tangerinedream
Density of Sound
nonamenopackdrill said:
Brilliant!
I actually laughed then.
Remind me again why I teach...
- Thread starter treefrog
- Start date
Brilliant!
I actually laughed then.
tangerinedream said:Brilliant!
I actually laughed then.
True though.
I sit there desperate for them to ask for help or something and I've often been pulled into some conversation...
It's different to when you first start though - when any chat is clamped down on - when you enthuse them and you aren't quite as interested as they are it's hard to engage. But I feel successful.
I'm their biggest distraction - when my lessons are well planned.
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
nonamenopackdrill said:
I know it is! I am exactly the same.
treefrog
Saddle up
I love having conversations with my students- though in class discussions it's nice to be included in it, not have it turn into a chat about last night's footie scores. 
This thread is really interesting, not just from the personal point of view but also to have a discussion about teaching from a fresh angle
This thread is really interesting, not just from the personal point of view but also to have a discussion about teaching from a fresh angle
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
Not to hijack tf's thread. Well, I am, but it's the most interesting thread I've read for ages...
How important do you think assessment is to learning? - Not to proving learning has taken place but to the actual process of learning.
I know that is quite a big question...
How important do you think assessment is to learning? - Not to proving learning has taken place but to the actual process of learning.
I know that is quite a big question...
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
treefrog said:I love having conversations with my students- though in class discussions it's nice to be included in it, not have it turn into a chat about last night's footie scores.
This thread is really interesting, not just from the personal point of view but also to have a discussion about teaching from a fresh angle
Yeah, I love talking to them and also I think to teach well, you have to find out what makes them tick and try and translate what you are doing to them. It's only more or less what they do anyway. I think to learn you take information and fit it too the world - it may expand the boundaries of your world, or explain something within your world or offer you a different perspective, but it never exists purely outside your world.
If you don't acknowledge their world exists and is as valid as yours, then I don't think you ever actually teach anything other than 'facts.'
Equally, the skill comes (and I am so, so, much better than I was) in being able to simultaniously talk with them and get them to stop and get back to work, without upsetting them, or yourself. As nnpd says, often you are as distracting as them!
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
treefrog said:
I don't know really. sometimes I think it is vital, sometimes I think it is merely a layer of statistical back up to verify something, othertimes I wonder if it's counter productive.
It's what I find hardest - teaching classes generally is not something I dislike and very often like it. Neither really is planning and I don't particulally hate marking. I just get baffled when I try and fit in meaningful assessments and keep everything interesting and fresh at the same time.
Maybe it's just a question of time management.
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
spanglechick said:oh god - my hatred of the regimentation of teching is so strong. Assessment for learning, compulsorary starters and plenaries. Learning objectives always on the board... APP
It's built on sound ideas - there's excellent stuff in it, but the idea that if a lesson doesn't jump through certain hoops it can't be ofsted-good is for shit. My lessons aren't worse since i started hoop-jumping, but the actual good stuff is significantly shorter.
Quite. My favourite and best class - who were in fact the lowest level of all in their year - used to get very pissed off with the objectives on the board thing.
"Why do we have to do this EVERY time" they would say- when I wrote the objective up on the board and asked someone to read it - or write it - or whatever. They knew what they were doing - learning Spanish and they just wanted to get on with it!
TBH.. I wondered the same thing myself.
They were lovely and I miss them. They were really up for learning and used to compete against each other to see who could do the best. I wish I could have stayed with them.
i_hate_beckham
Him From A Village
You teach because you are too daft to take up youth work, all the rewards, none of the stress.
strict machine
Less like a vampyr with each passing day
Oh treefrog I feel your pain. I have been teaching science to the fucked up children of drug addicts, prostitutes and other poor souls who have fallen to the bottom of the pile for 5 years now. Their kids have no boundaries and no respect because thats all they learnt from their negligent parents. It hurts when I work so hard and they shit all over me. The only benefit is that the money gets better. I now take home 1600 per month. Wowee!!! I feel just as shattered and disillusioned as you do. But if I don't teach them, who will ?? Its getting to the point where I can't do this for another year, and most of my colleagues feel the same. On Friday nights at the pub we meet those escapees who have found nice schools to teach at who tell is that life is sweet once you have left the inner cities. So we dream of tomorrow when maybe we too can spend days enjoying the luxury of sharing our knowledge with eager little souls who love to learn. In the meantime I eat crap, drink too much and have no time for exercise. Cardiac arrest here I come!
