It was a regular Tuesday tutor time. We were looking at the daily notices on a PowerPoint slide. The current one was about their GCSE options for the next year. Some of them wanted to discuss their options with the Head of Year. The Head of Year would usually do his rounds every morning and one of the students noticed he had not been to see us yet.
I told them that they could only find the Head of Year at the end of the day today because he wasn’t going to be around before lunch time.
They asked where he was. I said he has gone to reconnaissance a museum for a day of culture that the whole year group would be having soon.
Reconnaissance?
I was usually more careful than to use words like reconnaissance.
They immediately asked what that meant and I unsuccessfully tried to describe it.
A bunch of kids in my tutor group are gamers so I asked one of them, Matthew, if he could explain it. Matthew described it really well using the context of a mission in the army.
One particularly contrary tutee Kira asked. “Why are we talking about army stuff? What’s sir not being here got to do with army stuff? That’s got nothing to do with us”. A couple of others pitched in with their confusion about the uses of the words reconnaissance, mission and army. I tried in vain to address each question over the clamour of voices.
They were asked them to be silent, but they ignored me. I wanted to explain it again – this time in more simplistic terms.
I then firmly and loudly stated, “You do need to know what reconnaissance is because you will all be doing it as a part of your national service in a couple of years”.
They will hate you
They became silent immediately. Their faces full of rage filled venom. I’d never seen them all so collectively angry with me.
They were clearly all aware of one of the campaign promises of the Conservative Party to reinstate mandatory National Service in the UK from 2025 if they got elected in the upcoming general election.
Some of them looked like steam was coming out of their ears.
I smiled and told them that they would all look so good in an army uniform, so they didn’t need to worry. Their expressions remained stern.
Matthew spoke up. He was excited about the prospect of joining the army. The rest remained silent staring daggers at me.
Had I gone too far? I tried to recover by telling them to encourage their parents to vote if they didn’t want to do national service.
I moved on to the next slide on the PowerPoint. It was about the Debate Club and the discussion was democracy. I asked them to discuss in their pairs what else their parents had been saying about the election.
I may not have been forgiven for my joke but they were now focused on something else.
Keep it light when making fun
I think I got away with it that time. It was low stakes, and no individuals were being singled out.
It’s always better when you make fun of children to keep it you against all of them. Never them against them. Allow them to disagree with you and even be annoyed with you.
I made it clear I was joshing with them as I was smiling the whole time.
Allow them to see that you can have fun with them but never against them. That is the best way to make fun of children.
Most of the CPD that is taught in a lot of schools is either terrible and not evidence informed or taught terribly. This has led to the unspoken agreement among most teachers that CPD is to be tolerated and never enjoyed.
At one school engagement with CPD was so bad that we were not allowed to bring our phones to the training sessions. One Friday night at the pub I found out that my enthusiasm for CPD was not shared by my colleagues. I was asked if I could stop asking questions during training – it was annoying apparently, and I was the only one who cared.
I had not realised until that point that pretty much everyone else hated CPD.
If you, a new teacher, are in the majority, this blog post is for you. Like it or not CPD is a necessary and regular evil. You too will have to find your own special brand of copium to make it through.
Feel the fear and do it anyway
The biggest fear that most people have with CPD is that they will be forced to say or do something to contribute. I have been to all day training sessions where some people on my table said and did nothing the entire time.
Older and more established teachers can usually get away with this. The leadership team aren’t willing to get into it with them as they contribute so much else to the school otherwise.
You, however, as a new teacher, are not yet seasoned enough to zone out and hope that no one notices.
Three for three
Depending on how your school delivers the CPD there may be a video or a speaker for a long period of time. You then need to participate in some way.
Make sure that you contribute enthusiastically immediately, within three minutes, even if you’re answering a question with a question. Raise your hand, shout out the answer, take your post-it notes to the front, offer to write out the brainstorming ideas for your table. Whatever it takes to show that you’re listening and keen to participate.
Do it again three minutes later. Make sure that you are being sincere. Listen to what has been said and be genuine in your curiosity and response.
I once sat through a terrifying CPD in which the speaker was bursting with excitement about these headbands to detect brain activity being trialed to see if children were concentrating during lesson time. It was so dystopian I asked the speaker if he was joking. I got told off for that.
Contribute again three minutes later. One of three things will happen. You get praised for your contribution, get told to no longer contribute and give everyone else a chance to contribute or everyone else will get scolded for their lack of effort. Either way you will not have to contribute any more for that session unless you want to.
Be guided by a real commitment to your professional development. Give every session a chance and sincerely see if there is anything you can learn each time. If you do this technique enough times you will not get called on in the sessions where you’re not feeling it.
Make peacewith CPD
Ultimately when it comes to CPD, radical acceptance is the best way forward. You still have to do it so you might as well do it on your terms.
