Highlights of my initial teacher training course   

I loved maths ever since I was 8 years old, though it was not always my strongest subject though. The first few years of primary school I absolutely dreaded doing any maths work. It was only when I moved to a new school in Scotland when this changed. My new teacher soon realised my knowledge was weak. The task she gave me was subtracting large numbers, using the column method. I remember just staring at the work, not really knowing where to start, but she sat with me and modelled the process, and that was my lightbulb moment. All it took was 5 minutes of her time. After that, I developed a joy for the subject and my confidence increased.

That was 30 years ago, and it is a moment that stays with me and made me consider a career in teaching. So, when I look back across this past year, the biggest highlight for me has got to be doing the same thing for my students. I had one class that would often be disengaged and bored. Behaviour in the class was not a problem, they just were not interested in the subject, so I would have to inject some energy to the classroom. The course taught me so many techniques to help engage pupils. The “Pose, Pause, Bounce, Pounce” technique is where you ask the class a question, give them time to think and process the question, then choose a pupil to answer. If the pupil could not answer, select another pupil, and another, until I go the full answer. I would ask pupils to keep their hands down to ensure I targeted everyone. The most important thing for me was to assure students that it is okay to not know or get the answer wrong. Once I got the correct answer, I would ensure to return to those that could not answer and ask again, to check they were listening and understood. Over time it got to a point that most pupils would raise their hand, despite that not being part of the routine, but it was a key indicator for me that pupils are engaged and willing to put themselves forward, which always made me smile so I would acknowledge how thrilled I am to see these hands raised but “please put them down!”.

My other highlight this year are my amazing ITT friends, these are the people that help you get through the tough times, because it is not always easy, but it certainly does get easier.

By Charlotte Webster

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