The middle

This must be about the halfway point.

Yesterday, I finished TP1. This weekend is one of reflection and tidying the flat.

I have learnt so much during my time at school. I've finally landed on the side of 'I'm not ready to leave', although I can see quite clearly the areas I need to focus on in my second school.

I can't believe how much I've learnt in the time I've been there: planning lessons in a sequence; differentiating resources; developing relationships with classes and colleagues; relaxing around my classes and having a bit of fun; a variety of behaviour management techniques; that I sound like a complete tit when I shout, but tapping a pencil against a mug works wonders for bringing a class to order; mark schemes and how difficult they are to understand; how easy it is to be ridiculously tired on a Monday and how Tuesday drags on and on and on and on- no matter how much cake is available!

I don't quite know how I've managed to plan and resource all my lessons on time and write two decent assignments, or how I've upped my game to be succeeding at Masters level, but I'm doing it!

In my head, real questions about teaching (which I'll save for another post) have arisen. I am so pleased that I'm questioning and not just blindly accepting that this is the way. I've always been a bit rubbish at questioning.

I'm pleased that I'm naturally evaluating lessons, and in terms of 'what could I have done to make that better/work/smoother?' I'm really pleased that when things don't work out, I go into evaluation mode rather than get upset about making mistakes.

I am incredibly grateful to all the staff at my first school. It's been great to sit and voice my confusion about something and have someone there to offer a different angle of looking at it.

I love that not only have I been learning to be a teacher, but also I've been expanding my knowledge about texts and structures. I've been thrown into teaching areas which I'd identified as weaknesses and texts I'd never read, and it's been fantastic. My confidence has definitely increased.

I am going to miss the people and the kids. However, I have to move on; and I know at my next school I'll  be doing more teaching and I'll be expecting myself to step-it-up a notch.



And now, I'm going to use this in-between time to do some reading, some writing, and take a deep breath.

My Top Tips for TP1:

1. Create weekly targets and plan your lessons to try to meet these.

2. You have to laugh.