The hour or so you spend in training does not have to be abject torture. It can be a fun game where you also get to hopefully learn something useful.
As a teacher most of your working day is scheduled to the minute. Please remember that any “free” time you have is yours to spend wisely. The time thieves do not have a right to your time.
In school you will come across different types of time thieves as a new teacher.
Entitled time thieves
The entitled time thief (ETT) can come in the form of a more senior or established member of staff. For example, your Head of Department (HOD). They may therefore think that any free or unprotected periods in your calendar are times that you are available to do their bidding or run their errands.
In my old school there was a HOD who would email Early Career Teachers (ECT) in their department instructions for things like “urgent” photocopying and cups of tea. She would expect them to drop everything, do it and bring it to wherever she was at the time.
The ETT is tricky as you don’t want to create an atmosphere of discord with someone who may be your mentor or line manager. Remember though that you are not a skivvy but a professional.
Be bad at your job
Be a bad but apologetic skivvy. Sometimes skivvies don’t monitor their emails so they may not see a request until it is too late. Be sure to email as soon as you do see it and apologise for missing it. Make the tea wrong or cold, do the photocopying badly or slowly. Always apologise heartily and promise to do it better next time if the ETT gives you any negative feedback.
Hopefully weaponized incompetence (in this area alone) should resolve the problem. If it doesn’t then reach out to your mentor or another trusted member of the senior leadership team and ask for their advice. Tell them it’s about a friend in need at another school. You therefore have plausible deniability if the person you turn to can’t or won’t help.
Make a note of each request every time it is made. Email the ETT once it is done. It is then undeniable that you have being asked to complete these tasks. You can use the emails when you speak to a senior leader or your union if the tasks come within the remit of your duties or if the requests are not reasonable.
Immature time thieves
The immature time thief (ITT) usually comes in the form of an early careers teacher like yourself. The ITT will spend a lot of time discussing just how much free time they don’t have. They will lament the four or five hours each working week during which they deliver lessons. The ITT is likely to be in their first ever professional role, so it may be the world of work that they are struggling with and not necessarily the profession of teaching. Their immaturity can be forgiven if it only impacts them, but you have to guard against it impacting you.
The ITT will want to spend all their time out of lesson hanging out in the staffroom. They will want to spend their time with you gossiping about celebrities, looking at TikTok / Instagram/ YouTube, oversharing about their private life and talking smack about other teachers or the kids.
Thick as thieves
They will initially present as your new best school friend. You will feel like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid going into war together against the rude kids and unsupportive leadership team. At the beginning it will be nice to have a peer going through the same things you are.
Eventually they will be confused about why you want to work when you have a “free” lesson and will feel judged when you ask them anything to do with actually doing work. They will interrupt you when you’re trying to work or mock you when you get excited about your advances in teaching.
The ITT wants to be lazy with you, it’s boring by themselves. They want to talk atyou. They are just running out the clock every day – they get paid the same if they work or don’t work. This person is not your friend.
Hide from them
The best way to manage this time thief is to hide. Yes, hide.
There were about eight of us ECTs in one of my old schools and three of them were time thieves. If they saw I was out of lesson I could not shake them. I tried to put in headphones, I tried to give short answers, I tried to tell them that I had to work at school because I didn’t have a computer at home, but they didn’t care. They were bored and could count on me being too professional to be rude and outright ignore them.
I was friendly with the IT guy at that school, so I would go and sit in the IT office and work. They never figured out where I was hiding.
Bore them into submission
If you can’t hide then bore the socks off them with work talk. Ask them to review your lesson plan. Tell them you want to practice behaviour routines with them. Make a date for them to go observe a lesson with you so you can compare notes afterwards. Can they come and observe your lessons and give you feedback? Specify the kind of feedback that you’re looking for from them. Talk about a seminar or lecture you attended – share it in great detail, ask them what they think about it. Tell them about your subject and what you’re struggling with – the topics you need to learn better and the teaching techniques you’re trying to master. And on and on and on. You will soon find that they run when they see you coming.
Debbie Downer time thieves
The Debbie Downer time thief (DDTT) can, of course, be any gender. They can be a new teacher but are more commonly an older more established teacher. Usually, it is a teacher who has lost their enthusiasm for teaching and is either too comfortable or too afraid to leave teaching or the school.
Their remedy is therefore to complain to anyone that will listen. They will entice you in with warm words of wisdom at first. They will promise to help, support, guide and advise you. You may regard them as you do your favourite aunt or uncle. Soon the pep talks will be replaced with their perspectives on small changes that the leadership team could take to improve the running of the school. These perspectives soon become harsh criticisms and eventually rambling rants.
What are we going to do about it?
