The 10 Commandments – in no particular order, as written by Nutty
Be friendly to everyone right from the start – cleaners and secretaries are often closest to the Head Teacher!
Leave the classroom tidy – but don’t mess too much with the teacher’s desk
Be confident – if a school thinks they can leave you to get on with it, without having to fuss around with you, they’re more likely to ask you to come back
Tell them you had a great day – flattery gets you everywhere remember! This works with the children too.
Be prepared – for anything to happen!
Learn names – staff and children, as quickly as possible, and remember them (See below for hints on learning names.)
Be smart – in your clothes and in your working. Leave plenty of information on how they day went for the class teacher. Remark on the children’s achievements, and any disappointments. Avoid making unnecessary derogatory remarks about the children! Think – would it be professional for you to tell the child’s parents? If not, don’t tell the child’s teacher either!
Be efficient – If you need to sign timesheets etc., do this before the end of the day. Many secretaries and bursars do not work until the end of the school day, use your morning break to clear up any business which is not related to your teaching timetable.
Mark the work – I’ve always been a diligent marker, sometimes seeing everyone leave bar the caretaker before I have left a school. Mark at every opportunity you have: break, lunchtime (I mark whilst eating, but if in a new school, I do make sure I leave time to pop into the staffroom at some point for five minutes) and during lessons. This does not mean sit and mark the numeracy while the children sit and do their literacy! I make it a policy not to use the teacher’s chair/desk during the day. I walk round with my red/green pen in hand while the children are working (KS2 – obviously this doesn’t apply so much in Hands-On KS1) and the children really do respond to this. While the children are on task, they very much appreciate a word or two every so often regarding their work. Take a few tours of the classroom while they are settled and mark their work as you go. It’s easy to think it’s unfair when it’s well after half four when you leave, and you were only officially paid until 3:45pm, but it doesn’t often go unnoticed, and it’s one way to help ensure the school contact you again offering work. And remember, those teachers who walked out half an hour after the children left, have probably taken home 64 books to mark, a policy to review, staff meeting notes to tweak, an assembly to write, and a parents’ evening to prepare for!
Follow the lesson plans – It is no small feat managing to fit the current curriculum into a school year, along with Christmas panto’s, field trips and sports matches, so don’t make it any harder! Teachers will not request supply teacher in whom they have no confidence that a) lesson plans are followed, and b) work is marked effectively.
Learning Names
I have found over the years that nothing leaves a better impression on support staff (and therefore teaching staff!) than me having learnt all the children’s names by first break. I’ve got it down to a fine art now, and am currently aiming to try and learn the names of said support staff too (it’s a very different affair trying to learn the names of adults!)
It makes an enormous difference to the effectiveness of my voice when I am able to tag the name of a child onto the end of a sentence. Teaching becomes easier, therefore I am more enthusiastic, therefore the children are more enthusiastic, and more learning takes place.
If you know the names of the children, marking at the end of the lesson/day becomes much more effective too. Use the child’s name when marking, and remark on how well they contributed in the class discussion etc.
Below is a garbled list of things that I do, some stand by themselves, some needing support from the others.
Arrive early enough not only to read the lesson plans for the day, but also early enough to get a grip on the classroom layout and to find and use all evidence of children’s names within it.
Collect the register early, and read it, and read it again.
Look at the names of the children on coat hooks/locker doors/drawers.
Look at the star charts, who has the most/least, and do they have teams/table names? It’s easy to learn the group/table names before the children come in and use them effectively.
Often younger children will have photographs on the wall, especially in the autumn term, with their names, giving, for example, a character trait/favourite book.
Aim to learn the names of five children as they walk through the door, introduce yourself, ask them their name, and commit it to memory (use alphabet/numerical help, physical attributes etc.)
Aim to learn another five, and revise those first five, while the children settle down in their chairs. These next five must be seated apart from each other – i.e. one from each table. If you arm yourself with the name of one child per table, you can then address each table separately – ‘Can the children continuing their conversation above me on Rita’s table, please stop now!’ To get a hold of this second lot of names, look at the drawers/coat hooks etc., that they go to, and ask to look at their book as they settle down at their table.
Listen to the children. You will hear another five before you take the register just by listening to the first ten children you have addressed. They will say things like ‘I haven’t got my reading log, I left it at Tom’s house last night,’ whilst pointing in Tom’s direction.
Whilst do not pressure yourself into learning any more during the register. Simply use that time to confirm the 15 you now hold in your head. Ask the children to put their hand up when you call their name, before they answer you. Look directly at the child and, after they have said ‘Good Morning Miss,’ you say ‘Good Morning Joe.’ Take in the face of that child now sat in their correct place.
Repeat the child’s name every time you talk to them, until you know you know it.
When you’re going round the class, red pen in hand, look at the front of the child’s book when you get to them, it’s always got their name on… and use it while you’re talking to them about their work.
Test yourself, and let the children know that that’s what you’re doing. At break time/lining up for assembly, let them know you’re about to give yourself a test, get them to stand behind their chairs, and they can only line up if you know their name. They love this game! Make an extra effort to communicate with the children you couldn’t name, after assembly.
