Teach-Primary-Issue-19.1

Q A & 1 What is your idea of perfect happiness in your job? When a child experiences the “Oh, I get it now!” moment. Sometimes a child or group of children can find a concept or strategy really challenging, and you have to rethink how you’re teaching, and come at it from a different angle or with new resources, before everything finally falls into place. Those moments of revelation, especially, make this an incredibly rewarding job. Children feeling proud of their achievements also puts a huge smile on my face. After completing our last extended piece of writing, many of my pupils asked me if I would photocopy their work so they could share it with their parents. I loved that. 2 What is your greatest fear at work? Being asked to cover in EYFS for longer than a few hours! I have taught Year 6 for the last 12 years and have only ever taught permanently in Key Stage 2. A long stint in EYFS is a scary thought... 3 What is your current state of mind? Optimistic. I taught at the same school for over 20 years and whilst I still enjoyed teaching, I wondered whether I needed a change in career to really enthuse and challenge me. Instead, just over a year ago, I moved to a new teaching post. The school was in quite a unique position as nearly all of the SLT, teaching and office staff were new. I absolutely love it! It was just the challenge I the moment, as these attributes are still fairly new to the pupils. If I use an alternative (“I love the way you really persevered with that challenging task”) the children often correct me (“Don’t you mean resilient?”). 7 What do you consider your greatest teaching achievement? To be honest, I don’t think teachers have one greatest achievement. Instead, hopefully, we have numerous small wins, such as when a pupil who has struggled with an aspect of their learning becomes confident and independent. The most important achievement is probably when I help a pupil change their mindset and they start to believe they can and will achieve whatever they set out to achieve. 8 What is your most treasured teaching possession? Holes by Louis Sachar. I absolutely love reading this book to Year 6 pupils, and have never known a class who haven’t become hooked. I think that it can entice even the most reluctant of readers. My own son, who is now 17, was never an avid reader, but when he read Holes at primary school, he was convinced that something was wrong when he wanted to continue with the story after his daily 15 minutes of reading homework was up! needed, and I feel really optimistic about where the school is heading. 4 What do you consider the most overrated teacher virtue? Being fair. Sometimes we can become too focused on being fair to all our pupils; ensuring we give exactly the same amount of time, praise, and feedback to everyone. It’s just something that is impossible to keep track of or accomplish. 5 On what occasion do you lie to your class? I try my best to be animated and enthusiastic no matter what subject or objective I am teaching, but I am not being completely truthful when I tell my class I’m excited about the new spelling rule we’re learning! 6 Which words or phrases do you most overuse with your class? Our school values are Respectful, Resilient, Reflective and Responsible. I definitely overuse these words as we refer to them all the time, but I think it’s important, especially at 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... 82 | www.teachwire.net F EATURE S BACK PAGE NAME: Juliet Carey JOB ROLE: Year 6 teacher “I’m not being completely truthful when I tell my class I’m excited about the new spelling rule”