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

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  

The New Digital Technology Curriculum

The New Digital Technology Curriculum

11th May, 2016

Alex explores the new digital technology curriculum beginning in Victoria next year and some resources that may be of help

A curriculum is a dynamic and multifaceted concept that, while guiding the education profession, is prone to sway with the political agenda of the time. So it isn’t surprising that over my four year university degree I have explored three primary curriculums; AusVELS, the Australian Curriculum, and the soon to be introduced Victorian Curriculum. As of December 2016, the AusVELS website is to be archived (see the AusVELS homepage) and the Victorian Curriculum will become compulsory in government schools. A recently introduced aspect of the Victorian Curriculum, which is causing some concern, is the inclusion of digital technologies.

I have never completed a compulsory unit at university regarding the teaching of digital technologies, and I imagine many pre-service teachers would be in a similarly daunting situation. It also helps to bear in mind that many graduate and expert teachers will have little to no knowledge of what best practice teaching digital technologies looks like – putting pre-service teachers and qualified teachers on an unlikely level playing field. I thought this might be an opportune moment to explore the new digital technologies curriculum, unpack some its concepts, and suggest some resources and methods to go about teaching it.

What does the curriculum say?

The curriculum is split into three bands for primary education (F – 2, 3 – 4, 5 – 6) and there are three strands to the digital technology curriculum (VCAA, 2016);

Digital systems

“Focuses on the hardware, software and network components of digital systems”

Data and information

“Focuses on the properties of data, how they are collected and represented, and how they are interpreted in context to produce information”

Creating digital solutions

“Explores the interrelated processes and associated skills by which students create digital solutions”

A basic scan through the actual content of the curriculum reveals that the F – 2 band engages in mostly exploration of different digital concepts, hardware and ideas. As the curriculum progresses to the higher years, the content becomes more directed to action and the use of digital technologies to solve problems.

 How will I teach it?

After listening to various different talks regarding the teaching of digital technologies and how best to approach this challenging task, I thought it would be best to provide some resources that can be used to assist you in the process.

Little Bits

LittleBits are very simple programming blocks and digital tools that are designed to be used by children. They are colour coded and magnetically attach, allowing for independent exploration and play, without the need for constant supervision. The website offers packs for educators and overall I believe this resource could be used to explore the Digital Systems and Creating Digital Solutions strands.

Scratch

Scratch is a simple coding platform that many pre-service teachers would have heard of. It allows students to explore coding in a way that is accessible, while still providing the technology concepts needed. It will be useful in addressing all the digital technology standards.

VCAA

The Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority has this specific advice for curriculum page regarding digital technologies, which is fantastic. It has resources on assessment, progression, external resources and links to sites such as the Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV) – which offers free membership to PSTs! Definitely check this site out.

I hope I have been able to provide a basic overview to both pre-service and qualified teachers about what the digital technologies curriculum is asking and some resources for how to meet the task of teaching it. I truly believe that the digital curriculum is going to be a focus point in the future and, if we can get on top of it, a fundamental part of primary education.

-Alex 

Visit to a Montessori School

Visit to a Montessori School

13th April, 2016

Alex talks about his recent visit to a local Montessori school and some practices that caught his eye

I first heard about Montessori Schools at University when our tutor briefly mentioned a few types of alternative education. Ever since then I have been interested in understanding how a Montessori classroom works, and while there was plenty of information, I heard mixed reviews from people about their experiences. I decided to investigate by contacting a local Montessori School and asking to observe a few different classrooms over the course of a day. They were happy to oblige and now I’m taking the chance to pass on my experience in a younger years classroom.

What is a Montessori School?

This is only a brief overview – for more information check out the Montessori Australia website

Montessori refers to the philosophy created by Italian physician and psychologist, Dr. Maria Montessori. She opened her first “school” in 1907 and applied a particular method and outlook to teaching children. Since then Montessori Schools have begun to spring up all over the world and have been agreed, by research, to have various elements that lead to positive social, emotional and academic results for children. The Montessori philosophy suggests that children transition through four planes of development from birth to adulthood, and each plane has a natural development that education should take advantage of. The second plane, childhood, is the one that takes place at primary school when children are 6 – 12 years old. A well known element of Montessori classrooms is the use of a prepared environment, where pre-made activities are available to be independently worked through at the child’s pace. One more element to note is that the classrooms are organised into cycles, not years – they are composite classes. I observed a cycle two classroom (years 1, 2 and 3) and a cycle three classroom (years 4, 5 and 6).

