The NQT Year Thread

Original post by TraineeLynsey

One of my boys is testing me. Ended up taking 2 full days of breaks from him today.

Horrific morning followed by amazing afternoon. Go figure.

I've drawn a cartoon on the board near his seat encouraging him to 'earn it back!' ... We'll see how he responds to that tomorrow!

I've got my first observation on Monday. So nervous already!!

Aww good luck with the obs. Your doing the right thing by keeping him in for break etc. I've started issuing sanctions etc and they are rebelling against that especially my form class.

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Reply 1182

lantan

7

Original post by pgce2013

Had a very bad day today I feel as if my classes are testing me. Anyone else having a similar problem?

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I had a horrific day yesterday, for the reasons, not related to school. But stilll that meant that I was almost nodding off in the evening meeting and then crashed home with the pretty much the same "What the hell is going on!" feeling. Have a full teaching day today and dreading it!

Reply 1183

outlaw-torn

15

I'm going to try and crack down on behaviour today, my year 9's are going to go off the rails if I don't start using sanctions.

Anybody else feel like it's so hard to keep up with following up misbehaviour, logging it etc?

Reply 1184

Original post by outlaw-torn

I'm going to try and crack down on behaviour today, my year 9's are going to go off the rails if I don't start using sanctions.

Anybody else feel like it's so hard to keep up with following up misbehaviour, logging it etc?

Exactly the same situation today I followed it all up. Another bad day in terms of behaviour with the pupils, they think that as I am new they can get away and be silly. Well, I've started to lay down the rules.

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Reply 1185

TraineeLynsey

7

Had a great day today! No really bad behaviour issues (at least not in the class - just one or two break-time problems), felt really on top of things and had an AMAZING computing lesson with my class.

I highly recommend all primary teachers who are introducing computer programming to do the 'jam sandwich robot' lesson. I can't remember where I came across the idea, but it's a pretty well-known one.

I showed the kids a little thing on Scratch, we talked about how programming is essentially just very detailed instructions and then did a bit of shared instruction writing to programme an imaginary robot to make a cup of tea.

Then I got them to write instructions in 2s/3s for how to make a jam sandwich, but this time I became the robot. So after they'd spent a bit of time writing their instructions I stood there and followed their steps. My hand was in the jam jar, I was spreading jam using my hand, I was putting jam on the bag of bread - it was hysterical.

The first few ones we tried had so many errors (I actually put on a robot voice and went 'error error cannot compute' and stuff like that a few times), but by the end they'd worked out where the potential pitfalls were and we were able to make the sandwiches without any silly errors (and without my getting covered in jam!). All the kids got to eat their sandwiches after they'd 'controlled' me making them and they all now know the potential pitfalls that come with poorly written instructions.

Hopefully it will all make it a bit more concrete and real when we get on to actually using Scratch and writing some code ourselves.

Reply 1186

Steveluis10

10

Had possibly my worst ever lesson as teacher so far today. Won't go into too much detail but around half way through I started to feel really out of control and shamefully gave up in a way, I had about 4 pupils actually bothering with the work and a good 20 odd either messing about or taking no notice at all in me. I made the whole class come back at the end of the day and they all came back pretty much but it was just a horrible lesson. I only see them once a week but I'm definitely going to talk to some teachers tomorrow about it and see what things I can do to improve that next time as it left me really drained and depressed!!

Reply 1187

outlaw-torn

15

Original post by Steveluis10

Had possibly my worst ever lesson as teacher so far today. Won't go into too much detail but around half way through I started to feel really out of control and shamefully gave up in a way, I had about 4 pupils actually bothering with the work and a good 20 odd either messing about or taking no notice at all in me. I made the whole class come back at the end of the day and they all came back pretty much but it was just a horrible lesson. I only see them once a week but I'm definitely going to talk to some teachers tomorrow about it and see what things I can do to improve that next time as it left me really drained and depressed!!

Please don't let it get you down too much. I also had a very similar lesson on Wednesday afternoon - it's my most difficult class but around half way through the lesson I felt I'd lost 3/4 of them and only the kids that I have a really positive relationship with were actually getting on with work. There are so many different dynamics within that class such as EAL, SEN and behavioural difficulties that I also gave up (and made the huge mistake of not following up on behaviour properly). Felt like crowd control by the end of the lesson!

So just know you aren't alone!

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Reply 1188

The end to my week was a nightmare I feel their is resistance to change - most of my classes are playing up and I have picked out the naughty pupils and went through the sanctions with them. I just hope it gets better.

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Reply 1189

Original post by Steveluis10

had about 4 pupils actually bothering with the work and a good 20 odd either messing about or taking no notice at all in me.