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
all the rewards - including financial?i_hate_beckham said:
spanglechick said:
That's what I was gonna say. We might not be paid well, but it could be worse.
LD Rudeboy said:
What do you do LD?
Many youth workers become learning mentors to earn more money - and they're paid less than teachers!
LDR
kiwitanga
IT/Data Manager for a school.nonamenopackdrill said:What do you do LD?
Many youth workers become learning mentors to earn more money - and they're paid less than teachers!
I didn't know that youth workers earned so little.
It really irks me that the jobs that most benefit society the most are so undervauled financially.
LD Rudeboy said:IT/Data Manager for a school.
I didn't know that youth workers earned so little.
It really irks me that the jobs that most benefit society the most are so undervauled financially.
Ahh, now that can be fairly well paid (we pay about £35K I think) because you need to be competitive (I know £35K isn't but you're your own boss).
I think youth workers earn a pittance.
Ceej
Where is my mind?
Youth workers tend to be paid the same as Teacher Assts - half of nothing, about £12k
I'm a School Business Manager (I do everything except teaching and learning........responsible for premises, contracts, finance, risk, HR etc) and I earn more than the NQT's. We've just employed 3 NQT's this year and we're putting away all sharp objects - they're SO stressed and freaked out at the workload, they can hardly speak. They're longing for half term like the Three Sisters longing for Russia, poor things.
All our teachers say this is the hardest year they've ever worked, and the rubbish coming down from the Education Dept - targets, assessment, standards, attainment...measure, measure, measure... impossible pressure levels.
The upside is the children - I'm in a tough, multicultural inner city school but something happens every day to make me think and make me smile.
I think I've got the best job, though!
I'm a School Business Manager (I do everything except teaching and learning........responsible for premises, contracts, finance, risk, HR etc) and I earn more than the NQT's. We've just employed 3 NQT's this year and we're putting away all sharp objects - they're SO stressed and freaked out at the workload, they can hardly speak. They're longing for half term like the Three Sisters longing for Russia, poor things.
All our teachers say this is the hardest year they've ever worked, and the rubbish coming down from the Education Dept - targets, assessment, standards, attainment...measure, measure, measure... impossible pressure levels.
The upside is the children - I'm in a tough, multicultural inner city school but something happens every day to make me think and make me smile.
I think I've got the best job, though!
Ceej said:
Everything you say that I can verify is true.
The 'all our teachers...' thing is not a surprise.
I love my school, sounds same as yours. I challenge you to find the reward that I do actually teaching them though.
A good SBM is worth their weight in gold; are you on SMT?
strict machine
Less like a vampyr with each passing day
Our learning mentors earn about 25k, which is just about what I was on last year after 4 years of teaching. One very experienced teacher I know decided to become one as there was none of the stress and all of that lovely rewarding feeling of "helping kids in trouble". She reckons it was the best move she ever made. She had worked in leafy private schools (too much marking and lots of pressure from parents who want to see results cos they are paying through the nose) and inner city schools in special measures ( disturbed children unnerved by a rapid turn over of staff). Now she has no marking unlss she chooses to earn some extra money as an A level tutor outside school and she looks forward to coming into school every day. Thats more than I can say!!
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
strict machine said:
fuck me! 25K!
Ours are on about 13/14k I think. - When I did it I was on about 9k.
In London, about 22-25k sounds right, but that's only more than NQTs in their first year.
