Primary Advice for a Graduate Teacher entering first year

G'day guys,

Just finished my final class at UQ doing a B.Ed in Middle Years of Schooling and just wondering what I can be doing NOW (other than seeking employment) to really prepare myself upon getting my very first class.

Right now I'm focusin on making sure I can operate a highly structured classroom and trying to picture how I see my classroom. Would appreciate any advice in what has work well and what hasn't.

Cheers,

RUL

Been teaching for three years and the two things I wish I'd done from the start were:

1) Start firm with a group and ease off once you get to know them better and know how they react to different situations and tasks. I made the mistake of being too loose with my expectations and it made teaching much more difficult than it needed to be.

2) Never talk over a group or yell your way out of poor student behaviour. There will be times when you have to use a loud voice, but it should be as rare as possible so that it maintains its impact - once teachers become 'the one who yells' they find it a lot more difficult to maintain control of a group. If students are unfocused and chatting I'll just wait quietly for their attention - if they waste too much time then they'll make it up during breaks. Generally they'll focus within a few seconds and we can move on with the class. I made the mistake for around a term of trying to yell my way into getting students to focus and it didn't really accomplish any long term behaviour changes.

2 excellent points.

To the OP,

I don't know how the system works in Queensland but try adn go around to as many different school and get as much TRT (temporary relief teacher) work as you can. Try and go to as many different schools so you can gain an understand of different socioeconomic regions, different demographics and different learning styles. Every school, every classroom and every student is very different in how they operate, By doing this, will allow you to start to understand your own pedagogy can work and how you can best deliver the curriculum to the students you will be teaching.

As Kyptastic said - 'just wait'. Even if you sit in your chair or in front of the class silently for 15 to 20 minutes of a lesson - just wait. If you try and talk over the top of them, they will never stop and you will just lose your voice as a week and a half. They will stop and then the next time you have to wait, it will be less as they know you are just not going to be pressured into making a rash decision and letting them win.

Also, have your behavior management standards in place and understand your own classroom expectations. Don't play favorites by letting one or two go and don't fall for there little games they try and use. Lost my book, paper, don't have any pens, pencils or erasers. Make sure you have a stash of all of those things.

Hows the market for teachers down in Victoria? And importantly, my training at UQ has covered the National Curriculum rather than the QCAR frameworks. Is that of any benefit or is it all VCE still?

Its all VCE here still and the VCE wont follow the national curriculum until closer to 2020 I think.

But 7-10 will all be converted into the National Curriculum by the end of 2013 I believe, so you'll be right there.

Hmmm, that might be up my ally as I am MYS specialized. Thanks TG!

Ill be graduating at the end of 2013. So if you could just wait until I get teaching job first, that would be much appreciated.

Negativo! I is old fart aged 27. So I need money now so I can shove beer down my throat when I move, hopefully in area of Geelong in the next year or two

English, Maths, Science and History all start in 2013, Geography and PE(?) in 2014 and Languages in 2015. Not sure about the others atm. I know NSW's has delayed them all until 2014.

There you go.

I know its been a messy conversion. I wasnt sure on the exact dates though.

Good thing Ive always been keen on country

just dish out some early-marks

Here's my 2cents,

1. Especially as a male teacher, always keep your hands behind your back or in your pockets. Never hold a kid back on their own, make sure there's always a third person in the room at all times.
That's the best way to make sure your professionalism is NEVER questioned. Kids lie, but it would be your fault in the first place if you ever put yourself in these positions.

2. Make sure you don't have Twitter/Facebook, if you do and you have a class, make sure you change your name so students can't search you. I heard a story of one student that make a fake account of her teacher and then added parents and wrote pretend status' bagging the students. Unbelievable what some kids can get up too.

3. Dress smart. Students react better to a teacher that's dressed in a suit. Don't lose the suit.

4. Focus on critical thinking and how to challenge your students intellectually. I know too many teachers who rely on worksheets and workloads. The best a teacher can do is guide her/his students down their own path of curiosity.

5. Use resources!! Every classroom almost has an interactive whiteboard and many are collecting dust. If you're teaching them Art and they're doing a Van Gogh piece, make a little powerpoint on VG and give them some background knowledge on him. Fill those knowledge gaps and trust me, they'll love to hear that he bit his own ear off and drank turpentine.

6. Just like the other guys said, teach at different schools, different areas and different students. I spoke to a principal a few months ago and she said when they employ, they love people with experience. Whether it's CRT or short-term contract positions. Experience is so important.

7. Make a folio, currently I'm making a few different folios, activity/games folio, resource folio and article/teaching theory folio.

8. When you're doing work, speak to teachers in the staff room, get your name across. Because I assume you'll be looking for a full time position at some point. It's good to get to know these people because it's so difficult to be short listed for an interview nowadays, let alone get a job yourself!

Hope that helped a little, goodluck!

Sorry to hear mate, that sounds bleak 4000/150.

Here in Victoria I would say 20-30 new positions open up every two weeks on the DEECD website. But again, around 2000-3000 graduate every year and that doesn't include people coming from interstate and CRTs already in the system.

Goodluck, I really hope you find yourself a position, I'll be looking at the end of next year after one year of experience. It's a tough field, but you'll find something.

Yeah, unfortunately I will be one of those interstate guys coming to Victoria soon as I have been told one I get down, a recruiting company is going to seek some relief work for me immediately. Its just a case of getting my VIT application done and registration paid. Luckily I got family in Geelong I can stay with. What perfect time to start fresh

Join twitter and start following other teachers, you'll find so many resources, ideas and websites that you will never run out of ideas. Someone once said to me that twitter is like the world's largest staff room, with a thousand different conversations going on at once. Have a look at #edchat , #pln and #vicpln. Also have a look at other teachers blogs if you haven't already, they share a lot of their experiences and ideas which I've found really helpful. Here are a few that I like: http://richlambert.edublogs.org/ http://missspinkontech.global2.vic.edu.au/

How is the job market for CRT like in country Victoria? I might make a move down there when I complete my studies. I would prefer to live in the country areas over the busy city.

The Queensland market is saturated for teachers in the south-east, but that's not surprising, as teaching degrees are cheap for universities to conduct, which makes them a cash cow for universities and help cover the cost for more expensive degrees.

Hey Coconut, where abouts you studying?

Yeah I heard that they're not even offering suitability interviews there is such an over supply in SE Qld. Meanwhile where I am they are desperate for teachers. I've just had three or four schools fight for my services for next year. It's amazing how so many people see a move north as such a big deal. It's a 45 min flight FFS.

Te

TES is brilliant.

Victoria is a tough market to get into. I'm in my second year of teaching at my second school.

I suggest really just getting experience as a Relief teacher.. Schools want teachers with experience.. I applied for 170 jobs before I even got a 9month contract.

Even after that it took me a further 130 applications to get my now Ongoing job

Well Done RUL on completing your degree.

Cheers for the advice guys. I'm now fully registered with the QCT.

Cheers Pacey Hope your well!