Diary of an NQT
CLASSROOM IDEAS CLASSROOM IDEAS
We don’t need no education...
WHAT DO you do when they just won’t listen? However, bucking the trend are bottom set girls
I’ve been banging my head against the wall this who also will not listen. Why I even endeavour to
week with students who, for whatever reason, just dart a word in edgeways amidst their incessant
won’t listen. gossiping is naïve at best.
I’ve come to the understanding Through sheer hard work this week, I
that, shock, some kids just don’t like have been stepping up my lesson planning,
school! For students of a low ability and my behaviour management has been
Fun in the classroom
it’s understandable that English is honed through weekly NQT training
difficult and their interest diverges sessions that I have been offered by
because they have no interest or my school.
ability in the subject. But I find I feel that I am beginning to get to
it endlessly frustrating when grips with teaching and my lessons
There is huge
students in the higher ability have borne the fruits of my labour.
groups just won’t try. Which is why I get frustrated when 20 scope for ‘play’
It’s been interesting, at this minutes in I have to abandon them and
stage, to compare the books resort to the embarrassing punishment
in the key stage
and progress of students who do of dictionary copying tasks.
and do not listen. I have some Tasks that boys seem to peculiarly
very hard-working students who take to with few qualms! Should I just set
3 classroom,
are making excellent progress, text book-related tasks all the time and
despite their inability in the subject, as disregard the student-centred interactive and by developing this
evidenced by their excellent workbooks lessons I just spent a year learning about?
that I’ve been spending all of my life I should really not let the minority spoil
strand of your teaching
this week marking! But the pathetic it for me. After all, I am working hard and
doodles, unfinished sentences and, so are the majority of my students.
you will be surprised by
occasionally, the scrawls of kids too I have settled into teaching quickly
lazy to even finish writing their name and am making almost as much progress
correctly are frustrating me. as some of my high-flying students.
how social skills, physical
One particular high ability class I suppose the gormless and the arrogant
has made next to no progress all year spoil it for everyone in every walk of life and cognitive development
so far, simply because the majority and as one erudite and wholly pleasant child
just refuse to listen. Am I really not the hollered to remind me “I’m sorry if I don’t find
and self-confidence
sensational, inspiring orator my training this as riveting as you do”, I could only descend
course claimed they’d moulded me into?! into cliché as I reminded her that the lessons
In an attempt to analyse these responses were for her imminent benefit and not mine.
improve. Karen Sullivan
to English, I’ve come to a conclusion that “The world is full of crashing bores, and I am
it is largely gender based. My school’s single-sex not one”, am I?
looks at how
teaching bands have shown me that boys seem to
react poorly to English and getting classes to listen is • Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of English
nigh-on impossible, until I start angling my lessons at Shenfield High, a training school in Brentwood in
toward history or sport. Essex. He returns next week. HE ABOLITION of key stage 3 SATs
Teach it like Torno!
T
has undoubtedly left some breathing
space in the curriculum, and allows
teachers to exercise their imaginations
and creativity to fill time previously
spent undertaking bureaucratic rote
learning.
The big history debate
Fourteen is a magical age, where broader thinking
and making connections between theories and ideas
becomes possible. Fourteen-year-olds are capable
of differentiating between right and wrong, and
“NEVER FORGET the importance of history. To people, the history of women, and yes, the history of distinguishing fact from opinion, as well as evaluating
know nothing of what happened before you took your the privileged. It will be the history of the ancestors of the credibility of various sources of information.
place on earth, is to remain a child for ever and ever.” Conservative MPs. The history of the Hooray Henrys This is an age when we can encourage individual
Unknown. and Old Etonians. thought, and self-expression, and begin to teach
Last week I was invited to take part in a programme Surely the purpose of teaching history is much responsibility, breaking down each task into steps
for Teachers TV known as The Big Debate. The focus wider than students knowing facts and figures. It is to encourage kids to do things for themselves, make
for discussion was the teaching of history and the about creating rounded and considerate human beings decisions, and make sensible choices. But 14-year-olds
extent to which “history is becoming history”. who are able to stand up against wrongdoing and are still very much children, and will enjoy a healthy (short stories are a great vehicle for examining some of
The subject has become a major target for reform fight for what is right. balance between work and play. What better way the best authors from every country).
under a Conservative administration. Moreover, history is very much alive. to encourage learning than to combine the two, and Why not get in the local football team coaches to
One of the panellists was Nick Gibb, We are living in the era of the first Black making schoolwork playful – and fun. teach the basics in PE or games, and have a school
shadow schools minister. He was American president. When we teach There are two elements to learning at this age – one competition between “teams” as well?
lamenting the decline of what he civil rights in the USA and the speeches is very much academic, and involves learning the And science? Are there any landmark scientists
sees as the narrative of British of Martin Luther King it is only the key skills required to progress through the education or initiatives from the countries in question? What
history in our schools and was beginning of the story and system, and to master the basics that will set them in about aerodynamics (the new balls and even kits) and
disturbed at the lack of knowledge we do not know where it good stead throughout the GCSE years and beyond. trajectory? The geology of the countries? The diet of the
among students regarding British will end. The second is more about lifeskills – creating well athletes? The country’s history?
