The advice I would have given myself in my first (proper) year of teaching
Because “There’s no tired like first week of NQT tired”
When I finished my first year of teaching as an NQT (Newly qualified Teacher), I think this quote stood out the most for me all year. Between the students, systems, timetables, policies, marking and feedback, seating plans and planning of lessons; to say I was tired is an understatement. However, there are some things that either made my life easier or made my life easier in the long run. Here are 5 tips to help you succeed during your NQT year.
1. Learn the marking and assessment waves.
Planning lessons becomes a lot easier when you know how often you’re expected to mark and how often students need to be assessed. Then you can simply add them into your planning and lessons, without it being an afterthought.
2. Technology is your friend — Make your life easier and more colourful
Plicker, Canva and Microsoft Teams have helped me develop my teaching a lot this year. Plicker helps as a form of engaging assessment. It includes the use of one phone and QR codes, that can easily be printed used to create quizzes for your tutor times; not to mention it automatically marks and breaks down the scores for each student! Canva helps to make beautiful and engaging displays, as does Twinkl. Microsoft Teams was a gem from lockdown, I will be using it to set homework as well as doing assessments which can be marked easier online.
3. Learn and practice the feedback loop
Personally, marking is rarely fun but it is insightful and full of gems and a huge source of affirmation for when you’re doing your job well. Learning how to give feedback that students can practice on to improve their work, so that it becomes routine is a huge way to improve engagement and progress. You can have fun with it too, peer-marking and feedback is one way in which students can learn from each other, whilst developing the ability to self-assess their own work.
4. Seating plans — Plan for Progress and support
Having got engaged during my NQT year, and watching ‘Love, Wedding, Repeat’ on Netflix; do not underestimate the power of a seating plan. Having started off with alphabetical orders — to learn students names, then behaviour, I’ve settled on progress being the factor which determines where students sit in my classroom. Once you’ve planned for progress, then plan for support; students who may need more support to progress sit closer to me as the subject specialist, sometimes with a TA if they are available whose knowledge and ability to differentiate or simply put, their relationship with that student, can vastly help to engage that student in improving their progress.
5. (Clear and consistent) Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment
Context, consequences and compromises. These three ‘Cs’ will impact how you deal with behaviour in your classes. My advice? Focus on the goal at hand in a way that they respect you; even if they don’t like you in that moment (or even forever). Why? Because as Maya Angelou said; “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Students who feel confident, empowered and encouraged, aren’t always the ones who just get it. Sometimes doing the wrong thing is a window of opportunity to learn how to do the right thing, but that can only occur with discipline that is clear and consistent; with the sole aim of helping that young person grow into the version of themselves that their potential promises. They may not like you for the detention, but if that detention allows for a 1-to-1 where they learn new strategies to manage their behaviour; to complete work they realised they understand during your detention or simply time for them to listened too; when they take these tools and achieve a feeling of progression and success, the feeling of long-term achievement will always be stronger than short-term loathing.
