What to Do Next Year?

What to do next year?

15th October, 2016

As he nears the end of his university degree, Alex considers the future and some options for next year

As I and many of my university colleagues come to the end of our four year teaching degree, decisions about next year loom. What to do? It seems almost a ridiculous question to some people you ask, as they promptly answer, “Uh... teach? What else would I do?” However, others you talk to are looking to some other options; unsurprisingly after four years of study many are thinking of travel, while some people just aren’t ready to begin full time work. Although I’m in the “I must teach!” category, looking into next year started me wondering – what are the options? Let’s explore some.

Teach full-time

After pondering on it for a while I can say with great certainty that I am ready to teach – and that is my hope for next year! There are a number of benefits I can see, the first being the idea of having my own classroom. As we have progressed through each placement I have felt my teaching ability develop and there is the push to get out there next year and see what I’m made of! Also, having a salary would be nice – as many pre-service teachers will agree, working part-time and studying as well often leaves you tired and lacking in money. However, there are some challenges ahead. Working five days a week will no doubt leave me an exhausted husk of a human being for the first few months. And as we all know, teaching is no easy job; there’s planning, staff meetings, school activities and general day-to-day lessons! I completely understand that some people might need some time to themselves before they start something as intense as teaching. So what other options are there?

Work as a casual relief teacher

One clear alternative is casual relief teaching and it has a number of benefits. Firstly, no planning – you show up on the day and take the class! Casual relief teaching also pays well – it’s better than working full-time in a cafe and you get the chance to develop your teaching skills. It’s also the perfect way to set yourself up for a full-time job; you’re in the school working, you know the staff and they know you. However, casual relief teaching can be stressful, there will be hard classes where you haven’t had the chance to build a relationship with the students and the teacher might not have left a plan for the day! Also, the work isn’t assured – you might end up not working as often as you would like. Relief teaching may appeal to some, but not to others. So, are there any other options? Here are a few you may want to consider...

Take some time off. You’ve worked hard. Most university students study full-time and work as well – you deserve a break! Finishing study is the perfect time to earn some money over the summer holidays and take off to somewhere exotic.

Look into teaching overseas. I’ve got two close friends who are both teachers and taking off next year to England to teach! There are numerous overseas options and England is definitely a popular one – there are various teaching agencies that will set you up with work and help you get over there.

Work as an integration aide. This is an extremely rewarding job and will no doubt help you develop your teaching skills, without the stresses of being a full-time teacher.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are a number of options for next year, don’t get stuck thinking you HAVE to be a full-time teacher! Four years of study is a long time, don’t be afraid to take a break or make a change – whatever you do, just be glad you’re finishing your degree! The wide world awaits!

- Alex

Induction - The Transition from PST to Teacher

 

Induction - The Transition from PST to Teacher

23rd September, 2016  

Teacher induction: What is it? Why is it important? Will reflects on the fast approaching reality of becoming an actual classroom teacher.  

My time as a pre-service teacher is nearing the end as my peers and I prepare to finish university and take the plunge as 'in-service teachers'. Many are counting down the days to finish their studies and complete the formal 'learning and training' to get a piece of paper that claims they can teach. For me it is really just the beginning. All too often I hear graduates and long-term teachers reflect on the amount they learnt, changed and developed in just their 1st year teaching after university. As excited as I am, there are natural anxieties that come with joining the profession and 'bridging the gap' - our first ever blog post written by Alex.

Luckily, this thought is well known and shared by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). In their Guidelines for Teacher Induction, they highlight the importance of effective teacher induction and what this should look like. Below is their summary video:

Three key points I took from the induction information from AITSL:

1. You are not alone. The school you end up working at is your first and most valuable source of support. Through a (no doubt lengthy) application process, they have chosen to invest in you as a graduate teacher because they believe you have something to offer their school community. Establishing a positive relationship with a mentor to engage in regular discussions, observations, feedback and modelling is an important step in the induction process.
2. AITSL discuss that opportunities to learn, practice and refine teaching make up the journey from Graduate to Proficient career stage. I see these as integral but also consider them as continual cycle. This cycle of learning, practicing and refining is what we love doing on placement and will continue to do in our first year of teaching; ultimately it is something teachers do at every stage of their career.
3. Finally, it is stated but no doubt obvious that high quality induction reduces the likelihood of teacher attrition rates - that is, teachers leaving the profession. Another AITSL document on this topic is very interesting and I encourage PSTs and teachers to read it. I see benefits of simply being aware of some of the reasons people leave the profession. I hope that those that find themselves considering such a decision can spot negativity early and reflect on the positive impact they are having and the true joys teaching brings each day. 

