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

Hmm, how am I going to get this job?

Hmm, how am I going to get this job? 

5th May, 2016

Aaron explores the weird and often confronting concept of self-promotion when applying for jobs post-university.

In my position at my place of employment I spend a good chunk of my time looking through job applications for potential childcare workers, and also take part in the interview process for new hires. I’ve been working for the same company now for quite a while, in the industry for a little over 10 years, and haven’t really needed a good job application or display of my previous work recently as I’ve just moved between different companies to get to where I am. In light of this, some recent assessment tasks we have been set with at University have required a lot of creative thinking on my behalf to build up my portfolio for the future if I intend on getting into the field of teaching and learning how to promote myself as an effective teacher – without sounding like a total jerk.

One thing I’ve found is the need to set aside the judgments we all unconsciously place on ourselves, and look at our work output and personal perspective from an objective standpoint. This doesn’t mean to take your personality out of what you are creating, but more to allow yourself to look at your application/portfolio/resume as someone who is looking to employ people at their place of work.  Now, I should also add, I am not a school Principal, I don’t have a perfect sense of what each individual will think when looking at my work, but as someone who has sifted through quite a lot of job applications in recent years, I can say there are some definite things to keep in mind.

I could write a big list of things to write or to leave out, but I think what’s more pertinent here is the approach you take to what is being written. Look at your efforts during your time at University, what are you proud of? What helped you develop a greater understanding of the world you are studying? What will prove that you have developed as a person during your time spent sitting in lecture theatres and staring at computer screens late at night? We can all remember the things that we place value on, so use that, even if it doesn’t sound like the perfect quip for a job, it is your honest reflection on your achievements, and being confident and proud of what you recognize as a strength will show in your chosen written format for job acquisition, and will show in your explanation and reasoning in your formal interview.

We’ve all heard stories of people who have lied their way into jobs, and heard stories of people who have been caught out on those lies. Don’t start off on the wrong path, or let self-doubt get in the way. Self-confidence isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone; so using the objective eye is a great way to move past that. If you were looking at this application and this portfolio of achievements, would you be impressed? Is this believable, and does it show growth and merit in the field you’re applying to work in? If you think ‘YES!’ then you’re on the right track. Believe in yourself, c’mon, just try it.

- Aaron Osborne

Reflective Practitioner - What Does This Term Really Mean?

Reflective Practitioner – What does this term really mean?

30th March, 2016

Nick discusses his opinion of what is means to be a reflective practitioner in the teaching profession

The term ‘reflective practitioner’ is one that is consistently raised during lectures and tutorials, placements and journal articles. Principals and teachers are searching for graduate teachers who are reflective practitioners, but what does this really mean? The term reflective practitioner it is quite an abstract concept and can have different meanings for different people.

My personal definition for a reflective practitioner is a teacher who is willing to examine their practice and acknowledge what is working well and what could be improved. Quite often at university we are required to write these thoughts and opinions down and recall BIG moments of when something did not work in practice. Is this really what being an effective reflective practitioner is? Do we always need to focus on the negative? Can we still reflect and focus on positive aspects of our practice and still be critically reflecting?

I will often complete an activity with a student whilst at work or on placement and instantly think “I should have completed the task a different way” or “that lesson did not go as intended”. As a result I have been left feeling disappointed and frustrated because I wanted to give the student the best chance to perform during the task. I remember after a particular lesson that I thought did not go well, an experienced teacher gave me this piece of advice, which shaped how I reflect on my practice. ‘Although the lesson did not go entirely as planned, as teachers we need adapt to every situation.’

This comment made me realise not to focus too much on the negatives and reflect on what worked well and build on that. Yes, it is important to reflect on what did not work to improve future practice. However I believe the best reflective practice is to focus on the ‘what worked’ moments. Identifying what worked provides confidence and reassurance that what you are doing is of benefit to the students you are working with. What does this mean as a preservice teacher moving into their first year of being an in-service teacher?

I believe that an integral part of shifting from a preservice teacher to a graduate teacher is being open to learning through reflection. This means observing what other experienced teachers are doing and consistently reflecting on what you are observing. Whether this reflection is in the form of writing physical notes or taking mental notes both can be implemented into future practice. I also believe an effective teacher is consistently reflecting on their own practice, evaluating where improvement can be made to best benefit student learning. This will be most crucial in the first few weeks of being an in-service teacher as this is where I feel a lot of new and important learning will take place.

- Nick

Aaron's Placement Reflection

Placement Reflection or, how I intend on making the next one even better!

9th March, 2016

Aaron reflects on his placement and makes some suggestions on how to approach the next one

I started out writing this blog post as a reflection on the teaching placement I undertook in Term 4 of 2015, and then, like usual with these things, I deleted half of it…However this time it wasn’t for lack of confidence with what I had written, more that I noticed I wasn’t actually reflecting, I was planning different things for how to approach my next placement.