Make a point of rewarding the 4 students - praise them in front of everybody. We have something called Postcards where they get their names written on and then the main office addresses them and sends them home. In a situation like this I found actually giving these good students the postcard there and then and getting them to write their own name and address on was quite powerful.
Don't leave it at that: Phone home and give a positive call. I did my first positive call the other day but I haven't had a chance to see how it affects the student as I haven't had them again yet. My NQT year was taken up too much on focusing on the negatives, the positive ones need to be rewarded or they will get lost and punished when they shouldn't so my NQT+1 year has a target of being positive.
I know how hard it is to focus on the positivity, hence why it's taken me a year to start being like it, but I do wish I'd started it last year especially early on or things will just spiral.

As a lesson idea to help with the control, is there a way you can plan a "textbook lesson"? I think you teach English, and as I teach MAths I know how much easier it is for me to do a "textbook lesson".
But I was going to say, plan something that is not too basic, but basic enough that you know they could get on with it without any help and would be useful for them to revisit (for example for me I would say practice a bit of long multiplication for a second set). Tell them that they will be doing this in silence unless you talk to them (or whatever you decide for your parameters). This way you can sit at the front initially and see who it is that is starting the disruption and pick them up on it one by one. Keep insisting on silence until they can do it properly. IF you think that they need to do it again the next lesson then do it again.
Start bringing the repeat offenders back after school (they're the detentions they want to avoid)

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1190

Original post by qwerty_mad

Anyone know where you can buy these record books where you only write the name of the children once and there are multiple pages to keep record of various things like homework, attendance etc?

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Do you mean the teacher's planner?
http://www.edplanbooks.com/the-teachers-planner-c12.html

Reply 1191

niki987

2 weeks down and it has absolutely flown by. Just had our assessment week so lots of marking to be done but I can't complain! Struggling to pick any negatives so far. Because we get a full day out of class, I am able to keep my weekend work-free.

Reply 1192

Original post by outlaw-torn

Thank you so much for the advice!

The two main things that I'm struggling with in terms of planning:

1. I know what they need to learn by the end of the lesson but I'm spending way too long thinking of activities that can get them to learn that. (I teach history) consequently, I'm trying to cram in loads of different activities and I think the kids are just like woah what's going on.

I was like that a lot last year, especially with the lower level groups. So this year I planned a little less and was shocked that I ran our of work for them to do. Reflecting on this a couple of days later, I now realise I had planned too little. So I would suggest (to both you and myself - sorry for the bad grammar!) that we plan what we need to do and have these extra activities ready to go for the just in case aspect but then they're ready to use for the next lesson if necessary.

2. I teach in a school with a lot of EAL and pupils with SEN. I'm not really differentiating and I'm beginning to worry about it.. Some kids can't access the work and I'm just not sure what the best thing to do is. Should I give them a worksheet to go through that's different to everyone else's work? Should I give them key words to stick in so that they can understand what everyone else already understands?

Do you have any TAs that you work with? They can help you with the differentiation aspect, or go to the SENCO.
Or... Ask your mentor. It's likely that they know, or know of, the students in question and can help you (as they're there to do!)
If you prepare a worksheet for the main class, scaffold it for those who can't access it in one go: break it down into smaller tasks. Have them sit next to somebody who can access it.

Original post by pgce2013

The end to my week was a nightmare I feel their is resistance to change - most of my classes are playing up and I have picked out the naughty pupils and went through the sanctions with them. I just hope it gets better.

It will get better... if you follow through with the sanctions.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1193

Original post by Piggsil

(Dot idea)

That is such a good idea! I've got so many students I could use this type of technique with and would have loved to use it on a particular student last year that I actually no longer teach!
I just need to decide which ones to use it with now...

Reply 1194

Piggsil

16

Original post by elldeegee

That is such a good idea! I've got so many students I could use this type of technique with and would have loved to use it on a particular student last year that I actually no longer teach!
I just need to decide which ones to use it with now...

Yeah definitely don't try and use it on too many pupils in the same class at once, you'll lose track!

Reply 1195

outlaw-torn

15

I'm dreading going to work tomorrow because of one class. I have no motivation to plan a good lesson for them because they never do any work. I need to keep reminding myself that a bunch of 14 year olds are making me dread work...

Reply 1196

Original post by Piggsil

Yeah definitely don't try and use it on too many pupils in the same class at once, you'll lose track!

I have awful classes, last week was a nightmare. I am not dreading it I want to face up to the challenge and get discipline in order. Start picking out the disruptive kids and follow the sanctions with them. I just stand back at times to figure out who it is. I know who the characters are now and i will make it known and deal with them according to school policy. Don't stand for it you are not alone you have only one class I have many classes that are very disruptive. The word will soon get around that you don't tolerate it.

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Reply 1197

Steveluis10

10

My aims for this week are:

Sanction the disruptive: detentions issued. Not standing for any crap this week.
Reward the good pupils and make a point of doing it in front of the class.
Learn way more names.
Teach at least one very good lesson per day.
Try and forge more of a connection with my A level class.

Reply 1198