It is a strange week. As I write, I am in the limbo between being back at school but not teaching yet.
On Thursday and Friday I have two teacher training days and I can’t wait. I’m going to get set up on school systems, my official log-ins and ID badge along with my class lists.
The fact that I have trained at this school is currently taking away some of the nerves. However, I am starting to become more and more anxious about the week ahead.
I am sure this is completely normal for any first-time teacher. I love being in the classroom but, I feel that being away for seven weeks really puts you back a little bit. I feel now just like I did this time last year when everything was completely new.
In the last few days, I have started to try and combat this anxiety of returning to the classroom. Along with the usual planning over the summer, I have been looking at my classroom.
How do I want to set up my very own learning environment?
This isn’t something that I have really considered as much as I am doing now. In your training year, it is difficult to have a room exactly how you want it because you are always swapping rooms lesson after lesson. Sometimes from one side of the school to the other. The logistics of trying to change seating plans, table layouts and general classroom appearance every time in every room mean it is often simply not possible.
So what do I plan to do now I have my own room? Well, next week after each teacher training day the first thing to tackle is the display boards. There are lots of lovely displays in the classroom already.
However, they are from the last teacher who was in that room. I want students to know this is my room and not a relic of the previous teacher. So, I am going to re-cover every board in my room so we can start with a blank canvas. This means I can then start to display work that I deem to be an excellent example of class work/homework.
Other boards I am going to use as a tool for my teaching. Another teacher in the school has a board in their lab showing an atom and the sub-levels of electrons. I want to use my board to maybe show this or perhaps the different types of bonding – a tool that can be used in lessons and referred to for help.
Finally, I am going to have a tutor group board. This is a place where I will put any messages, letters, posters and exam timetables as a constant reference for my tutor group, which will be based in the same classroom.
I believe this will help my tutor group along with the students I teach to become accustomed to my way of teaching. I like a clean tidy room and I feel starting afresh in this manner will show this. This example, along with the addition of examples of good work, should show the students what the expectation is as soon as they enter the room, from day one.
Next comes the table layout. What do you use? Single desks all facing the front, desks facing desks in groups of fours, long rows of tables all facing forwards. There are pros and cons to all of these. I think I have decided to go with desks in an L-shape so that students are still in groups but still can all face the front.
Taking all this into account, I am hopeful that I will have a welcoming and accessible learning environment for all my students. Looks like I’ve got a busy few days ahead...
- SecEd’s NQT diarist this year is a teacher of science from a school in the Midlands.