Cycle 2 (Years 1 – 3) Classroom

The overview of cycle two is a focus on independence, order, concentration and coordination. The classroom I visited was beautiful, with child-sized wooden furniture, desks, shelves and chairs, as well as various artefacts such as posters, flowers, and even a little kitchen. The activities are all based in the shelves and this is perhaps the first aspect that can confuse –the teacher described it to me as the curriculum being on the shelves. Students have access to different challenges and curriculum areas to work on independently. The prepared activities are all said to be self-correcting; if you’re doing something wrong it will become evident without the teacher needing to tell you. The classroom environment was truly wonderful and the students also seemed to have a sense of independence as they were able to direct their own learning, rather than relying on the teacher.

While it was fantastic to observe the students going about their own learning, it is also interesting to note that Montessori Schools have their own curriculum to lay over the top of the Victorian Curriculum. I was only around for an hour or so but there were a few things I would like to sum up:

• The classroom is beautiful and makes sense. Children are using the classroom so everything should be child sized. Classrooms are where we will spend the majority of our time, they should be beautiful places.
• Hard to tell it’s composite. All the students were completing the same activities, but the teacher varied their expectations depending on their age, meaning they could achieve at their own rate.
• Activities promote independence. Not only the activities but the Montessori teaching philosophy promotes independence – a powerful idea which I believe has many learning benefits.

I’m still making up my mind about Montessori Schools, but I think they are an extremely valid form of alternative education. In fact, I think there are a number of things the public system could learn about from Montessori. I’ll do another post soon to talk about the cycle 3 (years 4 – 6 ) classroom.

- Alex

The Value of Helping Out

The Value of Helping Out

12th March, 2016

Alex talks about his experience helping out at a local school and how it has improved his teaching confidence

Early on in my teaching course I realised that while the various placements we had coming up over our four years were going to be fantastic experience, I still didn’t think they would be enough to get me comfortable with the classroom environment.

When you’re on placement it can be quite intense; teaching, planning, assignments, and generally getting to know everyone. It’s a new school, new staff and new kids – and it’s only for a few weeks! I knew I would benefit from seeing a classroom in action and helping out over a longer period of time, but I wasn’t sure how. I ended up volunteering for a charity who worked to place people in low socio-economic schools, to help students in need. Through a little bit of planning, and some luck, I found myself in my local primary school – only a few minutes walk from my house! I’ve been helping out there in various classrooms for the last year and I can tell you the experience has not only been personally rewarding, but has improved my teaching confidence and familiarity with schools.

Being a volunteer at a school has numerous benefits, but here are the main ones:

• You get to see the progression of a school year. You get the chance to witness what happens day-to-day in classrooms, as well as units of work as they progress over a term. It gives you a sense of the scope of teaching and the long-term planning that shapes each lesson.
• It’s free observation. There’s no such thing as too much observation. As you progress through your teaching course you will begin to notice new things and change your focus. As a volunteer I’ve been able to see numerous lessons, including maths, inquiry, reading, art class, and book club. You won’t believe how much you will pick up without realising, plus it’s a wonderful chance to experience some different teaching styles.
• You get to work one-on-one with kids and in small groups. This may change depending on where you volunteer, but many teachers are more than happy for you to work one-on-one with a child or small group. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a boy and girl developing their literacy, and help a year 6 class with their maths skills! It’s a great way to develop your teaching skills and put theory into practice.
• It’s more relaxed and flexible than being on placement. Forget university supervisors. Forget teaching folders. Forget assignments and taking a whole class who you’ve only just met! Volunteering is a relaxed way to build your skills; most teachers understand you are learning and are more than happy to provide you with support and advice. You wouldn’t believe how much fun being in a classroom can be when the stresses of placement aren’t there!
• You’re helping out. Truly. Many of the teachers I’ve volunteered for are so grateful for an extra pair of hands, especially when those hands are well on their way to becoming a qualified primary school teacher! You offer the chance for teachers to get help to those students they know are struggling, but just don’t have time to work with one-on-one. The children and the teacher will appreciate your support.

 
I hope I’ve convinced you to give volunteering a go – and it doesn’t have to be through a charity! Just head down to your local school and ask! You do have skills and you can be of value. Why not help out in a classroom and develop your teaching ability in the process? Trust me, you’ll enjoy it. And you might just land yourself a job.

