So, where?

Last time I wrote on here it was April. April was a long time ago and a long time ago things started to happen. I’ve been working as a full-time teacher since the last week of May and it’s been a ride. Ups, downs, lefts, rights, around in circleses.

Originally, I was supposed to cover a teacher for one day but that day turned into the rest of the week. That week turned into a few more weeks and those few more weeks turned into a month, then the rest of the half term, then the whole term. In that time I’ve experienced and Ofsted-ing to hell and back and been opened to just how great the team of people are, that I work with.

I was always aware that this teacher would come back one day but that day seemed to stretch into the distance. That day kept moving that the longer I’ve stayed at this school the more settled I’ve become and the less I’ve worried about having to deal with Where Next. A newsletter was sent out a few days ago and despite not reading it I gauged from other teachers that it said the return would happen in January. I was made aware of this before but it didn’t feel real, it was made to be a 50/50 chance. I felt despondent. This is my class. I’ve been with them since they started their new school year and it feels like there’s an intruder on the horizon waiting for the right time to come bounding back and snatch them from my grasp. Perhaps much the same as they felt when I took over their last years’ class. It doesn’t stop me feeling incredibly protective. I don’t want to share my class with anyone. I don’t want to go back to supply (I really don’t want that). I don’t want to have to start over again.

I don’t want, usually gets is what I’ve discovered along the way. It’s best I accept the inevitable and suck it up.
Yeah, but I don’t want to.

Listening to: Hybrid – Just For Today

Do It Like A Dude

Men make better headteachers compared to women.
Of course, my experience of headteachers is rather limited, extremely limited.

I was sitting in the staffroom at lunch time enjoying lazy chat with the teachers and classroom assistants. It was coming to the end of lunch and people were slowly sauntering out of the classroom for the final couple of school hours. Conversation with the remaining few managed to get onto the top of what the school was like post-Headteacher Mr H,  roughly 6 years ago. I had known about the school’s reputation before Mr H but talking to the TAs shone a new light on it all. Some talked of how “horrible” it had been and how some days they just “didn’t want to go into school.” One woman remembered being “scared” to come into the school. The general consensus seemed that the previous headteacher, who was a woman, simply was not any good.

Back when I was at primary school, I remember having a new headteacher for the last year or so of my time at the school. The previous headteacher (a man) had retired and the new headteacher was a woman. I don’t really remember any details or such as I was only 10/11 and adult speak then was fairly boring to me but I do remember whispers of discontent and dislike about the new headteacher. She didn’t last long and I can’t help but wonder if it was because she wasn’t any good. Not that I know for sure because I’ve never asked…

Of course, it could just be that there are far more male headteachers than there are female teachers so on average, female headteachers might actually be better. Then again, it could be that women don’t work all that well with other women and men have more success at the helm. Maybe it’s all just down to personality and professional attributes of single people that affect the way they work. And maybe the more experience I become, the more likely I will be to change my mind.

I can’t help but feel men might just be that little bit better.

Listening to: Amplifier – UFOs

Pulled Apart By Horses

I did a little research before writing this blog – but “little”, I mean I typed something into Google and looked at the first few links that popped up.
But that was suffice.

A consistency with all the articles I read – UK [primary] classroom sizes are amongst the biggest in Europe. Compared to countries like Denmark, Italy, Iceland and Slovenia, the UK has a considerably higher average.  In January 2009, the average class size was 26.8″ which was apparently “down from 27.0″ the previous year.  A country like the USA has, on average, a class size of about 23.4 children.
Another article, however, throws a spanner in the works, producing a graph showing that countries with high achieving children, such as Japan and Korea, have substantially larger averages when it comes to class size – what gives? The article suggests a difference in culture and social values, arguing that there are stricter hierarchies within the classroom environment.

Either way, I can say from personal experience that having your attention split between 29 loud, talkative and enthusiastic 6-7 year olds is frazzling to say the least. I have to constantly remind myself to remain calm otherwise the situation does and will escalates. There are times you do feel like screaming, “Sit down and wait until I am ready to come and see you!” Of course, that is no way to behave as a professional adult and so I haven’t, but the temptation has been there.

