Any teachers about?

[Berrie]

I need some help with an application and my brain has turned to mush after being at home for 2 years. The jargon just isn't at my fingertips any more!
Anyone out there now before dd wakes up who is good with words?

I'm around but can't guarantee to be good with words (despite being an English teacher... just written too many reports and words all fell out of brain at the end)

I'll give it a go. What's up?

Great, I'm applying to do soem tutoring in a new pilot scheme for booster type children...

I'll type what I've got, it is a first draft so it's a bit rough, they don't want much but it'll take me a minute or two to type...

I am currently taking a break from teaching to care for my young children. From 1997 - 2006 I worked at in
I have a thorough knowledge of the National Literacy Strategy. I became Literacy Co-ordinator soon after the Literacy Strategy was introduced, playing a key role in it's implentation and becoming a member of the Senior Management Team in 2001.
I was a Lead Teacher for Literacy for *** City L.E.A. In this role I did demonstration lessons, supported teachers from other schools and took part in delivering courses.
I have developed an excellent understanding of how children develop their literacy skills and have a lot of experience of working with targeted children to improve their reading and writing. I have taken booster classes both within the schoo, day and after school. I taught in 3 summer schools at the local secondary school, leading two of them. I have, as a class teacher delivered ALS and have also trained classroom assistants in the programme.
I have taught in years four, five and most recently six. I relish the opportunity not only to return to teaching but to spend quality one to one time with pupils in this pilot.

Can you think of any other ways to replace the I haves?

How about,
My knowledge of the NLS is thorough...

Having taught in years 4,5 and most recently 6, my grounding in KS2 is good and I relish...

A lot of job interviews now are competence based so CV's are becoming more this way too eg in my role as XXX I expereicneced Y problem and dealt wuth it in Z way - obviously relevant to the skilss and competenecies you would need for the role you are applying for.

So for example if you think negotitation skills are needed you think of a time when you used those skills and write down what the situation was, what happened, what you did and the outcome. Even if it went wrong you could use it in an interview to show you have learned form your experince. HTH

Yes you're right....
The form says,
Please describe below how your skills and experience will enable you to carry out the role of a Making Better Progress tutor.

Have I not done this?

Do I need another paragraph about how I moved on children in my own class through guided work, targets and marking etc ?

What's that marking calles, where it's constructive and targeted rather than just a comment?

Since the introduction of the LS, I have been heavily involved in its development, both in my own school and across the LEA. In my own school I worked alongside colleagues to introduce an exciting and interactive literacy hour which resulted in a marked improvement in ***. I was then asked to be a lead literacy teacher for the LEA and thoroughly enjoyed delivering demonstration lessons, supporting colleagues from other schools and delivering courses. This, together with my work teaching booster classes has enabled me to see how powerful a teaching tool the literacy hour is. Working in summer schools at the local secondary school and delivering ALS programmes to younger students has shown me that I am capable of working extremely effectively with children across the age range. Literacy is a passion of mine and whilst I have enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with my own children, I would now relish the opportunity to return to teaching. I believe that this pilot needs the skills I can offer?..

you need to make sure you address their job spec and show you have the skills they need

As you say in your later post, using 'Having done x, I gained a good understanding of y...' sounds better than 'I have...' And 'Doing x enabled me to gain an excellent understanding of how children develop their literacy skills...' so you identify specific skills/experiences.

Restructure some sentences to avoid always starting with the same phrase: 'As a class teacher, I have delivered ALS...' This can be done with other sentences too to avoid always beginning with 'I' - it makes it less list-like.

Oh and (memories of another thread!) its implementation, not it's implementation...

I don't know how much detail the application requires but I tend to put a bit about what I feel I gained from some of my experiences in my applications for teaching - so I might have put a point after your bit about delivering courses about how I benefited from that/what I learned from that/how it's made me a better teacher...

Hope I haven't been too picky - wanted to be useful...HTH!

Is the making better progress role simply about literacy?

I would think about showing how you can
motivate and inspire children to learn
make learning meaningful and use assessment to inform learning
that you are not judgmental and can work with children of all abilities
your own skills- well organised, able to work alone or in a team, clear thinking, compassionate

Then you need to use examples from your practice to illustrate those points

Oooo Robin, much less listy than mine! Thankyou!

The job spec is,
Qualified...
Willing to... CRB check
Demonstrate a track record of effective teaching, in particular with individual pupils
Be willing to familiarise themselves with NSF objectives and pupil progress tracking documentation

Will have.
Experience of establishing positive relationships with parents/carers and pupils
Spewcific subject knowledge in English/maths at KS2 KS3
The capacity to plan a tailored programme and advise P/C/Teachers how the support links with ongoing class work

Slayerette, thanks no not too picky, I assure you I do know about apostrophes really!

No Robin I can choose literacy or numeracy or both. I can do numeracy it's just that Literacy is my 'thing'
The box for this is only A5 ish I'm not sure how much detail I can go into, though I could write really small!

right then that is exactly what your letter needs to address. you need to show how your effective teaching improved the performance of a particular child or group of children eg

I place great emhpasis on the use of specific assessment information. After identifying a group of chidrn who had made less than average progress with early reading and writing, I was able to draw up and implement a targeted programme which included ALS, peer to peer reading and phonic based games to play at home. At the end of the term, not only had all the childre become noticeably more confident but their attainment had improved demonstrably.

and so on

You also need to proof check it all carefully and check those apostrophes!

If the box is small then can you write bullet points? If there is no letter, just a form then you need to provide the evidence in that form.

The last time I interviewd for a head, we had to tick that each candidate had provided evidence of the areas we had specified in our job spec before they got an interview.

Thanks Robinpud and Slayerette, off to collect DS after digging DD out of bed.

Yep Robin, I thought of bullets, much easier