Yet another large gap since the last PGCE post, oh dear. Easter break came and went; it was split equally between doing absolutely nothing and panic-working after doing nothing. The following graphic (shamefully stolen from a Uni presentation) shows the “pressure points” of the PGCE year, the second trough being the Easter break.
PGCE Presure Points
I wish I had a better memory to enable me to remember things which would actually be useful to write about, the only thing that springs to mind recently is behaviour management.
As a teacher, behaviour management is a massive – some might say primary – area of learning and practise. As a trainee, it’s no less important, and probably more difficult. The infamous “don’t smile before Christmas” piece of advice for trainees/NQTs has its foundations in reality but obviously needs to be taken with a JCB-load full of salt.
No trainee wants to be a strict teacher, we all remember that teacher at school: always yelling and popping veins, dead poet’s society they were not. What we also forget is the teachers we thought were cool and fun, probably were also firm when they needed to be; there’s being strict and there’s being fair and consistent.
As a trainee, you’re (probably) young, you’re new to the school and if the students have their wits about them, they probably realise the fact another teacher is in the room means you’re not a proper teacher. For all of these reasons, it’s important that you aren’t identified as a pushover. It’s important to separate your personality (e.g. happy, serious, loud, quiet) from your behaviour management.
Now I’m not professing any great skill in this area, indeed the fact that the topic is fresh in my mind is it’s my main area of development right now, but it seems to me that you have to be clear about your expectations and be consistent in the application of those. If I ever discover the magic method I’ll be sure to let everyone know!
