Reaction to the new Ofsted CI

I originally wrote this as a post on Facebook. Then the more angry I got, the more I wrote. So I decided, why the hell not blog it. Not that I ever do blog much (I seriously need to!). But I just felt I had to share this wee rant with whoever would read it, just for a sense of realise of anger I suppose.

If you haven't already, here is the original article I was referring to Amanda Spielman Gets Nod Next Ofsted Chief Inspector - thanks to the Literacy Shed for posting it.

I'm getting share happy at the minute, but this has really turned me sick. Some people may call this an overreaction, and think 'oh bloody hell, here's the teacher moaning again' (feel free to unfollow, friend, mute, whatever. Or get used to it, I do it a lot) but it's things like this that make me seriously worried about my career and where it will take me. Plus, anyone with kids, thinking about kids or will be having a family in the future, this could affect whether your little 'uns are taught by someone who has earned the right through blood, sweat, tears and plenty of caffeine to be at the whiteboard by gaining a degree or post-grad, or someone who just walked into the job unqualified cos they 'fancied it'.

I always said, even before the white paper, that I would leave teaching if forced academisation happened. Not to prove a point, or because I'm stubborn, but because our government is handing over our vocations (note. not jobs) to people who haven't a clue about education or teaching. I am there for our kids, always have been, and academies haven't exactly got the best track record for putting the kids first (BEFORE ANYONE KICKS OFF...I know that there are some amazing academies out there, and some of my friends work in them who are just incredibly inspiring teachers). In fact, look at the amount of Heads leaving over the fact that they didn't get into the job to run a business or to be up to their eyeballs in numbers, data and unnecessary stress (my dad being one of them!), and the fact that kids as young as 6 are being turned into exam sitting robots and losing their love of learning so young. Also, us teachers have little, or no, security over things like pay or our jobs themselves. The fact that Ms. Spielman has been recommended, ahead a number of trained teachers including the gen sec of the Heads union (who, after hearing him speak in Decemeber, would have been brilliant) Now, I'm sure Ms. Spielman has got plently of schools experience to be able to lead HMIs and AIs out of the mess that Ofsted is...oh hang on. She's the head of Ofqual, an education advisor (without ever working in a school as a teacher!) and is a sponsor of an academy chain. Nope, not a classroom practioner. Whoopie. Let's just push academisation in the more subtle way why don't we? Let's not beat around the bush, there has got to be a politcal agenda in there somewhere.

I'm at a loss as to why the government can't trust us teachers and schools (yes, Nicky, we do work together within our local authorities already and yes, it flipping works) and understand once and for all that us teachers - not politicians - know what is best for our kids. Yes, it was originally suggested by Labour and no, this is not necessarily Tory bashing, but those people at the DfE, Ofsted and my 'best' mate, Nicky, need to have a word with themselves.

I seriously hope that this lady proves me wrong. I seriously doubt that she will.

Rant over.

Dear Miss Lee, the NQT

I remember the feeling oh so well. I'd spent the best part of two weeks in school fixing and sorting my classroom making it ever so perfect. I was panicking over the children I'd get, if I'd do the right thing, would they like me? 

A year later, I spent 4 days in work (well, 3 and a half!). One was for planning, the one and a half days were throwing up displays, and the first day I went in and literally said to myself 'what the hell am I supposed to do?' as the endless list in my head seemed to go out of the window.

This blog post isn't meant to give NQTs explicit advice in a 'don't do, do do' sense, there's loads of them about (check out Sue Cowley!) but this is my view a year after the initial stress and panic of 'I have 25 children that are MY responsibility'. 

So, dear Miss Lee (2013),

Just some pointers about the year to come:

- everything will never get done. Once one thing is finished, there will always be something else

- your teaching assistant is your best mate, your map, your guide, your saviour

- how are you supposed to get to know everyone if you're never in the staffroom?

- parents are on your side, so don't be scared talking to them!

- your classroom will be a mess for the majority of the year, but always keep the cupboard tidy!!!

- little things that will wind you up now you'll be over your head by Christmas (except lids off glue sticks!!!!!!!!)

- spend more time on twitter, but not to procrastinate!! 

- be consistent, except for behaviour management. If it doesn't work, even after six weeks, change it. When it does work, stick with it.

