NQT View

Teaching and Learning – Hannah & Yasemin 25/11/15

3 things that we are finding difficult

1. Work load/ marking

2. Always something to do- difficulty in finding a work/ life balance

3. Managing 3 different subjects

We would appreciate some advice in how you as experienced teachers deal with these problems/ how soon after your NQT year it took you to feel ‘on top of things’.

Slips of paper for you to leave some advice that we could feed back in our next NQT meeting.

3 things that have gone well 

1. Not having a teacher in the room has not led to riots. We think this is because we use a lot of praise in our lessons. Rather than focusing on the bad pupils we reward the good students. Group praise through the use of pasta pots.

2. Pupils respect us- we thought they would see us as a sibling/ 6th form student because of the age difference. We think this could be because of the routines we have set. Line up outside/standing behind chairs/ ensuring the correct equipment.

3. Following through seemed impossible on the PGCE- shocked us how you can follow through (call a parent/ log a behaviour/ recall lack of homework)

Feedback from experienced staff:

“Don’t worry about making every lesson ‘perfect’. It’s okay to set bookwork (i.e: students work from textbook) and have them self/ peer mark.”

“Collaborative planning, peer assessment.”

“Include brief mark scheme tick box at bottom of essay- they must use this to self- assess and leave a comment and you can just tick if you agree/ disagree.”

“You can’t do everything. Prioritise Y13 down. Y7 marking can wait.”

“Cut down on fancy powerpoints to save time and try to avoid creating lots of paper resources for the kids.”

“Set homework and mark essays on google classroom. Much quicker to mark and respond. Print out for file if needed.”

“Code mark and get students to peer mark and underline key words etc- quicker to mark.”

“Set aside some ‘me’ time regardless of workload- and stick to it! (not easy but will keep you sane )”

“Mark books during lessons.”

“Get hold of book stamps.”

“Allocate yourself an hour a day- no excuses! Sit in the bath!”

“Never be afraid to ask for advice.”

“Never think you have to know everything.”

“Approach teaching with an open book approach- we never stop leaninh.”

“Remember you are only 1 person! Make sure you give yourself some relax time- otherwise you will be consistently ill for the whole of your NQT year!”

“Set start and finish times and stick to them.”

“Come to the staffroom to share good and bad bits )

“Look for lessons online (TES) and then adapt them to your practice.”

“Book a night off every week. Don’t take anything home and don’t feel guilty (it’s a job).

“Once you have taught Y10/11 a whole GCSE group etc or Y7 from SeptJuly you will be able to re-use lesson plans, resources etc. SO

BACK UP EVERYTHING! It does get a bit easier ”

“Note down a good point from each day to ensure that on a ‘bad’ day you can reflect on excellent practice.”

“Don’t be scared to try new ideas.”

“Keep a list of planning and marking.”