I wish I had a time machine

As a teacher, I wish for lots of things; some things are completely unrealistic such as; shorter working hours and more time for planning. Some things are bit of an "If I'm lucky" wish such as; more money for resources, more curriculum time for German. Of course, it would be fantastic if those wishes came true but if I were only allowed 1 wish I think it would be a wish for a time machine. There are many things that you could do with a time machine, but I have 1 specific idea in mind.

4 years ago, I had a year 8 tutor group. On the whole they were a lovely group with the exception of a few individuals who never really caused too many issues. However, something happened to that group after the Christmas holidays. A small group of boys had suddenly changed from hard-working polite individuals to argumentative, mischievous, trouble-makers who regularly prayed on the vulnerable and identified targets for bullying.

After several phone calls home, I eventually managed to arrange a meeting with the boy's parents. I expressed my concerns only to be faced with a typical parent's response "I think you're exaggerating things, my child could not possibly behave like that" "You just don't understand how friends behave with each other, they're not causing any harm"

My biggest frustration was that one of the boys in the group could not see that his so-called friends were messing up his most important school years. He was a very intelligent and polite young man who, up until this point, had been very popular with both his teachers and peers. He excelled academically and had a bright future ahead of him. 

A few weeks of reports, bullying issues and racking up behaviour points went by and I decide to take a different approach. I spoke to the head of year and decided to split the group up. I informed the boys that 2 of them would be moving to a different tutor group. As you can imagine, they were not happy and a lot of abuse was hurled my way.

I sat down with 2 of the boys and explained that my decision to move them was for their own good. I told them that they'd regret it in 4 years time if they messed up their exams because they'd put their friends first. Of course, the boys disagreed and they continued to get into trouble.

Before the end of the term, they moved into different tutor groups and I noticed that soon after, their friendship groups changed. They started to focus more on rewards and improving their behaviour whilst the rest of the group continued on a decline with one of the boys eventually moving to another school.

Fast forward to 2013, both the boys are sitting in assembly waiting to hear who will be Head Boy in year 11. You can imagine the surprise when it is announced that the student who I was most concerned about in year 8 is now to become Head Boy. I look at him as the announcement is made and he has the biggest smile on his face.

After the assembly, he came over to me and said "Miss, I never thought I would ever be Head Boy. I am so very grateful that you moved me out of the tutor group in year 8 and I am very sorry for the grief I gave you." It was at that moment, that my heart melted.

So why do I wish for a time machine?

As a current year 7 tutor, I am faced with attitude on a daily basis in the form of an eleven year old. He has already decided that secondary school is not for him and that he will be making up his own rules.

With my time machine I would transport him 5 years into the future so that he could meet his year 11 self and realise that all the arguing and aggression is pointless and that one day, he may actually be thankful for his teacher's help.

For now, I'll keep wishing...

I survived week 1, did you?

Has it really only been a week since I went back to work? My poor head is frazzled with all the information it's taken in (or at least, tried to take in) this week. 
New timetable, new subjects, new lesson structure and no bells! 18 classes, extended days, change of house and a new year 7 tutor group.
Normally I'd be grasping the new challenges with both hands but this year I have an even bigger challenge to overcome. Her name is Millie and she's 11 months old.
You see, this year's return to school has signified the end of my maternity leave and the start of Millie's new routine with the childminder. 
That also brought about my new daily worry and constant checking of my phone just in case there was a problem with her not settling. Of course there wasn't, in fact, she seems to have coped better with the new routine than I have.

My brain has decided to forget everything it once knew about teaching which has resulted in me sitting, silently staring at my laptop screen, trying to remember how to plan a lesson.

One of the first things my students used to say to me was "Miss, can we have a fun lesson?" 
It always provoked me to reply "Are you trying to imply that my lessons are not fun?"
Students would quickly respond "No, we just don't want to do anything boring"

This made me question "What makes a lesson fun from a students point of view?"

