Qualified Teacher Status

A year and a half later! I am now Qualified to teach in the UK... well, I've officially had my Canadian qualifications recognized and have been observed, assessed and deemed qualified by a UK university. What does this mean?? full time contracts, qualified pay (was already receiving this) and a heavier teaching load next year. yay??

It's a good thing. The school's happy with me and It feels like i've earned my place at the school. I've come across a lot of mentoring and conversation about classroom discipline for the better. I think leaving University, classroom management was always my biggest question mark. I'm no pro at it now, but i've been through the ringer a couple times and can deal/reflect about it in a more mature way. I've really internalized the responsibility and importance of educating children this past month. It's as though a light switch was turned on. Teaching was a lot of fun & games at the start with a very easy going attitude. Kids who don't want to learn look at this like a pack of piranhas ready to eat you alive. I keep things fun, fast paced and energized, but I'm beginning to promote a serious undertone that pupils are entering a learning environment. I never really thought how children's reasoning for coming to school could be so vastly different from what I would expect (for pupil's to learn). It varies, but there's a large group who come to school primarily to chat with their mates including during lessons. This assumption has to be addressed, and an expectation for learning established. It sounds so simple, but if a kid can't answer "why are you here", and not internalize the responsibility/expectation to contribute without distracting others, they can and will continue to disrupt lessons.

Another big thing i've learned in classroom teaching is that a lesson is won/lost in the first 3 minutes. If kids aren't following instruction before entering the classroom, or while introducing the learning objectives, you have no prayer that the next 40 minutes will improve but will deteriorate instead. It's easy to just plug along and get frustrated with poor behaviour, but i'm starting to see my classrooms as a huge science experiment with observable, empirical and measurable evidence. If I can set up the right parameters of structure, expectations, routine, rapport and feedback I will find the right equation for success. The monkey wrench is that some kids come to lessons with emotional baggage, low blood sugar levels & poor manners. There's no perfect approach to find success every time. But if i'm successful 95% of the time, I think life will really start to pick itself up :D