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Original poster

Do I need to be a better trainee

37 replies

fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 18:48

So lately I've been teaching Monday to a Friday. I teach a heavy subject -chemistry. I also do uni alongside it but were all done with the lectures now as we just need to work on an assessment profile.

I find it hard to get the balance some days and do everything I need to. For example:

-I usually like to make a mind map of what I want to teach and show the main class teacher

  • I have ADD, dyspraxia and dyslexia.
  • I am super organised but just need a lot more thinking time than the average
  • sometimes I do feel the preassure on me from school and university to do everything to time scales.
  • I always say to the teacher that I like to get them to skim over what I've done, anyway the past 2 lessons I've done I end up sending the lesson on Wednesday afternoon for Thursday morning.
  • the HOD plans all the KS4 lessons so all we have to do is keep our class in mind and make the lesson fit to the class.
  • last week my mentor said to me that I need to aim to send her my lessons or at least a plan well in advance and due to the above factors. I'm really struggling. I mentioned it again. I just can't teach the Thursday lesson and they have the Monday lesson ready for her on Friday morning because I simply cannot balance everything in that time and I don't have frees to even do it in on Friday I also don't email on weekends because no one would reply.

I just mentioned again to her that I have these external factors going on but I feel like maybe she thought it was an excuse to not turn over something in that time. I basically said I'll happily walk you through my aims for the lesson but I probably won't do it as best as I can because I just know myself.

Do I need to be better?

OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 19:25

You can't expect your mentor to check your planning for Monday on Monday.
In my school, I would suggest you planned the Monday lesson on Thursday night to give to your mentor on Friday so they've time to check and give you feedback to tweak before Monday.
If you're an excellent trainee, I might be happy not to check your planning in advance. If you're not, and you didn't give your planning in advance, I would not allow you to teach the lesson.
Schools run on time scales.

CarrieBlue · 27/04/2021 19:32

As a science trainee and science teacher, you’ll need to put requisition in at least a week in advance. As a teacher, you may not need to know every last second of what you’ll be teaching but you’ll need to know a week in advance. As a trainee you have far more time to plan in advance, even if you don’t have a free on Friday you do have Thursday evening (and I’d have expected you to do any ‘mind maps’ well before the Thursday) where you can plan in detail.

You’ll be teaching a 90% timetable in September, planning has to be done well in advance.

Original poster
fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 19:34

@MrsHamlet

You can't expect your mentor to check your planning for Monday on Monday. In my school, I would suggest you planned the Monday lesson on Thursday night to give to your mentor on Friday so they've time to check and give you feedback to tweak before Monday. If you're an excellent trainee, I might be happy not to check your planning in advance. If you're not, and you didn't give your planning in advance, I would not allow you to teach the lesson. Schools run on time scales.
Oh gosh. So sorry I got my days mixed so badly. This is what happens if I don't proof read. The lesson is on a Wednesday and I sent the lesson this afternoon say 12 pm to be checked for tomorrow. The lesson after this is on a Thursday am period 1 and once I have taught that I then look at the next one. She basically wants a proper plan by the Friday period 2 for the following Wednesday lesson which is hard for me because I can't think that fast. Make sense?
OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 19:46

It makes sense but it's not long enough if there are problems.

LiamRose · 27/04/2021 20:00

That is still a very tight turn around for a mentor. Presuming she teaches in the afternoon, may have meetings and her own work to do after school, it doesn't leave her with a great deal of time to look over the lesson before tomorrow. I understand where you're coming from, but you have to appreciate that that adds additional pressure to the mentor who also has her own work to do.

Original poster
fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 20:04

@LiamRose

That is still a very tight turn around for a mentor. Presuming she teaches in the afternoon, may have meetings and her own work to do after school, it doesn't leave her with a great deal of time to look over the lesson before tomorrow. I understand where you're coming from, but you have to appreciate that that adds additional pressure to the mentor who also has her own work to do.
I just dont know how I can do better though, I'm so pushed. As it's a pandemic uni has been throwing work at us left right and centre
OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 20:16

You have schemes of work to follow?
If so, why the mind map part of the process? Cutting that out would speed you up.

KibeththeWalker · 27/04/2021 20:16

Maybe fewer threads on mumsnet would leave you more time?

Original poster
fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 20:19

@KibeththeWalker

Maybe fewer threads on mumsnet would leave you more time?
You can ignore it don't worry. No harm done to your life.
OP posts:
Original poster
fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 20:19

@MrsHamlet

You have schemes of work to follow? If so, why the mind map part of the process? Cutting that out would speed you up.
We have to as it goes towards my assessment portfolio
OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 20:22

Mind maps count? That's insane. I'd expect to see your annotations of the sow so I could see how you'd adapted but I've never known a training provider demand mind maps

Original poster
fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 20:25

@MrsHamlet

Mind maps count? That's insane. I'd expect to see your annotations of the sow so I could see how you'd adapted but I've never known a training provider demand mind maps
Yup it's all towards the portfilio I'm doing. Basically the mind map is supposed to show the lesson "flow" and how it supports LA MA HA students. But yeah due to covid they've changed some things on the portfolio and this is now one of them
OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 20:29

Then you're just going to have to try to find shortcuts and speed up.

