Jonathan: So far on the course...

I am currently working at Fishtoft Academy, with years 5 and 6 in a combined class of 23 children. I have settled in well and made a good connection with the children, my mentor and other members of staff. As it is a relatively small, village school, I have been able to involve myself with all aspects of school life including school trips, coffee mornings, playground duties, delivering assemblies, football tournaments etc.

I have taught a number of different lessons on Maths, English, R.E and music. The music lesson I taught the other day was particularly successful. The children were all actively engaged in the lesson, and showed that they had made progress. I taught them listening skills, research skills and a little music history, about the Beatles. They really enjoyed singing “Yellow Submarine” at the end of the lesson, and have made requests for further music lessons.

The training sessions have been very useful and informative. I usually try to include a smart target in my PDR which relates to an aspect from the previous week’s training session. I found the sessions on children’s emotional development particularly interesting, and they helped me to reconsider how I approach certain challenging behaviours.

I get on well with my mentor and we have a good working relationship. I am learning lots by being in her class, while at the same time trying to find my own identity as a teacher. I try not to just copy her teaching style, but rather take influence and create my own methods. We have weekly meetings on  a Friday after school. These are a great opportunity to reflect on the week, look at strengths and areas for improvement, and to set targets for the week ahead. It is encouraging when I meet my previous week’s targets, after a hard week it is nice to know I am making progress.

My subject knowledge has improved a great deal since September, through reading the national curriculum, planning, delivering and observing lessons.

I am using my shade and grade and PDR to link to the teachers’ standards, it feels good when I can shade some of them in. It also helps to inform my targets on my PDR to ensure I hit them all.

The evidence bundles are a little daunting, having to assess the whole class and deliver this information along with a lesson observation , but I’m sure I’ll manage somehow! The first visit from the programme leader was constructive and positive, whilst giving me lots to think about and improve.

Overall I am enjoying the course, while it is a lot of hard work, I feel I am making good progress and I know what I need to do to get to the next stage.