Everything You Need to Know to Survive Teaching Second edition Also available from Continuum 100 Ideas for Essential Teaching Skills, Neal Watkin and Johannes Ahrenfelt Everything You Need to Know About Teaching But Are Too Busy to Ask, Brin Best and Will Thomas Guerilla Guide to Teaching, second edition, Sue Cowley How to Survive Your First Year in Teaching, second edition, Sue Cowley SAS Guide to Teaching, Brian Carline Sue Cowley’s A–Z of Teaching, Sue Cowley Sue Cowley’s Teaching Clinic, Sue Cowley Everything You Need to Know to Survive Teaching Second edition THE RANTING TEACHER Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London, SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © The Ranting Teacher 2009 First edition published 2005 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 9780826493330 (paperback) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ranting Teacher Everything you need to know to survive teaching/the Ranting Teacher – 2nd ed p cm ISBN 978-0-8264-9333-0 (pbk.) Teaching–Great Britain Teachers–Professional relationships– Great Britain I Title LB1025.3.R366 2009 371.100941–dc22 2008041174 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe For my mum – an expert in resourcefulness, inventiveness, creativity and taking the piss This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface to the second edition Introduction: Why you want to be a teacher? ix xi On your marks: The trials of training The peculiar process of interviewing The mentor – make or break time Finding your true calling Things you lose when you are a teacher 11 15 Get set: Theory into practice 19 Firm but fair Preventing misbehaviour Mixed abilities The Workload Agreement 19 22 25 28 Go: The art of teaching 33 The lesson introduction The lesson in progress The lesson plenary Irritating interruptions during your lessons Irritating interruptions during your day Learning support assistants Incorporating ICT Incorporating communication skills The unanimous groan of homework 33 38 43 45 49 53 56 60 62 viii | Children can be the most irritating things 69 Playing truant Language matters Well versed in the art of lying Classroom banter What we sometimes forget 69 71 75 79 84 In addition to teaching 89 CONTENT Form time The school production Training courses The school holidays Trying to get away from it all The last boy scout Have a break before you have a breakdown Tour of duty Sports Day Marking madness Surviving a hangover 89 94 97 102 107 110 114 116 119 121 125 Dealing with colleagues 129 Gossip Being sporty When your classroom is used and abused Ships that pass in the night – leaving work for supply teachers 129 132 135 138 Dealing with parents 145 Meeting the parents at parents’ evening Dealing with situations at parents’ evening Letters from parents The school run End of term reports 145 150 155 159 162 Conclusion 167 Preface to the second edition The world of education moves at a fast pace – the stock cupboards may tell a different tale, with their dog-eared textbooks familiar to not just the current pupils but also their parents; however, orders for change from on high come thick and fast As any teacher wading through the latest government initiative will tell you, it’s hard to keep on top of all these changes for much of the time, and there is some comfort in the sanctuary of the stock cupboard, with its very familiar books that are still in use because the school can’t afford to buy any shiny new software The news seems to be dominated by talk of educational reforms, and although we may listen to them with cynically raised eyebrows, there’s no denying that these changes eventually make their way through the education hierarchy to the classroom teacher And this is why it was decided to produce a second edition of Everything You Need to Know to Survive Teaching Probably the biggest change since its publication in 2005 is the teachers’ Workload Agreement Of course, there are so many other issues going on: 14–19 reform, shifts in pay scales, establishing trust schools and academies, and White Papers full of other big ideas, but the Workload Agreement is one thing that has had a major impact on every teacher’s working life Some have felt this impact more than others, of course: for some it’s seismic and for others it’s a whimper By the time this book is published, the staggered implementation to reduce teachers’ overall hours should be complete, ... swimming around before your eyes, maybe then 12 | EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE TEACHING you will question your decision to become a teacher You may be twenty years into your career, wondering... Need to Know About Teaching But Are Too Busy to Ask, Brin Best and Will Thomas Guerilla Guide to Teaching, second edition, Sue Cowley How to Survive Your First Year in Teaching, second edition, ... of an unfit mentor |9 10 | EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SURVIVE TEACHING Look at things from your mentor’s point of view as well A few years down the line and you too are going to be more rushed