@iknowkellaway

This year, two of my Theology department colleagues have completed their PGCE with Buckingham University, and it made me think about when I did my PGCE 8 years ago. So, I thought I would revisit the notes I made and write some tips for trainee teachers.  5 top tips for all teachers:   Reappraise planning & resources throughout the year What has worked, what hasn’t? How can you improve it? This is something we can all get lazy at... and end up using the same resources with the same flaws the following year! My top tip is to colour it in red as you go along and write what didn't work in red to remind you to update it next year Feedback:  provide time in lessons for feedback.  Build it into planning.  Provide time to reflect on marking, make corrections and write targets for next time to allow them to grow and understand your feedback. This is particularly important for me as most of the pupils can't read my writing! Ask for feedback on your teaching. You can r...

Around this time 4 years ago I completed a course on Pastoral Leadership run by Jill Berry (@jillberry) and decided a pastoral role was the right choice for me. Originally I entered teaching purely as I loved my subject (Theology) and had no intention of a pastoral role, but seeing good people in the roles at my school (Woldingham) and the opportunity you have to make a difference in a young person’s life swayed me. I have since been Head of Year 9, 10 and now Year 11 and I love the job. I’m not writing this as if I have all the answers, but as an attempt to think about what good looks like, help me be better and to help people who are thinking of becoming Heads of Year.  So why be a Pastoral Leader? Two main reasons. First, is there another role where you have such an opportunity to make an impact on a young person’s life? You get to help people be the best they can be, empower them to achieve their potential or make a positive difference when they are struggling. No other role ha...

  Teaching tips to thrive online I survived the first lockdown (and still feel very proud of myself for this!) but I didn’t thrive. This time around I really wanted to nail my teaching so I bought and read Doug Lemov’s book ‘Teaching in the Online Classroom’. I thought it was really useful so I’ve tried to summarise the best bits to help other teachers ‘thrive in the new normal’ or at least pick up some easy tips to improve their lessons.  A friend said that everything in here is just common sense… true perhaps but it helps to be reminded sometimes! I’ve certainly found some of these tips helpful to improve my online teaching.  My key takeaways:  Try to keep consistency between old world (teaching in classroom) & new world (teaching online). Do what you did before where possible! Get off to a fast start . Have them doing something straight away (first 3 mins is the rule) or they will sink into a passive role. Like we all do when we join online meetings. If we kn...