- Will

Collaborative Online Planning

Collaborative Online planning

28th July, 2016

Alex shares some of his recent experiences in online shared planning

At my current placement each year level works together to collaboratively plan what they are going to teach for the term, from that they decide what to do each week. This is the usual method of schools in regards to planning and has a number of benefits; cohesion across the year level classrooms, discussion of ideas, and support for beginning teachers. However, many schools are also adopting the use of online methods to share their planning with each other. My placement school currently uses Google Drive, Google Docs and Dropbox to allow its teachers to share resources and collaborate on their planning. It works wonderfully; here are a few reasons why.

Everyone can contribute during planning. Gone are the days of one teacher hunched over a computer acting as the scribe, typing into a closed document while several other people squabble about ideas. With Google Docs everyone can be writing in the same document at the same time. It seems like a small thing but it balances out the power of group dynamics and allows people to quickly brainstorm ideas.

Resources are always shared. One of the main problems with sharing resources is finding the time to actually give them to other people; you need to scan them, send them and sometimes teachers feel they just don’t have time to do that. With Dropbox, you store your resources in one communal online location, which means that people can share resources quickly and ultimately it lightens the burden for everyone.

There’s cohesion as everyone can see what’s coming. My placement creates term planners which are available to be viewed and edited in Google Drive. This has been fantastic for me, and the other teachers, as we can all see what is coming up in the next few weeks and anyone can add in more information as we progress. It means that everyone is clear about what is happening and people have the freedom to plan ahead.

Although many schools have already taken to using some form of online planning tool, it is clear that not all of the teaching community has made the transition. I would recommend getting familiarised with the available online sharing platforms, as they provide numerous benefits when planning and will be of great help when you start teaching!

- Alex

Two's Company

Two’s Company

14th July, 2016

Alex talks about his first experience of team teaching at placement and some of its positive aspects

Coming up to this placement I had never been in a team teaching situation before and was feeling a little apprehensive about my first experience. However, I’m now two weeks in and I can say that team teaching, when done well, can be an absolute delight! I think it’s also of benefit to students too. In the school I’m at team teaching takes place in all year levels, except foundation and year 6. Grades are paired up into open plan learning pods which basically mesh two classes together. In my pod there are two main spaces; one is utilised for direct instruction and is where the projector is, the other is designed for working space and contains all the tables.

Students in the two classes do everything together, apart from specialist lessons such as PE and arts. It was a bit of a shock on my first day to watch a teacher leading a class of around 45 students, as I was accustomed to working with around 25 students. However, as my first week went on I noticed a few distinct positive aspects which work for both teachers and students.

Team teaching provides freedom. It only takes one teacher to lead the introduction or direct instruction part of a lesson – so when you team teach it provides a great opportunity for one teacher to be free to conference with students, organise other sessions and generally be available to observe what’s going on.

Two brains are better than one. This may seem like a corny cliché, but it truly helps out to have someone with you when you’re brainstorming ideas, planning, and implementing new concepts. A situation where two teachers have different ideas, but can work together, means a constant flurry of creative spark.

More support for everyone. In my view the most positive aspect of team teaching is the support network both the teachers and students have. There is always someone else there to help you through and another person the kids can turn to when they need assistance.

While I acknowledge that the basis of team teaching relies on you getting on with your partner, I must say that when it’s working well, it truly works. Team teaching is becoming more and more prevalent in our schools today and I hope it continues this way!

- Alex  

Placement Reflection

Placement Reflection

7th July, 2016

Aaron looks back on the first week of the last placement round for his final year

Placement, the time where we finally get to put all the hours of reading, listening, writing and falling asleep in front of the computer late at night to good use! I’m always pretty excited about placement; I think after spending a long time working with children, this is actually the part of studying education that makes the most sense to me now. I feel confident when I walk into a room of total strangers, all of which are much smaller than me, and can at times be a challenge to manage. I think this challenge is rapidly becoming one that I enjoy the task of completing. This first week out was a great way to get to know the students, and as much as I’d prefer this all to be done in one go, I’m starting to understand why the final placement has been laid out in 3 sections – it’s easing me into it quite well.

