My Probation Year

I was really pleased to see that my girls are still blogging now that it’s the holidays. Befinitedly one of the benefits of not pushing them to blog and allowing them to do it when they wish. They obviously enjoy it.

I was really amazed at Emma who has managed to sign up to PhotoPeach and embed it in her blog with no help at all. I’m trying to ignore the fact that most of the images are from google! :S

I really hope they have the inclination to keep this up next year and continue to refelct on their lives and learning. I think this is a really useful skill that will definitely come in handy later in life. I remember in first year at uni when they first started telling us to reflect on our practice and I didn’t have a clue. I don’t think we give our kids enough opportunities to do this.

I also think that reflection is not something that should be forced and therefore a blog or something similar is ideal as the children can access it when they need to. However, I’m not naive enough to think it will benefit all children as there will always be the children that have to be asked to do something otherwise they won’t do it. So possible a mixture of structured tasks and free reign would tick this box?

Well, that’s me finished. Phew is my initial reaction. It was great and I need a holiday but I’m also now jobless so that’s a bit scary!

The last day of school was very teary, was lovely to get so many lovely cards and letters, made me feel like I must’ve done something right! A few of my girls have posted about it on their blogs as well which was nice!

Currently in limbo just now, can’t find work at all but I know there are lots of other NQTs in my position. I think this is where the induction scheme falls down. The new scheme is great because it gives everyone the chance to get experience in a school but it’s bad because you get a taste of something you love and then you are in danger of losing it. Towards the end of the year I wondered if it would be better to fight for a job at the beginning and then at least you knew you had one usless something went wrong.

I found it really hard leaving CShore (again!) I had a fantastc placement there and an amazing probationary year. Hopefully I’ll be back for the odd day of supply!

Trial for PhotoPeach. Going to find out what the class think of it!

5LW on PhotoPeach

I have loved every single minute of my probation year (well…most of them ) but I think it would have been helpful to have some genuine advice before starting!

Stuart Meldrum’s presentation last night did just that. I wish I had heard the honest version of probation before starting it! Tutors always give the nice version of everything and noone tells you that by Christmas you will feel like a complete Zombie and that your first two terms consist mainly of teaching, eating and sleeping. It’s only after Christmas I think that things begin to fall into place and you get a bit of your life back. Stuart’s post basically says the main points that loads of students would benefit from hearing.

One thing I would add is that, don’t expect too much too soon. Have a small bank of resources (especially if you’re in primary) to keep you going for the first week or so. Anything to do with summer - writing postcards, quizzes, maths puzzles, art activities and basic getting to know you activities.  Noone is expecting you to have your class up and running during the first weeks. Every teacher is coming to terms with their new class at this time.

Last night I was at TeachMeet student edition, it was a great night and I learned a lot. It was great to finally meet all the people Margaret talks about and also those I follow on twitter!

When presenting about my year of ICT with the class I didn’t think I would have enough to say to fill the time but I ended up with too much. I didn’t really get a chance to talk about the obstacles. I had only intended to talk about one. This was the lack of resources and also the quality of resources. However, after a couple of glasses of wine with Margaret I thought on something else that has been at the back of my mind for a while now. What’s going to happen to my kids next year?

I know I have to get out of the way of calling them mine and accept that at the end of every year this is what happens!

My experience with blogging last year was with Margaret’s P7 class. They loved it and it really prepared them for life outside Carronshore. For this reason I had no doubt that I wanted to use these tools with my own P5 class. However, recently I’ve started to think that this may not have been the best idea. I have seen the amazing results of pupil voice and encouraging personalisation and choice through online spaces. The kids have loved it and I have loved it. But…what will happen next year?

I do not mean to offend any other teachers as each teacher has something to offer that is different from the next one and next year they might get involved with something even better but I gave these children their own online space and now I don’t know if I’m going to have to take them away. I should really have considered this a while ago but I was so involved in the whole thing I didn’t think about what would happen after I left. I have prepared my kids for this and the were genuinely disappointed. I’m still hoping that I will be able to sort something out.

However, to end on a good note, our class blog will still be in use but next year it is going to be an Art Blog run by the art teacher at Carronshore. Can’t wait to see what she’s got planned!

I can’t believe that in 5 weeks my first year as a teacher will be over. It’s been full of ups and downs and sometimes I’ve wondered what on earth I’m doing but I’ve loved every minute. 

I’m pretty gutted that so far I have no job next year but looking forward to the experiences in store.

I was asked at my interview what I wished to develop next year and I said that I would like to develop ICT further. They questioned me asking why as they felt this was already a strength but to be honest I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface. I explained that I started out this year pretty naive to the impact of ICT and if I had the opportunioty to work with a class again I would start from a totally different point with a different perspective.

