#PlacementTeacher

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The Artform of Teaching; A Glimpse Behind The Curtains

One of the main concerns in Australian education is the alarming rates of attrition within the first five years of experience in teaching. This is backed up by Weldon, 2018, (p.61) who states that “Scholarly articles and the Australian media claim that 30–50% of Australian teachers leave teaching within their first five years in the role.” However, Weldon suggests that the attrition could potentially be based on a number of reasons and is dynamic, but that the most accepted reason that teachers leave is due to lack of support and excessive workload.

The overall goal of this blog is to help ease the transition for pre service teachers into the world education as well as have avenues and resources for them as well qualified teachers to lean on and utilise to ease their workload.

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Engaging students requires being more aware of their needs in all areas!

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Have you ever wondered how to get the most out of your students? Well maybe this article might help!

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A creative way to deliver what some students may consider a boring topic! Michael Bezzene a pre service teacher studying at Swinburne University found that utilising humorous memes was an effective way to engage a low level & unmotivated classroom of year 9 students!

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A great lesson in Philosophy by Mark Nolan from Western Port Secondary College in Hastings; any student teachers or educators looking for some inspiration on how to structure their own lessons in this field should utilise this amazing resource that's been classroom tested!

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Member Post! Mark Nolan, Western Port Secondary College, Hastings

THINGS I WISH I KNEW WHEN I STARTED TEACHING

Have a good reason for being a teacher

Teaching is not an easy job – to last for more than a few years you really need to have a solid reason for wanting to be a teacher. Whether it’s because you love interacting with young people, or you love that feeling when a kid just “gets” something, or if you’re just really passionate about a subject and you want to share that passion, you need a good reason. And sorry to break it to you, but “the holidays” is not a good reason. Trust me, you earn those holidays. You are paid for a 38-hour week, but I’m yet to meet a teacher who doesn’t put in over 45 hours, and most average 50-55 – some more. The holidays give you time to recharge. If you don’t at least like your job, you won’t last.

Look after yourself

Many teachers LOVE their job. And it’s easy to devote 15 or more hours of your own time each week perfecting the perfect unit plan or preparing resources. But it’s also easy to burn out. Make sure you allocate time for yourself, your family, and your friends – and stick to it. Organisation and prioritisation help with this: complete the most urgent tasks first, develop an organisational system that works for you, and when it gets to that time you have decided to stop work – stop work. It will be okay. I promise.

And I’m not only talking about physical work – I’m including going over negative interactions and experiences in your mind over and over again. That’s what your colleagues are for. If something bad happens, and it will, you debrief with other teachers at work - they have all been there – and amazingly, it all just seems less monumental and more manageable. Leave it at school. Don’t bring it home.

Don’t take things personally

Most schools have at least some very challenging kids. You are likely going to be told to “fuck off” (or worse) more than once. Just keep in mind that a lot of kids have experienced trauma, may have behavioural or intellectual disabilities or may simply be having a really bad day – you likely just got in the way. Most times they will be quite embarrassed about what they said when they have calmed down and you will be able to restore the relationship successfully. And the more you teach, the better you get at identifying trigger points and de-escalating behavioural issues in the classroom.

You will make heaps of mistakes

The very best teachers still make mistakes every day. It’s completely okay. The trick is to learn from the mistakes and change what’s not working. It’s okay to acknowledge that you made a mistake with the students – they respond better if they think you’re real person! And sometimes a lesson that works beautifully with one set of kids will bomb for another group. You will be experimenting, reflecting and adapting for your whole career.

Positive relationships are paramount

The kids want to know you care. They want you to listen to them. And mostly, they want to do well. Try to find out how they learn, what they like doing out of school, what problems they may have, what they are good at... basically, the better you know them, the more likely they are to respond. If there’s a kid in your class and you still don’t know anything about them after the first term, you are unlikely to have much success trying to reach them if they become heightened. Get to know the kids. Try to practise unconditional positive regard. And they will respond.

