From first day feels to smiling students: term one as a teacher trainee

First Day Feels

As with anything new, nerves are natural, but the National Institute of Teaching allow you to feel as prepared as you can be before taking that step into the school, where your teaching career will begin.

Flying Start week in July and the Intensive Training and Practice (ITaP) days on behaviour and relationships in August, taught me many of the skills to making a presence for myself in the classroom and school. The knowledge covered and support from tutors, even before stepping through the school doors, gave me the confidence to go into the career I had worked so hard towards over the last few years with a mindset that I belonged there.

Strong Support, Significant Success

My mentor has been incredible, making sure I have everything I need to succeed. One of the first things that he made sure I had was my timetable. This really helped me to envision the year ahead and see how my progress would develop. Our weekly mentor meetings are a great chance to exchange ideas, ask questions and share positives.

Not only my mentor but the members of staff in the school are also so supportive, especially the Principal; each time he comes past the Maths office or the classroom he always asks, ‘So, Chloe, how are you getting on?’, and it’s never just a passing comment, he genuinely cares, listens and wants to support.

“It gives me goosebumps whenever I think about it because the positivity in that room was electric, and I was the facilitator of students realising that love for learning.”

Typical Trainee Tasks

At first a typical day could consist of observing multiple different members of staff, not only in the maths department but also in other subjects, as each person is an expert in different ways.

Your routine changes gradually as you start to pick up co-teaching hours first. This, for me, included taking the register and starting some lessons. At first it feels very strange to stand at the front of the class but after a couple of times it becomes much more natural, fitting in perfectly for starting the initial hours of solo teaching each week.

Over the first term, you pick up more hours of co-teaching and solo teaching, still at a progressive pace, but it’s bespoke to you.

Shining Spotlight

My highlight so far was one of my first solo-teaching hours with a class. I was facilitating a whiteboard activity to check for understanding of inverse operations, and the students were loving it! Every single student had their board high in the air, students were smiling, and their answers were getting quicker even though the activity was getting harder; they were so proud to show their knowledge. It gives me goosebumps whenever I think about it because the positivity in that room was electric, and I was the facilitator of students realising that love for learning.

Targeted Training

"The weekly training that the NIoT provide is exceptional. The level of research that goes into each session is incredible, and everything you are learning is relevant."

The facilitators at Doncaster, Emma and Vicki, along with Maths subject facilitators, Candice and Philip, are phenomenal and without them, the research would mean very little. Their abundance of experience and expertise in education provide you with real life situations and techniques to teaching. One of the best parts in the training sessions is the opportunity for deliberate practice - you can get hands on with applying the techniques in acted out scenarios.

Connected Community

During the Flying Start week I was the only trainee for Maths, and I was worried I wouldn’t have someone to share experiences with, but I quickly realised that wasn’t going to matter. The trainees are some of the most welcoming, warm and friendly people I have ever met, plus there ended up being another Maths trainee (bonus!).

"The best thing about the community of trainees is that everyone is so supportive. Although we are based in different schools, teaching different subjects and have a wide variety of experience, we can align and learn from each other every week when we come together."

Are you interested in a career in teaching? Register your interest today.