I kept this question in mind when planning my first lesson with year 9. I haven't seen them since they were in year 7 and I would be disillusioned to think that they'd still be full of energy and passion for German.
The topic of the lesson was body parts. "How can I make that fun?"

Over the summer I'd paid a visit to the local 99p store where I'd snapped up a random consortium of goodies, including some soft balls and squishy monsters. 
I decided that I'd introduce the body part vocabulary using mimes and then get the students to throw the objects to each other whilst testing themselves.

I was amazed at how keen they were to take part. Some students decided to invent their own rules and ways of testing each other. They even asked to sing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes in German" Of course, I happily obliged.

I was so impressed with their enthusiasm that I treated them to Bill Bailey's version of Das Hokey Cokey.

For their next lesson, I'll be using some more of my fab 99p purchases which include a dart board for a q&a game and fly swats for vocab swatting.

I now find myself constantly hunting for cheap items which can be used in my lessons. This weekend I purchased a pack of coloured lollipop sticks and some mini coloured pegs.
I intend to use them for literacy with each coloured item representing a different  grammatical element; such as nouns, verbs, adjectives etc.
Students will select three at random and then be challenged to construct a sentence.
I will report back on how it works in the lesson.

For those of you who are panic planning this Sunday evening, take a moment to remember that it is possible to create great lessons with minimum teacher input and if I can do it after a years break then so can you.

Plan, Prepare, Pre-emt, Praise and Prevail

I've been meaning to set up a blog for a while now, I mean they're all the rage these days and who doesn't want to follow the trend? As I sat at my desk looking through various blogs, I was suddenly overcome with the fear "These blogs are really popular and people obviously take the time to read them" "I don't have anything worth writing about, what's the point in me having a blog?"

This all changed a few weeks ago when I was asked to contribute to a Teaching and Learning Handbook. As I sat down to think about the "pearls of wisdom" I had to offer, I suddenly realised that maybe, just maybe, I had something worth writing about. Maybe others would like to read it and maybe they would benefit from it.

 So, here we are. My very first blog. I hope you can take at least 1 thing of use from it.

 As the first day of term fast approaches, I thought I would share some things that have worked for me over the years. As a trainee, I often struggled to control behaviour in certain classes and after experimenting with a variety of different ideas, I finally found a solution 

 "Plan, Prepare, Pre-emt, Praise and Prevail." 

Plan what valuable skills you want students to take away from your lessons, don't just teach it because it's in the text book. 

Prepare yourself that lessons will not always go to plan. 

Pre-emt the things that may go wrong and have a back-up.

Praise both the students and yourself.

Prevail in all that you do. 

 Behaviour tips

It's important to get it right from the very first time you meet your students. They need to know what is expected of them. Greet students at the door, with you standing with your back to the door frame. That way they must enter in single file and you can address uniform issues, chewing etc before they enter the room. Have your seating plan on display (first lesson) and direct students to their seats. Always have an activity ready to go. This way, students are occupied whilst you wait for latecomers  Establish a "start of lesson" routine and stick to it. That way students know what is expected of them. Do not allow students to dictate the seating plan, if students are to be moved around then it should be on your terms. Always have a back-up plan! Create an emergency tool kit (worksheets, flashcards, beach ball, post-its) which you can use in case the internet is down or your projector bulb blows up. If the students see that you are unprepared then they will take advantage of this. #poundlandpedagogy is full of great ideas to put in your toolkit. My favourite £1 buys include a dart board and plastic balls. 

Use a timer to help with pace. If a task drags on then students will soon start to disengage. At the end of the lesson, ensure you leave adequate time to pack away. Do not allow students to leave until you are satisfied that the room is tidy. They won't respect your glue sticks or pens if they think you don't care about keeping things tidy. Use praise and rewards often throughout the lesson; stickers, badges or sweets work well. 