historical events. Finally, if you really rounded pupils with a variety of interests, a sense of And do not forget the opportunities for PSHE. South
According to Mr Gibb, 65 per want an example of a empathy and responsibility, and an ability to look after Africa is the seat of a number of racial tensions that
cent of undergraduates studying Great British statesman, themselves to some extent. can be examined, and football is firmly in favour of
history at Cardiff University were look no further than David While the latter was once the responsibility of stamping out racism. Consider too the concept of fair
unable to name a 19th century prime Lloyd George – 100 parents, there is a plethora of studies showing that many play, the importance of rules and regulations and their
minister. Added to this 70 per cent did years ago, in 1909, Lloyd young teens are left completely to their own devices employment (are the referees fair?), and the patriotism
not know the profession of Isambard George was the architect once they leave the school gates. With a little more shown by fans and players alike.
Kingdom Brunel. of what was known as room in the curriculum, it makes sense for teachers Encourage some independent thinking by asking
I agree these are sad statistics. “The People’s Budget”. and educators to fill some of the gaps that may exist each student not only to plan their ideal trip to see the
However, there is much more This was a budget that in students’ personal education and home life. What is World Cup (working out flights, accommodation, travel
to our history than knowing the was violently opposed by the most important here, however, is that key stage 3 kids to the venues, the price of tickets, food and leisure, and
names of 19th century statesmen Conservatives because it meant get to grips with the idea that learning is fun, and that sightseeing in local areas within a budget; organising
many of whom were privileged. that the rich had to fund the initial learning can take on a variety of guises. a passport and visas, looking into any vaccinations
The history of Britain is a social reforms of the 20th century. For Let’s look some ideas for putting all of this into required), and the country their class is supporting as
rich tapestry of many cultures the first time, people aged 70 and over practice! well.
which have contributed to the could claim a pension. Unemployment The sky’s the limit, and you and your students may
development of our island. It is and health insurance were available for the
World Cup fever
come up with plenty of other ideas as well. You will
not an “English” history as the working classes and this is something to The World Cup presents a fabulous opportunity to undoubtedly have to allow the kids to view some of the
Tories see it. celebrate. Lloyd George and his government encourage learning across most of the key subject areas matches, but use these as a learning experience as well,
What Mr Gibb failed to mention were also responsible for providing free – and social and emotional development as well. to amplify what’s already been absorbed, and apply
is that while the likes of Lord school meals for the first time alongside school Students do not have to be keen on football to catch what has been learned.
Palmerston and Benjamin Disraeli medical inspections. It was these reforms the fever, and you can put the individual talents of your
were busy expanding the empire and which laid the foundations for the Welfare State students to good use. Why not encourage every class
PA for a day
enjoying the privileges of office, a large following the Second World War. to adopt the country of a team taking part. Encourage If there is one area where many students fall short,
proportion of the populace were denied Ironically, many Conservatives name them to learn the geography, the culture and the people, it is their ability to listen and take notes. Learning to
an education and many others, including Churchill as their hero. They see him as the and present it to the rest of the school in a series of concentrate, take down and transcribe notes is not
children, were working ridiculously long protector of Britishness and all that is great about assemblies. simply useful, but will set the students in good stead in
hours in the mines or factories for very low pay. our country. They fail to mention Lloyd George (who Explain why the kit is the colour it is, and the years to come.
It was also a time of a laissez-faire approach to was, in fact, Churchill’s mentor) presumably because backgrounds of some of the key players. Many of the Why not give every student in the class a presentation
society in which if you were poor it was considered he was the architect in changing state attitudes football players will have come from impoverished, to prepare on the subject of their choice. One day, half
to be your fault. These were certainly not people towards the poor and helping those who could not difficult backgrounds, so quite apart from geography, the students will be “PAs” and will effectively work for
who benefited from the empire. In fact, these were help themselves. Something the Conservatives don’t there is a clear opportunity to examine wealth/poverty another student in the class. The PA will be required
the ones whose voice was never heard and were seem to be interested in. and urban/rural issues in an appealing introduction to to take notes during their “boss’s” presentation, type
not in a position to produce written accounts simply sociology and even anthropology. them up, and distribute them to the class. Later on in
because they could not read or write. What about • David Torn is professional tutor and an advanced Get statistics going, with odds for winners, the the week, the bosses will become PAs and do the same.
their history? skills teacher at St Edward’s Comprehensive School potential number of goals, corners and red/yellow Grades will be given from the bosses, who will assess
If the Tories get in, history in schools will no in Essex. He is the London Secondary School Teacher cards. Art classes can involve plenty of bunting, flag- how accurately their presentation was recorded.
longer be about our history collectively – that is the of the Year 2007 and is passionate that the purpose of making, as well as producing replicas of traditional
history of the working classes, the history of Black education is to change lives. He returns in two weeks. dwellings or even ceramics and other artwork. Local
Into the Dragon’s Den
artists for each country can be examined, as can writers Why not encourage a spirit of entrepreneurship among
8 SecEd • November 19 2009
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