Teach Primary Issue 18.5

Q A & 1 What is your idea of perfect happiness in your job? Being able to see real change in your class. Whether that is a child finally getting their head around fractions, or a shy pupil in your class making a friend. Feeling like I’ve contributed to this as a teacher makes everything worth it. Having some relaxing holidays sprinkled amongst that isn’t too bad either! 2 What is your greatest fear at work? Forgetting a birthday in your class. Being in school during your birthday can be hard when you’re young, never mind your teacher forgetting. I always try to look through my register at the start of the month and take notes in my diary. Even a simple Happy Birthday song in class can make all the difference. 3 What is your current state of mind? Bittersweet. I love my current school and class, but as the end of the year looms so does a new year of supply teaching. Teaching is truly a passion of mine, but it comes with an element of uncertainty in today’s job market. Saying goodbye to a lovely school and class is hard when you go back into the bottomless pool of supply teachers and the anxieties that come with that. The only thing to do is keep hoping that things will improve, and that want to please, and look to others for guidance on how to behave. Regardless of school or stage, positive reinforcement has always been my most successful behaviour management strategy. 7 What do you consider your greatest teaching achievement? Helping a boy manage his anxiety. One of my former pupils struggled with a disability that caused him to become very anxious in school, and he often ended up having to leave early. As time went on, he was able to get the support he needed through external organisations, and we became more familiar with each other. We developed a good relationship and his anxieties around school eased. By the end of the school year, he had once again become that fun-loving boy he had been, and he didn’t go home early again. 8 What is your most treasured teaching possession? This is a hard question. There are so many things I use every day, but if I had to choose one…My ‘Do not disturb’ headband! When I wear this, pupils know I amworking with a group and to save their many stories for afterwards. The headband does not deter the most determined pupils, but it does help me get some peace to work with my groups. TP teaching will one day become the stable job it once was. 4 What do you consider the most overrated teacher virtue? Tolerance. Yes, we do need to work under circumstances we may not agree with, and understand that others will have differing opinions on how we teach our children, but this does not mean that we should tolerate behaviours and working environments that affect us negatively. We as teachers tend to push through workloads and behaviours that we wouldn’t normally tolerate in our lives, because we love our job. Setting clear boundaries and standards in your classroom is vital for having a healthy work-life balance. 5 On what occasion do you lie to your class? More than once certain play areas have been ‘broken’ or ‘closed for today’ so we can focus on tasks! Removing certain activities can avoid arguments and shift the focus onto other things. 6 Which words or phrases do you most overuse with your class? “Well done___!” or “Look at ___ sitting nicely!”. Praising other pupils for doing what you’ve asked has always been my most effective tool. Children, by nature, We take the famous Proust questionnaire and pose eight of its questions to a fellow educator. Take a peek into the deepest depths of a teacher’s soul... NAME: Rosie Newton JOB ROLE: Class teacher “Saying goodbye to a lovely school and class is hard when you go back into the bottomless pool of supply teachers” 82 | www.teachwire.net F EATURE S BACK PAGE