Thread by @senoritasteelee

For all the new ECTS out there:
Advice I wish I knew as a first year ECT, after my first year teaching:
A thread…
#ect #edutwitter #mfltwitterati #ect22 #nqt

Disclaimer: I am definitely not a pro but I have been through quite a journey during my first year teaching and these are the things that turned it around for me and allowed me to end the year with a better work life balance and strong love for the profession

1. OBSERVE -as many different teachers as you can, as often as you can. Just because you aren’t a trainee anymore doesn’t mean you can’t set observations up yourself - this was hands down what had the most positive impact on my teaching this year and helped with specific problems

2.Hold someone accountable for your working hour limits. This could be a friend, partner or another teacher/your mentor - it’s very easy to get carried away in your first year ( guilty!)and it’s often easier for someone else to notice, intervene and give you a good talking to!

3.Lesson planning - Less is honestly more ( I learnt this the hard way). Exploit your activities as much as you can and keep your main focus on pupil progress.

4. Do not take observations personally, always be grateful of feedback. Remember every teacher had to start somewhere.

5. Get a routine that works for you and expect this to take time. Ask other colleagues around school what they do to work most efficiently and try it out until one fits your lifestyle.

6. Set non-negotiable rules that you want to stick to for your own well-being and commit to this from the beginning. I did not do this and ended up miserable working 60+ hour weeks but I am determined this year to never bring work home even if it means staying a bit later

7. Never let anything slip through your hands twice - this was one of the best pieces of advice I received at the beginning of my first ECT year and I’m still working on it! Emails will build up so try do tasks either as soon as you receive them or SCHEDULE in time to do it.

8.Reflection!! Always, after each lesson take a moment and reflect on what you might change next time teaching that lesson AND just as importantly what went WELL and why. You can write this down in a notebook but even in your head this will have a positive impact on your teaching

9. @morganmfl gave me the best piece of advice at the beginning of my first ECT year and it has always stuck by me: “you can do anything but not everything”.

It is so easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of different activities/ websites and you may want to use them all. But this will hinder you more than help you. The best activity is the one where the student is learning so build your repertoire gradually - you have time!

10. Organisation is key. The more organised you begin the year the easier it will be. I label the drawer on my desk with each year group rather than days of week but you will soon discover what works best for you - feel free to change it up and experiment

11. Laminate class seating plans to make quick behaviour/ achievement notes with a whiteboard pen

12. Behaviour management is a slow process. Don’t expect yourself to be a pro from day 1! It is also never too late to re-establish expectations.

13.Teaching is something you will never truly master. Even that teacher you look up to is STILL learning.

14.Twitter is amazing for CPD, you will learn a lot from the community of teachers both in your subject+outside. Attend webinars, ask your school to send you on subject specific courses, read those books you have on your list but set yourself limits! E.g 10mins of twitter a day

15.Don’t underestimate the power of a positive call home. This enabled me to get even the most disengaged students on board. Sometimes students just need you to believe in them and the transformation in their work ethic can be incredible.

16. Work out what parts of teaching you love and do it often! For me, I call home every Friday because it makes me happy and gives me a boost for the weekend

17. Format > Replace fonts on ppt allows you to replace a specific font ( probably comic sans) all at once - best time saving hack!!

18. Displays - don’t think you have to do them all straight away. Do them gradually throughout the year reacting to the needs of your students

19. Save all your favourite activities/ templates on one ppt so you can always look back at activities you have forgotten about - I also add new activities I find on twitter here for inspiration

20. Ask for advice. Always communicate with other teachers who have been in the field longer than you and build good relationships

21. Show your students that you are human and that you care. You don’t NEED to gain their respect but it definitely helped me with many difficult/ unmotivated students this year. Positive relationships are SO important but will not work with every student

22. Be consistent with your expectations, this will have been drilled into you and you will probably forget/ignore it and dip at points of the year but this was where my behaviour management suffered. The students also respect consistency and fairness!

23. Uniform is important. If you slack on uniform the students will also think your expectations are lower with work. Being tough on uniform will also help establish your authority in your first year ( which can be difficult).

24. Every student is different and as you get to know them you will work out which students will respond better to a chat alone after class, targeted praise when things do go well or a phone call home to intervene etc

25. Double/ triple lesson planning for a class is definitely something to consider rather than lesson by lesson. You can simply plan your main core activities for a theme/ sub topic and then just add in quick retrieval starters and plenaries depending on how the lessons progress

26. Don’t try perfect everything, if you like making lessons your own like me you will learn it is impossible to do this for every class. My advice: ( to myself for next year also) pick a few key year groups to focus on MAKING new resources and for the others use shared resources

27. Prioritise before bed 3 things you want to accomplish at work the next day (could be planning a year group, or something as small as phoning a parent) and 3 things in your personal life (food shop,return packages etc) this helped me sleep with a clear head+prioritise better

28. Set a time limit to finish work by or my mentor told me to book classes like the gym etc so you HAVE to go. If you allow yourself all the time in the world you will use all the time in the world!! Believe me

29. Watch ‘Every kid needs a champion’ Rita Pierson Ted talk every time you need reminded why teaching is worth it and just how much of a difference we make in so many children’s lives

30. Finally - Look after yourself and know when enough is enough and know who you can go to. This is a beautiful wonderful profession which I truly love but if you don’t get the balance right early on you won’t be able to last in the profession.