Choose the teaching style that works for you

Some teachers are really strict, some are more laid-back, some like a very quiet environment, some like loud discussions and lots of movement, some follow the rules rigidly, some have a little more flexibility. You need to work out what works for you, and what kind of classroom you want to maintain. As long as you are fair, and maintain respectful, positive relationships, the kids will respond to nearly any teaching style. We are all different, and there is no one, universal correct teaching style (even though some principals may think there is). Play to your strengths – it’s hard to be effective trying to be someone you’re not.

Your mood will affect your lesson

If you are passionate, happy to be in the classroom, positive, patient, showing respect, friendly and responsive – your class is much more likely to be the same. If you are bored, frustrated, raising your voice too much when you don’t really need to, negative and dismissive – then your class will likely follow your lead. We have 5 days a year where we don’t need a medical certificate to take a day off. If you find yourself yelling at a kid for little reason, or escalating small issues into major issues – it’s time to take a mental health day. It really does wonders – don’t feel guilty – just do it. Your kids (and you) will be better off for it.

Final thought

If you really enjoy teaching, then there is something you are doing that is truly special and unique to you. You will see teachers who are phenomenal at classroom management, organisation, curriculum planning, engaging the kids, or leading in positions of responsibility, and wonder how you could ever be as amazing as them. We can learn from those teachers, but they can also learn from you. I promise you, that if you love your job, there is something you are doing to an exemplary standard – even if it is just making sure you say hello to each kid in your class and having a small conversation with them every lesson. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to make a real difference. Embrace your talents.

And finally, if it ever feels too overwhelming, maybe a particularly difficult class, staffroom politics or dodgy leadership are complicating things and making you feel like it’s all too much... just concentrate on what you are there to do; choose one kid, in one class, and teach them something. The two single worst days I have ever had teaching were both followed by absolutely incredible days.

And 10 years later, when some kid tracks you down on social media, or bumps into you at the shopping centre, and tells you the difference you made in their life – it is the best feeling in the world.

Mark Nolan, Western Port Secondary College, Hastings

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Member Post! Gareth Fuller, Western Port Secondary College, Hastings

Tips for pre-service/beginning teachers

Learn names –Not just students (but definitely students), but as many as names as you can around the school. Office buddies, staffroom buddies, faculty/PLC/KLA buddies, teaching assistants, tutors, office staff, IT staff, crossing guards, bus drivers, cleaners, canteen staff, parents/carers (although often if you know the parent/carers, that’s not a great sign…) and anyone else who helps, in however small a way, make your workday work.

Be kind to yourself and your colleagues – We’ll pick this up several times later on, but give yourself a break. From school, from the demands, from students and their families. From curriculum, from developmental rubrics, from content, powerpoints, teams, google classroom, and especially from your emails…

But not so much that you are not kind to your colleagues. Because they are (should be?) the folks who will help you wrangle the above. They are (should be?) the people you can debrief with, who understand the demands of this student, that family, this subject, and that assessment task.

It’s a balance, it’s hard, but it gets easier with time and repetition…Which brings us to

Be honest – With yourself about how much there is to do, and how much you can do. With your colleagues, who you will be there to help you. With the students and their families. You don’t have to announce person details, you don’t have to run folks down, and you shouldn’t say things that enable defeatism or disengagement. The world is scary. There are problems that will take extraordinary efforts to even start addressing, but that is precisely the point. You can, honestly, say that while working hard, submitting assignments, studying, and putting yourself through the ringer to achieve a good result on an exam might not guarantee a student a fabulous career and a successful life, it will certainly equip them with skills that improve their chances at a “good life”. That if the path for a student and their family is a more hands on approach to education, then that is what they should do. That the activity of learning and succeeding releases chemicals in our brains that make us feel good and builds self-esteem to protect us when we don’t. That while it can be terrifying to try and fail, and safe and easy to not try and wonder, not making a choice is still a choice, and tempus fugit and we all only get so much time to make some many choices.

Don’t worry about what you don’t know, or don’t think you can do for your students. Tell them what you can and will do. That you will be there to help them on their journey, that your own educational journey is only just (or not even) over, so you remember how hard and challenging it can be, but that you made it, and you will do everything you can to make sure they make it…And then promise yourself that you will do what you need to do so.