 Planning

 What do you want students to learn? How will you know if they have learnt it? Take into account any prior learning and also what they'll learn in the future. Use a starter that sets the pace of the lesson. Explain the content of the lesson. Ask students to decide what PLTS they'll use. Chunk the learning and allow for a variety of learning styles. 

 Assess understanding and progress throughout the lesson. On your plan include; lesson objectives that can be shared with students, brief notes on activities, needs of individuals/ groups, reference to subject issues, references to relevant resources, homework, how additional support will be used, a clear structure for the lesson and also key questions. After the lesson, self-evaluate your lesson plan before planning the next lesson. 

 @TeacherToolkit has a fantastic 5 minute lesson plan which has been developed by many twitter users. Search for #5minplan. There is also a 5 minute evaluation plan which has been designed by PGCE students. TES also has useful planning resources. 

 Students need to know what they are aiming for. Show them samples of work done by previous students (keep work anonymous) and ask them to peer assess. When you set a task, always give an example. After the task, ask groups to explain how they approached it. Use your classroom displays interactively so that they can motivate students who are struggling or, stretch the high ability students. 

 Starters

 Keep them snappy to set the pace of the lesson. For lessons that are in the afternoon, consider brain gym exercises to keep students focussed. Sentence auctions are a good way to review previous work and also focus on literacy. I use them in my MFL lessons and the students love them. 

TES has a great resource called the starter producer. This gives a variety of tasks that are cross-curricular. At the start of a new topic; ask students to predict what they will learn. Give key questions which can be reviewed as part of the plenary. Attention grabbers: props, sound clips or video clips that link to the topic. 

Show a picture and ask students to write down 4 questions they would like to know about it using Who? What? Why? When? Make the start relevant. Students will be more engaged if they understand why they are learning a certain topic. Odd one out. Card loop: Students have a card with a question on one side and an answer on the other. One student reads out their question and the class must listen to see if they have the answer. The students with the correct answer reads out their card and then turns it over to read their question. The process continues until everyone has answered. This can be played again to see how fast students can ask/answer the questions. Sequence statements: Give students a text that has been mixed up, they must put it in the correct order. Who am I? Give pupils clues to a person or object and they must ask questions to find out the answer. 

 Plenaries

Plenaries must help students understand what they have learned. They should create a sense of achievement. TES has a plenary producer resource which is cross-curricular. Flash cards and whiteboards are great for plenaries. Splat! Key words on the board, members of the class describe the word and 2 students compete to be the first to touch the word. 

Top 10! In pairs, students agree on the top ten key words to describe the lesson. 

Gimme 5! In pairs or small groups, students agree on 5 things they have learned in the lesson or 5 questions they would like to ask classmates to test their learning. 

On a post-it note, pupils write down 1 thing they have learned, 1 thing they understand better and 1 question they'd like to ask. They stick their post-it to the door or on the wall. These can then be used as a starter for the next lesson.

 Just a minute: In groups, pupils must talk for 1 minute about what they have learned in the lesson. 

Targets: Pupils tick off each target or learning objective from the start of the lesson and say how they have achieved them.

 Challenging questions using blooms taxonomy (Analyse, Assess, Compare/Contrast, Design, Evaluate) Mind maps Flashcards What did you see/ hear/ do in the lesson? 

 Questioning 

 Share learning objectives in the form of key questions and tell students that they will be asked to answer them at the end. Sequence questions so that they get harder as the lesson progresses. Stop during the lesson and ask "Have we answered any of these questions yet?" "Discuss with a partner what else you may need to know" Prepare students for the questions. Tell them that you are going to ask certain questions later in the lesson. Give them time to think about the questions. Use a no hands up policy to avoid asking the same students. Also use a random generator to select students. Word challenge: Answer in more than 10 words etc Use speaking prompts; A good way to start an answer may be like this... Listen in to groups/ pairs and prepare specific questions for them to ensure everyone is involved. Ask pairs to plan questions for other groups. 

 Remember! Keep Calm and Breathe! As long as your students are learning, you are succeeding.