I'm a primary school teacher and tutor, AMA

[bluebells1234]

I have worked with kids from nursery - Y9 in inner city school. AMA!

@bluebells1234

Have you noticed an detrimental detorietering standards of attention 🤔 to details with the welfare of children,

such issues at home encroaching on school life too?

Do you feel like sometimes being a teacher you are required to have skills ,
aspects of similar to like being a social worker and counsellor ect?

@bluebells1234

How do you ensure you take care of your emotional mental health well being and have good work life balance too?

What's the one most important thing a parent can do to support a child through primary school?

What is the worst type of parent to deal with?

@bluebells1234

What made you want to go into teaching as a career ?

@bluebells1234

Do you feel supported enough by your colleagues and communities where you teach in general too in a Holistic way then?

I sometimes feel like my least utilised skill at work is actually teaching. Teachers spend a lot of time ensuring the welfare of the kids in their care and making sure everyone is 'ok' in order to begin learning. This does make me feel like a counsellor! It's something I'm happy to do, but often feel I'm not best qualified to support children with this.

Do you know what the word acrid means 😂

Balance is hard. I work full time and usually tutor 5-6 hours a week. My commute is an hour each way. And I've just had a baby. I try to work smart, not hard. This sometimes isn't always possible when the 'higher-ups' require unnecessary paperwork. But I enjoy working with children and this definitely boosts my wellbeing. I cycle to and from work too and find this helps me zen before arriving home.

Read! And talk to your children! And read more!

I find it really patronising when parents try to tell me how to do my job. Or when a parent wants to have a deep conversation about a child's progress in maths at 9am - please make an appointment when it's not class time.
Mostly though, the parents I deal with are lovely.

Someone in my family is a teacher and my dad suggested it would be a job I can fall back on, no matter what. Had I have done it all again, I would probably have chosen a different career.

Yes?

Why? (Definitely not saying I don’t do these things or that I can’t imagine why they’re important! More - is it to help with speech, or to flair their imagination, or improve their love of books so that translates to educational books, or something else?)

My daughter, 7, is the youngest in her class and I feel she is at a slight disadvantage. The older children seem so confident and clever in comparison, that I feel my daughter is overlooked because she is quiet. Even at her parents evening, her teachers said she seems away with the fairies! What can I do to help support her? Thanks!

What safeguarding issues exist which aren't looked at enough?
I'm a safeguarding governor and am interested in what to ask

Have you personally had experienced with children who had really bad concentration/focus and did they ever improve as they get older?

@Naptrappedmummy

Reading (and talking) exposes children to language. It supports vocabulary, grammar, speech patterns it also greatly supports a child's understanding of the world. Many of the children in my class have never been to a beach, but if we read some stories set at a beach, they can gain an understanding of what it's like there. Of course, nothing would beat going to the beach but when we read stories set in China, the same applies. I hope that makes sense - it's hard to articulate quickly!

How to ensure your child isn’t overlooked in the class? My kids just get on with their work and do what they need to do and during parents evenings I can see that the teachers don’t really know my child. I get the feeling that it is only children with behavioural issues that get the attention.

Your daughter may be at a slight disadvantage but I believe this levels out by the time she will be in Y5/6.
Find something she is passionate about or something she loves to do and celebrate those successes. I'm sure you're already her biggest supporter but letting her know regularly that you're proud of her, even for completing a piece of homework or reading, will boost her self confidence.
If she is a little behind and you'd like to help her academically, I recommend 10 mins arithmetic practice and 10 mins reading every day (reading with a discussion) to support.

I work part time and have the odd day here and there completely free of commitment. Is my local primary school likely to be interested in me going in to help occasionally. I'm thinking reading or maths. Perhaps you can suggest other areas where support might be useful.

I've never called them because I don't have a regular weekly slot, it's whole days here and there. I've often thought about it though.

Be interested in your view.

Child on child abuse. Kids pushing and grabbing each other in the playground. Some might say this is normal playground behaviour but if a child is complaining this happened to them, then it counts as child on child. It can really affect a child's readiness to learn as well as makes them feel wobbly about coming to school.

Technology is a big issue too. As a teacher, I like to share what we are up to in class regularly with parents, however having quality devices for teachers to use (rather than using their own which often happens) is incredibly frustrating although a huge safeguarding issue. Parents love the updates and kids love to reflect back too so worth making sure staff can do this properly.

Safeguarding is such a massive focus for schools- it's hard to find a stone unturned.

I've taught children in the infants and then again in the juniors - some kids can definitely improve with focus and concentration. This is something which develops with maturity anyway. However, there may be underlying issues causing the lack of focus which may need addressing.

I try to build strong relationships with every child in my class, however some kids are not interested at all (I don't take it personally!). I would be open about this at parents evening and make clear to parents that regardless, I am still highly aware of their strengths and areas for development. Has this happened in several years groups?

It may seem like the children with behaviour difficulties get all of the teacher's attention, and yes, this may take up more time than we'd like. But a strong teacher should manage this well, or quickly escalate to SLT so they can refocus on learning.

Ideally, you'd be able to offer a recurring weekly slot - routine is important to small children.

If it was the odd day, perhaps you could offer support with school trips or extra curricular days? You'd need to have a DBS check but the school could organise this.

No harm in calling and seeing what they say!