When you start a supply contract, the least reassuring words you can hear must be “oh, you’re here for that lot are you, they are a riot”. Thankfully I am a sadist, love a challenge and really want to experience the best and worst of teaching.
To say that the year 6 and 7 class I have spent the last week teaching are a tough bunch is a massive understatement. They were without doubt, the hardest class I have ever taught. Very low socio economic area, learning difficulties with every child, huge lack of engagement on any task, interesting upbringing and lots of family problems. In short, a supply teacher’s best week!. From the off they were ready to try and break me in any way possible, not working, trying to throw things, trying to wind up and start fights with each other, running out of the classroom, lying, the usual. This also made them the most interesting class I have ever taught. I knew that taking a contract at a renowned school in a very dubious area would be a risk but financially and practice wise, it was one I could not turn down. Over the course of the week, I have employed every strategy I know in regards to classroom management and have found that the most successful was indeed the ones that I have chosen to implement throughout the majority of my teaching. A simple thing like counting down from 3 really worked to get the pupils quiet for instructions, constant monitoring succeeded in getting a level of work from every pupil.
That is not to say everything worked, pupils still had massive tantrums, There was still a fight between pupils and some pupils achieved very little but as sad as it is, I was pleased with most of the pupils’ work and was the only teacher not to be told to F*** off by any of the pupils, although I think a few were very close to it. The five o clock starts to the day and not getting home until 6 meant it was probably the most tired i’ll ever be but it has meant that my practice has once again been refined and although my strategies will not work with every class, I was delighted that any worked with this one!
I have always kind of relied on being a happy, reasonably likeable teacher who can in some degree relate to the pupils and supply teaching is helping me refine this ability to ensure that my some of my actual persona permeates through to my teaching persona. I have always been a strong believer that if you put the effort in, then you will reap the rewards and last week, my consistently jovial nature and willingness to participate in all activities with the kids really helped build a rapport with the pupils that meant after 3 days, I was getting less hassle than a large number of the teachers and when I asked pupils to work harder or focus, they tended to. I don’t know if this would work over the longer term, especially as my own health would probably be sacrificed for it!(and I think nailing a basketball jump shot from the half way line in shirt, tie, trousers and dress shoes in front of most of the pupils really helped!)
As year 6/7 pupils are still at primary school in Australia, I was able to see how they interacted with each other and to be honest, I prefer the English system as many of the pupils were on the one hand far too mature to be hanging out with 10 year olds, but this hanging out had meant that they on the other hand were immature relating to work effort and educational appreciation. It is a difficult area to be honest as the English system is far from perfect, but I did feel that the older pupils especially benefitted from the more structured approaches of primary life, erring towards more of the high school lesson style. For example, their behaviour was far better in maths ‘lessons’ than in say something like smart moves (half hour open exercise for all pupils every day). I cannot make my mind up about Australian primaries, is it a good idea for pupils of 13 to be with one teacher all day, or to hang around with younger children?Or am I trying to make young people grow up quicker than they need to be?Just to note, this area has a very high teenage pregnancy rate and most of the pupils’ mums gave birth at ages 13-18, which could account for some of the quite shocking attitudes towards youth relationships and sex I encountered over the week.
From a Geographical point of view, there is very little in Australian Primary schools, outside of music, there is very little appreciation of world culture or knowledge of the world as a working entity, many of pupils had no idea what continent they were in, or what saving the earth could entail or even what other areas of Australia were like. I feel that this is a lacking area as many of the pupils could really do with some work on other cultures to enhance their own thinking and attitudes (there were many racist incidents and generally slightly offensive behaviour, although much of it was due to a lack of information-some of the pupils really did just not know better).
The week made me realise what an incredible job the teachers down there were doing for the most part, but it was still demoralising to see such worn out faces, even on a Monday morning, especially as it becomes clear the lack of respect and financial reimbursement that the teachers have for doing such an awesome job with very difficult pupils. There was still the huge focus on data even in such a small school (206 pupils), and I feel that the teachers will inevitably be judged on this data, however, what they are providing to the pupils and the wider community of the area is far more than any data could show. The manner in which the more difficult schools are located is for the most part, opposite to the UK, many of the toughest schools are located further inland and slightly remote from many facilities and services, whereas the inner city schools tend to be grammar schools with a huge range of facilities and access to transport and a huge catchment. This means that the outlying areas are starved of the ‘best ‘ pupils and left with those who may struggle or have difficulties, who then stay in the area and in some ways, perpetuate this issue. I feel as though this is an area I could look at more, and hopefully this week in an inner city state high school, I will be able to as I am covering Art all week!
Again,all these thoughts are just mine but I really am finding it beneficial to explore these schools beyond the face value and reflect upon my own teaching to better my own practice and focus my abilities to enhance the pupils learning that I come into contact with.
To sum up:
Countdowns work.
5 o clock starts to get to work are brutal
I am not sure about the current age structure of Australian schools
Building a relationship with a class is a skill of mine
And most importantly, I wish I could get hold of some Geography teaching, I’d blow their minds!haha.
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