Give this time thief the benefit of the doubt at first. Listen closely. Ask them to clarify what it is they think is wrong. What do they think a good solution would be? You will soon find that it boils down to nothing more than “I don’t like such and such” or “I don’t trust such and such” or “I hate kids”. If they do come up with policies that they don’t like, ask them what they think should be done differently. Ask them what they have done to propose it to the leadership team. You’ll find that the answer is probably nothing.
They are not your friend. You are being used as a sounding board. No one else will engage with their negativity so they latch on to the unsuspecting newbies.
Tell the DDTT you support them. Ask them to clarify exactly what needs to change. Suggest that you both put an email together to send to leadership with your thoughts. If not leadership then maybe the schools governing board. Alternatively you could both schedule a call with the union for some advice.
They will soon stop seeking you out as someone to vent to.
Seriously though, they are likely to eventually become unprofessional during one of their rants. Careful if you are engaging with them and something gets overheard and reported, you might be deemed guilty by association.
Beware of the bait and switch
This kind of time thief is insidious because they first approach you with promises of care and support only to switch once they have you locked in. You will find that if you do ask them for help or advice, they will either dismiss your concerns or somehow make it about how unhappy they are with the kids / the school / the department / life.
Your time is too precious to be spent listening to someone complaining. Don’t feel bad about getting them to articulate and offer solutions in order to get rid of them. They do not care that they are stealing your time and your joy of teaching.
Steal back your time
Time thieves are industrious. They will do their best to steal your time. You have to find a technique that stops them. It might be malicious compliance, literal absence, aggressive agreement or a combination of all three. Find what works and protect your time zealously.
There is probably no ill intent on the side of the time thief. They just have a selfish desire to have someone to listen to them talk. Your career and professionalism deserve better than that.
Time is your most precious resource do not allow a thief to steal it.
“Keep it short, specific and professional”. This was the advice given to me by my mentor in my second school. They were telling me how to communicate across the table on parents evening.
This has been a good rule of thumb for all types of parent communications. It is also perfect in order to survive parents evening.
Parents evening doesn’t have to be as dramatic as a feat of survival. The panic it induces the first time you attend one can induce the primal fight, flight or freeze responses.
As mentioned in my earlier post How to speak to parents, the purpose of any communication with parents is to show them that we are aware of their child’s progress and how to help them to improve.
Be professional
On the day, wear your smartest outfit and go overboard with your grooming. Your resulting body language and demeanor will radiate as that of a professional. You will present as someone who takes the occasion (and the opinions of parents) seriously. The parents will in turn be more inclined to take you seriously.
Consider natural rest breaks and drinks that you will need. Plan at least one 5-minute block with no appointments so you can have a quick break and get refreshed.
Be prepared
Make sure that you have a record of all of the students’ school wide grades, in class assessments, homework engagement on your desk top ready to review. I always put it all in one place in an excel spreadsheet. That way I can select each child’s name as the parents come over for their meeting.
It is a lot quicker than clicking around three different sources of information while trying to hold a conversation. I think you can guess how I figured this out.
Look through their books in more detail during the two weeks before parents evening. Get an idea of presentation, attention to detail, handwriting, completed tasks and so on. This can be an additional comment when talking about how seriously they take their studies.
Be quick
You will be meeting with the parents of about 30 children, and allotted no more than 5 minutes a meeting. These will have been booked in advance with each pupil.
Stick to the highlights and lowlights but remember no parent will not appreciate you starting off the discussion in a negative way.
It is better to be factual as soon as the introductions have been done. Ask the student how they feel that they did in their most recent whole school assessment. Use that as a launching point for the rest of the discussion.
Be succinct
You can then talk about their adherence to homework. Pitch this as a revision tool, a way for them to review current and past learning. If they are not doing it, then this might explain why they did not do well in the exams.
You can also talk about their focus and engagement in lessons. Give an example of how they were busy communicating with a neighbour during an explanation, so when you asked them to repeat it back, they were not able to.
You can talk about their lack of equipment. For example, they did not have a calculator one lesson so they were not able to complete a task. They therefore were not able to assess their understanding or know what to improve.
This way you are discussing their shortcomings you have observed in the context of how it negatively impacts their learning.
You can also talk about their independent study. They could start to revise earlier, they can vary their revision, they can ensure they don’t waste time taking notes but practicing exam style questions and writing mind maps instead. And so on and so forth.
Rather than going on a rambling tirade in which to list all their wrongdoings you are centering the conversation on what they can do to help themselves succeed.
Be kind
Remember that if a child struggles to engage in lessons there is a good chance that this happens across all of their subjects and not just yours.
You might be the sixth person relaying the students lack of engagement to the parent so they may be simmering with anger at the child. This is not your opportunity to form a bond of friendship with a new ally. It is tempting to lay into the child with the no doubt numerous examples of their misbehaviour, but this is unkind as it is essentially you and the parent ganging up on them.
