Teachers for Supply

The bell rings at 3 o’clock and the children leave in a bustle of coats, called greetings and goodbyes and forgotten water bottles. The classroom may be deserted, bar for the cleaners and odd parent rummaging through drawers to find that lost jumper, but the day is far from over for the classroom teacher. The desk is heaving with neatly stacked piles of books waiting to be marked. With the obligatory ‘school agreed’ pen colour (green), and the array or stampers (verbal feedback given, targets discussed, objective met) not to mention learning objectives and success criteria to be glued in, the teacher ploughs through the mountain of books ready for the next day. But who is this marking actually for? OFSTED? The Senior Management team?

Recent research has shown that on the other side of the spectrum from ‘deep marking’ (i.e. marking, children respond, teacher responds to child, etc.) instant, and often, verbal feedback is much more important and effective as a teaching strategy than writing a paragraph of comments that the child either doesn’t read or can’t understand. This does mean a move away from the traditional model of the teaching sitting with one group all lesson. A quick ‘sweep’ of books at specific points in the lesson may offer the opportunity to discuss a misconception and model a different approach to individuals to set them back on track. In this way the feedback becomes more meaningful, and can be acted upon immediately.

Gone are the days of slaving over a pile of work at the end of each day, and instead a handful of jotted notes can inform the next lesson’s planning and evidence of discussions can be seen in children’s books by corrections and modelling during discussions.

With half term approaching us, many students have recently gone in to new classes or even new schools and teachers have had the hard task of settling them in. For young children just starting out at school, this time can be a little bit scary and it can make them wary of what to expect. As a teacher it is your job to help them settle in, talk through any concerns they have and reassure them of their safety and wellbeing.

Often by allowing them to gradually take responsibility for tasks within the classroom, they will soon start to become confident of the daily routines and what to expect.

It may be that some children starting school do not know any other pupils in the class, if this is the case it is especially important to help them make new friends and to ensure that they are included in activities.

Being a supply teacher can be hard work. You may be put in charge of a classroom full of pupils you have never taught before with very little in the way of planned work. In this situation you need to be able to quickly establish the rules with the students and get them started on a task.

Always make sure you arrive early for a supply teaching job, especially if you have not taught there before. This will give you enough time to familiarise yourself with the school policies regarding behaviour, break times, lesson structures etc.

It’s a good idea to have suitable teaching ideas up your sleeve so that you have something to fall back on if you need it. You may find that the teacher that you are covering for has all the lesson plans so you need to refer to your own to keep the children occupied.

There may come a time when you need to relocate your children to another school. This is often because of a house move so not only will the children need to adapt to a new school but also to a new area. It may be that you are moving to an area where you do not know anyone and therefor feel a bit like you are starting again.
It is important to allow your children time to settle in to a new school and also help them make new friends. By enrolling them in after school clubs, attending local events and introducing yourself and children to many of the locals you can often very quickly make new friends.
Children often adapt very quickly to new environments and will soon fit in but sometimes just need a little helping hand to allow them to make the first steps to building new friendships.

The school holidays have now started and thousands of students are already planning how they ar going to spend their six weeks off. The school holidays are not just for the students though, teachers need a break also and the six weeks off can be a great time for them to recoup and relax before the new school year starts.

There will still be a certain amount of planning, marking and setting up that will need doing during the holidays and if not planned in correctly can make you not be able to switch off or leave everything to the last minute making you have to rush about.

Ideally you should take a few days at the start of the holiday to complete all your marking and then a few days at the end of the holiday to prepare your classroom and plan the first week’s work for the children.