- Alex

Thinking Out Loud: Pre-service Teacher Skills

27th January, 2016
  
Alex talks about the lack of focus in current teacher training courses on behaviour management, a skill he believes is crucial to starting out as an effective teacher

As I enter the fourth and final year of my teacher training course, I have begun to reflect on what I have learned and whether or not it has prepared me for my first year of teaching. While I will happily acknowledge that my time at university has developed my skills and understanding of pedagogy, especially in relation to the teaching of mathematics, I must admit that I feel there have been, in my view, several key elements left out. The one I wish to discuss here, and in my view the most important, is behaviour management.

One of the issues that seems to consistently arise when talking with recent graduates is the challenge with behaviour management. It is, in my mind, the most important skill for new teachers to have when they enter the classroom and I've heard various horror stories (directly and indirectly) of stressed teachers struggling to achieve order and function due to a lack of management skills. Thus it seems curious to me that I had to pursue an elective, under my own motivation, to develop an understanding of behaviour. None of the core (compulsory) units at my university covered the topic in any particular detail, nor provided strategies or research on how to master the classroom. I consider myself extremely lucky to have chosen the elective which looked in-depth at behaviour, classroom management, community creation, and crisis control. I learned a vast amount of practical and theoretical information which has shaped and improved my behaviour management skills. However, many of my fellow peers have not had the chance to engage with this unit and may not be able to before the end of their final year. I fear for my friends as they enter the workforce with skills that may be inadequate to deal with the challenges they face. I can't imagine a stressful and frustrating first year of teaching will inspire any loyalty to the profession. Thus I can't fathom why a topic as fundamental as behaviour management is not covered rigorously over the first few years of our teacher training - when it is, perhaps, at its most crucial.

I believe this lack of a core behvaiour unit results in two serious issues; firstly the lack of development of an essential skill. As I mentioned before, various teachers have told me how important having strong behaviour management skills are, and I think there are many pre-service teachers graduating under-prepared into the work force. This sees them struggling in their first years of teaching to deal with issues that they simply do not have the skills to successfully resolve. This in turn results in the second serious issue; a reliance on ineffective and negative management techniques.

As I progressed through my placements I took on the behaviour management strategies of the associate teachers I worked with - simply because I had none of my own! I was a blank slate with no comparative concepts of management and classroom set up. Now I have engaged with the behaviour management elective I can see that some of the tactics and strategies used by teachers I have viewed are extremely negative. They are short-term, authoritarian and destructive. I have also seen some extremely positive and long term behaviour strategies. However, I think many pre-service teachers are leaving university with little or no behaviour management skills, and the ones they have are not best practice. If you know no alternative to yelling, then that will be your behaviour strategy. And the tragedy is that after a few years whatever behaviour practices you use will become habit. I believe that many pre-service teachers are graduating with knowledge only of negative, authoritarian behaviour practices.These will destroy any chance of positive relationships with your students and ultimately cause them to dislike you, and dislike school. Children and teachers deserve better than this.

Every pre-service teacher needs the chance to develop their behaviour management skills. They need a compulsory unit where they can learn about behaviour, its functions and causes, as well as how to manage behaviour in a positive way. I believe as teachers we model the different ways that our society and culture functions. It seems paramount to me that every student is engaged in a pro-social, democratic classroom environment with a teacher who can help children learn how to self-regulate their behaviour. At the moment I believe too many teachers are graduating with insufficient skills to make this happen. There needs to be a change. Best practice of behaviour management is essential to being an effective teacher, our teacher training institutions should reflect this and modify their curriculum accordingly.

- Alex
   

Thinking Out Loud.

5th January, 2016

 

Alex considers the nature of empathy and professionalism in teaching, where people are expected to ride the fine line between warmth, compassion and appropriateness. 

Throughout the working world there seem to be a number of jobs that require a balance between providing a professional service, as well as a sense of emotional connection and empathy. Perhaps the profession of teaching is an extreme case of this, as we work with children rather than adults, and there are a number of cultural expectations when working with children. Ultimately, while there might not be a specific job criteria that explicitly states you must be a warm and caring person, it seems this is an expected part of being a teacher.

