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building relationships with your students

1/11/2022

Hello lovely humans,

Just dropping in to share some ways in which you can build relationships with your students.
You don't have to do all of these but I have shared various ways as not everyday will work with every teacher or every class!

Positive notes - praise the students when you can and this will show how you care and like to see them succeed.
Eat lunch with the students or socialise and chat with them at break time. chat to them while on supervision.
Stay connected - sending or SCHEDULING a little hello/ happy holidays during school break is a nice touch.
Create traditions/ or follow ones that the class have - tea/ hot choc morning before the holidays
Ask Questions about the Classroom: When we ask students about how they feel and see our classrooms, it communicates that their opinion and feelings matter.
Attend after school extra events - graduations/ mass/ schools show/ etc. students notice the teachers that support their school events
Give students a questionnaire to get to know them at the start of the year so you can learn about their interests and show interest in them.
Greet students as they enter the room or as you do. be cheerful & positive
Make the students feel safe and comfortable in your presence - NEVER EMBARRASS a student by calling them out on something in front of the class.
Smile - something so little can mine so much! never underestimate the power of a smile and hello.
Tell little bits of your personal life. Don’t spend hours and hours spilling the beans about everything there is to know about you, but it is important for students to get to know you. things you could tell them include:
- Sharing a picture here or there will help your students realise that you do indeed have a life and they might actually be able to relate to you!
- A movie you watched
- Food places you have tried
- About your pets
- Achievements (sporting/ talent)
- Milestones (MY STUDENTS KNOW ABOUT MY NEW HOUSE - THEY WERE AS EXCITED AS I WAS ABOUT MOVING IN!)
Lastly, be patient! This is one of the hardest parts about building student relationships. Many teachers want to have an immediate relationship with students. That is not the best for the teacher or the students. Strong relationships take time to build

I would love to know if any of these work for you, please be sure to let me know what worked and didn't work for you!

Toodles,
Múinteoir Cole

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my experience of an incidental inspection

1/1/2022

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Hello lovely humans,

I promised this blog sooooooooo long ago but life has been so hectic with moving, mom life, etc.

I'm gonna jump straight to it! We found out on the Wednesday that we would have an incidental inspection on Friday in school - frantically everybody starting planning and panicking. I (for the first time in my life) remained calm - I knew I was prepared because I decided this year I was getting on top of paperwork so that I wouldn't panic and stress in situations like this - plus I wouldn't have time to get my sh*t together in 2 nights having a baby!

All of my plans were in digital format and if they were needed I could show them that way - I didn't print them. Our subject dept info I had digitally & it is also in the staffroom. I did have to try and get the German one up to date as we just had a general MFL one and I thought it would be best to German specific info if it were needed.

I had my weekly personal plan in my planner which I have printed in a folder and I use this to keep me on track weekly anyways! I knew I was over prepared and also felt confident that they weren't going to be looking at plans and they wanted to see teaching - that is what these inspections are for. I DID NOT change my lessons or plan anything extra or fancy just because an inspector was coming.

I found out 5 mins before class started that the inspector was coming to me, I was actually buzzing because I wanted to have someone watch my teaching - I wanted to know how I was getting on! The bell rang and my 5th years arrived into class - I told them the inspector would be joining us, they actually started panicking lol! The inspector arrived over and introduced himself - he was so lovely and explained to the class he was there just to have a look at what we were doing and to ignore him.

My class content:

Teaching modulation
Practice modulation on paper
Add modulations to flat.io and listen (Music Technology)
Performance - Sight reading clap back and 1 piece per student

My feedback:

I clearly set out the learning intentions and ticked them off like a to do list as I went along which provided great structure for the students.
I had a great knowledge of my subject and teaching pedagogy. I used various teaching methods.
I taught an idea/ new content then practiced with students and then checked for learning. Even after moving onto something else I rechecked for learning "Remind me of how that works again...".
I encouraged students to perform and corrected mistakes and helped them to fix them too.
I used impressive technology and really have a good grasp on it - my system on OneNote was really good and it is a fantastic resource for my students.
I could have allowed more room for students to work together but with the type of exercise it would be done in a later lesson (only criticism) - I could have had the students critique each others modulations on reflection.
The students understood the clearly explained tasks and were supported throughout the learning.

The inspector took note of some programmes I used:
OneNote
Classroom Screen
Flat.io

At the end I was given feedback and asked about Child Protection.

Who is a mandated person?
Who is the go to in my school?

Overall I was so so happy with how the inspection went - the feedback was amazing! I asked if there was anything that I could improve on and I was told if they had to really nitpick at me then they would say the group work between students but said that it was minor because of the type of lesson. Honestly it was not half as bad as inspections that I did through college and I would do it again tomorrow if given the chance.

More info on inspections here: https://assets.gov.ie/25258/e2f3707cfb3448db8cb0752613d031bd.pdf

How can you have an inspection like this?

Get your planning in order - keep plans simple.
Have confidence in yourself - you are great.
Hype yourself up and know that you will be fine.
Use things like classroomscreen.com to help with your timing.
Make sure to set out learning intentions/ outcomes! (Very important)
Have your weekly plan in front of you so you know what you're doing if you blank.
Don't try something new and crazy on the day - your students will be wondering what you are up to!
Always check for learning and that students understand what is happening in the lesson.
Know your info on child protection.
Believe in your self and be calm.

Toodles,
Nicole x

PS Happy 2022!

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building relationships with your students

my experience of an incidental inspection

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