As with my previous round, I have been placed in a Prep classroom and once again appear to be pretty fortunate with a class that has a very loved and respected classroom teacher. I spent the week observing as much as I could to take in all the intricacies of how the teacher runs her lessons and manages behaviours and routines in the classroom, as to not cause too much of a stir when I take control, and I think this week was a good chance to see it all. Final week of term can always be a bit hectic, and seeing Prep students at that stage in the year attempting to cope with disruption and change to their learning is quite eye opening. In the last round, we had students at the end of the year, excited and eager to move on, this time we are seeing them smack in the middle, and their resilience is really tested at this point and it shows that at this stage in their learning you really are teaching them a lot more than just numeracy and literacy – you’re preparing them to deal with the unexpected and the unknown, something they likely have had little experience with at this stage.

Similarly to last time as well, I have been placed in a classroom that does a lot of team teaching, and with another PST – this will be a good way for us to support one another and I think will work to both of our benefits having someone their to assist and pick up some slack where needed. I’m looking forward to getting into running some lessons and planning classes with the team when we return from the break next week, I’m feeling pretty antsy at this point, like I’m sure a lot of other final year students are, as we’re so close to the finish, and so close to getting paid for our time – which at this point is getting pretty necessary! I think all lessons you learn in life are important, and the task of completing a degree at University has been a lesson I have been learning for a while now – I’m ready to use the fruits of this labor to start planting seeds and starting down a path that I haven’t been fully expecting, much like the Preps before the holiday break! 

- Aaron Osborne

Observation Weeks

Observation Weeks

30th June, 2016

Matt discusses the value of observation time on placement and how to make the most of it.

With placement looming on the horizon for both myself and other education students all over, it is time to begin discussing it. Placement is many things to many people; to me, it is what I participate in university for, and a true test of my ability as a teacher. However, a feature of placement that will not change from year to year is the one known as the observation round/week. This is a week where teaching lessons is not the focus; instead we are to observe the processes, procedures and behaviours of the teachers we accompany. This time, especially for those students who have already taught in previous placements, may seem like a free week or a wasted one, but it provides the opportunity to promote success later in that or other placements. The following are a few short tips about getting the best out of your observation week or round. 

• Get to know the students: when you begin teaching a class, it is easy to become wrapped in making sure that the lesson works without a hitch. In such cases, it can be difficult to find the mental space and focus to really get to know the students you are teaching. Observations weeks are a great time for this. There is, generally, no obligation for you to organise or teach lessons, unless you want to, and as such more time can be devoted to this crucial area of teacher knowledge. Showing interest will help the students warm up to you, as well as providing information that will assist in your lesson planning and implementation. 

• Write down everything: some universities mandate that pre-service teachers take notes on classroom happenings as a placement-related assessment task. The fact that this is mandated can make it feel like a chore; however, it has been mandated for a reason. You have the time during an observation round to take notes about everything that you see and hear in the classroom, which will provide you with crucial information which teaching strategies and classroom management procedures are utilised in that classroom. It is also useful to revisit these notes and categorise them in the evening each day, to aide in recalling that information.

• Get to know the staff: as with learning about the students, learning about the staff (particularly your associate or supervising teacher) can only result in improving your placement performance. It will also help you to feel like part of the school community, which can be a significant factor in your overall emotional wellbeing during a placement, as anyone who has felt frozen out by staff can attest to.

• Have fun!: Now, I know that telling you to ‘have fun’, is one of the most cliché statements in the book regarding any assignment or task. However, when it comes to the observation round, it absolutely applies. Teaching lessons is fun, but it is also accompanied by some measure of stress. In the observation week or round, you are at liberty to really get involved with lessons in a way that will increase the enjoyment of both students and yourself. Put yourself out on a limb early and help wherever you can! 

These tips might be fairly basic, but I feel that they are important to revise before heading out on placement in order to get the most of the experience. For now, however, I must sign off, as myself have some placement tasks to do! Good luck to all!

- Matt

Image credit: University of Colorado 

Google Forms and Flubaroo

 Google Forms and Flubaroo 

22nd June, 2016

 

Will provides a short run through of one way to use Google Forms to quickly collect, mark and grade assessment data.

As a pre-service teacher, I am sure you have heard about or engaged with Google Forms before. They are becoming increasingly popular in the classroom and I have seen 4th and 5th grade students use them effectively. This post will share just one way to use Google Forms as a pre/post assessment tool that I have found extremely helpful.

