Crazy Class

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Planning - are you ready for action?

Effective lesson planning takes a bit of thought at first but once you’ve done a couple of hundred lessons and got some routines and patter down you will not need to go through this process. By that time it should be on automatic pilot. As I said before while talking about stress, good planning can go along way to preventing lots of problems in the class.

First steps

Effective planning starts well before the lesson. Once you’ve consulted the schemes of work and you know what subject its about its time to start planning.

Work out the objective or learning outcomes what for your lesson. I like to make this into a sentence that I can later put on the board to keep me and the kids focused on our goal. For example. By the end of theirs lesson you should know……………..

Once this has been established you can think about the structure of the lesson. Most lessons will follow a set routine:

The start,the middle and the end .

Within this frame you need to fit in:

Some sort of starter or introduction

some learning activities

A summary or plenary activities.

In practice I like to be quite fluid with this framework because sometimes you need to be flexible with the clientele! Some of my lower ability groups (below gcse) are not going to settle with a starter and respond more to the routine of , come in, sit down, be quiet while I take the register. Like I said, I make up my own rules which are governed by what works for me and my individual classes. You might like to experiment with your own strategies.

Have some routines in place

If you have a good set of classroom management routines in place, you will find kids respond better than if you let them go free form. For instance I like to get my classes lined up outside the room, in silence, listening to me as I remind them of the routine for coming into the room. This sounds a bit old fashioned or dictatorial but 9 times out of 10 ,my lessons get off to much better start following this routine. The kids know where they stand.Literally! This structure can be really important particularly with behaviorally challenged pupils. I have seen some kids go into classes like a group of monkeys on acid. Their teachers then need to work really hard for their money.

Check out some of my classroom routines. Take them or leave them. Come up with your own!

Introductions

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First thing…..

Stop and ask yourself - Why do I want to teach?

Once you’ve got a good answer do some research.

This site is a great place to find out about teaching in an average (well maybe below) comprehensive school in England.

Don’t believe the hype in add campaigns. Talk to real teachers who can give you the real lowdown.

If you are still keen, read on to get some information about PGCE courses and other routes into teaching.

The first thing that you need to do is take an ITT course. ITT stands for Initail teacher Training. There are some different types of ITT in England. For example,ITT can be done along with your degree or after your degree as a PGCE. (post graduate certificate of education). Some people follow an employment based training within a school.

After you have passed an ITT course and fulfill the relevant professional standards (including numeracy ,literacy and ICT tests) you will be awarded QTS (qualified teacher status). You will then qualify to teach in schools in England.

All teachers are NQT’s (newly qualified teachers) for their first year of employment within schools. This is usually include in school training and some lesson observations to check on your progress.

If all goes well, at the end of the NQT year you can call yourself a teacher!

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NQT Survival tips

Its tough being an NQT. Not only are you going into a new job, with new colleagues in an unfamiliar territory but you also have to teach and be seen to teach kids at the same time.

Kids can be very unforgiving. As any supply teacher will tell you, if they think they can take advantage of someone new to their school then you can expect them to try it on.

The following tips can help you to get through to your next lesson:

1. Plan plan plan.

If you don’t have a plan in life you can be sure of one thing, there’s a good chance someone else will take over and impose theirs on you. Fine if you want a group of pubescence making choices for you but if you want to stay sane and have effective lessons then you better have a plan.When I did my teachers training, one of the other trainees said to me how he didnt have time to plan and that he would wing it. He added “their only kids at the end of the day,how hard can it be”. The next time I saw him he had had a lesson from hell and had realised “only being kids” is ample enough qualification to and screw up a lesson and fuck you off at the same time. You can reduce the risk of this happening to you by planning what to do ahead of time. (by the way, after a bollocking from his supervisor, the guy I told you about left the course). The plan needs to include all of the details of your lesson including classroom management for disruptive behaviour! For more details read lesson planning for a great lesson….

