Coming from a non-teaching background, I was very nervous yet excited to begin the ITT course. I had worked very hard to get my degree in Mathematics and its learning. The next step was to get onto training and fulfil my lifelong ambition of becoming a Mathematics teacher.
The placement school was within an hour’s travel and I was prepared to adjust for that. My mentor and the other teachers in the department were very welcoming and offered a lot of support and guidance.
It was an overwhelming first term. Planning from scratch and incorporating Assessment for learning (AFL) within every lesson was not easy. The biggest challenge was trying to cover what was needed to be covered in each lesson. Behaviour management was all new to me then and implementing it was a crucial part not just for the training but for the school placement too. There were students who were difficult to handle but I tried to talk to them individually when I could.
The second term, more so January, brought much more confidence and focus. I knew what to do and how to do it without stressing myself out. The feedback on my planning helped me to plan better lessons without straining too much time on researching resources or practice. My time spent getting to know my students was paying off. There were successful and not so successful lessons but there was a sense of progression and evolving within me.
I was looking forward to the change in school placement for 4 weeks. This temporary “exchange” was aimed at experiencing a contrasting school. I was not prepared for the shock I was about to get. The planning was easier with readymade lessons, but the behaviour was much more challenging. I felt lost at first, however I persevered and wanted to prove that I could adjust to a school as an adaptable teacher. I managed to implement the school behaviour policy and taught my lessons to the best of my ability. Being observed twice by leading peers within this short term caused me to step up to the challenge I set myself. I learnt that there will be times when the pace of a lesson is not going to plan, or the students are having “one of those days.” By the time I felt I and the students were settling, my time at placement B was ending.
I look back on the second term as the calm and the storm which I survived and will survive again. That is the part of my ITT year I will remember.
By Maths Scholar 2023/24
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