Satisfied Saturday - General reflections after a week of relief

I am glad to announce that I am feeling my routine returning! Returning to teaching after a break can take some adjustments and a bit of reminding, but judging by this week's results, I think I am back to my regular practice. Let me just enjoy this for a moment...

Okay, now that I've enjoyed that, it's time for some reflection! Here is a general run down of thoughts from this week:

• I have found that since refusing to help students spell, the writing sessions have been going much smoother. When I explain my approach to the students, some like it, others shrug their shoulders, and I haven't had any complain. You can see my approach to this, along with a few other quick problem solving strategies in my last post.
• Teaching in schools with different student groups can highlight strengths and weaknesses. While I have been working on my awareness of what is going on around the classroom while working with specific students, I have had two students run out of my class this week! In such situations, awareness should be immediate as possible. Since then, I have planned to buy some bells for a door hanger, allowing me to know when students run or wander out, or even in, without my knowledge. On Thursday, I also implemented another point system: class exit points. We started the day with 30 points. Any time someone leaves the room, unless I have sent them for a job, the class loses a point. If they didn't ask permission, they lose multiple points. At the end of the day, we still had about 20 points! While this class did not have any reputable 'runners,' I do believe that it reduced the amount of students asking to go to the toilet unnecessarily. In fact, it's one of the few times I would have one student asking to go without someone else also asking. Of course, when talking about this, we did discuss that it is better to lose a point than it is to wet yourself, so if you really need to go, you'd better go!
• When spelling words have not been left or are not clear, I have found that it is best to change up the schedule a bit and do spelling activities after writing. This way, I can mark students writing on the spot and they can use their misspelled words as their spelling words for the day. Due to my approach to spelling during the writing session, I have only had one student not make mistakes, but looking back through his book we were able to find words. Spelling roll-a-word has become my staple activity now. The students love it and it is the perfect 'reward' for taking risks with their spelling.
• When no work or specific routine has been left for me, I now have my own routine down to an art. The morning session is literacy focused (and while my writing was strong, I have had to do some research on reading activities and groups, so follow me on Bloglovin' if you want to keep updated!). The middle session is maths focused. In the final session, we work on completing work and have free time, if they have earned it (at the beginning of the day, they are told that in order to have free time, they need to complete their work and not waste my time. Each minute they waste of my time is a minute off their time). The benefits of this timetable is that I have time at the end of the day to catch up on marking, the children fulfill their responsibilities for their rewards and most, if not all, of the work is finished before the end of the day. This leaves the regular teacher with no loose ends when they return.
• In order to encourage meaningful activities for early finishers and those enjoying free play, I have also spent the weekend collecting resources for 'challenge packs.' These will require a few more resources than my previous challenge capsules freebie and will provide include a greater variety of learning activities such as science experiments. If you are interested in these freebies, do make sure you go to the sidebar and follow me, allowing you to keep updated.

That's it for today, but as you can see, there should be more coming soon, so don't be strangers.

Learning is a lifelong journey, even as teachers. What have you learned lately?

Trapped Tuesday - The Trick of Problem Management

Teaching comes with some unique challenges for a new graduate. For me, the most overwhelming is the very idea of caring for at least twenty-five students at a time. In early childhood especially, this could mean:

• 5 children screaming, "How do you spell _____."
• 4 children lining up to show you their work.
• 3 children asking, "What do we do now?"
• 3 children either at the bathroom or wanting to go to the bathroom.
• 2 children working slowly at a difficult task.
• 1 child running around and distracting 4 more students.
• While 1 child quietly disappears into the bag area to see what other children have for lunch.

As a student teacher, there is the advantage of a second teacher, and maybe even a teacher's aide, helping. Then, we are introduced to the real world, where this is all left to us and each of the children is asking for attention, in one form or another. Although I have not been teaching independently for long, I have developed coping strategies of course. I will not help students spell, but encourage them to independently write the sounds they hear and make mistakes (today, we then used those mistakes to play a game, rewarding the risk-taking behaviour). I allow early finishers to work quietly on a familiar activity, such as quiet reading or a class maths game. The child doing nothing but distracting is given a responsibility.