- children literally remember everything that you wouldn't expect them to. So don't tell your class you'll teach them in an irish accent in the last week

- you will be alive by Christmas

- don't bottle things up, it'll be a self-esteem nightmare

- there is always somebody to talk to, and your head teacher isn't that scary

- have one night a week that's your night, and Friday doesn't count 

*As a teacher who moved away from home and into a new city for the first time (I'd stayed in my home city of Liverpool for uni!) it was so hard to break out of my own bubble. So every Thursday, I go to a dance class; other teachers go and the girl who runs it teaches reception! we can have a life!

- BALANCE YOUR LIFE!

*From the point above, a tip from one of my very good friends @MissP_Year3 is to timetable your home life (we are an orangised bunch!). She never works weekends (I can vouch for it!) but has two late nights a week. This isn't feasible for everyone, but planning time for planing isn't a bad idea!

- you will do things a lot differently in your second year

- things that worked on placement don't always work in every school

- kids and colleagues never cease to make you smile, laugh and cry due to laughter, even on the naff days

Everyone's first year is different. I'm not going to say my NQT year was a breeze. It wasn't. I let the 'stress' and panic get the better of me and there was a time when I was ready to leave, until I thought about how much I actually love what I do every single day when those children are in my room. 

You will never have another year like your first year. No more guesses, no more 'am I doing this right?' 

Seriously, doing the 'first ever day' right is nothing to worry about. It's just scary, and once you're over it, you're there! Everyone wants you to succeed and believe it or not, you will. Now if I can say that as a huge pessimist, I just be talking some sense!

And think about it this way, which everyone told me last year...

Would you really be employed as a teacher if your boss didn't think you were any good?

Good luck!!

@MissLeeSays

My first guest blog post!!

I was asked very kindly by @magicalmaths to do a blog about visualisers in schools and how I use them, and to give a bit of advice to fellow educators.

Go over to their site and have a peep! Some amazing maths resources on there too 

http://www.magicalmaths.org/visualiser-for-schools-do-you-use-a-classroom-visualiser-great-advice/

@MissLeeSays

'Learning Challenge' Planning Challenge

After a new year's resolution last year to blog more tied in with my NQT year, I genuinely had no idea what was going to hit me. All the madness, laugher, tears, waiting for Ofsted panic, then the sigh of relief when the interim came through...you all know what I could go on about.

So, here goes RQT, and the first blog post in an absolute age!

One staff meeting this summer, our DH (and new HT as of Monday) presented us with the task of getting to grips with the new curriculum, once Maths and English was out of the way, then came Foundation subjects, and I what saw ahead, coming through the abyss, was, the Learning Challenge Curriculum.

I literally cheered in the middle of a staff meeting, to see everyone else with a face of point blank confusion. Yup, I'm that nuts.

Let's rewind two and a half years...

During my third year of uni on my Primary degree, me and my best mate had the absolute privilege to work at St Joseph's Primary in Leigh under the headship of a certain Anne McNally, an amazing woman and an inspiration to me as an educator. The minute I walked into her office to talk about my placement, she was already talking about this notion of 'Learning Challenge' and what Clive Davies had done for the staff. I was somewhat confused. It wasn't until I got into class that I knew what she was talking about. That was the first time I saw what we now call 'working walls' in class. Not for Maths and English, but for 'Topic' work. Once I eventually got my hands on one of the classes, teaching foundation was a breeze because the kids were knowledgeable, genuinely interested and they wanted to learn; they were learning about what THEY wanted to know, not what we HAD to teach them. She is credited in helping to write the new Learning Challenge for the New Curriculum.

And we're back in 2014.

So I immediately grabbed the folder and flicked through my topics; USA...exactly what I'd taught two years earlier. I was loving life. But it seemed like other people were quite the opposite. They were looking through with blank faces, no one really knew what we had to do. And to some extent, apart from an 'on-the-job' view point, neither did I!

Then, after a conversation with @davesen1985 and @TonySands63, it seemed like other people had been thown in at the deep end too. No input, no training, just folders. Pages upon pages of LOs and Learning Challenges. Me and the two gents kept passing on and swapping knowledge and (at least what we thought were) ideas, so here is my PERSONAL breakdown of how to approach a Learning Challenge.

What you have been given are examples of questions/LOs to be used, and that is how they should be approached. The whole point of a Learning Challenge is that we as teachers build upon what the children already know. If they already know that the first moon landing was Apollo 11 in 1969, then talk about other moon missions, why have there been no human lunar missions since 1972? As long as content meets the context of your topics and teaching (and the national curriculum) there is no limit. To me, the whole concept is about individual learning, involvement, teaching and knowledge, with a teacher giving it it's context, along with appropriate time for reflection.