While there is always a wonderful atmosphere and sense of excitement when working with children, there is a constant underlying tension to act and respond appropriately. The word appropriate is vague, as everyone’s concept of appropriate is subjective to their personal views and beliefs, and this doesn’t help when you are new to the teaching profession. Working in schools and afterschool care environments, I am aware of the requirement that you should not initiate physical contact with children. However, anyone that has worked with Foundation, year one, and even year twos, will tell you that fulfilling this aim can be extremely hard, simply due to the nature of young children.

Children beginning school are often coming from an extremely caring, warm and physically affectionate home environment. So it’s not surprising that they may experience some emotional confusion when they are promptly denied the physical contact they have come to expect at home. We all know that young children are extremely injury prone, and a comforting hug is something they have always had access to at home – yet at school students must learn that it isn’t appropriate to hug a staff member in that way. Or is it?

It seems almost a little cruel to completely eliminate all physical contact from students as they start to learn the ropes of attending school. Maybe this is why many teachers do still initiate physical contact with students in times of need – not in any extremely overt forms, but a small hug here or there when the moment seems right. Is this inappropriate? What are we truly trying to achieve when we strive for appropriate relationships between staff and students?

Given that relationships are, rightly, held up as a critical element to effective teaching (and a happy life!), I wonder how confusing it must be for a foundation student to make a connection with their teacher without any physical contact. Young children spend the first few years of their life being mostly unable to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but always being able to resort to the base connection of physical contact and affection.  To come to environment where their main avenue for connection is denied seems like a drastic and perhaps damaging change.

Yet, as teachers we are most likely the first long-term, professional, adult relationship our students will experience. We are their first opportunity to understand what it means to maintain an appropriate relationship. I believe that the regulations that restrict teachers from physical contact with students are purposeful and necessary. However, I think we need to acknowledge as a society our dual expectations for teachers; as empathetic carers of our children, and professional staff who can maintain appropriate relationships with them too. I think we need to engage pre-service teachers in the discussion of what defines an appropriate relationship and provide them with some practical training in how to establish and maintain one. We need to acknowledge the discomfort that comes with telling a crying six year that no, they cannot have a hug, and question what it means to be appropriate, and why.

- Alex

End of Placement

End of Placement

13th December, 2015

Alex talks about his placement experiences at a rural school

After four wonderful weeks my placement has now come to an end – and what an experience it has been! I thought this would be a good chance to talk about some of the different challenges I faced, and the strategies I found worked well.

I had never worked with a composite class before, but now after having year 3/4/5 and 6 I’ve got a pretty good feel for how they run. Differentiating work is the main challenge, I found the best way to do this was to give each student the same task, but have different levels of difficulty within that task. This provides accessibility to the developing students and layers of complexity for the higher achieving students. While this may not work for all subjects, I think it’s a strategy I’ll use with my own class; within any year level there is likely to be a three-year span of capability, so it makes sense to provide a lesson where students can challenge themselves independently. It also linked in with the self-regulation learning behaviour my associate teacher was maintaining. Another good way to facilitate independent learning is through (and I never thought I would say this) rubrics. They work best in a senior classroom, but are great at essentially providing written success criteria and extensions for students. They put students in charge of their learning and achievement, which is great.

After spending four weeks in a truly positive classroom environment, I can’t stress enough the importance of strong learning behaviours. My associate teacher really strives to imbue each student with these and it shows in the way students behave; they act independently, challenge themselves, regulate their behaviour, and take ownership of their learning. Some examples of positive learning behaviours are:

•  Attention to detail
•  Focus and concentration
•  Resilience and independence
•  Allowing others to learn
•  Thinking ahead
•  Organisation
•   Being accountable for my learning

It’s great to focus students in on these behaviours before each lesson just by talking about them, or give individual students certain learning behaviours to work on. Explicitly teaching positive learning behaviours and explaining, or modelling, how they are displayed will help establish an amazing classroom environment and give students a great mindset to learn with.

The most challenging aspect of the four weeks was trying to be organised and flexible at the same time! There is a lot going on at any one moment in the school year, especially at the end of term 4, so it’s vital that you always have a backup plan and are ready to quickly modify a lesson. I had a number of students absent with sickness over the first two weeks of teaching, which meant lots of groups progressing at different rates. I found that thinking a few lessons ahead of what you’re doing actually helps when students are ready to move on – you know the next step and can quickly whip up an activity for them to do. Ultimately there are some times where you won’t get everything completed, simply due to unexpected events popping up, and that’s ok – keep the big picture in mind!