It is better to focus on how improvements can be made – maybe the child need to move seats to improve their focus, maybe the child needs to be given more easily accessible homework, maybe the child need to get support with anxiety they feel during the lesson because they don’t feel like they can comprehend the subjects.
Be reliable
Follow up on any promises you make. If you have promised a seat change, do it. A promise of an update on how they have improved their homework in three weeks? Make a note in your planner and do it. If you have promised to ask for them to be referred for a meeting with the special educational needs coordinator, do it. This is a great way to build mutual trust with parents.
Make the notes on a blank piece of paper either in a notebook or a word document. It is imperative that they cannot see any notes that you have made about a child that it not theirs.
Don’t make promises outside of your paygrade such as extra time for exams. Your school will have a process to determine the needs and special allowances for the students.
Be scared?
Of course not. It would however, be remiss of me, to not warn you that there are sometimes parents that are extremely defensive protective regarding their children.
If the discussion starts to lean away from being positive then get the help of a more senior member of staff or suggest that a meeting is held with you and the head of department or the head of year at a later date. Parents evening is not the time or place to get into it.
These parents usually know that the meeting is likely to be negative. They are worried that they might be judged by you for their child’s challenging behaviour. If you are neutral, factual and polite it will be hard for them to be combative.
Be enlightened
Yes – trust me. The most surprising aspect of parents evening for me was when I saw just how different the children were when their parents were present. The most contrary and belligerent child becomes a polite and sweet angel.
I’ve also had a situation whereby I was talking to mum about a child’s difficulty engaging and he took his phone out. I instinctively told him to put it away and he did immediately. Mum looked at me with a shocked expression. I was worried that she was about to tear me a fresh one. She then stammered, “I can’t believe he did it”. I asked what she meant. Mum said she couldn’t believe that he had been given an instruction and then followed it after being asked only once. She was on the verge of tears. My heart broke for her. I couldn’t imagine how exhausting daily life with that particular child must be for her.
Be short, specific and professional
The five minutes that you have with the parents will whizz past. If you can tell that a longer conversation is required, then make an appointment to ring them very soon and speak to them in more detail.
Be united
Remember that you and the parents are a team. You’re all working together to support the student to fulfill their potential and get the grades they deserve.
It is fair for you to expect the parents to give you the benefit of the doubt that everything you are saying and doing is in the best interests of their child’s education. You also need to give them the same courtesy that any questions and queries, regardless of the intensity or vehemence with which they are delivered, are to get reassurance that you sincerely care for their child’s success in your subject.
This was the sage, but stark advice given to me by a trusted vice principal when I was in the second half of my PGCE.
Not having a weekend had already been my reality, but I just assumed it was because I was disorganised or slow. I didn’t realise that it was “normal” that I was not able to fit in all my obligations as well as leisure time in a weekend.
You have to accept that your social life and hobbies will have to take a deep cut for a couple of years. Radical acceptance is required from you that will not be able to do everything you did before. You will have to be very clear and specific about what you can and cannot include in your spare time.
Remember that you’re giving yourself the best chance at being a fantastic teacher – your career is worth the short-term sacrifice.
Plan the weekend
The weekend starts on Friday night. I like to decompress with colleagues on Friday nights. I’ve been lucky enough to work in schools in which the teaching staff are very sociable. I like to go out and share roses, thorns and buds and “let go” of the week that has just been.
This will not necessarily also be right for you. Some teachers want to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible from all things school on a Friday night. They do not want to spend their time talking shop after a grueling week at work.
It can be tempting to get into your pyjamas and just kick back with a nice drink and some mindless television. You have earned a break and deserve to relax. If, however, this attitude spills into Saturday and Sunday you might be inadvertently building yourself up for a very stressful week ahead.
The secret is to be intentional. I usually do my laundry on Friday night. I’ll get home and put on a wash load. This is then done and ready on Saturday morning so all I need to do is take it out to dry, ready to iron on Sunday.
You might find that washing up, hoovering or cleaning the bathroom are great decompression tasks that you can complete as you wind down for bed. You will never regret doing these tasks the next morning when you wake up to a clean house.
Weekends are for lie-ins
I’m sorry but no, they are not. It’s better for your overall sleep hygiene if you if you wake up at the same time at the weekend as you do on Monday to Friday.
Use that time as your precious protected time. Maybe take a walk in nature, go to the gym, get started on housework, go food shopping, do food prep for the following week or journal.
Use that time to actively support your mental or physical wellbeing. Cleaning and organising your living space serves both of those very well.
Schedule the weekend
I cheat and spread my leisure time across both Saturday and Sunday. This is what a typical weekend looks like for me.
I make sure that I have the essentials covered so that I can sanely navigate the following week with as much order and as little chaos as possible.