'Could Spiderman exist?' - if our old chum Gove read that (good riddance), he would probably have our heads. But what that LC question should really say is:

Using what we know, and what we will learn, about classification, habitats, life cycles and different living things, such as humans, mammals, insects etc. could we find out if a creature who has both human and arachnid genetics and attributes exist?

Doesn't sound as fun to me, it certainly won't to 30 Year 6 kids...but we've hooked them at 'Spiderman'! All about making learning (in this case Science) accessible, exciting and fun. It is, as stated in the documents, a starting point.

This LC obviously branches of into 'Living Things' and what you might do initially is discuss the attributes of humans and spiders from what they already know. Then start looking into classification of different living things (LC1 Sci Year 6) and start on habitats, and build on from there. Absolute gold mine for creative teaching. Throughout your lessons, you may link back to the initial LC to see what the children think based on what they have learned. Post-it, blog, tweet their current ideas and see how they have developed over the course of the term. There are so many opportunities for cross-curricular teaching too. Story starters based on a creature like Spiderman etc etc. But scientific skills, no mention...read the bigger picture...

‘Working and thinking scientifically’ is described separately at the beginning of the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive science content in the programme of study. Throughout the notes and guidance, examples show how scientific methods and skills might be linked to specific elements of the content.' Science PoS USK2 pg 91

See? It's not meant to be wishy-washy teaching, it's about making it sparkle so the children learn at a higher level!

Personally, I feel it is your own approach that makes LC work. There is no real teaching formula, we're all different in our classrooms; we're individuals too, let alone the children we teach, so why should we all sing from the same hymn sheet, just this once? I don't know what Clive Davies would say on the matter, and he might just even agree, he may not. As long as you are teaching what is on that NC document, it's your oyster. Flexibility. It doesn't go into that much detail to tell you when you've got to teach it, how long for, and in what year group. Here is when communication and joint long-term planning is key, especially in mixed years. For example, I will be teaching a Anglo-Saxons in year 5 alongside my year 5/6 colleague whose focus will go onto the Vikings.

There's no given lesson formula. There's no start, middle, end. You and your children approach it in whatever way suits THEM based on what THEY KNOW and what THEY WANT TO KNOW. When they see progression, and that they can answer their own questions, surely that's point proven?

@MissLeeSays

For more info on the Learning Challenge curriculum follow @focuseducation1 and @CliveDaviesOBE

Summer off? Are you joking?

'What's it like having nothing to do for four months?'

To be honest, I would have hated it. I spent too much time in my first three years at uni doing zilch. Standard. Final year was a massive turnaround. I feel like I didn't stop, that was without a part time job too! People must have seen how much time I was given to my work, plus everything else, because everyone keeps on asking me how my 'stress-free' summer is going.

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it stress-free for a start.

Welcome to the wonderful world of supply!

Now, let's be honest. I absolutely love it! Well, on the whole. As you would guess I have had some absolute stinkers. One of which was so off-putting it seriously made me think 'am I cut out to do this come September?'. But I can honestly say I have had some of the most wonderful days (including my stand out best! Geography lesson in a Jamacian accent...don't ask!) days of teaching.

After one of my less successful days of supply (not saying that I can't teach, but you know PPA cover is another way of saying 'all hell will break loose' the majority of the time), it seriously made me think. There are tons and tons of handbooks for teachers. But what is there for supply? I know is a short term fix for some, but it is throwing yourself in at the deep end if you are new to it, especially as a NQT (well, technically I am...ish!).

Think the major issue I've come across is behaviour management. The amount of courses, placement and lectures where people have said 'wait for the kids, they'll get the message'. When you've got an afternoon to finish off basically a day's work, that basically isn't going to happen with someone new.

When you implement something new for the day, some kids might listen. KS1 don't tend to, obviously. You get loads of 'Miss does this' and 'Miss does that'. When you're hand goes up (I have a 'give me 5' rule) you are bound to get half the class looking whilst the others carry on gabbing for the next 2 minutes. This may be different for everyone, but when I stand up there, it is sometimes like you're talking to air. It's something I'm not used to as a teacher when I have taught 'my own classes' and it will definitely not be the case next year. It's weird how different classes are, even school comparisons are interesting.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, but now, I'm sticking it out for the next six weeks, with Sue Cowley getting a serious read again.Serious holidays will be happening in the six weeks off, hello Rio and Italy! Then back to the panic of 'what the hell am I mean to do in two weeks...'

