Merits + detentions

Things are progressing nicely at school. I am enjoying teaching classes and feel that with each lesson I take things are starting to improve. The feedback I have been getting from being observed has been really useful and it is helping me to shape the kind of teacher that I want to become as well as giving me good suggestions to think about in future lessons.

One group of pupils even asked where I was today as I will only take them for 2 of their 4 lessons. I am starting to feel like I belong which will be weird when I have to leave at the end of term to go to my next placement school.

I am attached to a form group and today their usual teacher was in meetings during registration, so I took registration and checked their planners (homework diaries) had been signed by their parents. Those who hadn't had planners signed were given an after school detention (5 of them) for thursday. I now feel like I am using the rewards/merits system and sanctions system appropriately as I am desperately striving to be a firm but fair type of teacher.
The school has introduced a modified version of the merits system whereby students are entered into a draw each half term if they recieve a set number of merits to recieve £30 voucher which can be used for phone credit or CD or towards books. This has made the year10/year 11 classes who were previously way too cool to collect merits far more interested in them again!
My favorite group of year 10's worked so well today alot of merits were handed out and it was interesting to see a number of the boys say that they were not interested in them until one lad who is a real character said he was collecting them. He is a particularly well liked boy who is a bit wild but obviously a natural leader among his peer group, it almost seemed that as he was collecting merits its was now officially cool to do so.

I really like the challenge of low ability/ unmotivated children and hope to be able to switch a couple of them on to the fact that science is great, I seem to be making progress with 2/3 of the year 10 group and probably 2 of the particularly unmotivated year 9 group.

Tomorrow is my Lead School day In Ipswich, I am not sure exactly what we will be discussing but it will be great to meet up with the other trainees to see what their experiences have been
and how everyone is liking their schools and what differences/similarities their are between schools. Will try to report back tomorrow but I have a list of 10+ things to do before friday and an essay looming so this weekend will be work work work.

This is going to be a catch up post so might be a bit longer......

Monday 19th Sept
I had a busy day at school which involved me taking my first whole lesson. It went well no one killed anyone else in the practical so i am taking this as a victory. Obviously lots of things I can improve on but a good start! I had to take Tolley to the vets today about his mad digging up the house behaviour if we aren't there and people make noises or there is a storm. Vet was very helpful and since this has been ongoing for over 2 years he has given me some medication for Tolly to take just before a storm......let hope it works!
This evening Simon and I went to beginers German lessons, it was great fun and we are suppossed to practise 5 mins per day and have just realised we haven't been......

Tuesday 20th Sept
As one of my tasks for my SCITT course I had to work as a Lab Technician for the day.
Good fun and they needed me as one of the other technicians was off sick. Having worked in a lab for a a few years before having Morgan I was quite suprised at their complete lack of systems and I am in the process of writing a short report for my QTS Portfolio. I was suppossed to go to a Virgin Vie party, but I was just too tired to move (Sorry Roz)

Wednesday 21st Sept
Some team teaching today which was good but I am finding that I am adapting to each different teachers style rather than developing my own right now. With some teachers I have a very organised attitude and with others it is more flexible.
I tried to take my QTS ICT skills test but the test centre couldn't get it to work so I will have to try agan tomorrow. Simon and I then rushed out to Morgan's schools Parents discussion evening (thanks to Mike and Moo who babysat at the last minute for us!)
An intesrestng evening and that s all i am saying on the matter!

FINALLY TODAY: THURSDAY 22ND SEPT

In my first lesson the teacher decided to move some of the children as the previous lessons had been quite disruptive. This seemed to have a much more positive effect in the classroom but the tables are arranged in 4 groups and cannot be seperated. The TA connected to ths class commented that this class behaves alot better in other classes as they sit in desks arranged in pairs. I might try to arrange to observe some of these pupils in a lesson outside the science department and compare behaviour.
I bunked off school early today (with permission from HOD) to try again to take my ICT test. They are still having problems so decieded to try my literacy test which I hadn't prepared for but I managed to pass so thats what matters!

Well tonight I must evaluate the lesson I taught today, play with a volcano write up my report on beng a technician for a day and make a spreadsheet.
Wow I bet you can't wait for tomorrows installment now!















Wed

What a fantastic day

I had a great day today, I spent period 1 with tutor group who were obviously a bit worried about their first day with the whole school back and they spent that sorting out timetables etc etc. and the tutor really set out the rules in a fair but firm way. \It was interesting to note the subtle change from motivational talk yesterday to a vary matter of fact if you do x then y will happen kind of talk that occurred today.

Period 2 I spent with A2 Year13 Biology who I had been involved in helping out last year. Suprisingly there are only 5 students now from the 15+ who took AS level in year 12. They are doing coursework and each of them is doing an independant investigation and all of them look like they should make good experiments.