I use my breaks from planning to get quick tasks done like cleaning the bathroom or changing my bedding. All of these are necessary as well as productive so if I’m stuck on a piece of work or can’t face a new task, I’m not “wasting time” by cleaning the cooker instead.
Schedule the weekend fun
To make sure that I don’t become a house bound at the weekend I actively make plans for my weekend evenings.
It might be tempting to just wait for the weekend and play it by ear. I guarantee though, that if you don’t have to get ready and go somewhere to meet someone, you won’t. It’s important that you know during the day that you have a time limit on how long you have to get everything done. This will give you the impetus to get it done quickly so you can get cracking with your lovely fun evening.
I deliberately schedule working time on Sunday too. That’s because if I don’t get everything done on Saturday I still have time planned in to work on Sunday. This makes it easier for me to down tools on Saturday and allow myself my leisure time.
What if I schedule my weekend wrong?
There is no right way or wrong way to weekend, only your way. It may take some time to figure out what type of schedule works best for you.
Your goal should be to eliminate the “Sunday Scaries”. You never want to be asking yourself “How it is Sunday night already?” . That growing panic as you realise there isn’t enough time now to get everything you wanted to do done now is not an experience you need to have.
Remember that it won’t be like this forever. By being intentional with your time you are being kind to your present and future self. Making sure that you are ready for the week ahead is the best way to start the week. You will get a feeling of calm and order as you tick all of the tasks off your list. This will be exuded into your daily interactions with staff and students alike in the week ahead.
Once you have established a routine that suits how you weekend, you will then have the freedom to be more flexible going forward.
“Speak to their parents on a Friday night. They will have the time to listen properly and ask questions. The child will then have to hear about it from their parents for the whole weekend. I guarantee they won’t do it again”.
That was the sage advice given to me by an incredible vice principal at my second school. It put into perspective the potentially powerful impact of calls home to parents.
Before this happened I had viewed calls home as a necessary evil. A task that had to be made, on occasion, in line with the school policy. I didn’t believe that parents cared what I had to say. I didn’t believe that they would follow through and discuss the incidents with their children.
As above, ideally on a Friday afternoon, but if the call is time sensitive as soon as possible on the same day after school.
The end of the day is the best time because your teaching day is over, you are not likely to be distracted by pupils or other teachers. You also don’t have the time constraints of having to be somewhere or do something like you would during the school day. You can therefore be more present and engaged while on the call.
Where do I speak to parents?
Make sure you find a private room with a door that closes and is quiet / sound proof. You want to be able to hear and be heard clearly as you may have to impart sensitive information. It can be awkward to the point of being unprofessional if there are frequent requests to repeat / spell / clarify something. Use the school landline phone so they can see before they pick up that it is a call from the school. If that is not possible use your mobile phone but block your number first (please double check this).
What do I say to parents?
They key here is to keep it short and sweet.
Ask if they are the parent / carer for the child using their title and surname and wish them a good afternoon / evening.
Introduce yourself using your title and surname and the subject you teach the child. State the lesson (day and time) you are ringing about and apologise for the fact that the call is negative. Then state the specific thing that they child did to get the sanction.
I have a habit of making a short story long so I “script” my calls in advance to ensure that I keep the conversation contained.
Remember that the parent is more likely to listen and be supportive of the call if your focus is the impact on their ability to thrive academically rather than just their behaviour being unacceptable.
How do I say it to parents?
When relaying the specific thing that the child did wrong, centre it around how this affects their learning. Don’t say “Johnny didn’t do his homework so he has to be more organised”. Instead say “Johnny didn’t do his homework so he was not able to take part in the first half of today’s lesson.
Child had to be removed due to using disrespectful language? The real issue is that they were out of the room during a pivotal discussion that will mean that next lesson they will not understand the test.
Child was throwing stationery across the room? The real issue is that when you asked them to explain a concept that the class was discussing they had no idea what to say.
And so on and so forth.
Make sure that you are factual and do not offer opinions. For example, “he was chatting to his neighbour about last night’s football match and not the properties of metals” not “he was chatting to his neighbour about last night’s football match and he doesn’t like to work in science lessons”. You get the gist.
You can then tell them the consequences that have been issued – what are they (30 mins) and when will they be implemented (tomorrow after school).
Ask them if they have any questions and then thank them for their time and their support.
You will feel like a talking robot the first few times you call home. It is important to have your own version of a script so you do not veer off and get drawn into long ponderous circular discussions or negotiations.
Phew. All done?
Not yet. Make sure that you log the call immediately. I am a scatter brain and I’m very good at forgetting. In some schools all communications have to be logged. I would recommend that even if it is not mandated you also do this in your early years of teaching. I can guarantee that you will forget what you did / didn’t say to a parent – this way you don’t have to rely on your memory.
Log the call on the school MIS reporting system. A lot of what you need will be automated on on drop down menu. Log the day, time, parent name, reason for the call, outcome of the call and any next steps, for example, the child will ensure they bring a calculator to all lessons.
