NQTS How I learnt my lessons


English NQT Matt Connett has been keeping us up-to-date all year in his weekly NQT diary for SecEd about his trials and tribulations. Here he writes a special one-off diary entry about his challenges, successes and his preparations for September and year two


of inspiration. Little came, so I decided to take a form that both my reader and I, by now, would be more than familiar with.


I Period 1 – drama


The world of the average secondary school girl is relatively small, but nonetheless, still obsessively important. The dramas most adults play out in their narrative of a lifetime therefore gets reduced among adolescent girls, and small friendship issues get blown up out of all proportion into the life-or-death drama that they morph into within the school gates. Teaching bottom set year 10 girls has taught me one valuable lesson; do not get drawn into adolescent drama, but be considerate – if someone said “Sarah’s hair looks bleached” it could be really important to Sarah even if it seems trivial to you.


Period 2 – history


It is astonishing how weak children’s grasp of time is. I suppose, having only lived a dozen years, 40 sounds like a lifetime. However, when establishing the historical context of a book, it is essential to situate it within its historical context. Cue my year seven boys explaining how Shakespeare probably wrote in about the 1940s, the girls’ class faring no better – explaining that in the 1960s the Great Fire of London occurred – and last that the most significant cultural dilemma for Elizabethan women was what to do in the absence of mobile phones or KFC. In history I learnt a very wise lesson; time is relative.


RONICALLY, I sat down to begin this article feeling like a year 7 child. So many ideas, answers and anecdotes, all wound up into one giant knot. How to begin? I thought. Unravelling my experiences of this, my


NQT year, into a comprehensible narrative would take some effort, style or lightning bolt


Period 3 – geography


How sheltered these children must be, to not be able to place Manchester on a map of Britain, to think Bristol is in London, or, as I found out, that no-one knows where India is. I tried, in my NQT naïvety,


to explain how colonialism was important when talking about India. I gradually took so many steps back that I fell off a small cliff. My lesson reduced to me holding my pen over a map of the world, imitating a boat’s journey, and singing a ditty to entertain the kids into understanding that we sailed to India to get our tea bags. Tragic! Or is it? This lesson taught me that the world is a magical, expansive place of unknown territories and wonder through the eyes of a child. I think we often forget this. Thank God they’re not in charge of directing the school bus every morning.


Period 4 – English


As an English teacher it is infuriating how the English language is becoming, itself, a foreign country. Text language is, single-handedly, responsible for the decline of a generation’s spelling, not to mention the fact that punctuation has now been made redundant to save valuable message space.


This does not apply to paper, children; you have a whole page, and guess what? I won’t charge. I cannot completely lambast the spelling


mistakes witnessed as an NQT this year, for it has given me an endless source of hilarity and anecdotal cannonballs. Among the array of gorgeous


mistakes, one stands head and shoulders above them all. I will never forget how, after being asked to write a persuasive advert for a holiday resort, one girl suggested visiting New York for the delicious “hot dog stools”.


Delicious indeed. Saying this, I did have the opportunity to witness expert spelling on my trip to The Times Spelling Bee competition in


London this year; my first time leading a trip as a teacher. I took a group of my year 7 boys and


they made an excellent attempt, coming fifth. Running my own trip has been a particular highlight for me and because of its difficulty to arrange, due to the bureaucratic nightmare they create, equally highlights what a shame it is that kids do not


get to go on so many any more. This year in English I’ve learnt that kids do not read, but their thirst for stories, adventure and


character never wanes. As an NQT, the marking load, especially in English, often becomes the


Challenges are opportunities


Another of SecEd’s regular CPD advisors, Dot Struthers


shares two ways to develop your skills


AS AN NQT you can often feel like the new kid on the block for the first few years as you settle into a teaching style you feel comfortable with, getting to grips with the planning and making new friends. Although you may be relieved to have qualified you are in the business of learning and to get the best out of your students you need to invest in your own skills and learn from those who have gone before you.