Original poster
fluffyslipper1 · 27/04/2021 20:33

@MrsHamlet

Then you're just going to have to try to find shortcuts and speed up.
Lol yeah alright.
OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 20:36

What do you want me to say?
You claim that you have to mind map. If that's true, you have to just do it.

The number of threads on which you complain about teaching, ask for advice and shoot it down when it's not what you want to hear suggest that this is really not for you.

HercwasanEnemyofEducation · 27/04/2021 20:38

Your mentor is being completely reasonable. They need to check your planning ina advance. This requires time and no one should be forced to work at the weekend.

Start to plan ahead. If you can't do that, leave teaching.

The amount of threads you post on here isn't healthy. I suggest that you reflect on your career choice.

CarrieBlue · 27/04/2021 20:41

Lol yeah alright.

I think you meant to say ‘thank you MrsHamlet for bothering to take time to answer me’.

By this stage on a pgce placement I would expect my trainees to be planning a week in advance. If you are only thinking about the next lesson after you’ve just taught one then you really need to put some hours in to your planning at the weekend to get ahead.

I hope you have a very large bottle of wine ready for your mentor as a leaving present for the end of your placement.

MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 20:52

With that attitude Carrie, if she were one of mine, I'd be collecting her badge and laptop and showing her the door. She doesn't want to hear that it's hard and to suck it up; she wants to hear that the school is unreasonable.

HarrietDVane · 27/04/2021 21:06

I have read this thread with growing incredulity. OP's rudeness is breathtaking! You need to be organised and accept the feedback from your mentor.

By this point in the year on a PGCE you should be capable of planning sufficiently ahead, and providing your mentor with the things they've asked for within the timescales they have given you (which are more than adequate). Your mentor is a busy teacher with responsibilities far beyond the things that you can see, OP. They have asked for your planning and lessons in good time so that they can suggest any revisions before letting you loose on their class - the class whose progress they are responsible for.

It seems from reading this thread (and some of your others) that you don't want to hear this and that you just want people to agree that the school is being unreasonable. The school is not being unreasonable. They are being far more patient with you than mine would be.

LolaSmiles · 27/04/2021 21:34

I don't look at planning sent to me on the same day or the day before and if it kept happening I would have spoken to the course tutor.

Our providers make it clear what their expectations are and all of them expect planning in a couple of days in advance, on the understanding that if a trainee teaches Wed/Thurs/Fri then Thursday and Friday might be adapted following Wednesday's lessons but nothing too substantial (eg if students didn't grasp Wednesday's concept then the second half of Wednesday's lesson would become Thursday and Thursdays lesson would shift to Friday etc).

At this stage in the year I would expect trainees to come to a mentor meeting with a big picture of what they're doing for the following week with all their classes.

MrsHamlet I wonder if the mind map is something similar to the Teacher Toolkit 5 minute lesson plan/5 minute assessment plan. I've seen a few versions of them that take the same sort of information that was on my ITT plans, but presented in a graphic organiser instead of the lengthy several page lesson plans of yore.

MrsHamlet · 27/04/2021 21:36

It might well Lola - by the end of the course I'd expect that sort of planning.
If so, it shouldn't be causing this many issues!

Icytundra · 27/04/2021 21:38

In the past I've refused to let a (weak) trainee teach a class without adequate time to look over the plan. This would be at least 24 hours

LolaSmiles · 27/04/2021 21:47

Icytundra
Same here.
I've also looked at plans sent last minute the morning of the lesson and then expected them to teach the lesson. This may sound harsh to the OP but it was a lesson that trainee needed to learn: staff have their own workloads and families so aren't on call.

Where trainees have regularly met deadlines, act on advice, request support, don't take the mick and engage with the training process I'll happily make informal suggestions over coffee if we share PPA time, but not when professionalism is lacking on their part.

Floobydo · 27/04/2021 22:39

@fluffyslipper1 I would really suggest you talk to your training provider about the adaptations you are requiring and ultimately your expectations vs what is feasible of your placement school & mentor.

And alongside that I think you need to have a very frank discussion with them about whether teaching is really the career for you. Nearly the whole job is timescales, time pressures and meeting deadlines.

What solutions have you suggested to your mentor / what different strategies have you tried? Nothing you are being asked is unreasonable. I’ve just turned off my laptop for the night. DH is still working. To an extent, that’s just the job.

Loshad · 27/04/2021 22:41

Fucking hell OP, you still at it. Please give the profession a break and walk away from this. Thread after thread you demonstrate your inability to listen to feedback and learn in order to become a good (enough) teacher

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