I’m not too sure what my peers’ experiences on placement were like as yet, however I have to say this most recent one has been my most enjoyable and rewarding round to date. Not only was it a more relaxed environment, that I felt very comfortable in, it was just a great working community that actually made the PSTs feel comfortable and I really felt like I was a part of the teaching team at the school. I was paired up with another PST during my time, as we were both in Prep classrooms, and it was great working together on lesson plans, team teaching and bouncing ideas off one another while out at the school. Which leads me into my planning for the next round, so here’s a list that I’m going to try and keep for myself this year, and one that I hope to stick to while I’m out in my final placement school.

1. Don’t be scared of sharing your opinions on, and ideas for lessons – I found with a teacher that was very welcoming to my thoughts I had a lot more confidence about what I planned when it came from an amalgamation of my ideas, the teachers plans and the school curriculum. This confidence was clear in more successful delivery of lessons than I have ever experienced before.
2. Plan using your strengths – with my background in Out of School Hours Care, this most recent round I tried to ensure I used as much of the skills learned in this field in the classroom as possible, and it really paid off. Behaviour Management strategies, Activities, Outdoor games and planning tools all came in to play here and helped me confidently conduct my lessons and time with full control in the class.
3. Ask as many questions as you can, no matter how stupid they may seem – in the past I have been quite reserved in talks with the teaching team, and perhaps was afraid to look like I didn’t know what I was doing. This isn’t the way to go, remember we are still there to learn, so ask questions, try and make sense of the answers and ask again if you need clarity, this will make for a better understanding of everything when you’re faced with 28 children waiting for your instruction!
4. Find a way that works for you and the Classroom Teacher, and use that method – at University we are inundated with different paperwork we need to use and templates that we are encouraged to work off, and I’m not suggesting to abandon these or the systems we are taught, but use your own judgment. I found far more success working with my AT on shared documents in the format she was comfortable working with, that the school used and working within the guidelines and teaching styles that have been established in the school, and the classroom, than those we are instructed to base our teaching off, at University.
5. HAVE FUN, DON’T WORRY ABOUT WORK AND OTHER STUFF, ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE, C’MON, YOU NEARLY HAVE TO GO BE A REAL ADULT! – Self explanatory, just relax, it’s 8 weeks in a year, learn something, have fun, then go back to the daily grind and bummer that is having to work for a living.

Now I don’t know if these points will be useful to everyone, but from my experience in the last round, these are some things that I’m going to try hard to remember and stick to my plan to try and make my last placement the best one yet. I’m not sure where my future career path will take me, and whether I’ll even end up as a classroom teacher in a Primary School setting. But while I’m paying for an education and a hugely important part of that is spending time in schools on placement, I intend on having my final round be as successful and enjoyable as possible – and hopefully I teach the children a thing or two in the process.

- Aaron

The Very First Day...

The Very First Day...

 

2nd February, 2016

Nick discusses the very first days of school for both students and teachers

The very first day of school can be an exciting yet daunting prospect for both students and teachers. Among university colleagues I often find myself in discussions about how to go about setting up your learning space for the very first day of the new school year. What displays should I put up? What expectations should I set with my students? How do I go about planning for an entire year? How do I get to know all my students? My role as an integration aide in a primary school has provided me the unique opportunity to observe teachers preparing for the school year as well as the initial days of school. I will discuss some of the interesting ideas that I have witnessed that I think would be brilliant to put into future practice.

 

• Setting up the learning space – An arduous task, however a fun one as well. Many teachers put their own unique impression on the room and when you walk in you get a different vibe in every learning space. I have observed the importance of creating a space that reflects you as a person.

• Setting expectations – Personally this was something I was interested to observe. The important idea is that the expectations need to be created in conjunction with the students, not the teacher dictating what they want the students to do. This process also involved what expectations the students have of the teachers to ensure equality between student and teacher; expectations are then displayed within the learning space for all students to see and refer back to. It was interesting to note that during the initial days of school, teachers would often refer to the expectations during classroom discussion to ensure students were being immersed in them.

• Planning for the year – A challenging concept as there is often many extra curricular activities occurring within the school community. As a result the year is planned out by topics and then when the time approaches the topics are expanded to meet the requirements of the students at the time.

• Getting to know students – The answer to this question is quite simple; talk to them and play games in which they discuss aspects about themselves. A further way of doing this is through ‘choosing time’ where students can choose and activity they would like to undertake. Teachers can then observe who they play with, what activity they choose and how they interact with others to get to know the personalities of the students.

 

This is a broad overview of some of the types of things you will encounter in your first few weeks of teaching. It is also important to think about how your learning space will cater to the diverse needs of the students and ensure inclusion of each and every student in your rom. The biggest thing to remember is there is ALWAYS someone in the school you can ask for ideas or help and you are never on your own.

 - Nick
 

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
   

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.