Find your routine – For (as much as it possible) your life in and outside of school. Your time for getting work done at home, your time for unplugging, your time to decompress, and your time to make sure you are finding things outside of teaching and school. As much as is possible, be prepared and organized for each day at work, and use the fact that you are ready as a insurance policy for the days things don’t work.

Use your resources – In your office, in your faculty/KLA/PLC, join groups, in school and online. Find the people out there who will help because they chose this vocation to help.

Ask questions – Because a great way to make use of resources is by asking questions

Say “yes” when you can, but “no” when you must – Following on from previous, and keeping a theme running. Say “yes” to groups at school, online “communities” (within reason), helping out with extra-curricula things, whatever your bag may be…Sports days, theatre club, music, book groups, art groups, science fair, renaissance fair, helping in the canteen, camp, whatever. It is amazing how contagious (in the best possible way, sorry for triggering) helping others can be. BUT, you will have to say “no” sometimes. And that’s okay… As long as you try to say “yes” every so often as well.

Learn to be okay with getting things wrong – We’re humans, not robots (yet). And modelling struggling, and that getting something wrong is not the end of the world (usually), and resilience (RESILIENCE!) is a good thing. It is arguably one of the best things we can teach the younglings.

Find things, and people, outside of teaching to give yourselves a break – Mentioned previously, but repeated for emphasis…

Read – Content from your subject areas, about teaching, and for fun. Read other books as well. Not the set text in English. Not an academic article on pedagogy. I mean you can, but only if you read something else. It counts towards finding things in the “not teaching” folder.

Listen – To the folks who have worked there, wherever “there” is. You don’t have to take it as gospel, but they have been there, and they have done the thing. Which is worthy of attention and respect.

Share – With others. Because it feels better to be part of a group that succeeds, and at a school you can only succeed together.

 That’s probably plenty to be going on with, and I don’t think there is anything earthshaking in there. It’s mostly commonsense…But I guess that’s the point. Over the time I have been teaching, I have mostly discovered that trying to be kind and sensible will put you in a position to succeed in the immediate moment, and grow and improve in the long.

Run strong.

Gareth Fuller, Western Port Secondary College, Hastings

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Member Post! Angela Dobbins, Western Port Secondary College, Hastings

And one last quick bit of advice!

 My advice to new staff is advice I was once given when I started . Never out stay your welcome. 

 The job can be amazing but if you are in a school where you don’t feel the fit is right move on. Experience can only make you grow as a teacher. Don’t underestimate who you are and what you are capable off. If opportunities arise try them and explore which role is the best fit . Not everyone wants to be managers or leaders, some people choose to develop and excel as class teachers.

 Lastly enjoy the job and the amazing people who meet on your journey . Teaching is a world wide job and can open many doors for you . Be confident and get excited about where your journey may take you. 

 Angela Dobbins, Western Port Secondary College, Hastings

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Weekly Blog Post! (6/02/2022)

Each week I’ll be posting weekly blog posts that will highlight my experiences as a student teacher in training; the challneges that I faced and how I ultimately overcame them.

During my placement at Alkira Secondary College I was often challenged by many different issues in regards to diversity; religious, cultural, linguistic and even socio-economic factors were constant considerations, as well as students with disabilities such as autism.

With Alkira Secondary College being based in the city of Casey, which has over 300,000 people from 150 different cultural backgrounds and growing, I had to be extremely open and flexible in the way I taught. All students learn in different ways and when you have students hailing from different ethnic backgrounds this situation is only magnified. During my placement there were students observing the religious practice of Ramadan and it was a factor that I had to strongly consider when catering for these specific students in the classroom. Gilavand & Fatahiasl, (2018) state that, “Fasting is one of the oldest worship that has been common among the nations of the world.” Obviously, Ramadan is an extremely important religious practice for these students, but at times it had interfered with their studies. Not being able to drink or eat during the school day would cause many of the students to become easily agitated throughout the day as well as the fact that they would often have lapses in concentration more than they normally would. Educators who lack experience in religious ideologies would likely struggle to comprehend the students’ behaviour and its correlation with their religion. Mills & Keddie, (2012) suggest that this is, “because such teachers tend to attribute student disinterest, restlessness, or poor academic skills to students' home backgrounds rather than their own pedagogy”. To accommodate for these students, I frequently gave them short breaks or played games so that they weren’t overloaded with information all at once. However, there were times when I couldn’t always do this; there were circumstances where I had to talk to specific students to set goals for them in the classroom and to continue to check in on them. I found that these strategies would more often than not be a success with students performing better than what they were previously.

