A survivors guide for ECT’s: How to survive your first years in the classroom.
In this blog, Mrs G reflects on her first few years of teaching and creates a “Survivors Guide” to support Early Career Teacher’s survive their first few years of teaching. She gives some helpful tips that can help you to “survive your first years in the classroom”
A list that keeps growing… Working at 500 miles per hour…. Full of self-doubt… Run down… Exhausted.
That was me during my first few years of teaching. I constantly felt like I was just about keeping my head above water and that I could never get to the end of my ever growing list. The children were making progress but was it quick enough? Were my lessons challenging enough? Did SLT think I was doing a good job? Did I embarrass myself when I asked that silly question in the staff meeting? The thoughts that go through your head as an early careers teacher are constant and at times I wanted to quit. But I didn’t. Why? Because the children are awesome and every day is a new day with new challenges and new breakthroughs. But relying on the daily mix of joy and stress isn’t enough, so here my top 5 tips and strategies to help you get survive your first years in the classroom as a teacher.
Colleagues– Take the time to get to know the staff in your school and create those professional relationships. Find out what strengths others have and share yours with them. When I am unsure of something the first thing I do is go and speak to a particular colleague. We use each other as a sounding board and I can ask her advice on anything. In return, she comes and speaks to me when she is struggling or unsure of the best way to move forward with an approach. Form positive relationships with the teaching assistants in your school. I would not have survived without my TA. Not only had she worked in the school for 15 years and could find anything we needed in seconds, but she was able to share knowledge of the school community, the history of the local area and make suggestions on what had worked for families in the past. This gave me the opportunity to quickly build positive relationships with parents and support those families who needed it.
Professional relationships within a school are key. When things get tough you’ll be holding each other up, so spend the time getting to know people and form those positive working relationships to help you survive your first years in the classroom.
Weekly resources– Now this is my personal approach (and it may not work for everyone!) I like to have all my resources and printing ready for Monday morning before I leave on Friday afternoon. I would much rather get all my planning done over the course of the week and during PPA so that everything is ready for the children’s learning in advance. Then I can tick along with other jobs over the weekend knowing that Monday’s learning is ready to go. In order to keep this organised I use A4 popper wallets, labelled Monday – Friday. Here I can organise all of my printed resources so each morning I can grab a wallet and get straight on. This also works very well if someone needs to cover you. All they have to do is pick up the planning and the resources are there ready to go.
General resources– I find it essential to keep the resources I use daily tidy and highly organised. For example, all of my phonics resources are split into sets, green and red words organised based on when they are taught and sound cards split according to groupings. Again this makes things easier in the morning as the day’s resources can be grabbed quickly. This is where using an expanding file can be helpful as each part of the larger resource can be split into the different sections that are needed.
Keeping note– Now this approach is a more recent discovery and one that I have been using since I joined my current school just over two years ago. During courses or staff meetings I have always made notes but I could never find them again afterwards. Now I keep separate note books for separate meetings and purposes. This may seem excessive but in the long term it has really helped me focus on my CPD. I currently have one note book for staff meetings and INSET days, one for CPD that happens outside of school, and one for my NPQH qualification. Now when feeding back or reviewing actions I know exactly where to find what I need. This compartmentalising has given me space to make links between the different CPD sessions that I have accessed. With my NPQH notebook I can keep focused on the task ahead and reflect on previous modules. I also use a tonne of post it notes. These help me remember small bits of information or tasks that surface throughout the day. Making a note when something is said straight away makes life much easier than trying to remember after school when 100 different things have happened.
Time for you– If you take one thing from this blog, then take this. Time for you is the most important, yet the hardest tip to actually stick to. Doing things that make you happy outside of work, having a hobby that has nothing to do with teaching and creating a work life balance that works for you. This job can become all-consuming and never ending if you let it. But the harsh reality of it all is that no matter how passionate you are, not matter how hard you work, you have to look after yourself because we are all replaceable. As you move through your career the work life balance will become easier, but by making positive habits outside of work early on will support your mental health and wellbeing from the start. I am a huge theatre fan and my hobby is taking part in non-professional theatre. I spend time on and off the stage, being part of a show, in a creative team or working with the committee. This hobby gives me the time and opportunity to not think about school and to just be me. One day at the weekend is always family day and no work gets done when my children are still up and awake. They will only be this age once and I want to make the most of my time with them whilst I can. So whether you have a hobby that is as busy as mine, or you prefer to curl up with a book and a cup of tea, make sure you do. Switch off that laptop and spend some time doing something that makes you happy!
MrsG has been teaching in Primary Schools, specialising in EYFS and KS1 for the last 13 years. She has taught across both key stages working as an Assistant Head, before heading back into the classroom full time after having her children. MrsG is now Senior Teacher in a small school, where she teaches in EYFS. She also works with ECTs supporting them with planning, workload, job applications and interview technique through her Instagram account instagram.com/mrsg_eyfs
If you’re an ECT looking for support to not only survive your first years in the classroom but THRIVE in your Early Years classroom then why not consider joining the Is it Time to Play? membership, it’s packed with resources, planning and guidance that will help get you through!