Reflections on my NQT year

by Ms_H_Eng, posted in education, English Teaching, NQT, Uncategorized

The ‘how to survive your NQT year’ message is well meant. I have absolutely learnt a lot from people giving out such advice. However, myself, and many of my NQT friends don’t feel like we have simply survived. We have absolutely thrived during our NQT and this is my way of adding some positivity to the NQT narrative.

My year as an NQT has been full of ups and downs. There has been a lot of hilarity (something I’m not subtle about, I believe the phrase ‘I can hear you laughing from the canteen’ has been used this year). There has been a smattering of tears, although only once in school which I see as a small victory. There has been frustration, flashes of anger (although usually not related to children) but overwhelmingly I have been happy.

In a conversation with my HOD last week she told me how impressed she is with me this year and how much of a brilliant job I’ve done. Aside from nearly making me cry (we’re all emotional at this time of year!) it made me realise, that actually I have done a good job. My students have made progress, I’ve built some great relationships with my students, I’ve run some successful literacy programmes in school, I’ve organised 5 very small trips and most of all I’ve learnt so so much. And why shouldn’t we celebrate the things we’ve done well? I don’t know everything, I am far from a perfect teacher but I am continually trying to get better. And I haven’t just survived this year, I have thrived.

I’m blessed to work in an incredible department with my best friend. As a department, we support each other, share in our achievements and help each other through the tough bits. I couldn’t have thrived this year without them. They have given me resources, helped me plan, given behaviour advice and support and let me rant (and brag!). Support from my department, I truly believe, has been THE most important thing for me this year (of course this includes my wider department of #TeamEnglish).

I’ve come to understand that the best form of behaviour management, for me and my students, is through building relationships. Sure, there is that one class that I never really cracked and there are a handful of students that I can’t win over. But, there are so many students this year that started the year as the biggest problems in my life, and have ended it being some of my favourite (not that I have them) students to teach. It has not been an easy ride and I’ve used every tool in my box. I can’t tell you how many parent phone calls I’ve made (good and bad).

I distinctly remember #GlueStickGate (when my Y9s decided to unwind whole glue sticks and stick them to my ceiling during an observation without me or my observer noticing). But then, in my last observation with them, they were trying so hard to behave, of course they couldn’t hold it together for the whole time, but they really tried and the relationship I had built with them was noticed and commented on. I took the time to get to know them and take an interest in them, and it really paid off.

I also remember being so furious at the apathy and disrespect in one of my classes that I asked my HOD and the assistant head (my mentor) to come into every lesson I had with them. And they did, for about two weeks, until I said they could stop, it worked wonders and, of course, it was great moral support for me. I’ll be honest, they are the class I never cracked but they are still a million times better than they were. At the beginning it was taking 15 minutes to take a register, now they are fairly well trained – just still a bit apathetic in pockets. The biggest thing I learnt from this was not to be scared to ask for help – some things are bigger than just me!

I’m notoriously unorganised, last minute and laid back but that just doesn’t fly as a teacher. So, I’ve found the way I like to organise myself. It might still all be a bit last minute but it works for me. I’ve learnt that I need to plan out my half term, but on a lesson to lesson basis I’m never more than a day or two ahead. I change my mind too often to plan more than that. I admire, but can’t understand, teachers that can plan further ahead – how do you know how students will react and cope with work until you teach it? My lesson planning, has of course, become more and more vague. I rely heavily on my visualiser and instead of spending my time making PPTs etc I spend it making sure I know my texts and my subject. I’ve found that to be a much more beneficial use of my time.

I’ve also learnt that you’ve got to be kind to yourself.  I accept that on a Sunday night I’m not going to do anything quality. It’s much more effective to get some rest and come back to it tomorrow. It’s ok to say I’d rather be out with my friends/ family, watching TV, having a nap etc. My pupils benefit from having a well rounded, well rested teacher. Yeah they sometimes have to wait an extra day for an assessment to be marked. But let’s be honest – that hurts no one right?

So, for anyone about to start your NQT, the best advice I can give you is just try to enjoy all the little moments. When you close your door and it is just you and your pupils, that’s the magic bit. Remember EVERY teacher has that class they struggle with and it is likely that it isn’t just you struggling with a particular pupil or class, Avoid negativity like the plague. It gets easier all the time, it is about finding your routines and what works for you and your pupils and that means it will go wrong sometimes and that is ok. You get it right eventually. It will be hard at times. BUT for me it was absolutely worth it and the good outweighed the bad by a such a large amount.

