Wednesday: School started for me on Wednesday with a whole school INSET day. This is when teachers can catch up with each other and new teachers (such as myself) have to stand up in front of everyone so that they know who you are!
The first half of the morning was spent looking at what was good about last year and what was going to happen this year; there was also a quick look at some of the school’s policies. The second half of the morning was spent looking at the school’s new online learning centre, known as Fronter. Due to my ‘newness’ I was not on this yet, so I spent the two hours making notes and looking at another teacher’s screen.
When you are new to any school it is important to make notes about any training or information you are told so that when, in a few days or weeks, you are asked a question or cannot remember something you can look at these notes. I have already done this about ten times!
The afternoon was spent making sure that the classroom was ready for the children’s arrival.
Thursday: First day as a teacher!! The children were eager to get into class and see me plus the new classroom. The morning was spent in assembly (all the junior classes had to come into the hall twice and they had all forgotten how to behave when coming into assembly). After that we came up with the class rules.
The class rules are a good way for children to recall what the school rules are as well as creating some for use in the classroom. These are then displayed in the class with all the children signing (decorating a piece of paper with their name on) it to say they agree with it.
In the afternoon the children set their own targets. These were written in either a cloud or a kite and then displayed in the classroom so that they can see if they are achieving their target. After October half-term these targets will be set by me and have more of an educational aim!
Friday: This was the day that the children tried the boundaries. I admit that in the morning they got away with a lot more than they should of but that changed after lunch, more of that later.
The first part of the morning was spent checking the class rules. I had typed these up and changed a few so all the children had to agree with the changes, which thankfully they did.
The second part of the morning was spent doing an activity called ‘Design a village’ which I had created for them to do. They had a price list and a budget of £25,000 for which they had to design a village. Many of the children enjoyed doing this and it was interesting to see how they worked as a group.
The lunchtime arrive, which was nice for me as it was Deli Day. But not so good for the poor dinner lady. The class pushed their luck to the limit. When I found this out I was very cross with them. So spent about 20 minutes telling them off and reminding them of how they should behave in the dinner hall.
After lunch they were meant to finish the ‘Design a village’ task but due to the lunchtime fiasco and having ICT they were unable to do this (it will be finished at some point, when I don’t know!). In the end they only spent 15 minutes in the ICT room as it took them 10 minutes to line up in a straight line without pushing and talking but we eventually got there. I feel like we have turned a corner now though so fingers crossed!
Stress level: 5
Tiredness level: 5