To be tearful about going back to work next week?

[b1uebells]

I prob need a slap back to reality, have certainly been told that by my oh so loving and supportive family

Don't get me wrong, I am so pleased to have the job, and i love to teach but find my class quite a challenge.

Hardest part is when the t.a. who works with my class ( Reception) tells me how easy they are, makes me wonder why they act differently for me, I know they are scared of the t.a and wouldn't put a foot out if line , it is rather scary when she shouts!!

Feels like I am always being judged by her which makes me feel paranoid and I seem to obsess about behaviour management a lot and forget the parts of the job I love.

Any teachers with any tips or anyone who wants to tell me to pull myself together us fine, would Just like to stop crying at home and enjoy job!

Sorry for the long post, didn't know where else to turn! Thanks for listening.

you are QT not the TA.you need to define who is qualified,and it is not her. If you allow her to take over class, then that is problematic as you are negating your professional role. look again to your professional responsibilities,and what you should be doing.

if you dont feel able approachable professional senior to you. they can mentor you

if this is about your mood and/or mental state, get some advice.dont torment self with what ifs - support is there

Thanks for all the tips and advice everyone :)

I teach secondary and I've had TAs undermine my authority in the classroom - not helped by the fact I'm fairly short and kids tend to assume anyone taller than me must be in charge

Anyway, it's easy to swan in and say how good a class are when you don't have to spend hours planning and marking - when it comes down to it, they're your class, you do much more work for them than she does and you're in charge.

One little tip that I have found works well is to try and avoid giving children orders. This sounds counter-intuitive but what I mean is instead of saying "Matthew, pick those pencils up" (which introduces the possibility of Matthew saying no, I won't) you just say "there are lots of pencils on the floor". I promise 95% of the time they get picked up straight away and the child gets to feel like they've done a nice thing instead of being told to do it, especially if you go overboard on the praise for "choosing" to pick them up. The rest of the time I will come back and say "oh, there are STILL pencils on the floor" and hope someone does it, or then you just ask someone to do it anyway. But it's less confrontational and very effective even with big horrible teenagers

Hang in there, being an NQT is awful, the worst year you will have. It gets easier all the time.

I was in a similar situation when I started teaching : please don't feel too bad , the fact that it bothers you so much proves that you must be a decent caring diligent teacher ! :)

I found the Bill Rogers books v helpful. They are easy to read and implement.

If you are feeling under confident try to think of teaching as a bit like acting . Have a calm confident teaching 'persona' .

There have been lots of great tips already on moderating your tone of voice etc.

I also found that being super positive was very effective. The whole ' Wow , look how nicely John is sitting!' thing really works .

I would also recommend excessive use of stickers for a while ! Catch them being good. :) Keep your stickers with you at all times and anytime they do anything remotely good give them a sticker. They will end the day with lots of stickers on their shirt ( even the tricky ones ) and it is a great visible way for them to show everyone at school and home how well they are all doing . They feel so good. After a while you can cut back gradually on the sticking but I still feel every child should end the day with at least one sticker .

Do not let your TA make you feel bad . Shouting at children - especially little ones - is not effective behaviour management , it's bullying . :(

Do you have a mentor in the school you could talk to about it ? If she's a problem for you then she's probably a problem for others too.

I hope some of this is of use .
Please don't get downhearted. Schools need good people like you balance out the nightmares like your TA who slip through the gaps .

Thank you :) appreciate all the lovely comments.