I have six girls in my class (the boys aren’t overly interested) with their own blogs and they really love it. Rachel, Rebecca, Emma, Jaimey, Memoona and Nicole are really loving their own online spaces. Since giving them their own wikis and blogs I have noticed a massive difference in their desire to write. Although they don’t always type every story onto their wiki/blog I think just knowing that they can share their great work with the world is enough to motivate them. 

In Carronshore we are now making up writing folios for the children instead of the old national test format. For these girls I have used stories off of their blogs and wikis rather than their class work as they tend to be much better. The girls are all very articulate and good at language but when they have written totally off their own back the difference in the content of their work is unreal. 

I really hope that the confidence that ICT and having an audience and a voice has given them stays with them throughout school even when they do not have the same opportunities to develop this. 
 

What is participation and learning? That’s the question I asked myself whilst driving down to Camelon last night for a twilight on the subject. Although I knew what it was I wasn’t able to translate my thoughts into a form that someone else would understand.

The CPD session was in the world cafe format, this really helped me as it meant I could talk about my ideas in a small group as opposed to the normal size of audience. Soon I realised that I use the theories involved in pupil participation within my own classroom everyday without even thinking about it.

Through  the blog I am able to get indirect and informal evaluations of lessons through the comments left by children in the class.

Another way I try to involve children is through our suggestion box and our worry box.

I also try to encourage honest opinions from children about lessons and we discuss things that went well and things that didn’t. When discussing this I realised that this was in fact a barrier to participation and learning as some children are not honest about how they feel. It tends to be the children that sit in the class and absorb everything you say as though they are a sponge. At first I had to spend a lot of time explaining that it was ok to say if they did not like something. I found that quite often they were writing or saying what they thought I wanted to hear and what they thought they should say.

Overall it was a really good course and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Well, after getting a bit of a shake last night I decided it was time to post again.

I know it does sound like a bad excuse but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to work on this. Between the two blogs I think of the CShore blog as being the most important and I devote more of my time to it. Margaret said that I should concentrate on this as well so here goes.

I’ve been really lucky this year in that my school are really keen to use ICT in the classroom. I have come across a few hurdles but on the whole everything’s been fine. The only problem I have really had has been trying to explain my ideas to others. Often I can’t explain to others what is in my head and I feel like I have to really sell my ideas when I am seeking approval to run with them. However, as the year has went on I have become more confident. I have decided that I will now, within reason, try things out for myself in hope that it all goes to plan and then show others the results rather than try to explain them beforehand.

Margaret gave me a really good idea last night, yet another one! We have recently started to use Thinking Hats within the school and it is yet another thing to fit into the curriculum. I was thinking of it in a bit of a negative sense as it takes away the tiny bit of flexibility I had left within my timetable. The part that I wanted to use to explore ICT amongst other things. However, Margaret suggested a way to link it to ICT. I had not thought of doing that and although it sounds really obvious I think when you are in the middle of everything it’s often hard to see a way out.

I’ve been feeling like I’m fighting an uphill battle lately but having the change to talk last night really helped. I got a bit of a row and was basically told to stop being so negative about everything. So, that’s my plan!

Off to work out my plan of action for Thinking Hats.

Just home from a twighlight: Preparation for interviews.

I think I was beginning to live in denial with regards to the employment situation. It was always at the back of my mind that come June I would probably be unemployed but after tonight it has really hit home.

It was explained that there will probably be “significantly less jobs this year than last.” My friend who was in my position last year was unsuccessful at the interviews and I know from her that there were 11 permanant posts within the council. I dread to think what significantly less than 11 is! Luckily she managed to get a job within Clanckmannanshire council so at least her story has a positive ending.

It was quite alarming to hear them discuss the interview process. Although the speakers made an excellent job preparing us for the interview, and tried their best to help is remain positive, it was clear from their talk that the situation is pretty bad. It was explained that every person that applies for the jobs will be ranked. We will be ranked on our performance at the interview alone. Each question at the interview will have a possible score and our totals for each one will be added together and we will then be organised into a list from highest to lowest. It does sound a very brutal method of selection but I understand why the process has to be completed in such a way. It was also added that out confidential report will have little bearing on our score and the only reason this will come into the equation is if too many people have the same score.

After 5 years of hard work it is demotivating to think that only a small percentage of us will receive employment from this interview. I keep asking myself what do you need to do to be the person who gets a job? The speakers today simply said that you need to give a good interview and sell yourself. I hope that the opportunities that I have been given this year by Margaret and the support from the school, especially from my 0.3 and my stage partner, will be enough to help me along the way. I hope to use the experiences I have had to convince (for lack of a better word) the interview panel that I am worth employing!

However, as they also mentioned tonight, if unsuccessful at these interviews there will be other opportunities for employment throughout the course of next year.

For now, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.

 This was created using wordle. I’m not sure how to make it bigger. 

 This was created using LunaPic.