 The cultural factors were possibly more challenging than the religious ones. For example, I had students who thought that classroom participation alone was what being a ‘good student’ essentially was. However, their definition of participation was often harmful to other students as it involved aspects of bullying, racism and misogynistic comments that would cause anger and frustration, and ultimately - a class full of tension. Vaccarino, (2009) proposes that, “Participating in class is a very broad concept and may be interpreted in different ways by different cultures.” It should be noted that the majority of students voicing these comments were from Muslim ethnic backgrounds (information was provided by Compass) and what they were saying in the classroom was seen as the norm in the everyday lives. The situation required me to ask for advice from my mentor teacher at the time on how to deal with the issue moving forward as the elements that these students were expressing through hurtful remarks to their peers were already embedded in through their home lives and cultural beliefs. The strategy I employed (and the one I will utilise moving forward) was to generate a class discussion and talk about how these remarks made people feel in the hopes that students would understand the hurt they were causing others. After this discussion, students began to show more empathy and respect towards one another and classroom participation was more positive.

Mills, C., & Keddie, A. (2012). ‘FIXING’ STUDENT DEFICIT IN CONTEXTS OF DIVERSITY: ANOTHER CAUTIONARY TALE FOR PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION. International Journal Of Pedagogies And Learning, 7(1), 2401-2416. https://doi.org/10.5172/ijpl.2012.2401

Our community and location | City of Casey. Casey.vic.gov.au. (2021). Retrieved 29 May 2021, from https://www.casey.vic.gov.au/our-community-location.

Vaccarino, F. (2009). Learning and Teaching in Culturally Diverse Classrooms. The International Journal Of Learning: Annual Review, 16, 105-118. https://doi.org/10.18848/1447-9494/CGP/v16i04/46231

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Before getting into the profession of education here’s some things that you should know!

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Behavioural Management Strategies

‘Learning to behave” is not the same as ‘behaviour for learning’

 The clauses are so similar to one another, but yet the meaning behind each is vastly different. Throughout history, educators have struggled to find the most effective strategies to create classroom environments that every single student can effectively learn in.

Post your own opinions/advice on how pre service teachers entering the classrooms should approach students behaviour and strategies to negate unwanted behaviors or how to promote more positive ones in order to achieve the desired outcomes to optimise learning.

Or reflect on your own experiences on how you’ve correctly or wrongly managed student behaviour in the past and what you would of done differently. 

As a current teacher in training myself; here’s my advice!

Some argue that more punishment is the answer and if they won’t behave to learn then we need to make them learn how to behave first. Johnson (2016) argues, “Kids need to learn right from wrong… do something naughty you will be punished!” Sounds like the words of a mad man. Looking at a different point of view, Sullivan, et al (2014) notes that many teachers tend to follow policy or step by step procedures to gain “classroom control”. But policies that focus on gaining control “do not necessarily engage students in their learning.” This is a simple method that most educators use, due to their own uncertainty on how to deal with poor behaviour. Sometimes the best way to gain control of the classroom is to reflect on your teaching practices and look into why the students may be acting out Are they bored? Disengaged? It could be as simple as modifying your pedagogy to regain the control and behaviour you want in the classroom.

Johnson, B. (2016). Daring to Disagree About School ‘Discipline’: An Australian Case Study of a Media-Led Backlash. Challenging Dominant Views On Student Behaviour At School, 15-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0628-9_2

Sullivan, A., Johnson, B., Owens, L., & Conway, R. (2014). Punish Them or Engage Them? Teachers’ Views of Unproductive Student Behaviours in the Classroom. Australian Journal Of Teacher Education, 39(6). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2014v39n6.6