I am not going to discuss how to actually make a Google Form test – this is self-explanatory and there are numerous tutorials already available. I enjoy the flexibility of the types of questions – short/long answer, multiple choice, checked boxes, drop down menu and more.

You want to make the first two questions of your test “What is your first name?” and “What is your surname?”. Once the test is created, you need to complete the test with the correct answers. You are now ready for students to complete the test. After they have finished, you want to click the Responses tab and the View Responses in Sheets button. 

Once in Sheets, you need to download the Add-on that will automatically mark the test for you. This is called Flubaroo and can be found under Add-ons > Get Add-ons. Once you have this installed, head to: Add-ons > Fulbaroo > Grade Assignment

Step 1: The first questions (What is your name/surname?) can be used to identify the student. Other options allow you to change the value of each question but the default is 1 point per answer. A new feature is manual grading for those questions that you need to read individually before marking. 

Step 2: You now chose a person’s response to grade all the other submissions from. This is where you select your response which will have the correct answers. Once you continue, Flubaroo will work its magic. It will produce a new sheet with some valuable data for analysis including:

• There is a nice little summary at the top. A good place to see how many students completed the test, the average score and summative grades can be recorded.

• Vertically you can see student names with their score and percentage. Flubaroo goes the extra step by highlighting in red any students who scored below 70%. This is excellent data to see the range of student abilities on the topic and help in forming focus groups.

• Horizontally every question is listed with the answers. Boxes are highlighted orange if they were poorly answered across the group. This can be used for key concepts to focus on in future lessons. For example, students may easily answer a multiplication question with 2-digit numbers but struggle with a question using a 3-digit number.

At the end of a unit, complete the same test and compare students’ before/after scores and clearly identify questions/concepts that they are still struggling with.

I encourage you to try out Google Forms and Flubaroo. This was just a short introduction to some powerful software that is valuable for assessment practices in the 21st century classroom.

- Will

Opposition Defiant Disorder – it DOES exist

Opposition Defiant Disorder – it DOES exist

15th June, 2016 

Nick discusses Opposition Defiant Disorder and expels some myths surrounding it, as well as providing a strategy to assist pre-service teachers in teaching a child diagnosed with ODD.

I was watching an investigatory news show a while back and there was an article on Opposition Defiant Disorder (ODD). By the end of the article my friends on social media were posting their opinions on how they believe ODD is not actually a disorder; rather it is just terrible parents raising rude and obnoxious children. These posts were very interesting to me as there were many misconceptions surrounding this relatively new diagnosis. I wanted to create this post to expel some of the common misconceptions that surround this particular disorder.

ODD is a child exhibiting ‘bad behaviour’, is quite often what people say to me when this topic comes up. One of the reasons why this cannot be the case is the fact it is NOT a one off behaviour. Symptoms of ODD are frequent and repetitive rather than a one off outbursts of anger. Children with ODD are seen to be constantly noncompliant and hostile towards others, especially adults. Children with ODD can also display violent and aggressive behaviour towards peers or adults.

As a future teacher what can I do to assist these children to make my classroom run smoothly?

In my opinion the most important thing you can do for a child with ODD is have clear and explicit expectations and consequences for particular actions. If these expectations are breached a consequence such as, being removed from the learning space to deescalate the behaviour is an effective way to calm the child down. After the teacher consistently removes the child from the space they will know when they have breached expectations and begin remove themselves without having to be asked. In doing this, it is teaching the child which behaviours are appropriate and inappropriate. It is also important to let the child choose when they are ready to rejoin the rest of the class without the teacher demanding them to come back. By allowing the child to choose when they want to rejoin the class it is teaching the child the skill of self-regulation, as well as teaching them to own their own behaviour.

A process like this can take time to establish and relies on the teacher being patient and being prepared to follow through EVERY time an unwanted behaviour is exhibited. It is also important to have a conversation with the child when they have calmed down and explain to them why they were asked to leave the space and why their behaviour was inappropriate. This is a further way of the children taking responsibility for their own behaviour.

Remember as graduate teachers you are not alone! There are always more experienced teachers willing to help you with students who may be demonstrating these types of behaviour or have been diagnosed with ODD. Another important idea to remember is to never take behaviour personally. It is documented that children feel and then act without self-regulating; this can be amplified in children with ODD. It is our responsibility as educators to teach our students the skill of self-regulation.

Another great way to assist those children is to liaise with their parents. Having consistent approaches to behaviour management between the home and school environment can have positive outcomes on a child’s social learning.

- Nick