Today, I discovered a problem with quick problem solving: it can undervalue or overlook the problem. I have been reflecting on a few 'difficult' students that I have had over the past couple of weeks and I noticed an interesting pattern. When I identify a problem, I tend to make two choices: either deal directly with the problem or identify the cause of the problem and eliminate it. Intellectually, I have always agreed that the second is the better option, and my behaviour plan reflects this. However, in order to keep the classroom operating smoothly, I had resorted to the quicker method of dealing directly with problems. Sometimes this works, but more often than not, the cause needs to be dealt with to prevent a recurrence. This is why I often find myself moving students after already warning them to stop distracting their neighbours.

Here's a second problem with quick problem solving: in its haste, it rushes over the relationship element of the problem. Students have a need to feel safe and respected, so is it reasonable to assume we can deal with behaviour without demonstrating our care and respect for each student? Developing even a basic relationship also enables us to understand them at some level, giving us insight into their behaviour and motivations.

The perfect illustration of these two points is found in my experience with a boy I taught recently. The day started well enough. He took his seat, responded to the roll call, gave his suggestions for the day as asked. Then I began my first activity and he refused to work with his original partner. I sat with him, talked to him about how he was feeling, and had him cooperate with me. As the day went on, the activities became more demanding, with more students demanding my attention, so I switched to 'quick problem solving mode.' As this boy continued to act up throughout the day, I began the simple "warn, record name, follow through on punishment." He did not respond to this and by the end of the day, he had no respect for me and refused to even talk to me. Lesson learned: while solving problems quickly, don't forget to develop relationships and identify the cause of the problem! Students need to feel respected themselves.

How do you deal with the demands for your attention? Do you find it has improved your problem solving strategies or caused you to question them?

Wisdom Wednesday - Empowering children for life

Why do children need an education?
My answer: to prepare them for life outside of school and after school.

I have found that the more relevant and explicit this link is for children, the more readily they engage, especially if the content is linked to something they care about outside of school.

For example, which would you think your children would get more excited about - learning decimals or working with money or learning how to become rich?

What? Learning how to become rich? Yes, working with money is more motivating for students, but if you amp it up even more, dramatise it a bit and attach a tangible reward, the investment, excitement and motivation in the lesson is amplified as well...

So, what bits of wisdom can you offer your students?
I just completed the planning of a whole day of teaching the children how to be rich. In fact, when I plan for relief around a theme, I tend to plan broadly for a range of activities for a range of subjects, so I could teach multiple grades over multiple days on the same subject. Basically, the idea is to take a topic of interest, amp it up, and teach skills or wisdom in that topic.

For example, on the topic of being rich:
Literacy - Learning to write a business plan, USP, persuasive letter to a client, news release to a reporter, marketing material, or a persuasive text on how your business will succeed (with points to consider provided).
Maths - Working with calculations to decide which is a better business choice, calculating returns on investments, calculating how long it takes for small sums of money to add up to large sums.
Social studies - Responsibilities associated with being rich. Plan as a class to take action on an issue now and execute in coordinated small groups.

Basically, I am working within the curriculum, but adding in relevant themes and wisdom they might otherwise never hear. How many of us learned about USPs while writing persuasive texts in literacy? Yet well written USPs can make the difference between being unknown or successful. While we all learn about calculating monetary sums in class, how many of us were taught how to handle that money and make wise decisions? My husband had to teach himself how to budget, and as a result of this, he is one of the few in his family who handles money wisely. Teaching our students such skills may be woven in naturally to the curriculum and give them an advantage they may not otherwise receive.

