Well I've just finished my first week of being a teacher - minus the students. This week, "Week 0", was all induction and professional development sessions, curriculum planning meetings, year group meetings, new staff meetings, and so on. I found most of the sessions really useful - although I can see that for returning staff they could feel like a waste of time. I certainly got value for my time though - getting to understad the whole school curriculum philosophy, their use of the Learning by Design framework, dipping my toe into Cooperative Reading and more.
I have my very own classroom (lucky me!) only two doors down the corridor from my staffroom, which is REALLY convenient. I spent a couple of hours in there making it 'mine', rearranging the desks into sets of four, taking down some old student work from the walls and generally tidying up a little. I'm really excited to have an interactive whiteboard, TV, video/DVD player and computer in the room - although I'm not planning on being a heavy ICT user until I'm much more comfortable in my style of teaching, it's great having these resources in there. Especially the IWB - I find I use it mainly as a projector at this stage, displaying Powerpoint prsentations, but after I get some more training on the Notebook software that could change.
By the end of the week I actually feel quite comfortable at the school, and as though I've got a fair idea of what I'm doing this term (or at least next week!). But I haven't clapped eyes on a student yet! So the real test is still to come. I'll TRY to do a weekly reflection on here I think, but it'll depend on my time management skills. Wish me luck!
