The beginning (again - I just selected all and pressed paste on my ipad and lost everything I'd written so this is v2).
So... 2014 and I've just started blogging, I'm well aware that I'm behind many many excellent teachers as I've read some incredible educational blogs but I thought as it's a new year and I turn the big 3-0 now would be a good time to start.
Plus, in September 2013 I embarked on a new, challenging era of my career and now I've had time to settle and reflect I feel this also indicates a good time to begin a blog.
Just a small FYI this is my career journey thus far...
2008-2010 Mainstream KS2 Teacher (inc. NQT Year).
2010-2013 MLD Teacher KS3-KS4 + AST for SEN and supporting SENCO in mainstream secondary.
2013-present SLD and PMLD Teacher current class KS1/EYFS mix with high proportion of ASD pupils.
It was a real culture shock to me and what I initially found the biggest challenge in my new job was the movement, not from MLD to SLD/PMLD but the transition from KS3/4 down to KS1/EYFS - mainly the requirement of modifying my language (not in the sense that I constantly swear etc.) going from sentence level instructions down to 1-2 word phrases.
In the new term, having learnt the ropes, and more importantly learnt a lot about the pupils in my class I'm intending to run my classroom with an EYFS structure and moving away from a constrictive KS1 timetable. This is due to the nature of my pupils who have yet to move on from their time in Reception classes. I found this very difficult at first and struggled to realise that they didn't all have to be sat nicely at a table to learn. I'm still not quite sure I'm there yet!
One of the things I've gained since September and will carry through my career is the beneficial nature of Learning Journeys, I'm still developing my understanding of how to write them and have used twitter as a cpd tool for this but will continue to explore how to demonstrate pupils learning. Such a great link between classroom and parents.
Further to this, I'm in desperate need of EYFS training and more specifically how I can use an EYFS structure but still ensure my KS1 pupils (my class is KS1 heavy) can tick all their NC boxes. Which has just reminded me that I still need to look at the new NC?!
So... Despite being an AST and at one point (after completing my Masters) feeling quite knowledgeable about my field, I have now quite deliberately embarked on a challenging new journey and have found myself back at...
The Beginning.
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