I think it's starting to kick in now.

@MissLeeSays

#CreativeTeachingFTW

I am taking full ownership of that hashtag. Thanks to @SparkyTeaching for the retweets and use of the hashtag for a while.

Anyway,

I started this blog post a while back. Mid placement to be precise. Hence why I didn't finish it. But the wonderful people at ST got me thinking about creative teaching. Now, we all know that creativity isn't all about the arts, but about pushing the boundaries of teaching and learning to create memorable learning yayayaaa we know.

But what are my favourite lessons for creative teaching and learning...

I think I'm coming back to this one again, I'm gonna be here for a while

#CreativeTeachingFTW

its June...PANIIICCCCC!!!

So the 31st May deadline has kicked in. Cue a half term filled with mad applications for those NQT's amongst us who still haven't got a job. I felt that I was really lucky to get a job so early on in applying. But looking back, it was a mixture of luck, hard work and a LOT of pencil edits on application forms. A couple of people at my uni got in touch with me when they weren't having any luck with applications. I just passed on the information that I was told earlier on in the year. Most of them are quite happily waiting for their new jobs to kick in. (Not all down to me, I'm not big headed! My mates are fab teachers and would have got a job anyway!)

Any child who has at least one parent as a teacher gets a heck of a lot of nagging throughout their lives. The whole 'kids in school behave better than this' or, in mine and my sister's case, 'I sent a child home today for exactly what you've just done' (no dad,  no you didn't. Thanks for the guilt trip though). It's even worse when you decide to go into the same profession. However, as bad as I though my parents were nagging me to get a shift on with everything to do with my teaching career, it was a slight blessing in disguise my dad telling me to take a job anywhere, regardless of where it is.

Okay, I didn't really listen to him, seeing as my new job is only an hour away from where I currently live, but he gave me the incentive to get my backside into gear.

I applied for my first job in January, to a school I thought (and was told by a governor) I'd walk an interview for. That didn't happen. But that first knock back gave me a massive spur on. So, I stripped back my supporting statement, and after a few tweaks and after a fabulous phone call from a primary head (cheers Andy!) I got an interview for everything I applied for.

So, what did I do...

- Ignored the person/job spec! No word of a lie. I wanted to tell schools about me as a teacher, rather than telling them that I am the teacher they want because they said so on a document. Some people use the spec as a starting point, but that's all I would use it for. You're good enough to do the job, so tell them so!

- Made it personal - leading on from the above, I included a paragraph detailing what lead me to be a teacher. One chair of governors who interviewed me said he loved how he could see that this wasn't a short term phase, but it had been a long term goal and I showed how hard I had worked to get to where I was.

- Tell them what I do - 'I use formative assessment regularly in the classroom and I feel that it is a great tool for teachers to use...' so how do you use it? It may seem tedious but back up everything you say! If you use assessment in the classroom, tell them how! They may not do what you do in their school, and they may be genuinely interested! Hello interview.

- what curriculum strengths do you have - pretty straightforward. If you did a specialism at uni, how would you use it in school. If you have a particular area of interest, mention that! I did RE and Maths along with my Music pathway from uni. So for example, 'Having studied Maths to A2 level, I feel that as an able mathematician, I am able to teach alternate methods of calculation to suit the different needs of the learners in my classroom'.

- PASSION FOR THE JOB - the very kind head who gave me feedback on my initial application (FYI, not the same head of the school I applied to, just so not to get your feedback hopes up!) said that although I had mentioned my passion for the job, it needs to be explicit throughout. It's not a just career, it's what we love.

- what makes an outstanding - outstanding teaching = outstanding learning. Simples. Tell them that you know what makes an outstanding lesson...you're halfway there with regards to Ofsted (hint...PROGRESS!)

- faith school? Put a paragraph in there about the ethos of the school! If you are of the faith, tell them how the values you practise as a follower of the faith influence you as a teacher. If you're not, explain how you would upload the values and ethos of the school in your teaching.

- people tell you that you're good, so tell the school! Use quotes to back up anything you have done in school on placement and mention it. I italicised mine just to show how different it was. So...'I am a great staff member and contribute well to a team. In my end of placement report it was noted that...', catch my drift?

Now I know I'm no head teacher, or chair of governors, or interview expert. But I just followed a few tips, along with my head and my heart, and I got a job :) hooray.

Interview tips...now that's a different story