I'm a Secondary School RE teacher! AMA!

[teachertalktime]

I can't find my other email address, but I'm teacheranonymous123 with a new account. Following on from the Reception and Year 6 AMA, I thought a secondary one might be good :)

How do you make sure that you put some focus on the 'middling' kids. The ones who aren't naughty and need endless telling off, or super focused/ confident and have their hand up for everything.
How do you make sure you know how the middle ones are progressing and get the best out of them so they don't get lost.

@Oakandashsplash thanks for your question!

As teachers, we are always circulating the room when students are working to make sure all students are supported in the way that they need.

My school also asks us to focus on cold calling, so I usually get students to write ideas on a whiteboard so that I know anyone can give me something if I call on them.

As for progress, everyone does assessments and it's easy to measure progress that way at secondary school.

How do you answer questions about the existence of god (and the creation story) -v- The Big Bang and Evolution?

What would you look for in a secondary school for your own kids? How would you advise kids and parents to best prepare for secondary?

My DD is thinking of becoming a secondary school teacher but all you hear these days is what a horrible job it is. I would like to see a balanced view, is it a profession worth going in to, what do you enjoy, what you don't and overall if you would recommend it?

My DD is starting her ECT in Sept, ( English), teaching 11-18 year olds, so up to and including A level.
Any top tips to see her through the 1st year of this?

Jumping on! @teachertalktime cold calling is getting a bashing at the moment due to how it makes some students feel, along with popcorn reading etc. the reasoning is that students spend too much time worrying they will be asked than listening .... how do you counter that? I have stopped using it as much unless I know the class really well (and never did popcorn reading).

@Oneearringlost I teach English and my advice would be to be really prepared for each lesson, to use and adapt the resources provided by the school- she doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. To maintain a firm and friendly manner - kids don't respect the shouty teachers. Above all to look after her mental wellbeing as it's a hard year - make sure you spoil her and ensure she has down time. It's both the best and the worst job in the world (for me).

I have an academic well behaved dd who gets really anxious about cold calling. It really puts her off the lessons where it may happen (it’s not consistently applied across subjects). I’d be interested in your response to @Pieceofpurplesky

Lots of questions!

@twentysevendresses I teach in a Catholic school, and we have to teach them what Catholics believe. I make it very clear that my job is to teach them what Catholics believe, but they are welcome and encouraged to believe whatever they want!

@fiskal I don't have kids (and probably never will) but I think it's important to look for a school that has a wide curriculum. So many schools are narrowing the curriculum which often means Arts and RE are the first to go. I think a broad knowledge is important.
In terms of preparing for secondary, try and encourage your children to be independent. Not asking thousands of questions as soon as they walk in the room. I had a student stop the lesson today to tell me he'd found a hair bobble!

@chickensandbees @Oneearringlost teaching is an incredibly rewarding career. You make genuine connections with students and there's never I day where I don't laugh! However, like most jobs, the bureaucracy can be mind numbing and the politics too. And always ask for help if you need it!

In terms of cold calling, I always ask students to write something on their whiteboards so that they have something to say. @Dragonsandcats @Pieceofpurplesky

How do you think your GCSE & A level results will go?

Thanks for starting the thread. Could you quote the person you are responding to? That would make it possible for people to read your response without having to read every post and remember who asked what.

@User14March I think A Level will be fine - they've worked hard and the papers were good. GCSE is a little more uncertain, but the papers were nice, so I think we should be okay (fingers crossed!)

@dylexicdementor11 I thought I had done, but will endeavour to continue!

What do you wish you could say to parents of bright but lazy children? I have one.

@RealHousewivesOfTaunton What I actually say is 'whilst they're achieving brilliantly at the moment, it might not come so easily in the future, and they'll find it a lot harder to get into the swing of working and studying'.

What I wish I could say is 'if your child actually put some work in, they'd be on another level, but they just can't be bothered!'

Re: A level are these going to be effectively more aggressively marked this year? & GCSEs.

@User14March I can't answer that question. I don't work for an exam board, but even if you do mark for one, you aren't told grade boundaries. They're decided after everything is marked.

For our exam board, I don't know how they can mark more aggressively than last year - you needed 90% to get a Grade 9 at GCSE, which is ridiculous in my opinion! In Geography, it was 75%!

There seem to have been surprises this year with IB where ‘dead certs’ have narrowly missed offers & Unis not being very flexible although waiting for A results.

@User14March Everything I say is a complete guess - we won't know until Results Day!

Thanks, hoping everyone makes their offers!

This is what I mean. 😊