I bet you don’t feel like a teacher yet, do you? No. You feel like a fraud. It’s as if the pilot just fainted and someone put the joystick in your hands. You’re wondering when a grown-up will be back to take the class. Well, buster, the grown-up is you. Their lives are in your hands. Suddenly, life is no longer a training exercise; suddenly, you are live, on air.
Engaging with parents is one of the more difficult aspects of an NQT’s induction year. You may have excellent subject knowledge and have been trained in managing classroom behaviour, but dealing with difficult or hard-to-engage parents brings a different set of challenges.
A student teacher will have been largely sheltered from involvement with parents on their school placements by more experienced colleagues, but once in the job, this relationship becomes part of the front line of teaching.
You may have qualified and secured your first post – but that doesn’t stop you from feeling nervous when you start work as an NQT. Developing your presence in the classroom can help you to project confidence. “Building a presence is important because it helps to give your teaching some authority, so that students have trust in you, which then helps them to learn,” says Alison Wood, a freelance educational consultant in Hertfordshire, and an English secondary school teacher.
Here are a few suggestions to help you set clear targets, use appropriate targets and get keep all parties involved.
1 Keep your purpose in mind
Like it or loathe it, you are probably going to have to write numerous assignments, essays or studies during your teacher training. So what can you do to minimise the stress?
It was breaktime and Stephen Brierley was hoping to catch up on some marking. He was a new teacher in an 11-16 comprehensive and keen to make use of every spare moment of preparation time.
Year 11 have their GCSEs looming on the horizon. It’s time to think about revision. February is a good time to review progress.
Geography teachers share some of their best lesson ideas, including place value, maintaining atmospheres, Indian cuisine and model plans
Teachers mark in a wide variety of ways. The marking style you choose also depends on the age range and subjects you teach.