Also make sure that any administration is done immediately. For example, an email to the head of department to inform them that the parent would like a call back from them.
Anything else?
I know that it’s extremely unlikely but you should always behave like the call is being recorded for your mentor to review.
This is a great way of ensuring that you keep it short, specific and professional.
You are relaying information regarding the child’s conduct not seeking their opinion or permission about the sanction issued.
In the very rare instance that the call can become contentious, and the parent is not supportive, your best bet is to end the call and seek the support of a more senior teacher.
And if they don’t pick up?
Check your school’s policy but it should be okay to leave a succinct voicemail. End it by repeating who you are, what you teach their child and that they can ring the school if they would like to have a call back.
You could also send them an email outlining the reason and the sanction. Also tell them that you would be happy to ring them to explain in more detail.
Not quite. Calls home should also be about positive things.
Try to remember to follow up the negative call with a positive call home a couple of weeks later. Even if the improvement you are witnessing is miniscule the parent will be very happy to hear it.
This shows the parents that you notice all things – positive, negative and indifferent. You’re not just the voice of doom relishing in spreading bad news. You are also able to see and celebrate in their child’s successes. This is guaranteed to be a well-received call when you speak to parents.
We have all been at the mercy of the whims of the photocopier. We have all said a silent (or audible) prayer to the uncooperative photocopier begging it to just work!
Is it excessive to write an entire blog post on the joys and pains of the printer / photocopier? Maybe? But as I’m sure a scout once said, it is better to be over-prepared than underprepared. This is so you do not get to experience the exquisite panic of realizing that you need some copies but you have run out of time.
First things first
Make sure that you get to “know” all the photocopiers in your school intimately. The reliable ones, the ones that are always jammed, the ones that do / do not staple, the ones that technically can print but can only really be used as a copier, the ones that can hole punch or make booklets, the ones that inexplicably stop after 20 copies of anything, the ones that don’t accept A3 paper even though technically …. You get the gist.
This is the kind of thing that you can find out from your mentor or the members of your department. They will gleefully relay to you which to avoid but with the added bonus of how they unfortunately found this out with a probable definite sprinkling of expletives.
You should also, obviously, make sure that you know how to fill up the photocopiers with paper, top up the staples and change the toner (careful that you don’t get covered in ink doing this, toner cartridges are very leaky).
On the occasions when you do have time – also try to see if you can fix a paper jam by yourself.
Find out where all the resources are stored and how you can get them. In one of my schools, everything – paper, toner, staples – had to be ordered by email from the administration team. They would then have to ask the facilities team to take the required equipment to the designated photocopier. The whole process could take up to two days!!
Knowing this kind of information in advance can help you make sure that you do not get caught short.
Keep an eye on all of the stocks – alert the team responsible if it looks like paper is running out. Keep a couple of emergency reams of A4 in your room / locker / pigeonhole. You then won’t be caught out and you might be able to help someone else if they are in a pinch.
Do yourself a favour
Plan ahead your big print jobs such as assessment papers and workbooks. Use your free periods or after school when you’re not time restricted. This then allows you time to find another copier or chase down missing resources if necessary.
Give yourself as much advance time as possible to print and / or photocopy. This so you can then check the copied resources and make changes as required. You will never be annoyed with yourself for preparing resources early.
Morning break, lunchtime and before your first lesson of the day are not the times to be copying. Do it the day before at the latest.
Don’t be “that guy”
Remember that copiers are a communal resource and there is an unwritten etiquette that needs to be observed.
Hogging the copier with big jobs in the morning when other teachers are trying to print quick ones will make you very unpopular.
Email admin with missing or low resources – it will make you very popular as you will be helping them be more efficient for the whole school.
What if I forget and it’s an emergency
My experience with my first school was traumatic enough for me to get a £40 printer (still going strong 4 years later) so I could make the masters of all the resources I needed to teach. I would then only make the required copies at school. I’m not suggesting that you do this but it helped me feel better prepared and less anxious.
Your team will also be happy to help you if you get stuck. Don’t be afraid to reach out (as long as it doesn’t become a daily occurrence) as not everyone teaches every period. We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve accidentally left things until the last minute so don’t be shy to send a message asking if someone can help.
Despite your best efforts the scourge of the disappointing photocopier will strike you at some point. Don’t beat yourself but learn from it to make sure that you never again not know how to photocopy.
Her outfit was so inappropriate she was not allowed to go past the receptionists desk. She was told it was not an acceptable way to dress when teaching teenage boys.
That was the horror story we were regaled with about a former student teacher on their first day at her first school. Her skirt and top were so inappropriate that she was sent home.