I had such an amazing time on my placement; I truly fell in love with the school, kids and community! I’m missing them already and can’t believe I have to wait another six months before I can get back into it. I would definitely recommend completing a rural placement, there is really nothing quite like it. I know my school would love to have more PSTs and I wish there was more support for getting teachers out there! I hope everyone had a fantastic placement and learned a lot, a merry Christmas and happy new year to you all!

-Alex

Halfway Through Placement

Halfway through placement

22nd November, 2015

Alex talks about his placement experiences at a rural school

Given some pre-service teachers may never get the chance to complete a rural placement I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences. I’ve just finished my first two weeks of teaching and I can assure you the school and learning environment is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

The school is based in an extremely small town, about two and a half hours west of Melbourne. The current student enrollment is 38 and there are only two classes; foundation to year 2, and year 3 to 6. While I knew some of these details going in, the true reality of the size only hit home when I was standing at the whole school assembly on the Monday morning with 30 children. Needless to say, after my introduction to the school, everyone knows my name and who I am. In fact, I spent more time talking with the principal in one week, than I did with all the other principals of my previous placements combined!

The school is one of a few who are trialing a new integrated software platform that basically uses an online platform to create and store work. Every student has a computer and the school is well resourced; they even have a Polycon (a high quality camera system with monitor that allows them to video conference with other schools!).

But what does the school feel like?

From my first day I have become immersed in what can only be described as a truly community focused atmosphere. The teachers are genuine and the students are incredibly well behaved – it all feels like one big family. The outdoor area is huge and well utilised; they have a campfire area, sprawling veggie garden, chickens, basketball court and football oval. The other day in a garden lesson my associate teacher got the students to harvest some broad beans and leeks. The next day, during lunchtime, he cooked them up with some rice and the whole school had a communal feast.

Another interesting element is the kindergarten – it’s attached to the school! There are little ones running around during lunchtime and the transition to school is seamless. Perhaps all of these things add to the feeling of community and sense of belonging. While there was initially a sense of isolation (especially for me, being a city slicker) it becomes apparent that the internet and technology has connected people and communities to the essential resources they need. This school has an extremely strong and rigorous strategic plan for information technology, and makes excellent use of the online resources that are available.

My classroom itself is one of the most positive learning spaces I’ve ever encountered – largely due to my incredible associate teacher. He has made a point of not only encouraging a community of learners, but expecting students to support each other and regulate themselves. The students are incredibly proactive in seeking knowledge and managing themselves.  And the kids are fantastic. I thought teaching such a large composite class would be difficult, but my associate teacher has created an environment where students can progress through the curriculum at their own rate and focuses on 1:1 conferences with students about their learning.

All in all I’m in love with this school and the community it has created; I think there is a lot to be learned from their style of teaching. In my next post I will look more closely at what I’ve been teaching, how to work with a composite class, and how to create a positive learning environment.

Until then, all the best!

-Alex

In Conversation With Louisa

5th November, 2015

In Conversation with ... Louisa

Louisa is a year 6 teacher, as well as the sustainability and years 5/6 co-ordinator at her school. She completed a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching in 2008 and is in her seventh year of teaching. Her favourite aspects of teaching are being able to perform a multitude of different roles, and sharing in the joys and struggles of her students’ lives. Louisa’s specialty is mathematics teaching; it’s one of her passions and she is involved in developing the school’s mathematics curriculum.

Hi Louisa, thanks for chatting with us!

Can you remember your first day teaching? How did it feel?

I was a crazy mixture of nerves and excitement. I remember feeling like a bit of a fraud and waiting for someone to realise that I should not be left in charge of a class of 22 seven year olds all by myself; surely everyone would find out I had no idea what I was doing! Of course I was more than prepared to teach that class but being left on my own with a class for the first time, being the one that was completely responsible for them was pretty daunting. I have almost no memory of what happened throughout the day but I remember it all went well and I was exhausted at the end of it.

Did you feel unprepared? If so, in what way?

I don’t know that you can ever feel fully prepared when you first start teaching – there is an enormous amount that you learn on the job. In fact that is one of the things I love about teaching; it is always a challenge and you are always learning, not matter how long you have been teaching. I remember the main things I felt unprepared for was the administrative side of teaching. When you are a student teacher you really only have to worry about the lesson planning and teaching so I felt prepared with that, but as a student teacher you don’t really have to deal with all the other stuff that makes up teaching – the record keeping, the reporting, permission forms etc. It was that stuff that I didn’t feel prepared for.

