All entries for September 2011

TIP NUMBER 4 – Make friends with your fellow subject GTPs!

The main difference between the GTP and PGCE is the amount of contact you have with the University and also your fellow trainees. I knew a couple of the PGCE scientists before our courses started last year, and they really built a close knit community. Subject sessions highlighted that when we joined them. Very cliquey!:-)

One thing having that community does is having a lot of people in a similar boat you can bounce ideas off, share resources, and talk about worries. Though it is more difficult as a GTP, it is still doable. Think 9 of us started on the science GTP last year, and only 5 finished. But the 5 of us who did all got on great and we spoke pretty regularly, and shared loads of stuff. We all had different specialisms, so they became a great source of information.

In other news, I became a Dad on Monday. Sophia Rose was 7lb 7oz, and is stunning. Guess it'll add perspective to that bottom set year 10 lesson I teach, but to be honest, I love all the kids I am teaching in my new school. It is first rate. Setting 2 weeks of cover is relatively difficult though! Doing it day by day so far, popping in on route to hospital to make sure all the equipment is available.

Chelsea were robbed tonight.

Steve x

Steve Essex : 29 Sep 2011 00:07 |  Tags: Baby Community Cover |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

TIP NUMBER 3 – Ask for help

Apologies for the massive gap between blogs. I literally have no internet access at school in my class, so do not have the chance to write the blogs with the frequency I used to! On to the blog....

I was a keen bean early doors during my GTP. Wonderful energy levels you see. Eager to impress obviously, as I am sure all are when starting. Making fancy powerpoints for your lessons, becoming experts in smartboard technologies.... Now, the workload gets a little bit manic at a certain point (November time from what I remember) but I continued to do everything from scratch. It was difficult.

Now my complimentary placement taught me many things. One of them was teamwork is key, and sharing resources and ideas is a wonderful concept. All the teachers there were quick to help, lend, share, suggest.

It turned out all the teachers at my main school were too, I had never asked, thats all. I have quickly been able to build up a huge stack of resources, which have given me many ideas. Though I do not use a lot of it as found, it is always a useful starting point.

So yeah, make life easy on yourself, ask for help! Workload gets reduced, and to be quite honest, the best resource we have is our colleagues for learning. So use them.

NQT news - had my first observation today. Get 1 a half term, and it went really well. Finding school pretty amazing. Absolutely love the kids I am teaching, though I do miss the kids from Myton of course. The organisation is a bit manic, but I am getting my head around it. I have a load more responsibilty with lots of GCSE qroups and exams coming up in November - pressure is on. And I have to cover whole modules in 16 lessons, it is a little mental. Hopefully I can get everyone through.

Still awaiting the arrival of baby me. Due in 5 days. :-/

Any questions give me a shout! Dr Rockett, hope the spreadsheet is useful!

Steve Essex : 23 Sep 2011 22:26 |  Tags: Ask Help Obs |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

TIP NUMBER 2 – Make a spreadsheet

My love for Microsoft excel came very handy during the GTP. At each standard assessment point, be they for Q1-9, 10-21 or 22-33, I was always confident I had enough information and evidence to back me up. That was mainly down to my organisation.

Simply, you need a spreadsheet with the following titles in row A.

Type of Evidence, Observed/Witnessed/Responsible, Date, Details, Resources, 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7A, 7B, 8, 9, 10...

and so on up to standard 33.

And simply, as you attend a meeting, as you attend a twilight at school, as you plan a lesson, as you observe a lesson, as you go to a parents evening, as you do some intervention, as you discuss a specific topic in your mentor meeting.... just simply record it on the spreadsheet, and tick off which standards it provides evidence towards. You would be surprised how one 30 minute session with a tutor can tick so many things.

Doing this early means you have less to worry about when compiling folders to find evidence for each standard. Literally sort the data on the spreadsheet for each standard in turn, and make a judgement about your best pieces. It also gets you looking at the standards early, and once you read them all and come up with ideas of what constitutes evidence towards each of them, your confidence will also grow.

So the NQT year, they say is pretty difficult. Well I am a week in, and bar having my own form all on my own, the 4/5 lessons a day are honestly going smoothly. I have a load of resources and lesson plans ready from last year, as invariably you will end up teaching similar things to before. I am loving my year 7 form, and it is going really well. I mainly have my complimentary placement at Perry Beeches to thank for that, as I have used all their ideas for form time, focusing on their reward schemes in particular. I have used a couple of tactics picked up on my induction day last year at Myton too, and also from my first core session at Warwick, to help all the class meet each other and learn each others names. It really is awesome.

New school is really good, kids are great and I get the feeling they appreciate a bit of banter and are thankful for the effort teachers put in for them. I am looking forward to a really good year as an NQT, and I am grateful I did the GTP to get me really ready for this process.

Keep it real homies,

Stevo x

Steve Essex : 08 Sep 2011 20:37 |  Tags: Nqt Oragnise Spreadsheet |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem