I have been given so much advice on how I should be running my classroom, conducting myself, lesson planning, and managing behaviour (some of it useful, some of it patronising, and some just generally unhelpful) that I feel as though I should be being and doing a million things at once.

In my infinite wisdom I have realised that this is highly unreasonable. Instead what I need to do is find a way to ‘be myself’ in the classroom, as I don’t want to spend my days at work feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. However, this is easier said than done, and required me to reflect quite thoroughly on who I am, and what I value. I am someone who needs to be highly organised in order to feel comfortable, hence I do not want to ‘wing’ lessons as I know other teachers thrive on, but instead take time to plan them carefully. And whilst this will eat up a considerable amount of my own time, at least I will be minimising stress in other areas. I am also someone who values discussion, and hope that this can be a central part of my classroom practice, encouraging students to value the opinions of their peers.

I have also realised that I may not be able to ‘be myself’ until late in my first year of teaching, or even until my second year. I am lucky to have a senior class, with whom I have already allowed aspects of my personality to seep in. I have been told by many teachers at the school I am at that the kids test (and aim to break) their new teachers, and so my aim in the first instance is to do what I need to to survive. If I spend most of my time on behaviour management, students will learn nothing from my classes, which is desirable for neither the students nor myself. Therefore I may have to adopt a persona this year not entirely consummate with the one I wish to cultivate, but necessary to achieve some level of learning.

So I have set myself a slightly more achievable goal for this term than ‘finding’ my identity; that of consistency. Whilst this might sound easy for experienced teachers because it is part of their routine, I need to establish this ‘routine’ myself in a very conscious and deliberate way. Whilst we have discussed rules in classes at the beginning of the term and they have been displayed since then, this week I will be making a poster with 1 rule on it, and I will work on continually enforcing this. If it takes two weeks to achieve, fantastic, if it takes til the end of the term, so be it. I will also display the way in which it will be enforced, and rewarded. I think 2 verbal warnings, moving within the classroom, then moving outside for a one-on-one discussion is a reasonable routine for enforcing breaches of the rule, whilst verbal praise (which I try to give often, but will make more systematic and targeted now that I know students’ names) will be used for correct observation of the rule.

And whilst there are plenty of progressive pedagogies which advise against the above practice, I have had an epiphany; these pedagogies are for teachers who already have classroom management down pat. Unfortunately for me, even though many of these pedagogies are ways in which I aspire to run my classroom, they are simply far down the list of priorities at the moment.

In-service teacher or educator of any flavour? We want you. #pstn is a project designed to introduce pre- and early-service teachers to online networking (more detailed info here). It uses a non-traditional mentor model – mentors are not allocated to participants on a 1-to-1 basis. Instead, we’re looking for a pool of mentors to interact, respond and guide on a completely ad-hoc basis, contributing what you can when you can. There’s no minimum or maximum time commitment and no requirement to be anyone’s ‘go-to’ person. It’s essentially just a committment to welcome a new group of people to your PLN and provide them with support.

To get involved, follow our How To Play getting started guide (it’s the same for both mentors and participants). Initially, joining the Hootcourse is all you’ll need to do to confirm your participation before the project kicks off in late February.

Pre-service or early-career teacher? Doing a BEd/BTeach/Dip. Ed or any other teaching course? We want you. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, under-prepared, lost, excited, inspired or awesome about teaching, this project is for you. We’re running this project as a way to introduce pre- and early-service teachers to online networking and help fill in some of those (often huge) gaps between the unit codes and what actually happens in the classroom (more detailed info here), as well as share your work and ideas. It’s a low-commitment project that provides support for you to engage in online networking, in an organic way that fits around your study/work schedule. It’s not tied to any of your units or pracs and you’re not graded on it.

Why? Online networking provides the real-world support that uni courses don’t – resource sharing, problem solving, cries for help, kudos for awesome work and sympathetic people on tap.

To get involved, follow our How To Play getting started guide (it’s the same for both mentors and participants). Initially, joining the Hootcourse is all you’ll need to do to confirm your participation before the project kicks off in late February.

New Teachers' Attitudes to Teaching

This week it has been me, rather than my students, doing most of the learning.

After surviving the Staff Development Day without going into administrative overdrive, I was feeling like I had it sorted. Had most people’s names pegged, had my desk and programs all organised. I even had my lunches planned.

Aaaaaaaand thud. I landed flat on my face. As someone who had taken a variety of classes at a public school on an almost year long placement, it came as a shock to me that I might be unprepared for this job. For all intents and purposes, I had assumed that the curriculum and ensuring content was engaging and innovative was going to be the biggest challenge of my new job. What a surprise it was then to discover that my biggest challenge was going to be to get these kids to stay in their chairs and not punch each other.

I had heard the tales from many an experienced teacher about the first year being the hardest, but it wasn’t until this week that I could seriously understand the gravity of that statement. The first three days had me feeling completely incompetent and fearing that I had made a terrible mistake. I was convinced that I was going to let these kids down, and that I was going to become someone bitter and resentful, rather than the ‘teacher self’ that I had imagined and felt comfortable as before.

Day three had me at the lowest point. My Head Teacher and my staffroom were supportive, and worded me up with all the right kind of advice, gave me resources and programs to use, and offered to take the trouble makers off my hands. And my Head Teacher said something poignant at the end of this week: there are some things as a new teacher, you have to learn yourself, as a teacher, your idealistic (some would say naive, but she phrased it nicely!) bubble is inevitably burst. And she was right, and I was devastated when my bubble had burst.

When I hit rock bottom, I took a deep breath and decided that I had to take a different approach. Instead of dwelling on all my shortcomings, I had to focus on the positives. I had, after all, had success with 3 year 7 classes, my year 8s and to a limited extent with year 11. They had done some work. No one had killed or injured each other. I hadn’t cried in front of the students.

And then Day 4 came to my rescue.

Thursday was swimming carnival day, but this is held after a normal school day as a twilight carnival. I thought I might need cement in my coffee that morning, as the kids and I had 12 hours together ahead of us, as well as an excuse to muck around. And so, I braced myself for the worst, all the while with the advice of valued twitter companions in the back of my mind: start every lesson with a positive, even if it deteriorates, at least START positive.

My first lesson was year 10, the class which had me questionning my motivation to teach just a day before. They were delightful. We had an entertaining discussion about the emotions which their favourite music artists wrote about, and why they chose particular genres of music to write about these emotions, and then investigated some of the poetic devices in a song we listened to. Pretty impressive for the low ability year 10 class with a reputation.

Following this was a double of my year 8 class, who are really quite sweet and manageable for the most part, except for the boys gang which tend to distract the entire class with their antics. We read part of a novel, discussed the 5 elements of reading and writing, and they laughed at my pathetic taste in music when I played them the Flocabulary ’5 things’ rap.

The cutest year 7 group were the last class of the day, which was always going to be a positive way to end the day.

I have been told to mark this day in my calender as a “star day”, as for a while it is going to keep me going when days get rough again. I know that next week the kids are going to go back to testing me whilst they try to work me out. But at least I have had a window, a ray of hope, an assurance that I have chosen the right profession. That I eventually will get the hang of this and find my feet. And not wake up nauseous.

My PLN have really come into their own this week; many of them have offered to send programs, checked up on me daily, or fed me constant electronic advice. For their unwavering support during what has been a very challenging week (some may say I’m being overly dramatic, but I would say to them that they either, a) haven’t been a teacher, or b) have blocked their first teaching week from their memory) I would like to thank Robyn Richards, Brenda Norman, Krista Suckling, Beth Kermode, Belinda McKellar, Paula Madigan, Alissa Williams, Bianca Hewes and for therapy-via-phone, Sam Walkerden and Larissa Caillat. Once again, this really strengthens the case for the PSTN project.

I was aiming to find something innovative and inspiring for my Year 10 class to follow on from what I know would have been a great unit on protest poetry for them as Year 9. I originally wanted to do something similar to Poetry Pals, a program which connects people from different backgrounds though poetry, however, I had left the run too late to start collaboration on such an epic task as that. I will save that idea up for another year, and hopefully be able to encourage students to compose poetry about their experience as ‘country’ kids, and learn from their sister city classmates about life in the city.

After my conversation this morning, however, I have decided to go with something a little more radical, and look at ‘remixed’ poetry, which will allow me to draw my students attention to the way in which our culture is constructed as a remix of the past, popular and high culture, and the modern and traditional. Whilst a post-modern or post-humanism unit is probably beyond the scope of these kids’ interest and ability, this unit will allow me to dip into these things a little bit, and hopefully result in them developing some critical thinking skills akin to those associated with these movements.

The study of radical forms and content matter of poetry will naturally require contextualising, and thus students will be required to view today’s culture through a critical lens: Why would poets choose to be different and radical? What message are they trying to convey through this choice?

I have had many many suggestions for poets and poetry which will be useful. For the time being, I am going to investigate in detail:

Komninos
Pam Ayres
Herrick
Free Verse novel extracts (esp. Sally Murphy: Pearl vs the World)
Yellow Rage
and zombie poetry, which I came across a couple of weeks ago, quite by accident!

I am also interested in poetry by cybernetics, and perhaps can source machine generated poetry which I vaguely remember being told about….

If you are interested in this unit or have suggestions, please feel free to contribute them in this space! I will post the unit up on the blog as it progresses.

Having had holidays to reflect upon the last year of my studies, my current projects, and the tasks which lay ahead of me this year, I realised that my thoughts have been somewhat circular. My reflections have lead me to the same point each time; wondering what the significance of knowledge is.

Whilst this may seem like a somewhat philosophical and abstract question, I believe it relates to our fundamental role as teachers. Whether we conceptualise knowledge as facts, as skills, or as metacognitive awareness, asking why we want students to learn what we push upon them seems to me to be something which needs to inform every facet of our teaching.

I have had to ask myself this time and time again as I work on my current project, building the ”e is for english” website, each time I evaluate a site, application or tool, I wonder, why should students use this? what will it help them learn? why should they learn these things? It perplexes me that some aspects of our teaching could be based on considerations other than these, and puzzles me as to how teachers can be building and scaffolding skills according to something like Bloom’s hierarchy if they are not constantly questioning why students learn the content or skills that they do, and what it will link to. I wonder if this is because I am a person constantly given over to rumination that this model of reflection works particularly well for me and seems central, or whether it is something that all teachers find is a fundamental aspect of their teaching.

I think that these thought patterns can be generalised to our own learning as teachers. So much PD is run simply for the sake of learning, and whilst it can be argued that any learning is a good thing, we must also ask why we are learning something new. I guess this echoes the old saying about “new” not being a synonym for “quality”.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by all the things to learn, see, read and ponder on Twitter, however I am gradually learning that I can only accumulate knowledge at such a speed. Curation tools have helped a lot, allowing me to reflect upon blog posts, resources and websites for longer and revisit them when I am in a more appropriate mental space.

However, there is still a limitation on the amount of information I can accumulate (can you tell that this frustrates me no end??), and one of my steepest learning curves this year has been to come up with ways in which I can siphon the experience and wisdom of others in a meaningful way, as well as find my own style of teaching and learning. I think this is a particular challenge for new teachers-we feel as though we need to hoard as much information as possible in case it relates to who we might become as a teacher in future.

In order to keep these WHY questions in the forefront of my mind with regards to my own learning and professional development, I have come up with some guidelines for PD which I force myself to adhere to (although it is difficult!):

1.  Cull the amount of people you follow on twitter. Evaluate them carefully based on their previous tweets. In the beginning it was overwhelming because I followed people left right and centre, which made my life difficult when I wanted to follow conversations.
2. Make lists in Twitter which are thematic as well as geographic and PLN based. I found this particularly useful for when I wanted to research the #occupy movement.
3. Use ONE curation tool and use it religiously-make sure it is organised! I used to set aside 20 minutes a day to ensure I had been able to translate twitter favourites into categories on Pearltrees. That way, you have to categorise each piece of learning, helping to ensure that you aren’t hoarding information for information’s sake.
4. Know that if a piece of information, an app, a website is worth knowing about, it will be coming at you from every direction. You won’t miss out, so don’t punish yourself if you didn’t know about it first.
5. Every resource you download should be altered in some way by you. This will ensure that you are using it in a meaningful way, and understand the aims of the activity. Plus it will make you more confident when you take it into the classroom.
6. Just because someone says something is vitally important, doesn’t mean it MUST relate to you, how you teach, your particular students, or your personal philosophy. The more I learn, the more I realise how relative each view on education really is (coming from someone deeply dedicated to PostModernism, that’s probably not a surprise).

Whilst we can’t all be infinitely wise, we can ensure that by attempting to model reflective learning ourselves, it will trickle through to asking those imperative questions relating to why we teach what we do.

Recently I was asked to help out with a project at university that a lecturer of mine is running which would indicate that some people out there in higher Ed are hearing the call to provide these essential ingredients in Preservice teacher education (with the exception of course of @sthcrft @rellypops and @djplanner – who are already all over it).

I have been asked to reconstruct a website to be used in the methodology course to educate Preservice teachers at macquarie uni in English and literacy, and is also available to those teachers and interested parties who aren’t enrolled at the uni but can register for free. Ideally, the site will soon be open access, but as a free provider of resources, links, apps and forum space for interaction between teachers and Preservice students, the project already holds a lot of potential.

The value lies in not only the provision of these resources, links, apps, programs etc which encourage teachers and students to become more familiar with technology and comfortable using it in their classroom, but also an evaluative component which directs users to the most valuable sections of said resource/app/site/blog and tips on HOW it will be useful in the classroom. In my own experience of exploring technology, I’ve found that the most valuable blogs are the ones which provide this evaluative element rather than just lists. I think it also encourages and models reflective practice-if you have to justify it’s importance, you have to use those higher order skills yourself and hopefully promote them in your students.

I am finding though, that narrowing down the possibly millions of resources and apps out there which are potentially useful for English teachers is a mammoth task. I am planning to model best practice here (and show others the power of technology in collaborating and producing valuable resources) and ask my PLN for their assistance. The more teachers who help out, the greater the potential will be for this site to provide support and ideas for teachers in your school, and because it is university endorsed, it will hopefully mean that it is given more credence than sites run by commercial organizations (though the money-hungry nature of universities often concerns me!) and that it will pave the way for an increased technology component in many other Preservice courses!

Please, if you have any suggestions at all which will assist teachers with English, drama or literacy (at any level) contact me on twitter (@LaurenForner) or leave a comment below. I look forward to working with you all!

Many teachers (and the population generally) turn their nose up at research, thinking that it is something conducted in a lab with limited real world applications. Having done an entire research-based degree (psychology), I can empathize with this view.

Recently however, I have come across some interesting and very relevant research on self efficacy which can really help us in the classroom and in the staffroom. Self efficacy relates to someone’s beliefs that they can accomplish something or succeed in a particular domain or at a particular skill. Whilst it is generally considered more specific than confidence, it might be helpful for present purposes to be discussed as confidence in a particular area.

Research on self efficacy in teachers has found that teachers with high self efficacy, that is, teachers who are confident that they can assist their students in achieving the outcomes and bring about change in their students, are more likely to:

-value student autonomy in the classroom
-allow more student directed learning
-praise than criticize students
-persevere with low-achieving or behaviorally challenging students
-raise student achievement levels
-try new strategies, resources and materials
-be more flexible in the classroom

I don’t know about you, but to me, these teachers seem to be overall more successful teachers, and the students seem to benefit immensely from having a teacher high in self efficacy.

Great! But how do we lift the self efficacy of teachers?
I’ve looked around for research on this topic, but the most I have found is on boosting student self efficacy. Although some of this information is helpful, there seems to be to be other solutions which are relevant to boosting the self efficacy of teachers in your workplace:

-help each other out: teaching is renowned for being a collegiate profession, though many people think this is declining with the emphasis on standardized testing. The more you can assist each other in sharing resources and ideas, the more likely teachers are to feel in control and on top of their workload, leading to a feeling of mastery.

-give someone in your workplace a compliment: we all know that teaching can be difficult because it is sometimes thankless. Just commenting on how effectively a teacher in your workplace handled a situation, or the rapport they have with a difficult student, or the way they are always so organized, could be a boost for a teacher who feels as though they are struggling.

-reduce emphasis on standardized testing as a means for assessing teachers: I know I’m probably dreaming with this suggestion, but consider the impact of low standardized test results for a teacher who is already feeling as though they lack the ability to help their class reach appropriate achievement levels.

But we already have enough to worry about as teachers…

The consequences of low self efficacy include the unwillingness to try new materials or teaching strategies, low self esteem, and can be as dire as dropping out of the profession, or mental health issues. Instead of blaming these teachers for reverting to a ‘safety blanket’ of traditional teaching practices, we should be looking to give these teachers experiences of success, and slowly build their perception of themselves as great educators in order to maximize learning experiences for students in their classes.

In an environment like teaching, where there is constant talk of a need to “change” our mindset as teachers and move to more student centered modes of instruction and encourage C21st skills in our students, teachers can be made to feel as if they are to blame-they aren’t doing enough (to quote @EduSum “Don’t tell me my classroom is broken!”). It can be overwhelming, even for someone who considers themselves competent. If we want to wield change in our profession, this blame culture must go. We must boost self efficacy by empowering teachers, making them and their contributions feel valuable, and recognizing the diverse range of skills which exist within the profession. If teachers have this high self efficacy, they will be more willing to try new things in the classroom, including relinquishing the control which student centered learning requires and integrating more technological tools and applications in their teaching. What seems to be a forced change will come naturally.

Let’s look after one another-tell another teacher they are great today!

References:
Badura et al. 1977
Kagan, 1992
Smylie, 1988
Woolfolk & Hoy, 1990

Secondly, upon reading the selection criteria which is used by the DEC to assess candidates, I realized that the majority of my answers to the possible questions I could be asked were not gained from university study, but were instead a result of information I’ve been given, resources which have been shared with me, or areas which I have been directed towards researching myself via my PLN on twitter. I felt so well prepared for the interview that I didn’t even need to rehearse, write myself notes or “study”, I felt confident in the wide knowledge base which was a result of so many wonderful and experienced teachers sharing their experience with me virtually.

I think Twitter (and social networking with other professionals in general) needs to become a compulsory part of any education course in order to get pre service teachers into the habit of sharing resources with others, seeking assistance, and constantly innovating and being inspired to try new things and take risks with their students. Right now it seems to be something which is covered in technology subjects at university, but needs to be integrated into mainstream methodology subjects.

I have been considering how this could be facilitated, and thought perhaps the NSWIT model could be used here; “mentoring” in this model could include online mentoring, for example an experienced teacher (and experienced tweep) could take a preservice teacher tweep under their wing, and introduce them to the ways in which they can use twitter effectively in their professional development. This way teachers who are currently stretched for time can still offer their expertise to others, and recognition can also be given to the potential of social media for professional development.

And then I was thinking, hey! Perhaps this is something we can facilitate ourselves!

If you are an experienced teacher, I would love to hear how you would you feel about being part of such an arrangement?

After learning so much from the students I taught, and developing such good relationships with them, I have come away with the sense that I am so lucky to have found something I love doing. The rewards of teaching are immeasurable, every day I have countless stories, have laughed many many times, and am guaranteed to have learnt something about knowledge, the students, learning and teaching, or even myself.

I am thrilled to bits to be moving to a rural school, and have my fingers crossed that they will allow me to develop some of the skills I have been “hazed” into, namely technology in the classroom and Project based learning.

There is part of me which is chomping at the bit, raring to go, asking, What’s the next challenge?