When I was a spotty, goofy, spiky haired third year at my all girls school in Folkestone we were made to stand up at the start of class and greet the poor overburdened, underpaid teacher with a monotonous and ambivalent “Good Morning Mr/Mrs/Miss X” before sitting down, opening our wallpaper-covered rough books and listening in silence whilst lessons were chalked up on the blackboard. Is it still like this? I doubt it. But tomorrow I find out as I will be doing my bit to promote Teach First Week. Over the course of the past week more than 30 individuals from business, politics, journalism and the world of entertainment have been given the chance to experience life as a teacher in a Teach First partner school.So in the morning I will be teaching a Citizenship lesson to a Year 9 class at Aylesford Sports College and I confess as my hour in the classroom gets closer I am feeling both excited but a tad nervous about it all! Although I have a Teach First participant helping me plan my lesson in advance of teaching it, I can’t help but worry that these poor kids may one day be examined on what I’ve taught them. However, despite the fact that I will be given feedback on my classroom performance, for me the whole point of the exercise is less about my ability to inspire 29 third years and more about gaining a better understanding of how much work goes into planning and teaching a lesson. I have already learnt so much and haven’t even gone through the school gates yet! And whilst taking one class isn’t going to give me universal knowledge of either the profession or education policy, I hope it will give me enough insight to provide a positive contribution in future parliamentary debate on issues that effect either/both.
I will let you know how it goes…
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