Changes next year…
Although the last academic year has only just finished, I’m looking forward to the start of term in September with excitement… and a little trepidation. This is for a couple of reasons:
- I will be a part-time teacher next year... After teaching on a full-time basis for the past nine years, I’m going to be working just four days a week this coming school year. I’ve been thinking about making this change for a while, and I finally decided to go for it, with the kind support of the leadership team and governors at my school. As many people will know, I have a number of websites which take up a lot of my spare time… I seem to spend most of my school holidays working on either Teaching Ideas, Ideas to Inspire, Welcome to the Web, or one of my many other sites. The extra day that I ‘gain’ (Fridays) will be used to update these web sites, adding new ideas and resources. I receive lots of fantastic contributions from other teachers, but often struggle to get these online quickly, so hopefully this time will help me to keep things more up to date. It will also mean that I can have more free time during the weekends / holidays, which will leave me much more refreshed for when I’m back in the classroom! Teaching part-time will also bring lots of new challenges and I need to make sure that I stay organised so that the teacher who is teaching the class on Fridays is kept up to date, and so that I don’t miss out on anything either.
- I’m teaching Year 3 next year… After teaching Years 5 and 6 (nine to eleven year olds) for the past seven years, I’ll be teaching a group of Year 3 children (aged seven and eight). This is the youngest group of children I’ve taught and I’m very excited about it. We had a ‘meet your new teacher’ morning recently and I really enjoyed teaching my new class… but it’s going to take a little while to adjust to the different levels of ability of the children. My previous class of Year 5s seemed so much more independent!
I’m also getting married in a few weeks, so September seems a long way off right now. I’m sure that it will come around really quickly though! If anyone has any tips for (a) teaching on a part-time basis, or (b) teaching younger children, please get in touch!
What are your plans / hopes for the next academic year?
Image: ‘after view of my classroom‘
I’m going the other way – from 8 years teaching year one and two, to teaching a five/six class. Like you I am very excited if a little apprehensive of the challenge. This is not new to me, done it before, but a while ago now. Can’t wait!
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Mark Warner Reply:
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:56 am
Good luck with your move
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What an exciting time for you Mark. Good luck for the wedding – I hope the sun shines for you both meteorologically & metaphorically!
I work full-time but have 1 day out of the classroom as part of my role as Learning Technologies Coordinator. One tip is to be conscious of the danger of trying to fit into 4 days what you are used to fitting into 5 days. That was my subconscious mistake in Term 1 of this year – & I was exhausted by the end of it!
Thank you for all of the sharing you do for teachers.
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I’m not getting married nor will I be working part time but I will be teaching a mixed Y3/4 class for the first time this September and it will be my first time teaching back in the UK in 10 years. I’m excited and also a little nervous but after meeting the class recently I’m looking forward to the challenges that will no doubt arise over the course of the first term.
Teaching younger children requires only slight changes in your teaching style. I found this out when I taught Y2 after having spent most of my teaching life in KS2. Younger children have a habit of interrupting class with the most unusual questions, the majority of which have very little connection to the lesson being taught. The first few weeks of the first term were very challenging as I realised very quickly that I had to ‘climb down’ to their level but after adapting to their demands as learners I found the year to be one of the most rewarding of my career.
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Kevin Mc Laughlin Reply:
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
p.s.
I’m sure you will have a great time in Y3 and I wish you every success in it and in your final preparations for the wedding.
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Mark, best wishes for your wedding mate – hope you have a great day. Let all else fall by the wayside until long after you get hitched – just enjoy it man. I got married during my teacher prac – was a Saturday and back to work Tuesday – so forget work and have a ball,
All the best
Al
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You’ll love year 3 but find it a big change from the end of year 5. They will be far less independent but so enthusiastic. I think that year 3 is the year group that changes the most during the school year. They come to you as infants but they grow up so much it’s incredible.
Good luck with the wedding as well
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