The NQT Year Thread

Holy **** I am tired.

Had 5/6 periods today - year 10 and 11 I've made a really solid start with, year 8 and 9 not great at all, had to use sanctions already.

Got 3 lessons to plan for tomorrow (have all 6 periods and a break duty so it's going to be manic). Just going to get to this weekend and reflect on everything I've learnt this week so I can be more prepared for the weeks to come.

So far I'm finding it 10 times more challenging than the PGCE. Any one else think the same?

I am finding this so so hard. I'm constantly trying too hard to plan great lessons which is not benefiting anyone - it's just putting me under even more stress. I had my year 10s for the first time today and usually I don't take things personally but their attitude and behaviour has really upset me, and now I have 0 motivation to plan 2 lessons for tomorrow. I just feel so totally overwhelmed.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Holy **** I am tired.

Had 5/6 periods today - year 10 and 11 I've made a really solid start with, year 8 and 9 not great at all, had to use sanctions already.

Got 3 lessons to plan for tomorrow (have all 6 periods and a break duty so it's going to be manic). Just going to get to this weekend and reflect on everything I've learnt this week so I can be more prepared for the weeks to come.

So far I'm finding it 10 times more challenging than the PGCE. Any one else think the same?

anyone can offer a materialistic positive other than 'dem kids'.

thanks

Agreed. If you don't think the job satisfaction of seeing kids grow up and progress is a good reason to teach, you're better off elsewhere.

I had a pretty tough year last year (out of the 8 teaching groups I was responsible for, 4 had a high proportion of kids who were notorious around the school, and obviously the NQT year is tough regardless, but this year things seem to be falling into place a bit better (I say, after only 7 teaching days back so far...) and I've had some nice reassurances that I was doing OK last year too.

-Colleague came to congratulate me on the job I'd done with my Y7s last year, as he'd discovered that nearly all of the pupils with good pronunciation (I teach French) in his Y8 group had been taught by me last year.
-Really difficult pupil I struggled with in bottom set Y8 last year but mostly won round (ie: went from constantly swearing and having to be removed from most lessons, to this only happening once a fortnight or so when someone would wind her up and she'd blow up at them) asked if she could move back into my class because she doesn't like her new teacher. I said "And you liked me?!?" - her response: "Well, not at the start..."


To those of you at the end of your first week, I promise it does usually get better. The first term of last year was really really hard. I hardly ever ate lunch, worked all evening every evening, and was generally pretty fed up. By the summer term I was going to the staffroom every break time for tea and a chat with colleagues, eating and sleeping properly, and had free time most evenings after a couple of hours' work.

Glad to hear that it got better!!

My HoD told me off today and said I need to stop working so hard or I'm going to burn out. I just want to do good lessons all the time and it's really hard! Hoping to get at least a few days ahead this weekend so I'm not rushing around as much.

For those that feel/ are being told they are over-working, remember that it will be a bit like this now when you're trying to find your feet in the midst of over 300 different names and needs, 7 different courses to get a hang of and resources that seem to take forever to find and develop.

Pretty soon, your planning will be speedy. You'll know the names and what extras they require to make progress. You'll have all the course notes in place, and maybe some borrowed/ shared resources too. Ask yourself the things that will make a difference:

What do they need to get out of this lesson? Note learning objectives/ success criteria
What do I physically need in my room to ensure each child can do this? This diagram (+ 2 altered) to hand out, pink pens, specific information and books, whiteboards to assess (eg).
After you have this, the rest is mostly a thought process - just jot down notes for your own reminders/ evidence of planning as necessary.

Don't cram too much in either. I've had much better lessons where my planning has allowed choices in lessons. Instead of writing in detail exactly what I'll do for 20 minutes, I've noted 2 possibilities with reasons and what they're dependent on: If RAG task shows they identify diffusion, they will plan their investigation using frame; if RAG task shows they can't I'll get them to use earlier notes on Key Words to write a definition (no resources needed) and try again. Then they can group plan to cut down time... etc

Avoid spending 3 hours making powerpoints just because you want all slides to have the same background, same font, semi-useful pictures. Be critical, will doing this REALLY have a positive effect on the learners?

If anyone finds a specific part of planning takes a long time then share it here, I bet someone can help

Sometimes you do just need to focus on survival. This means having lessons planned that will get you through 50 minutes in which the kids will learn something, even if it's not your best lesson.

I was saying earlier this week that I felt really busy and like I didn't have time to plan good lessons or to improve what I'd planned, I was just planning something. My colleague who has been teaching for 2 years longer than me said he felt exactly the same. I remember my mentor last year, who had been teaching for nearly 40 years, telling me that as reports were due, she'd be doing a lot of textbook lessons to give her time for report writing.

And the thing is, the kids do learn, even when you're not planning your fanciest lessons. I genuinely think that consolidating by working independently through something from a textbook or a worksheet you got off TES can do them good so long as it's an occasional thing, not every lesson.