2 Establish yourself from the beginning.

Life has a habit of giving you what you will accept.If you accept slack behaviour and low aspirations from your pupils…….that what your gonna get. And that goes from all other aspects of your teaching.Its best to get it right from the beginning. If you expect a certain level of behaviour from day 1 and challenge anything else, your in the driving seat.

3 You are in charge

Your the adult, your in charge. You decide what routines the class follow and the rules that you live by.Do not let the kids take over.Getting this established from the start makes it alot easier.

4 Don’t make threats unless you will 100% follow them through.

If you say your staying in for 10 mins at the end of the lesson, don’t back-down and let them work the time off with good behaviour.This just teaches them to behave bad in the first place.

5 Stay cool

Believe me there will be times when you will be angry,frustrated,demoralised..etc. But try to keep cool.Take a few moments to take a deep breath and compose yourself.

6 If you need help, ask.

I am assuming that you work in a school where if you have a problem someone will listen and support you to work it through. Start with other teachers in department,your head of department,head of years,senior teachers,the head,the union, support staff, caretakers! You are not alone with your problem. Most teachers dont have a perfict lives so theres always someone else who has had the same problem as you and can help. For example stress is a problem for most teachers- its not just you! A problem shared is a problem…

There is a lot of experience available. A good school should have a support system to help and provide for classroom teachers in all aspects of the job.

7 Remember Rome wasn’t built in a…..

We all make mistakes and how on earth are you meant to get it all right when you first start.Some teachers still make the same mistakes day in and day out for years. Take small steps and focus on small chunks at a time. You will gradually get the bits of the jigsaw and make more sense of it all.

8 You are not there to make friends with the kids.

I know it is tempting to be nice and make friends with the kids but at the start this can be a mistake. The kids become too familiar and do not respect the boundaries.You then have to backtrack and try to get mean.The problem with this is they have already seen you behaving nice so yu are swimming against the flow. The old adage not to smile at a new class until Christmas has some good sense because this allows you to establish your authority and then if they play ball you can relax a bit (but stay on guard!). This makes the pupils think that you are firm and fair. If yiu talk to kids they always respect a teacher like this and see a nice teacher as weak and a push over. This makes your life difficult.

9 Celebrate your victories!

When stuff goes right give yourself a pat on a back. You cant always rely on someone else to tell you about the good job you did, so be your own best friend and do a bit of cheerleading. You rock. Dont forget it.

If you want more feedback than exam results etc you could ask the kids - in a round about and tactful way. If you have good times teaching its well worth logging them in your brain as it will help you get through any lows. One year I asked my year 11 class to write in a leaving book (like theirs) but for me. After the lesson I had a look at my book and the comments brought tears to my eyes….for the right reasons. The kids had been so nice about my teaching that I have looked back at that book many times when I needed some reassurance about my teaching or a boost.

It is useful to focus on what works and do more of it, and bin the bit that wasn’t so good!

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If something is wrong, get some help.

Use your discreation with this list. For example ,there are some things that if you tell your head might get you in more trouble! I remember a friend doing some supply who went and told the head about the bad behaviour in the school. The head denied that there was a problem and my friend never got anymore supply work from that school. Tell a person who is going to understand and is not going to make things worse.

Heres a handy list to put you on the right tracks:

1 Tell a friend at work

2 Tell your union official

3 Tell your head of department

4 Tell your line manager and your line managers manager

5 Tell the head

6 Teacher counselling services ( run by unions)

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Hi there, you have found the homepage of Crazy class. There are lots of crazy classes inschools around the world and on the web but this site is about my teaching experiences in secondary schools in England.

I want this site to give an insight into a teachers life to be used as a resource for those in the proffesion and for those considering getting into teaching via a PGCE.

Disclaimer: Names have been changed or ommited. If you think any of this is about you,your wrong becuase it’s about someone else you’ve never even met. Also I try to tell how I see it and I dont always get it right ( I may be a teacher, but I am still human).

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