Josh looks back on his first term of teacher training

 

Before I blabber on about my first couple of terms as a trainee teacher, I have to give a shout out to Maemae, Carina and Neil for their amazing blogs. Mine will not be as eloquent. 

MaeMae, you were absolutely right when you said there should have been male representation at the ‘Being a Woman in Education’ workshop at the DEI conference. I hope you have felt supported by not just your male colleagues at work, but also the ones on this course. Keep making a difference and spreading that message, I promise people are listening and that we are allies. I definitely do not want to be your enemy! 

Carina, your takeaways on how we help our society to become more inclusive is critical. I have no doubt that you have been successful with your teaching and also promoting a better culture of language and attitudes around the LGBTQ+ community.  

Neil, you are legend. It takes some guts to effectively start over again to do something that makes you happier and brings you fulfilment. You also get a shout for those outstandingly flamboyant shirts, especially the black origami swan number. Keep them coming.  

Before I started, I had already had a busy first half of the year. I had stepped up from a supportive role in our maths department to leading lessons as one of our teachers was away with health issues. At that point, I had no mentor, and although my colleagues were (and still are) extremely supportive, I couldn’t help but have questions in my mind like “Am I doing this right? Are they learning as much as they should be? Why are students throwing calculators in the ceiling? Will they ever stop pretending to be Jedi Masters with metre ruler sticks?” You know, the normal stuff.  

In answer to the last question, it’s a no.   

Since joining the Redhill SCITT cohort, as much as it has been extremely busy, the amount I have learned has been awesome. Just because I have prior experience doesn’t mean that I know any more than my peers, so by having an open mind set and taking on board the lessons learned at the Redhill and University sessions, the students I have taught have come on leaps and bounds from where they started. Ultimately, they have to benefit from all of this training and I am happy to report there has been some big wins. Recently my year ten group were introduced to their first practice exam scenario. For the most part there was a lot of anger and confusion towards it, but they all managed to achieve a grade. For students with social emotional mental health (SEMH) requirements, I cannot understate how brilliant this is for their confidence. They are only going up from here! 

It is tough to pinpoint one particular session that has made a massive impact, as they all have. The modelling session delivered by Adam helped me to get those students in a position to take on a paper. Sally with her exzellent German session helped me to visualise what differentiation can actually look like (danke schön). But the obvious one was where Phil Noble came in to speak to us (and I know what you are thinking, it is because he’s a maths teacher, and actually that has nothing to do with it). For me what was clearly evident was his attention to detail and his overall attitude to the role. He wants to inspire his students but it all starts with the planning. My biggest takeaway that I have been able to implement straight away was making my own resources and how having that control can help a teacher feel more settled. This has meant that I can teach at a more suitable pace for my students.  

As much as I have learned tons from guest speakers, lectures and tutors, one of the best resources of information and learning has been everyone within the cohort. There’s way too many great conversations and ideas to mention but I can’t help but just be inspired by all of you every time we get together. Every single one of you has a massive future in this crazy world of education. I just wish you were not so scared of maths, Luka, Rebecca and Manjit, we still have some work to do.  

I feel lucky to be at a school where the staff are part of a huge community where we have each other’s backs at all times, regardless of who they are or how long they have been working at the school for. My mentor Rich has been brilliant at checking in and helping me with ideas. The maths team of Mark, Micky and Sam, not only the number one department in the school but a huge mention to them for how patient and generous they are with helping me become a better maths teacher every day. Alex and Karl, who are also on this cohort and work at the same school as me, are just as weird as me, but also good mates. The entire school is a team that listen to each other when we’ve had problems and work towards getting them sorted, even if the end result is just having a brew and biscuit to lift the spirits. This brings me onto my final point but the most important one.  

Biscuits 

Oh my days yes! I love them more than life itself. Specifically one, THE CHOCOLATE DIGESTIVE…IT’S JUST SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. Members of the Redhill cohort will already know my opinions on this. The chocolate digestive is just unbeatable (yeah I said it!) Apparently fifty-two of these delights are eaten every second in the UK. Which is more than can be said for others such as the custard cream, bourbon and fig roll (not even a real biscuit). No other biscuit will suffice. But there is a relatively serious message within this. We have all worked so hard, so make sure you are finding the time to relax, stick your feet up, put the telly on and have yourself a biscuit where you can. With Christmas just days away, it is even more important than ever that you go away and have some fun. 

You all deserve it. Now turn off your device, stop reading and enjoy your chocolate digestive.  

Josh Black, Maths trainee