Support for mentors and beginning and early career teachers
Photo by Torsten Dettlaff on Pexels.com I began my career in education just after the dawning of the new millennium, when reading and responding to emails involved deliberately logging on at a PC and waiting for the dial-up internet to connect. Consequently, emails might languish in my inbox unread for days - perhaps even a … Continue reading Always on duty: Taming email and our need to respond
Photo by Bolarinwa Olasunkanmi on Pexels.com Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about basketball - identifying the potential of a match on the journey to the venue, sat observing on the edge of the court, and analysing the state of play on the way home. In all these conversations I have been … Continue reading Get’cha head in the game: Building beginning teacher resilience and ability to act on targets
Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked the question ‘should I apply for this job?’ both by beginning teachers and more experienced teachers looking for a promotion post. It has led me to wonder why so many seemed consumed by this question, by a fear of making the … Continue reading To apply or not to apply – that is the question.
Photo by Binti Malu on Pexels.com Recently, I encountered this tweet passing on wisdom to mentors about to receive a new Initial Teacher Training/ Initial Teacher Education (ITT/ ITE) student for their second teaching practice placement: I have previously talked about why it can be difficult for ITE students when they change placement during their … Continue reading Noticing the positives of beginning teachers’ practice: Supporting the transition between teaching practice placements
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a soft spot for Strictly Come Dancing. During Saturday evening’s (2023) final, Anton Du Beke uttered the following words, when addressing Ellie Leach following her final dance of the competition: “I’ve danced where you have [for] many years, and the joy of sitting here is … Continue reading Anton’s wisdom: Finding the joy in mentoring beginning teachers
Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com When you are a teacher everyone thinks they know how to do your job and suspects they could do it too. By virtue of having been a pupil themselves at one point, the school environment and job of teaching feels sufficiently familiar to be open to conjecture. Every year I … Continue reading Drawing back the curtain: Supporting beginning teachers to make the most of their first few weeks on placement
Photo by Nothing Ahead on Pexels.com Recently, as a family, we’ve been watching the classic Mr Bean series. Now we’re about 8 episodes in, I’ve started to reflect on how my own children are accessing and understanding the programmes from a historical perspective. The largely visual comedy is both ageless and timeless, but Mr Bean’s … Continue reading Mr Bean and a journey into the recent past: The importance of developing a sense of period
Photo by Leeloo Thefirst on Pexels.com Recently I was privileged to see a beginning teacher nearing the end of their ITE year teaching a great GCSE history lesson. The pupils demonstrated excellent retrieval of subject knowledge from previous lessons. They were given opportunities to acquire new subject knowledge and make sense of this when combined … Continue reading Curiosity and the space to ask a question: building a dialogic culture to shift the focus onto pupil learning
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com A number of years ago, I watched a lesson where the beginning teacher had been schooled in a set of systematised generic teaching strategies. They had diligently practised and tried to implement these strategies in their lessons, but they were struggling. They were also frustrated. They felt like no … Continue reading The elephant in the room: Why the subject specific training of beginning teachers matters
Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com Damien is a strong beginning teacher. He is diligent and organised and has developed effective approaches to planning. He can effectively ‘run a room’ and his classroom environment is calm. Transitions between tasks are smooth, he forms positive relationships with pupils, and behaviour management is usually effective. He fits well … Continue reading Walking the walk, just not talking the talk: Developing teacher voice and classroom persona
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com I didn’t intend to become a teacher. I knew I wanted a career which was, to my youthful judgement, ‘socially responsible’. I knew I liked people, although I wasn’t 100% sure about young children. For personal reasons I needed to stay living in my university town. I also knew I … Continue reading Unintentional Teachers: Looking beyond vocation to attract people into the teaching profession
As a beginning teacher you hear about the necessity of self care A LOT. It can, however, quickly become yet another thing on your ‘to do’ list and feel like a burden rather than an act to strengthen your well-being. Mindfulness, exercise classes and sports clubs, religious worship, time with friends, hobbies and time for … Continue reading Self-care habits to help beginning teachers move from surviving to thriving
Photo by brenoanp on Pexels.com There is an oft repeated adage that, on their deathbed, no one ever wishes they spent more time at work. A few weeks ago a family member who was retiring commented they were sure that within the week they would be ‘yesterday’s news and today’s chip paper’. They said this … Continue reading Leaving a mark
Photo by Edmond Dantu00e8s on Pexels.com Every year I observe our beginning teachers applying for jobs, and every year it is hard to predict how the die will fall. Invariably a few fortunate souls will get the first job for which they apply. Equally, a few unfortunate beginning teachers will end up applying for quite … Continue reading Pipped at the post: how to support beginning teachers struggling to get their first teaching job
Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com The Mentor’s View Sonya is a new mentor. She has been shadowing a colleague in the role for the first time this academic year and has really enjoyed taking a more active role with the ITT student. She has appreciated how thinking like a mentor has sharpened her own … Continue reading Seeking a Second Opinion: Feeling undermined by your ITT mentee