As a relief teacher, I am constantly reminded that my time with the children is limited, so I cannot continue such a large theme across a long amount of time usually. This leaves the children without the whole picture. However, I believe that even with one day, a difference can be made, skills can be taught, a passion can be sparked, a journey can begin, and the influence can last much longer. Choosing a huge topic, such as being rich, and starting with small, practical goals can be exciting enough to become a memory that pushes them to greater things. As a child, I hated the news, but I there are single news stories that impacted me, which I will never forget, and that was in a fifteen minute time span, but we have hours with the children. Let's make our lessons memorable, inspiring, practical, and worthwhile!

What real-world wisdom do you have that you believe students should learn about in class?

Telling Tuesday - Feedback for the regular teacher

Today's post will be short and sweet as I share a resource I've created and a few little reflections about it.

Ever since beginning my research on quality casual teaching, I have been reading about the necessity of leaving written feedback for the regular classroom teacher to keep them informed. Last week was my first week of teaching, so I used a few thank you cards I had lying around as they seemed suitable for the occasion. Now I am through the first week, I am rethinking my approach for the long-term. Some have said that it is best to use typed notes if possible, but I have found my ICT resources somewhat limited going into schools. However, I have seen one template that impressed me. A simple printed format that allowed space for neat, hand-written notes. While I am accepting of the desire to make such forms 'pretty' or 'cute', I can't say I really saw the relevance of the cow and barn pictures though. Perhaps I would understand if it had been in a country school or after taking an excursion to a farm, but this was not the case. So, upon reflecting on a few templates, I have set out to create my own. I had to include the 'handy helpers' box, as I love providing opportunities for the 'difficult' students to prove themselves and surprise the teacher.

After some more templates? They aren't quite as easy to find as I thought when searching, though I've come across them before. Here are a few:

• Relief Teaching - Feedback Template - This is a simple layout, similar to my own, but with typed plans already inserted.
• Teacher Brain - Freebies - Scroll down a bit and you will find 'Today in your class, note template.' It has the additions of pictures and a column to indicate whether or not the work was marked.
• Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching - Substitute Teacher Binder Freebie - The prettiest of them all and includes a whole pack of sheets for casual teaching.
• The 2 Teaching Divas - Forms at Your Fingertips - Presenting another range of forms, I find this one is nicely balanced between 'cute' and 'distracting.' Their feedback form is a more general overview, rather than a lesson-by-lesson recall.

What do you feel is essential information to provide in a feedback form? Does cuteness factor matter for you?

Marketing Monday - Job searching the right way and a template

Quick apology for the lack of a post last week. I am officially working now and was called in a few times, so it's been a tad busy around here. So here is the belated post that had been intended for last Monday!

Last weekend, I was researching marketing tips and tricks, preparing for that time when my book is finally complete (and this weekend I began my official author facebook page!). When reading about USPs (unique selling propositions or points), something finally clicked. When we are job searching, we should be branding and marketing ourselves just like a company or product, so some of these basic marketing principals should be applied! Sure enough, I googled USPs and found that job seekers were encouraged to use them. So how have I applied this new knowledge?

Firstly, let me explain the idea of a USP. Basically, it describes what is unique and worthwhile about a product, brand or person. It answers the question: why should I pick you rather than one of the other candidates? During my Uni course, we had discussed interviews and the process for applying for jobs. We had talked about dressing professionally, giving a good first impression, presenting a strong resume and answering questions as well as we could. However, we all received this training, so what sets one of us apart from the others if we all applied this? A USP helps us stand out among our peers in order to gain the attention and hopefully the position! And this does not involve brightly coloured paper!

As I began to reflect on this, I wondered what my personal USPs were and how I could present them. All my research seemed to define the 'what' and 'why' of USPs, but didn't make the 'how' too easy for me. If this is crossing your mind, I will be honest with you: being unique and finding what is unique about you is not easy, but it can be done and is worthwhile. Let me share how I worked this out for myself.