We were all trainee teachers and it was during one of our sessions devoted to professionalism, specifically, how to dress appropriately. The tutor was then bombarded with various questions around what was and was not an acceptable skirt length, heel height and tattoo cover up. He stopped the discussion and told us all one rule that I still observe to this day – “Wear what you would wear if you worked as a cashier in a bank”.
True. But then you’re missing the point. Remember why you are there and what you represent. How you show up to work is one of the ways in which you signal your commitment to your role and attitude to your responsibilities.
You are a professional tasked with delivering lessons to pupils in a calm, organised and efficient way. If your clothing is untidy and unkempt it’s much harder for those around you to take you seriously.
The pupils get told how to dress, I don’t!!
True again. But also, kind of not true. Your school will have a staff clothing policy. They will be guidelines about what you should or should not wear. This can also include policies on jewelry and hair colour. Different schools will enforce this policy in different ways. You will never get asked for a meeting if your dress sense errs on the smarter side. You might however if you demonstrate daily that your iron is broken.
Have a work uniform. This is admittedly easier for men as they usually have a few suits and rotate them. Women have more freedom to decide what they consider to be smart. This is what my uniform generally consists of:
5 sets of bottoms (so you have one for every day)
10 tops (so you have a back up option everyday)
1 blazer (a dark colour that goes with and smartens up everything)
2 pairs of low heeled dark shoes that need shoe polish (you are on your feet all day; if one pair gets ruined you have a backup pair already)
I keep the colours neutral eg black, navy, grey, cream, white so that mixing and matching between outfits is easy to do. Make sure that you also have a couple of cardigans or jumpers too so that if it’s cold, you don’t have to put on your coat in the classroom.
When deciding on your items think about clothing that is relatively cheap (you will definitely get pen on it at some point). It should also be machine washable (any silk and cashmere should come off the list). Make sure that you can stand or sit in comfortably in all of your clothes for at least two hours at a time. Check that all your clothes reveal an amount of skin that you deem appropriate no matter how you are walking, standing or sitting.
Yes, but how can I express my individuality?
Looking professional rather than cute is the objective. The list above might seem excessively rigid but you express your personality by being uniquely you. Not through the things you wear. You aren’t there to dazzle them with your dress sense but with your teaching skills.
Your mentor / head of department / assistant principal etcetera will be keeping a keen eye on all the early career teachers. Your subject knowledge and behaviour management will be top of their list to watch out for. Professionalism (including things like time keeping, engagement with pupils, attire) is a broad metric that they can assess every time they interact with you. Don’t give them a new problem to deal with. Make it your intention to make their assessment of you as favourable as possible at all times.
There is a narrative among some politicians and media outlets that some (all?) teachers have a “woke liberal agenda”. Teachers insidiously try to infiltrate the pure and innocent minds of the students with the aim of corrupting them and making them become leftist shills.
This article from the Times Education Supplement Magazine – Are we indoctrinating our pupils? – is a tongue in cheek summary of just how ridiculous that premise is.
If you are so inclined, you can try to brainwash the little vessels, but you definitely will not succeed.
Contrary for contrary’s sake
My inability to even get a foothold in my mission to influence minds has been demonstrated many times.
One perfectly illustrative example of this was when I was teaching a Year 8 (age 12 to 13) class. The topic was viscosity (how thick and gloopy liquids are). I wanted to make sure that they knew what it was.
I asked the whole class if they had ever seen maple syrup being poured and three students had not. I then asked if they had ever seen honey being poured and two of the three students said no. Suspecting mischief I asked them both if they had ever seen vegetable oil being poured. They both said no.
They could tell that I needed a consensus on the class’s knowledge of a substances viscosity. It suited them to be contrary little monsters.
They will sometimes even tell you an outright lie. It can become a sport for them to gaslight you.
I was teaching the concept of friction to a different class. I needed them to confirm that they had walked on various surfaces. We needed discuss how slippery they were in comparison to each other. The surfaces were a concrete pavement, a linoleum floor, a wooden floor and a carpeted floor. Three boys claimed to have never walked on a carpeted floor.
Rather than scold or sanction them, I informed the class that future discussions required that the pupils had knowledge of shared experiences. I told the class that only the pupils that knew what we were referencing could speak or contribute. The mischief makers soon got back on board.
Indoctrination for dummies
Indoctrinating a child takes more than the occasional negative reference to Brexit or joke about the prime ministerial revolving door. The people that believe brainwashing by teachers is possible (and easy) have not spent any time of substance engaging with secondary school pupils.
It is difficult enough for teachers to find the time to teach the core National Curriculum comprehensively, let alone shoe horning in discussions of The Communist Manifesto in lesson time.
If you do try to indoctrinate children with your agenda (left, right, or whatever) – the pupils will see through you.
Some will gleefully parrot back whatever you say. They will be grateful to have found a way in which you can be easily manipulated – and diverted from teaching a lesson. Some will grudgingly agree with you hoping that if they concur you will hurry up and shut up about whatever it is. The rest will sense your passion for your propaganda and actively and aggressively disagree with you just to watch you get more and more angry.