Photo by B.Bailey on Pexels.com The vast majority of initial teacher training routes begin with time spent observing more experienced and ‘expert’ colleagues in the classroom. The role that this observation plays in providing a ‘frame of reference’ for beginning teacher’s subsequent or concurrent practice is well established (Hagger, Burn, Mutton & Brindley, 2008, p.169). … Continue reading What am I meant to be looking for? Supporting beginning teachers to undertake effective observations of other teachers
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com I love history because I am nosy. I love people and studying the way they relate to one another. My only other option is gossip and celeb watching. History feels like a more wholesome way to indulge my nosiness, and historical fiction provides an avenue for it to be … Continue reading A case for using historical fiction in the history classroom
https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/primaryeducationnetwork/2022/07/22/making-history-count-in-the-primary-classroom-digging-deeper-into-ofsteds-primary-history-review/ In July I was invited by the University of Nottingam Primary Education Network to talk to speak with our primary partnership colleagues about history teaching and the implications of Ofsted's History Research Review. I approached this task with some trepidation - I am not a primary phase specialist and am acutely aware of the … Continue reading Making History Count in the Primary Classroom: digging deeper into Ofsted’s history research review for primary colleagues
Photo by 10 Star on Pexels.com On 21st April 2020 at the height of the UK’s first Covid-pandemic lockdown, Damian Barr’s tweet, about the varying ways people were experiencing and ‘coping’ with the challenges of that period, went viral. This analogy took on a life of its own because it so brilliantly evokes something we … Continue reading The Comparison Compulsion: Sailing your own boat
Photo by Vinu00edcius Vieira ft on Pexels.com There was a magical moment in a lesson I recently observed where you could almost see on pupils’ faces the relevance of the lesson collectively ‘click’. Following a retrieval practice exercise on the Reformation and actions of Henry VIII at the beginning of the lesson, and the discussion … Continue reading The magic of teaching a history lesson with coherence direction and purpose
This blog is jointly authored by Vic Crooks and Laura London based on a presentation we gave at the Historical Association Conference in May 2022. Back in January, this blog introduced you to Tom who was struggling to understand why things were going wrong in his teaching. His mentor has identified ‘pace’ as an … Continue reading Avoiding the Observation Trap: Interpreting generic mentoring approaches through a subject specific lens
Photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels.com As a young teacher beginning my career just after the turn of the millennium, my first classroom was fitted with the ultimate in modern technology – a roller board incorporating both a blackboard and a whiteboard! I also shared an OHP (OverHead Projector) with my colleague in the room … Continue reading Setting the albatross free: Teaching without PowerPoint
Photo by Yevgeniya Fedorova on Pexels.com I am not a hill walker. I love visiting the Lake District, but I would much rather a nice walk on the flat around a lake (perhaps with a quick stop at a tea shop) than battle up a hill which quickly turns into a mountain. Why? Because I … Continue reading Feeling despondent? Why beginning teachers need to keep on climbing
This blog has been developed from a twitter thread (27/2/2022) relating to supporting children and young people to understand the situation in Ukraine. Photo by Santiago Sauceda Gonzu00e1lez on Pexels.com The teaching of sensitive and controversial issues in school is always contentious. Teachers are tasked with navigating the finely balanced rights of the child to … Continue reading Teaching children about sensitive and controversial current affairs: Talking to children in schools about the situation in Ukraine
Photo by Sanndy Anghan on Pexels.com I feel convinced of the need to keep good, committed teachers in the profession, and am therefore pragmatic about the fact that teachers sometimes find themselves falling ‘out of love’ with their current situation even if they still feel committed to the overall endeavour of education. For the vast … Continue reading Making a move: How can I switch from primary to secondary history teaching?
*This blog is written within the context of the secondary phase. Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com Since Hakim started at Skyview Academy, high levels of staff absence have meant he has been working alongside a number of supply teachers and cover staff rather than the class teachers to whom his timetable is attached. Recently, … Continue reading Let’s work together: Supporting your mentee to work with support staff *
Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com “How are you finding online teaching now?” I asked one of our alumni ECTs at the end of February last year - they had contacted me at the start of January feeling anxious about how to make the move into remote learning during the lockdown (you can read about … Continue reading Remote Opportunities: becoming a teacher during Omicron
Photo by SHVETS production on Pexels.com The start of the lesson hooked pupils into the learning beautifully and Tom, the beginning teacher, valiantly moves the class onto the first independent task. Within minutes the lesson, which promised so much, has been overtaken by a ripple of off task behaviour. By 5 minutes in only the 3 most compliant pupils have achieved anything even vaguely resembling a response to part … Continue reading Targeting Tom’s Transitions: Moving smoothly between phases within a lesson
Within the pages of every teenage girls’ magazine you'll find a flow chart quiz which, if taken, will allow you to work out what your ideal pet/ band/ TV Soap character/ boyfriend would be. As a younger teenage girl who had laid her hands on a contraband 'Just 17', I would avidly pour over the … Continue reading Finding your way with Questioning: A practical approach for getting better at questioning
You can read a recent research paper I've co-authored via this hyperlink: Crooks, V., London, L. and Snelson, H. (2021) ’Singing from the same hymn-sheet’: Exploring school-based mentors’ perceptions of the role of HEI subject tutors in ITE partnerships’, TEAN journal, 13(1), pp.3-16. Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com
Becoming a History Teacher 