There have been classes I have taught in where the size has been limited to 21 children and I found that a comfortable size. You can attend to the needs of all children in a reasonable fashion although, there are times when even 21 has seemed 20 too many.

“Does class size matter?

Yes…

* US research shows children in smaller classes do significantly better in the three Rs
* Parents believe smaller classes allow teachers to give pupils more attention
* Smaller classes could stop middle-class ‘flight’ to the private sector

No…

* Countries like Japan and Korea do well despite having large class sizes
* One-to-one tuition for struggling pupils could be a better way of improving standards
* Class sizes are not the only means of ranking the effectiveness of schooling.”

I believe class size does matter in the UK and the sooner it is reduced down further still, the better.

Listening to: Elbow – the birds

Articles featured in this blog

• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-big-question-why-are-class-sizes-in-the-uk-so-big-and-do-pupils-suffer-as-a-result-924460.html
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8047522.stm
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/6156552/UK-class-sizes-among-biggest-in-the-world.html
• http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/class-size-around-the-world/

 

The Importance of Being a Parent

You are who your parents shape you to be.

To a certain degree.
This hasn’t ever really struck true with me until today. Sure, I recognised I had certain attributes from both my parents and I fling the occasional, off-hand remark about how I’m “turning into my mother more and more these days…” but being in school has shown me just how much our parents have an effect on us.

Thomas is just like his father; quiet and studious with a mind to do well. Chloe is like her mother; fiery but loyal and older far beyond her years. And then there’s Claire, a product of the tempestuous household that’s all she’s known her young life. Her parents separated 5 years ago and she spends her week split between mum and dad. The constant change unsettles her and means that sometimes she has bad weeks and sometimes she has very bad weeks. She holds little respect for adults and you wonder if it’s because of her mother who quite happily storms into school to confront teachers or because of her father; a man who holds no bones about yelling at his ex-wife in the school playground. Or maybe, it’s both.

It wakes you up to the importance of a stable home and how lucky are those who have one of those their entire childhood lives. Of course, it doesn’t mean all single parent homes have the same effect on their children but it adds to “it all.”
And that’s what makes supply teaching a little bit of a challenge. Usually, you’re only in for a day perhaps two and you don’t get to know the children. You don’t get to learn about their habits; what makes them them. You aren’t made aware of family issues are home and if you are, it’s never the whole story. You don’t get to understand the children. You’ll get it wrong and you’ll feel like a monster but life isn’t fair, so the sooner you get to realise this, the better.

I still believe that children are just the way they are though…
Listening to: Coldplay – High Speed

Enter Title Here

And suddenly the motivation has disappeared again.
Fabulous timing.

The last 6/7 years or so has seen a downturn in how motivated I am. I’m not sure what encouraged this decrease but I’m not altogether happy with it, I’ll admit.
Back when I began to entertain the idea of teaching I was encouraged to go out and gain some experience to make my CV looks pretty. So I did and that was fine, no problem. Then it came to applying and I dragged my heels a little which was of some consequence as I wasn’t prepared for the interview. I came away looking like I wasn’t and subsequently wasn’t offered a place on the course. Not that this was a great cloud in my sky, as I came to the conclusion I had been lucky and the course I initially applied for wasn’t the one I wanted to do, anyway. So another year rolled by and the time came to apply again and I did it properly and found myself a place on the course that I wanted to do.

So now I have to get a proper job; a full-time job that isn’t supply because I only have 4 years left to complete my NQT year and I used to have 5 but this last year has come and gone unnervingly quick. Darn that.
Talking with a friend today, I joked that I needed a good “kick up the arse”, to get it in gear. She agreed. But the nature of her agreement was sincere and serious and my jokey rapport faded and died, suddenly. It got me thinking about an off-hand remark my mother made a while back, “She’s had it too easy.” It stung a little at the time, but thinking about it now, she hit the mark, beautifully. I have had it a little too easily and perhaps that is why there is only a flicker of desire to get “this” job

Whoever has stolen my motivation, please, bring it back.

Listening to: Malory – Floating