What do you know now that you wish you had known on your first day?

I wish I knew that I wouldn’t use the majority of resources that I spent hours printing, cutting and laminating. I was so excited to finally be a ‘real’ teacher so I spent the summer holidays scouring the internet and books for resources and then making them. However you don’t know what is going to be useful until you know the kids and are planning your lessons. Plus most of the best resources are really simple like playing cards or kids books or are the resources that the kids make themselves. Most of what I made when I first started teaching spent a couple of years gathering dust before I finally got rid of it.

Do you feel your qualification adequately prepared you for your first few years teaching?

Overall I felt like my qualification had prepared me. There were definitely things that I learnt at uni that I have never referred to again but those things probably did help to shape my philosophies. It was definitely what I learnt on my rounds that prepared me the most. I do think that my uni prepared me really well for maths teaching and is why I became so passionate about it.

How have you developed as a teacher?

That is a really tricky question because I’m constantly developing my teaching practices. I’m getting better at being a tidy teacher with a neat desk but that is still a work in progress. One day the phrase “does anyone know where I put such-and-such” will not come out of my mouth.

What are three essential tips that you would give to any Pre-Service Teacher about to start their first day?

On my first day of teaching my principal gave me some really good advice: she told me to not worry about teaching anything on the first couple of days but to just focus on building a positive classroom environment. She said to me that as long as the kids and I left the first day smiling then it was a success.

Three essential tips:

1. Be consistent – set up your expectations from the start and stick to them. You need to be firm but fair and the kids should always know what to expect from you (kids love boundaries). If you say you are going to do something then make sure you do it because kids never forget.
2. Get to know the parents from the very first day. Be out in the yard saying hello and introducing yourself. Building a rapport with the parents is really important.
3. Don’t live at school - Even if you spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at school, you’d still find things to do. Learn to prioritise and let go. Set a reasonable time to leave school each day and stick to it. A tired, overworked teacher is a bad teacher so take care of yourself and get enough sleep.

And here is one bonus tip – keep the receipts for anything that you buy for your classroom so that you can claim it on tax.

What do you think are the most important elements to being an effective teacher?

You need to be flexible and expect the unexpected. Rarely do things go to plan in schools so you need to be prepared to adapt and think on your feet.

You need to be rich in patience and have a sense of humour.

You need to love learning new things and be reflective about your own practice. What is working well, what isn’t and why. It is ok not to know things and you need to be willing to seek help from your colleagues.

You also need to be organised.

How could we improve Pre-Service Teacher education courses?

This is another tricky question. I would say the main thing is that there needs to be more emphasis on the practicalities of planning – looking through the curriculum to make yearly overviews and term overviews and taking these to make unit planners and then most importantly creating your weekly teaching program. How are you going to organise your week to fit in the maths and literacy you need as well as specialists and the myriad of other things that happen in any given week. Creating your weekly plan is something that I think unis need to spend more time teaching.

Really though, unless you have a class most things are just theoretical and easily forgotten, you learn best by doing. That is why rounds are so important and the more time pre-service teachers spend in a range of classes the better.

Louisa, thanks for taking the time to respond to our questions and good luck with the remainder of term 4!

Louisa has also been kind enough to answer some questions regarding the interview process of getting a teaching job, but they weren’t included here in an effort to keep the article short! Her responses will feature in an upcoming blog post.

-  Alex

Although Alex has regular contact with Louisa this interview was conducted via email, with the view in mind of allowing Louisa time to consider the questions and respond when she could.
 

In Conversation With Chloe

As part of my upcoming blog posts I decided to interview a variety of people who I believe can offer some useful information to pre-service teachers. Given I have about four or five interviews to post, I thought it might be wise to make the interviews into their own segment entitled In Conversation With... and provide the rest of the PST blog team with a platform for posting other interviews. I hope pre-service teachers garner some useful pedagogical tips or ideas from these interviews.

27th October, 2015

In Conversation With ... Chloe.

Chloe is a 2nd year graduate classroom teacher who completed a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary) in 2013. Her favourite aspect of teaching is connecting with a diverse number of people and she specialises in creating a safe and supportive classroom community.

Hi Chloe, thanks for being our blog's first interviewee!

Can you remember your first day teaching? How did it feel?
 
Exciting, daunting and right.