I began with my flag page, a passion test which I have discussed in a previous post. I chose to only use my top five motivations. I believe that these introduce me in a unique way, set me apart from my peers, and give insight into what kind of teacher I am. I have seen many resumes begin with a statement of belief, and many of them end up looking the same, but my motivations are unique to me and will not be found on every second resume.

I then listed a few of my unique strengths, experiences, beliefs and even a few quotes that people have said about both myself and my teaching. Basically, it is the details that make each of us unique. We can all say, "I believe that engaging students is important, so I do A, B, and C." However, our A, B, C may be very different. Then again, finding a different way to present this may draw just a little more attention. For example, "it is a habit of my students to request homework." This is strong, personal and slightly more unique evidence.

Similarly, reading through statements of belief, you will find many will look very similar, especially if those writing the resumes have the same training. For example, if I had stayed in Tasmania and worked in early childhood, I would have been submitting my resumes with others who had gone through the same course, and many of us would have been singing the praises of learning through play and a variety of experiences. In order to avoid this, my belief statement is incredibly short and specific. I have limited myself to one statement on why I believe casual teaching is important. As a casual teacher, this is relevant and displays the commitment I have to the job. It also provides some insight into how I approach my short teaching blocks, but it doesn't leave the person at the other end wading through the masses of paper to get there. Their time is important and they won't waste it searching through something that looks the same as everyone else's!

If you have just read through all this and you're still feeling clueless as to what your USP is. Stop. Here is another question which may help: What do people say about you? Often, if people compliment you or your work, it is because it is commendable and not seen in everyone, especially if this comes from a colleague. During my final practical, my colleague teacher commented on things I was tempted to shrug off. She saw this, stopped me, and told me that she was telling me because it was a rare thing to find among even final year students. That means, what she was saying about me was my USP, or at least one of my USPs. Remember what people have said about you in the past, and it is likely that a future employer will find it an attractive trait as well.

As my final reflection on the topic, I wondered how to present this information. By now I had a variety of USPs for different areas. I had already had my interview with the one school that bothers interviewing casuals, so I had missed the opportunity to present it in that form. It didn't seem appropriate to slip into my brief resume (I am told that for relief work, one page is sufficient!). If there is a particularly strong, short USP, it is suitable for a cover letter and should be included to get attention as quickly as possible, but I had too many USPs to put them all on the cover page. Finally, looking through the amazing Relief Teaching Ideas community page on facebook, it clicked. I had never understood the appeal of brochures or what I would include in them, other than the usual resume stuff. However, a brochure is perfect for quickly presenting USPs in an interesting, easy-to-read manner. Slipping it into my job application pack wasn't going to be a problem. Personally, I prefer to keep things professional, rather than colourful and attention-grabbing, even as an early-childhood casual, and designed the brochure to be simple and in line with the style of my resume. If others like to get their creative on and that works for them, awesome. I have also heard of people attaching a photo to the front of their brochure and there have been mixed reactions to this, from the principal who finds it unprofessional, to the one who finds it personal. So I here I have provided a basic format, based on my own brochure, along with guidelines for including specific USPs, but I would love to see how others personalise it to fit their own style and preferences. If we are using this to present USPs, it makes sense that each would look unique!

So without further ado, here is the USP brochure format I used:

External side of brochure

Internal side of brochure

Want to read more about USPs and job searching? Click on the links below:

• Social Hire - What Can Lady Gaga Teach You About Your Career? - This is more of an interest article, but with your new knowledge of USPs, can you guess what hers is?
• BL Copywriting - The Only Way to Answer, "Why Should I Buy from You?" - Read this for some great information and a free download to figure out your own USPs.
• Harrison Barnes - The Kick-Ass Marketing Secret of the Most Successful Job Applicants and Employees - I couldn't help but laugh at this article. It is an amusing an informative read on USPs and their value when job searching.

What is your USP? Was it easy or hard to define? How do you present it to potential employers?