10 things about change

'A change is as good as a rest'  OR 'A person who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new'

Well which is it to be? After 18 years of teaching at the same secondary school I gained a new position still as an AST but teaching photography in a school near by. The last ten weeks have been some of the most challenging of my teaching career - what have I learnt?
1.To be more sympathetic to NQTs and new staff because I now remember what it feels like!
2. You have to earn respect and it takes time.
3. No two schools have anything like the same admin systems and you need eternal patience and ingenuity to work them out.
4. Staff are the same in every school - you have explorers, tourists and saboteurs everywhere - find the explorers and work with them.
5.The support staff are your best friends (the site staff took pity on me and gave me the lift code on week 6 of me struggling up 3 flights of stairs hour or so!)
6. Be true to your values, the kids will try you out because you are new - they will come to understand why you are doing what you are - so that they can learn.
7.Keep your sense of humour - accept smaller steps of progress than maybe you are used to - it's still progress.
8. Chocolate is the answer (what was the question??)
9.Ask for help and advice if you need it - you are never too old to learn.
10.If all else fails- resign and go freelance!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me!

Behaviour for Learning

Am I missing something here…?
I logged on to my computer this morning before school to check my e mails as I normally do. The one from TES connect said ‘Advice and resources to help you deal with low-level disruption in the classroom’. I had 5 minutes before assembly so clicked to take a look.
There was a list of classroom rules
Point number 1
‘The teacher is in charge of the room and the class. Any reasonable instruction must be followed’
Err what? I did read the whole list as to be honest I began to think it was a spoof list. I cannot believe that in our enlightened and creative age anyone would see a classroom as the teacher’s domain and territory – all who enter are under my rule. What happened to dialogue? Teamwork isn’t just between pupils surely it’s our classroom and we work together?
Point number 6
‘At the beginning of the lesson, students should take their assigned seats, and quickly begin the work given to them’
This is wrong on so many counts! The work given to them? I thought we had agreed that education wasn’t something that is ‘done to you’ you are a participant in it? What happened to the ‘lure’ getting children hooked into their learning, engaging them, making them intrigued and wanting to learn?
Point 9
‘…no one is allowed to walk around the room without permission’
Well I hope you never visit my classroom! I encourage pupils to ask one another before me, I’m not the fount of all knowledge! They will happily go and work with other pupils, help out, sit on the floor in groups – whatever makes them comfortable, I know which I would prefer.

The whole list just made me depressed and do you know what…if I was told to do all of these things I think I would misbehave myself!