Don’t Mention the DJ Button: Takeaways from my first three years in the Classroom
I get a range of reactions when I tell people my age that I’m a secondary school teacher, but the most common one, is a look of pity. The level of concern gets deeper when I say I’m a Music teacher.
I imagine this reaction is rooted in the universal experience of class music lessons in UK secondary school, which in my generation’s collective memory involved pressing the infamous DJ button on the keyboard when the teacher’s back was turned, and playing hot cross buns on the recorder.
While being a Music teacher inevitably comes with a fair bit of chaos, there is certainly more to it than the DJ button. Having admittedly joined the profession after graduating into the COVID pandemic and feeling unsure what to do with my life, I can safely say that becoming a teacher is one of the best decisions I’ve made.
As I come to the end of my third year of teaching, and complete my early career teacher induction, I thought I’d share below a few reflections on my first three years in the classroom — what to expect, what you will learn, and a couple of tips for surviving as a new teacher…
