours of my day have been spent listening to instrumental jazz (my favourite music for concentration) and spending time engaging in and enjoying the reading list.
Teach Like a Champion (TLaC) is one of the texts on the reading list, and something I have thoroughly enjoyed reading (and watching). It has been challenging to imagine myself doing some of the techniques mentioned in the book, as I have no experience in schools – the addition of videos makes it so much easier to do this. While this book was written and is mainly based off of American schools, I can see how many of the techniques can be used in schools here, to help engage pupils and create a fantastic, supportive and safe working environment for pupils of all ages.
I will be teaching primary, lower KS2 and I am incredibly excited and interested to see how I implement these techniques in my classroom from day one. Before even starting my Summer Institute course, I already know some of my favourite techniques in the book. ‘Threshold’, ‘Cold Call’ and ‘Plan for Error’ are three of the many techniques that stand out to me. I can see myself creating my classroom culture from day one and implementing these techniques in one way or another.
Today I watched the Chartered College recent Webinar with Doug Lemov where he talks about the importance of “Building a Thriving Classroom Culture” and draws upon some of his favourite techniques from the book. During the webinar, he narrates videos of some of the techniques being used in schools. The addition of the narration really helped give context to these techniques and as an inexperienced future trainee teacher, this is very helpful. View the webinar here. (You’ll need an account, for student teachers it’s free!)
Other papers we have been asked to familiarise ourselves with look at research based approaches that look at the science and psychology behind how people learn and they were truly fascinating! As a person who feels her memory of childhood/early adulthood is lacking, I was interested to learn about our ‘working memory’ and our ‘long-term memory’ and how a lot of what we do is just information from our long-term memory. I find myself interested in finding ways to tap into this more to help influence my teaching. I also found that, when reading these articles alongside TLaC, I was able to find some of the scientific research that backs up the techniques in the book. As teachers, we need to use research based approaches (whether this research is field based, like TLaC, or scientific based) we cannot be expected to teach successfully and create the best environment for learning without using these research based approaches.
I love getting stuck in to research, it was always one of my strong points when studying my BA and MA in Photography. Learning the theories, techniques and reasoning behind photography and Artist’s work was something that fascinated me. (This could be because I am a inquisitive person, but I’d like to think being inquisitive is merely just showing interest in other people.) I’m extremely excited to start to develop a more critical understanding of the research I have done around teaching, and I can not wait to engage in more. (Goodness knows there is a lot of research on teaching out there). I need to be sure to find the right research and not be overwhelmed by the masses that are out there. Another technique I put down to my previous degrees’ is my understanding of the importance of being very specific with the research you carry out. Don’t just search generic terms, be specific, and use the experts you already have access to (be it tutors, mentors or colleagues) because they already know and practice a lot of the theories and techniques you need to learn – use them to your advantage! I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
It’s crazy to think that my official journey as a trainee teacher begins in less than two days. It feels like a very long-time coming, and I feel terrified, excited, thrilled and privileged to be given this opportunity to help give education a brighter future in the UK. I’m excited to start my career as a teacher, one I hope to stick with for the foreseeable future.
Bring on Teach First Summer Institute 2020. While it may be virtual, I’m sure it will be just as challenging, enthralling and fascinating as it normally is.
I’ll check in again soon, take care.
R
A Teacher in the making 