You don’t just have to survive your NQT year. You can thrive.

Talk4Writing has revolutionised my approach to teaching writing…

by Ms_H_Eng, posted in Uncategorized

No really it has. I can’t even remember how I used to teach writing before it. I don’t think I really did, I think I just told pupils to write and then what happened happened!

We are really lucky to be working with an amazing primary school who have introduced us to, and trained us to use, Pie Corbetts’ Talk4Writing. It has taken me a while to get to grips with it and how it needs to work in my classroom and in a secondary context, but now I have the results are amazing. I’ve got students who aren’t using full stops and capital letters, not only doing that but using semi colons, question marks, exclamation marks. They are writing using figurative language and linguistic techniques. And while this is amazing to see whilst they are doing a Talk4Writing piece, what has truly blown my mind is that I’m starting to see it crop up in their writing, even when it’s not a Talk4Writing piece. I’m definitely a convert.

For anyone who isn’t familiar, Talk4Writing is a process of internalising text structures and techniques so that they can then be used in writing. The two ways that I know to do this are through text mapping and boxing up.

I’m not entirely sold on boxing up, I can see it makes a difference in the short term but I can’t seem to see any long term effects yet. I would love to hear from anyone using it effectively – as I suspect it is mainly user error.

Text mapping, however, is phenomenal. I’ve learned that the key is to start with a high quality text and know exactly what it is you want your students to be working on. Quite often, I will write this text or adapt an existing one to ensure it contains what I need it to. I’ve found, more often than not, this is also quicker than endlessly searching for the perfect text.

Original Text Example

So once I have my text, in advance I sit down and decide which parts I’m going to keep as text, as these are the parts that won’t change, the essential elements of techniques that I want to students to learn. Then as a class we work through turning the rest into a text map, which is essentially a series of pictures that represent the words. All the time we are going over and chanting sentences/ sections as a class to help students memorise the map and internalise those structures. A really important part of this is verbalising the punctuation too.

Text Map Example

Once we have our map, we practice it until I am certain that all my students can remember it. The next step is I get them to write the map back into words and when I first did this it amazed me. I had a class writing all reciting the map to themselves and punctuation wasn’t forgotten because it was part of what they were reciting. It looked and sounded so strange, like they were speaking some strange language!

Turning the Text Map Back into Words Example

At this point all they have done is memorized and reproduced the text you started with. So now it’s time to start innovating. Decide which pictures you are going to allow pupils to change. You need to get their heads around that they can change the topic but not the structure. I’ve found this takes practice. Students then independantly create their own map, with new pictures. So, a story about a fairy becomes a story about a goblin. A description of a fairground becomes a description of a desert island etc. The important thing is to control what they can and cannot change. If you want them to learn and use similes but allow them to get rid of like/ as then it isn’t going to have the desired effect! One way of doing this is by covering up the parts they can change so that it becomes a blank part of the map.

Innovated Text Map Example

Now they have their own map they need to say it, internalise it and remember it before the final stage of writing it into a full text.

Innovated Text Example

The text they produce is highly scaffolded and obviously not a representation of what they can do independantly. However, what I’ve found is with practice, time and use things start to stick. And I’m starting to see the techniques and structures we practice through Talk4Writing appear in pieces that aren’t created through Talk4Writing. It’s that memorisation and internalisation of the techniques which means a week later when I say to my Y7s, ok write a radio advert, they know exactly what I mean, how it should sound and what needs to go into it. And what they produce is 100 times better than anything they would have done.

As a side note, the other thing I love about it is that students love it. They are so engaged with the process. I never have such good behaviour in my class as when I do Talk4Writing. And, as an added bonus, I love that once I have my text I don’t have to plan my lessons for the week!

I really do believe in the power of Talk4Writing and that it definitely has a place in the secondary curriculum. It is very time consuming and it isn’t the only way to effectively teach writing. But it does make a difference and I really think it’s worth exploring and investing some time in.

Thanks for reading.

Ms H Eng

Why this term has sucked…

by Ms_H_Eng, posted in Uncategorized

I spent some time today reflecting on this half term. It’s been a tough one but I need to unpick why. So these are my honest, personal thoughts about my experience.

I’m usually an incredibly positive person. Annoyingly so. But I’ll be honest. This half term has sucked. It has sucked for so many reasons. But mainly because my personal world has been incredibly stressful and busy which has drastically reduced my time and patience.

