Hello!
Well there has been a definite lack of posts during the past
week! Mainly for 2 main reasons. 1, I have been very busy, and 2, I have been a
little bit down. So, to summarise my week -
I worked 3 days of supply this week. And god it has been
tough!
So on Tuesday I went to a school I had never heard of in an
area I've never really been too. The morning wasn't too bad but the behaviour
of the children was more difficult than I expected. But then the afternoon was
a disaster. I was put in a year 5 class who haven't had a teacher this year and
for part of last year. I tried to teach them the water cycle which I am
confident with, however it was such a challenge. 3 tables seemed eager to learn
but there were 2 that literally did not listen, spoke over me and fiddled the
whole time. And there was no real behaviour system in place for me to follow. I
tried waiting, taking minutes off playtime, but they just didn't care. Rewards
didn't seem to work either. I felt like the children walked all over me.
Luckily, school ended at 3 so I only had 2 hours to cope with. As soon as the
kids left I cried. I felt like I had no control and it was a shock to the
system. I have been teaching for 4 years, and although I have of course dealt
with difficult behaviour before, I at least know the children in my class and
can talk to their parents. I don't have this option on supply, and it is bloody
difficult to build a relationship with a whole class in the space of a few
hours. Relationship = respect = good behaviour. I guess I need to get used to
the fact that behaviour is not going to be great while I do supply. But it is
tough, as I like to think I can control a class and focus on learning rather
than crowd control. I called my agency and asked never to go back. I also spent
most of Tuesday evening sobbing and eating maoam and chocolate orange.
On Thursday I got the early morning call to cover a year 5/6
class. It turned out to be a school someone I went to uni with teaches at, so
that was nice. The morning went well, and behaviour was fine. But then again
the afternoon was a nightmare. There were 6 very challenging pupils in my
class. I ended up sending 2 of them out, but it could have easily been 6. I
really didn't enjoy my afternoon.
Finally on Friday I went to a school that was just down the
road from the school I used to teach at. I was expecting to cover KS2 all day,
but when I arrived I was sent to year 2! I haven't taught in KS1 since my first
year of teacher training (about 6/7 years ago). But I absolutely loved it! This
class seemed to be much more settled than any yet, and had good routines in
place. The easiest thing was the school had a brilliant behaviour system in
place that was easy for me to follow. We spent the morning doing art and maths.
I really enjoyed it. There wasn't any planning for me to follow so I did feel a
bit scared but it went well. I would like to be able to work with KS1 more in
the future. I guess that's a benefit of doing supply. In the afternoon I was
put in UKS2 and had to do a big write with year 6 and maths with year 5. Not
the best subjects to leave on a Friday afternoon if I'm honest! Getting year 6
to work silently was a challenge but year 5 were nice, and again the behaviour
system was easy to follow. I wasn't sure about marking though. I marked all of
the yr2 work and yr5 work, but went back to the yr6 classroom and the teacher
had gone home! I didn't really want to mark 30 big writes so did about 10 then
left. To be honest I didn't think I should mark them but I know I would have
liked it if a supply had marked it for me when I was teaching full time. I
really liked this school and would work there full time if I could. The only issue
was the staff didn't seem as friendly as the other schools. Maybe I'm being too
picky?!
I have been feeling quite down this week. I am starting to
wonder if I made the right decision leaving my last school. Sure it had its
downsides, but every school does. I have to keep reminding myself that over 20
teachers have left in the past few years, and there are important reasons why I
left. However on Tuesday I found out that the head teacher is leaving in April.
Typical! I have spent a few days this week feeling really miserable about life
and not knowing what I'm doing. I thought I had a great career ahead of me, and
after teaching for 4 years I am still not in a school or job that I like, and
who knows if and when I'll find that. There are other things making me feel
down at the minute, but they all boil down to money/work/housing. Basic things
that make me worry. I need to start focusing on the small things as I know I
don't any power over the big things at the minute.
So, a very work based post this week but that's all I seem
to have focused on this week! I have no bookings yet for the coming week, so
who knows what will happen. I am planning a trip to Primark and Thorpe park
this week, so those things should make me feel a little happier in amongst the
stress of behaviour management.
Do you have any tips for managing behaviour in a supply
situation?
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