Did you feel unprepared? If so, in what way? 

Not on the first day, but as time went on I found it difficult. You don’t know what’s around the corner so while everyone else is preparing for the next thing or getting ahead so they aren’t swamped when reports come or whatever, you are blissfully unaware and then it gets you!

What do you know now that you wish you had known on your first day?
 
From day one hit the ground running. Have the children decorating name tags, take photos of them, collect a writing sample, test them on their times-tables, ask them who they’re friends are, what they are worried about, learn their parents names and siblings, label books, rule margins, set up rules for the classroom.

Do you feel your qualification adequately prepared you for your first few years teaching?
 
Yes but experience will always do more.

How have you developed as a teacher?
 
So much! I communicate with my students in a very open and honest way, taking their perspectives into account. Telling them the options and why and then giving them ownership over the decision. I know what to look for with reading, writing and maths as cues for gaps in learning or students not achieving their potential.

What are three essential tips that you would give to any PST about to start their first day?
 
Students want to know what’s coming, so create the timetable and show them where they can locate it each day.

Students want rules and restrictions and they want you to be the overseer of that so develop them together.

They want to know you and you to know them so spend some of the first day playing getting-to-know-each-other games and get involved.

What do you think are the most important elements to being an effective teacher?
 
 Wow. Building relationships, organisation, preparation and balance.

How could we improve Pre-Service Teacher education courses?
 
Provide more time in the classroom.
Creating usable resources such as writing, reading spelling and math toolkits as well as assessment tracking resources.

Chloe, thanks for taking the time to respond to our questions and all the best for the rest of the year!

- Alex

Although Alex has regular contact with Chloe this interview was conducted via email, with the view in mind of allowing Chloe time to consider the questions and respond when she could.

Bridging the Information Gap

Bridging the Information Gap

6th October, 2015

Alex delves into the lack of connection in knowledge between pre-service teachers and recent graduates. He discusses his own fears about beginning teaching and makes the call to start bridging the information gap.

One of the issues concerning pre-service teachers today is making the transition from their current undergraduate state to being a full-time teacher. I believe that the underlying issue behind this concern is the mysterious knowledge gap that exists between PSTs and teachers who have just finished their first few years. I have had the opportunity to observe a few classrooms with teachers that have been two to five years out of university. As I watched them and marvelled at the casual way they went about teaching, several questions formed in my mind; how did they get from where I am, to where they are now? What do they know that I don’t? What will happen in my first year teaching? Will I struggle and fail? All I knew was that there was a stark difference in ability between myself and the teachers I was observing – I wanted to know why.

When I raised the idea with my 2nd year Associate Teacher*, she firmly remarked that she learnt everything about teaching in her first two years on the job. Whether or not this is the case for other teachers, it hints at the idea of the mysterious information gap and suggests there is much to be learned in the initial stage of being a graduate teacher – perhaps more than we can imagine. However, given the limited amount of time you have with your associate teacher, and the fact that they often find it difficult to pinpoint the complex nature of graduate teaching, there seems to be a lack of knowledge or effort around the idea of bridging this gap.

And, I don’t know about you, but that makes me nervous.

All PSTs know how challenging, and rewarding, placement can be. It’s an exhausting time. But after nearly three years of studying primary school teaching, I was hoping to be ready to face the challenges of being a graduate teacher. Yet there still remains this dark and mysterious gap. What skills, strategies, experiences and knowledge am I missing? I don’t want the first few years of my teaching career to be filled with struggle and turmoil as I work through the challenges every new teacher faces – surely we could find out what knowledge we need to survive and excel!

So I started reaching out. I talked to as many graduate and senior teachers as I could and I asked them about their first few years of teaching. In the coming weeks I will be posting interviews to this blog from several different teachers about their initial teaching experiences, with the hope of sharing what they believe to be the crucial elements that lead to success in graduate teaching.

If there is anything to take away from this blog post it’s this; it’s ok to be nervous or anxious about becoming a teacher, but we need to do something. While the current system of teacher training needs to acknowledge the disconnected nature between university and the teaching practice, we need to be proactive. We should find solidarity in each other as PSTs and work together so we ARE prepared for our first years of teaching. We need to bridge the information gap, but we should do it together.

- Alex

*An Associate Teacher is the person who supervises a PST when they on their placement. The PST will do their placement within their Associate Teachers classroom and will be marked and mentored by them.