You will have only succeeded in losing their respect. They will see that you are treating them as intellectual equals and / or you need them to validate your opinions. From that point on they will then treat you with the lack of respect that you will have now earned. They will no longer regard you as a teacher and leader but a peer who has been put in their place – beneath them.
You will spend every future lesson managing disrespectful behaviour and teaching nothing.
This has been your guide on how to indoctrinate children. Good luck with that.
The school day whizzes past in the blink of an eye. It is therefore important to be intentional about every second of that day, including how you have your lunch.
Kind of. Technically you can please yourself at lunch. In reality, however, there are a lot of things that need to get done to ensure that you have a smooth running afternoon.
The length of lunchtime can range from 30 minutes in some schools to one hour in others. My “enough time for lunch” sweet spot is 45 minutes. This allows time to prepare my room and lesson resources for the next class, take care of any errands such as visits to stationery or the photocopier, take a natural rest break, get lunch (fridge / microwave / canteen) and eat lunch.
In the schools I’ve worked in where it was less than 45 minutes, I have had to be super slick with my time management. I have had to eliminate or minimise as much as possible such as errands and getting lunch.
I won’t be asked to work at lunchtime right?
Technically no. Early careers teachers should not be given any duties, asked to run clubs or have any meeting scheduled during lunchtime.
There should not be, for instance, a regularly scheduled arrangement with your mentor, to meet at lunchtime for feedback on lessons. You may, however, have to be flexible on occasion. Adhoc meetings may crop up which are, for instance, time sensitive such as regarding an incident from an earlier lesson. Lunch time meetings tend to be informal so you can most likely take your lunch with if you attend one. Err on the side of professionalism however and always double check that it is okay.
Lunchtime can also be used to have restorative conversations with pupils. Don’t do these by yourself in your first year, always have support from a more senior teacher.
Should I spend lunchtime hanging out with colleagues?
It depends. You will figure out with trial and error what kind of a lunchtime you need.
Some teachers (usually art teachers, unsurprisingly) love their classrooms. They are happy to eat their lunch there by themselves or with others. Remember, though, that if you do stay in your room everyone can find you and interrupt you there.
Some teachers need to get out of their room for lunch. They will go to the staffroom or canteen to have lunch with others. Eating with others is a great way to check in, get some encouragement, catch up with colleagues and / or have a mini midday decompression.
Some teachers eat in the canteen with the pupils but this is rare unless they are on duty. Some schools mandate this on a rota basis as one of the duties assigned to teaching staff.
If you do decide to eat with the pupils at lunchtime, your best bet should be to eat with Year 7 pupils. They are the most likely to be receptive to teacher chit chats. Remember, however, that a lot of clubs take place at lunchtime in schools so the pupils may be rushing to eat up before they head to their own appointments. Keep it friendly but not personal. Use it as an opportunity to speak to them in a low stakes (not teaching them) environment. It’s a great way to get to know them as individuals and not just a faceless student body.
Some teachers prefer to eat lunch alone. They don’t want to break the spell of the school day so they are happy to eat in solitude while they gather their strength for the afternoon.
Some teachers find a secret hiding place. Larger school sites are perfect for this. The teachers need the guarantee of a lunch that is not interrupted by either pupils or other teachers.
How not to lunch
It is ultimately up to you how you lunch, but there are some hard and fast rules about what you should not do.
Do not pop into someone’s room and expect their undivided attention. If they are alone in their room it is by design. They might be fine tuning their next lesson, having a quiet lunch away from the hubbub, catching up on emails or none of the above. Only if you have had a specific invitation or have developed a close relationship with a colleague should you assume that you can just drop in. Obviously if you need urgent help / advice / equipment go to the person’s room, get what you need and then leave. Also expect that you might be sent away without the help you need as they may be too busy to accommodate you.
Do not make phone calls home at lunch time. You may get caught up in a convoluted conversation that you may struggle to end. What you may have planned as a two minute chat may be a 15 minute rant from the parent. This is especially tricky in schools where you have to log every interaction with parents on the database. You may also have information shared with you that you need to immediately flag to the pupils form tutor or head of year. The best time to call home is at the end of the day. You can talk for as long as they need and you can do any follow up admin immediately after.
Do not go hang out with a teacher on duty. The purpose of duty is to be always actively watching the kids. Consider it the same as if you started chatting to a teacher during their lesson. In some schools teachers are not even allowed to be on their phones while on duty unless it is an emergency.
So how do I lunch?
Ask yourself what you need at lunch – peace, quiet, decompression, banter, rants, gossip? Provided that you note the “how not to lunch” bullet points above you will be able to find a style that suits you. Bon appetit!
