Back To Square One - My Second Term As An ITT Trainee - Nicole Partington 

At the very beginning of my first term, I felt my inexperience; I was at the beginning of a steep learning curve, and I was unsure what exactly it would entail. This is why during this time, and even now, I found observing indispensable – actively observing expert colleagues and noticing their classroom practice allowed me to experience different teaching strategies and consider how I could incorporate them into my own teaching. I was then able to adopt these strategies, and through reflective practice and feedback from mentors, figure out what worked for me. Another key lesson from my first term is to ask for support. At my first placement, I was asked to plan lessons from scratch; I was given countless website suggestions, however resource overload soon set in. I found myself faced with endless choice and planning was taking up more and more of my time, but I thought this was something I had to figure out for myself – this was not the case. I mentioned my difficulties to my subject mentor, and this was soon resolved; in our weekly meeting, we began to discuss my lesson plans for the next week – pressure points of the topic, common misconceptions, and the preferred methods of the department. It is important to attempt things for yourself first, but it is equally important to know when to ask for support.

My second term was also the beginning of my second placement; after finally settling at my first placement and getting comfortable, I found myself having to start again. At the time, I thought I was going back to square one, however upon beginning teaching at my second placement, I found myself feeling the steadiness and confidence that I had built over the previous months – I was starting again, and perhaps I had taken a couple of steps backwards, but it was not from square one. I was able to apply the strategies I had learned previously, albeit in accordance with new policies, and I had the opportunity to observe and seek advice from new expert colleagues, and everything started to feel that little bit easier –I believe as a teacher I will never truly be finished learning and growing, but I have realised that it is important to recognise the steps that you have already taken.

For my final term, there are certainly things I want to do differently: tweak certain lessons, incorporate more literacy, be a little bit stricter. But there are also things I plan to continue doing, and I think as long as I continue to reflect on my practice and actively work to improve, it should be a good ending to a so far great year.

By Nicole Partington  

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