My first week on my ITT course
My first week on my ITT course was very interesting. I wasn’t quite sure what I would be doing on the first week so there was that excitement also mixed with nerves…
Day 1: This was INSET day for all staff. Because I chose the Schools Direct route (which I am glad I did) it meant I was in from day 1, integrating with other seasoned members of staff right from the jump. I also met the three other trainees. Since I had spent a day in the school months before starting, I had already met my subject mentor and the majority of the department prior which made it easier. We had to attend a socially distanced talk by the headteacher, discussing adjustments surrounding COVID-19, and how the school performed with CAGs (Centre Assessed Grades). My school are really big on CPD (which I love) so they gave every single teacher a copy of Teaching Walkthrus by Tom Sherrington, which provides helpful guides about instructional teaching. We were given a grab-and-go breakfast and had to attend various sessions on teams. I spent the rest of the day with my department, looking over the Scheme of Work etc.
Day 2: On day two, the Year 7s and 12s returned to school – it was exciting to have some pupils in! I attended the assemblies, got my staff badge and laptop sorted out, and completed some admin tasks. I was told that I would be sharing a tutor group with an experienced English teacher and I would be meeting them tomorrow so should think of some icebreakers and activities to do. My subject mentor also bought me a welcome gift which was a nice surprise!
Day 3: On day three, I met my form/mentor group, who are Year 9. They are a lovely welcoming bunch so it was nice to meet them all. In mentor time, my colleague went through expectations surrounding equipment, behaviour and COVID-19 adjustments. I also introduced myself and tried to learn all twenty-four names! After this, I did some informal lesson observations.
Day 4: On the Friday, I did a formal/structured observation of a specific pupil which they call ‘pupil tracking’, and I followed this student around all 5 period lessons (not sure if he noticed!). My alliance is very organised and put together a booklet of tasks for us to complete whilst observing, which gave us helpful prompts of what to pay attention to, for example, eye contact, use of language and tone of voice.
Overall, it was a great first week and I settled in well. I am now on week 5 and have taught three lessons with my year 7 class!
Laurel Umo