Period 3+4 was spent with AS Biology (year12) who are getting their first intro to the Salters Nuffield course. As part of this sixth form each student is set a 3week assignment for the teachers to assess whether they are suitable for the course. They have 20+ As level biology students which from a personal perspective seems too many.

Period 5+6+7 was spent with the A2 (year 13 students) who were doing some practical work which was fun.

Tomorrow I have 10B3 and I think it is earth materials, followed by a 1 lesson CORE run by the schools own training school. Must get working on my assignment!

Morgans First Day

Morgan has settled into nursery without any problems so far. He has enjoyed hand painting and going out for a walk today! There are only 4 other children in the nursery at the moment with 2 teachers.

I seemed to spend all day trying to get class lists, seating plans, IEP's and SOW sorted out for the classes that I will be observing and eventually teaching. The amount of paper that is used in schools is amazing- the paperless revolution hasn't reached them yet but I can understand the need for having access to info in a folder rather on a laptop. School felt a bit more normal today as there were some YR9 and sixth form pupils in. Tommorrow is the big day back when all pupils are back and the timetable kicks in. I have been assigned to a form group and
their normal tutor is fantastic so I am really hoping to learn alot from her. Today I sat in on a few one 2 one interviews wth this tutor group and this tutor managed to make each chld feel motivated and good about their achievements to date. It reminded me of the business style of quarterly goal setting. She basically asked which subjects they liked/were good at which they felt they needed to work on or didn't like so much. Also about interests outside school e.g music sport etc. and then asked if she set homework today which had to be completed in 2 weeks time when would they start it? HONESTLY? (she sad it was so she needed to know who to give a gently nudge to regarding homework).

Overall another good day and again I am looking forward to tommorrow.

Am I a chemist or a biologist?

I am still trying to work out whether I will become a biology or chemistry teacher, technically by training I am a biochemist/molecular biologist, but having scanned the syllabus at GCSE, AS and A2 for both biology and chemistry and find I am interested in both equally. So I have compromised and will be a biologist with a strong chemistry component. In reality in most schools science is taught upto GCSE without a specialism, but I would ideally like to feel comfotable to be able to teach Biology post 16 (AS A2) and about half of the chemistry syllabus post 16 (AS A2).

Today has been really interesting in terms of SEN. An update of students who had SEN was given in terms of their achievement at both GCSE and vocational qualifications. Students joining the school with SEN were discussed with respect to their medical, and behavioural needs. Also a small introduction into the various agencies (connexions, school counsellor and school nurse) was given which put into perspective how the school is linked into the local community.

I am still fascinated by the Fischer Family Trust data and how much more accurate at predicting GCSE results that teachers have been in the past as it takes away the objective human factor. What really impresses me is that this school targets those c/d borderline kids for a mentoring scheme to try and turn the D's into Cs for the students, which had been particulary sucessful this year.

I am really looking forward to Monday now, although it will only be year 9 and sixth form and lessons dont actually start until period 2 on tuesday.
Was given a great tip by a good teacher today TAKE UP TIME (TUT) which basically means expecting that something will be done because you have asked for it to be done. You tell student A to start writing notes and then walk away expecting that s/he will do it.

First day back at school

Well technically it isn't my first day back as I have been volunteering at this school 1 day/week most of last year. But it is my first day back as a student teacher.

Today was a PD/INSET day so it was setting the scene for next year/ going over exam results. I am very impressed how "Fischer" data can be used in schools. It was evident that it had been used to identify c/d borderline students for a mentoring programme to help the borderline students achieve a grade c.

On Monday Year 9 students come in and they have a day to get used to their new schoold but also they get to do a number of tests including Fischer but also one which identifies which type of learning style they prefer. This is then being used to feed into an individual learning plan (ILP). It seems that this school places a huge emphasis on getting the best for an individual. I am very tempted to ask if can also take the learning style preference test, but I strongly suspect that I will be a kineaesthetic learner (I like to touch or do to learn!)

My current assignment is "To what extand does the reality of classroom interaction substatiante the varoius theories of learning?" I have started the reading and have summarized my views on the main theories but am looking forward to observing some lessons so that I can actively comment on the reality of the classroom.

I also have to start thinking about registering and taking my QTS skills tests in literacy, numeracy and ICT. I am not too worried about nummeracy, but I am dreading literacy as I cannot spell (as you can probably tell) and have awful grammer. Apparently though it is the ICT one which most people have difficulty with as it uses adesktop generated by Flash which has no resemblance to windows so no one knows how to use it.....Nice!

I am awaiting a timetable but suspect I will get that tomorrow when I met with my mentor.


Just as a side note: the dogs Tolley and Murphy coped very well and were very pleased to seem me, especially as I have just taken them O for a W (code for WALK in our house).

Morgan is away tonight so am hoping Simon might take me out for a beer to celebrate.