This has made teaching harder. I’m grumpier with my pupils. Which makes them grumpy with me. Which leads to a viscous cycle of us sniping at each other. Then they don’t listen. Which means they aren’t following instructions and their work suffers as a result. My books, therefore, look terrible. This is stressing me out, especially with book scrutinies looming. Add this stress to my personal stress, and the whole situation gets worse again.

I’m most concerned that I’ve damaged some relationships with pupils and I’ve made them feel really rubbish about themselves. This really bothers me and adds to whole bundle of anxiety and stress and I’m currently feeling.

My lack of time has led to hastily planned lessons and scarcely marked books. Which means the quality of my teaching has suffered because I’ve had a lack of formative assessment from marking and my planning hasn’t been enough to support me in class and get the best from my pupils. This is affecting their progress and their confidence as a result. Again – add this to that big ball of stress and it’s about moon-sized now.

I’m feeling like I’m completely crushed under the weight of all of this. I’m determined to get back to the organised, calm and caring teacher I was before Christmas but I just can’t seem to catch my tail.

So sat down and made a plan. My plan is this.

1) Focus on the good with every student and try and build back my relationships to positive ones.

2) Accept that my books are pants this term but start next term with focus and more forward planning to ensure it is just a blip.

3) Continue to lean on the support of my colleagues and management to get me through these last few weeks.

I don’t want to be stressed. I don’t want to shout. That’s not who I am as a teacher, but it is who I have been this half term. I’m hoping my plan will steer me back in the right direction, ready for a calm positive half term after a much needed break.

Why I Love Young Adult Fiction…

by Ms_H_Eng, posted in Uncategorized

I’ve been thinking about writing a teaching blog for a long time, but I’ve always been intimidated by all of you wonderful educators who have taught me so much since the beginning of my teaching journey. But then one of you, who has been a source of so much information and inspiration, told me to go for it – so here I am! I’m no expert and I’m no writer. I’m just sharing my experiences.

Anyone who knows me knows that all of my spare (and then some) income goes on two things. Holidays and Books. Lots of books. I buy books faster than I could ever read them (that’s not just me right?) and sometimes I buy books I will probably never read. But hey, they make me happy! I read all sorts of different books, but most of them fit broadly into three categories.

  1. Young adult fiction
  2. Weird fiction (I’ll elaborate on this one day)
  3. Non-fiction

I love all three. But I want to share my thoughts on young adult fiction.

It’s just good

I sometimes think of ‘young adult fiction’ as an unfair label. It is just fiction, and a lot of it is really good fiction. If I pick one up I seem to always find it difficult to put back down, I’m usually gripped after the first few pages and desperate to know what happens to the characters. The narratives always take interesting twists and turns and there is a surprising richness to the language. I know this is true of a lot of fiction, but that is my point. People often make wise cracks about me reading kids books, but they are no different to any other! A good story is a good story, no matter how you dress it up.

It makes me a better teacher

Ok, so it doesn’t exactly mean that when I am trying to teach ‘A Christmas Carol’ I’m much better at it, but it helps when it comes to getting pupils reading. When they come to me and ask for help finding a book, even if they have read everything I have, at least they know I’m interested in books that they read. It means we can converse about books and characters and there seems to be a real appreciation and excitement that I enjoy the same books as they do. It has got to the point where students are coming to me with recommendations because they know I get excited about it. Of course, it also helps with pupils who haven’t read those books, particularly students who might be more reluctant. If I can get excited about a book, or better yet, a series of books, then some of that passes on. Of course it isn’t a magic trick. It doesn’t suddenly mean all of my students are reading. But it definitely helps, and that can’t be a bad thing right?

It also helps in terms of making comparisons. I find that I can say ‘you know in Harry Potter when this happens? Well that’s…’ or even in finding texts and extracts. It fascinates me that we seem to teach very little YA fiction to students when so much of it is so brilliant and the language in it is great for analysis!

It is a bit of a brain break

While I maintain that the language, plot and characters are all interesting and full of depth, there is a certain easiness that comes with reading YA fiction. It might be full of depth but it doesn’t make my brain hurt like Margaret Atwood or Dickens. It makes it quick and gives my brain a rest, which is exactly what I need during term time! I find flip flopping between YA and on YA to be the best way!

If its not something that already lines your bookshelves, its got to be worth a try right? The best I have read in the last year have got to be:

  1. The Explorer by Katherine Rundell
  2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  3. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
  4. The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

Thanks for reading

Ms H