Learn from the best


So many of us spend our lives trying to fix our weaknesses rather than focusing on the things we are


good at. If we developed our natural talents we would feel satisfied and content. But instead we try to get good at the things we find hard to do. This keeps us on the treadmill trying harder and


harder and getting more and more frustrated. Look around at your school – what teachers do you most admire and respect? Why? And how do you think they have got good at what they do? They probably learned by trying new things out, learning from their mistakes, and from watching others. So why not fast-track your progress and learn from the best. Here’s how to do it. Draw up a profile of an excellent


teacher – the secret is to model it on real people you know and behaviour that you have observed and can describe. This profile will become your personal vision. You can assess yourself against this profile, maybe


with the help of your line manager, and then draw up a personal development plan which will contain different ways of developing yourself, such as shadowing, getting involved in a project, leading a club, getting feedback from colleagues, and coaching/mentoring.


Gaining respect


It is hard when you are new and maybe younger than most of the other teachers to feel confident enough to voice your opinion and feel respected and valued. If you over-step the mark, people will think you are an upstart and know it all, and if you are too passive other


teachers may think you are a walkover. The key here is to learn how to be assertive. Easier said than done I hear you say! Well


actually it is a skill that can be learned even if up to now it has escaped you. To be respected you have to respect others first, this means listening and understanding other viewpoints before expressing your own. The old saying “better to remain silent and appear foolish than open your mouth and remove all doubt” applies here. The good thing about being an NQT is that


you can ask lots of questions without raising any eyebrows and combined with real listening this will give you the opportunity to present your argument and ideas in the most positive and compelling way. And when you build other’s ideas into your own


it creates involvement, inclusion and people engage in what you are saying. Starting out in any career has its challenges and


opportunities. By observing the best and listening with respect, you will develop faster than trying to do it all on your own – and you will make friends along the way.


• Dot Struthers runs training and CPD workshops for teachers. To find out more about assertiveness and to get a free CPD newsletter, register at www.merechats.co.uk


thing of nightmares. But relax, the odd gem makes it a tolerable exercise – most of the time.


Period 5 – art


Teenage boys draw penises. Psychologists may now be able to explain it away as part of a visualisation of their own biological change, but be prepared, they draw them everywhere; on desks, on books, accurately positioned on chairs, on other people’s work, but most shockingly for me this year, it would appear, on the back of school shirts. One boy, upon removing his blazer, unveiled such


a drawing to me this year, unaware of its whereabouts comically displayed on the back of his shirt. One tip – never accept it, always expect it. When it comes to behaviour, the NQT year is a real


eye-opener. It is undoubtedly the biggest concern for NQTs and this first year is full of advice, trial and error, and undoubtedly occasional failures. The key is to find what works for you, and this


ultimately takes a little time. Everyone will be full of advice, smug in the knowledge that they have found their niche. You, I am afraid, must go it alone to find yours. Good luck.


Home time!


One particular lesson I have learnt this year is how time flies. The apprehension, confusion and anticipation, upon the dawn of September quickly melts away, as you are thrust straight into the job. There is no time for consideration, nerves or worry as you run from one classroom to the next, eagerly preparing your next lesson. It is amazing how much you realise you know, and


also how much has already become second nature, by the time you stand up and launch into your first term. The time goes quickly, but looking back you have done so much that it seems like a lifetime. My NQT year has been a blur, eagerly racing


through to June. I wonder; where has all the time gone? But looking back I have done so much it seems longer. Having bumbled my way through year one, I am


happy to report no major crises, yet, and think I have done a reasonably good job at settling down into a job that really rewards experience. I look forward to starting again, afresh next year and trying some new things. I am really in the same position again, but with a little more experience I can see what mistakes can be corrected for the start of a new term. Before you know it, you are looking forward to the


much-deserved summer break and, come the bell on that last day, moving on to bigger and better things – in my case A level next year. Much advice has been given to me over the last 12


months; most of it wise, some of it helpful and a little that was ditched early upon a brushing with reality. The NQT year congeals your ideals for sure, but knocks the conscientious naïvety out of you quickly, if you listen. I finish remembering why I came into this job, and


have maybe even started to achieve some of those earnest goals. But above all, I now have a realistic attitude that shields me from some of the stress and keeps me sane. Some children we teach will go on to change the world, but others were born to stack shelves. And, for me, that will never change, or be wrong. SecEd


• Matt Connett is an NQT of English at Shenfield High School in Essex. His diary entries can be found on page 8 of SecEd every week (including in this issue). All his diary entries are available online at www.sec-ed.co.uk


22 SecEd • June 24 2010


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