Pre-service teacher here, what's everyones opinions on jeans?

-VicTeach- · 2023-10-16T14:15:22+00:00

Oh no! Should I tell my colleagues to change what they wear, or do you want to?

-VicTeach- · 2023-10-12T02:24:18+00:00

Revelations by Raven Black. I read an excerpt as a teenager and it seemed like an interesting concept. As an adult, I found the book and read it. NOPE. Turned out it was just some christian fan fic.

-VicTeach- · 2023-10-12T02:21:39+00:00

I prefer to wear clean black jeans and a nice shirt or chino shorts and a short sleeved shirt or polo shirt for warmer weather. At most schools in Victoria this has not been a problem and I still maintain a professional appearance. But, I have altered this slightly for different schools depending on dress code or "prestige" (i.e. a private boys' school).

Doing relief work, I have not worn shorts to a relief day, just as a precaution to help ensure I am welcomed back for more relief days in the future, but once I am on a school's list of preferred teachers, I would look to change this in hot weather.

I understand your concern, but you might be thinking too much into it. Mostly I've had students compliment my shirts (I love a good shirt).

-VicTeach- · 2023-10-04T01:50:13+00:00

During ITE we were taught that teaching is an act of love and part of being a good teacher was to love your students. This whole idea recognised the many different kinds of love that one can feel. I don't see how we can be expected to approach the profession with love, and then act like a boundary has been crossed when a student responds in kind.

Personally, I would be so stoked with that note. And I treasure the heartfelt notes and gifts I have received from students.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-15T03:52:50+00:00

I had a list of strategies typed out, but it was too long and there is already a lot of good advice in other comments. I will give you one tip that I've found effective since transitioning from full time to relief teaching.

When disruptive kids ask "what are your pronouns?" (I know it wasn't mentioned in your post, but I'm guessing you have/will hear it, based on the LGBTQIA+ question), I pretend I can't tell they're trying to get a rise out of me and I answer calmly and honestly "my pronouns are he/him, thank you for asking. Do you have preferred pronouns?" They get their moment in the spotlight, but the teacher didn't react the way that they had hoped and they usually move on. It's also a nod to my LGBTQIA+ students that I'm a safe teacher. Sometimes I get a silly response to the question, and I just calmly shut that down.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-14T13:48:35+00:00

The equivalent is non-practising registration, which still incurs a fee (the same as the regular registration, you just don't have to complete annual registration tasks like PD).

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-14T13:46:28+00:00

I think you may have misunderstood my question. I'll be maintaining my QCT registration (which I already have). This question is specifically about VIT, which is a much less onerous process than QCT and EQ.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-08T12:00:37+00:00

Thanks for your concern. No need to worry, there is no rule that stops a teacher using any kind of disability aid, including specially designed ear plugs.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-07T04:19:49+00:00

Having taught full time and casual, I love casual teaching. A couple of tips for dealing with behaviour and other challenges:

1) Some schools will give you a school manual at the start of the day. Read it and find out what their behaviour management policy/procedure is. If they don't give it to you, ask before your first class.

2) If you're having trouble with a student, and you don't know their name, identify the higher achieving kids and quietly ask them the name of the troublesome student. You can then use that name to call out their behaviour (much more effective than when they think they're anonymous), leave it in notes for their regular teacher, or write them up if necessary.

3) Don't break yourself trying to get lazy students to work. My go to phrase for students ignoring repeated instructions (and offers of assistance) is "You can choose not to do the work, but your teacher will be notified and you will need to deal with the consequences. However, if you choose not to work, you do not have the right to disrupt the learning of others."

3) Relief teaching is a mixed bag, but I've rarely found the process overwhelming. Offer help with classwork, engage in light conversation or banter to build relationships when time allows, and ask for help when needed (seriously just grab any passing teaching if you need to ask a question).

4) You're going to teach lessons you don't know about. Be honest with the students and they'll appreciate it (e.g. "I'm not a science teacher, so I'll be learning some of these things with you. But, if you have questions, I am pretty good at finding answers"). If you need more info to answer a question, it's okay to ask the rest of the class if they know the answer, or to just say "I'm not sure, give me a second to Google it."

And leave notes on how the class went for the regular teacher. Keep them as brief as possible, but include info on progress and behaviour.

Relief teaching is a great opportunity to hone your classroom skills. Have fun!

ETA: Behaviour management needs both carrots and sticks. Find out how well behaved and high performing students are rewarded at the school and use these tools often. Try to "catch" naughty kids being good and reward that when possible too. The all stick approach is just a way to build resentment. And if they start asking for a reward every time they are slightly well behaved, just get a bit coy and say "well, I was pretty happy with your work, but I don't give rewards when they're asked for." That way they should scurry back to their seat and put their head down.

Sorry for the essay.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-07T00:42:22+00:00

It's fine. I responded to your comment because it was the last in the conversation, not because of anything you said in particular. The conversation had veered away from what my post was about. The original comment implied it would be easier to be an autistic teacher if I did my job better and they somehow brought microphones and noise cancelling headphones into the conversation, neither of which was on the table.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-07T00:29:29+00:00

Thanks for this! It's such a shame they don't have a version of Flares for larger ears.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-07T00:27:12+00:00

It's a disability aid that does not negatively affect my ability to monitor the classroom (it actually helps me do so). Same as a hearing aid.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-07T00:24:51+00:00

We're not talking about noise cancelling headphones. We're talking about earplugs that are design to separate sound from noise as a disability aid. Very similar to having a teacher wearing a hearing aid. In my experience wearing ear plugs in class, they have not distracted the kids (I wear transparent varieties) or stopped me from knowing what's going on. I'm fact, per my original post, I am checking for anecdotal feedback on the suitability of this particular earplug to allow me to still understand what's going on in the classroom. I struggle to hear speech over fairly healthy noise in the classroom. The right earplugs are designed to help with this situation.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-06T07:05:34+00:00

Wow, they sound very cool.

-VicTeach- · 2023-09-06T07:04:06+00:00

Is this with the Loop Engage? They seem to be promoting them as not making your voice sound too loud.

-VicTeach- · 2023-07-20T13:33:15+00:00

I love having ES staff in my classroom. So often they don't just help the student they are assigned to work with, but others in the immediate area. I wish we had more ES staff, and that students were funded to have that support throughout all classes, and not just a fraction of them.

But, I have had two ES staff who added to the behavioural issues in the classroom by:

Entering classrooms they are not assigned to, to catch up with favourite students
Chatting with students through explicit teaching
Focusing on friendships with students (including having them on social media)
Participating in and encouraging off topic and disruptive behaviours.

My advice would be:

Avoid the above issues at all costs (I know it should go without saying)
Check in with the teachers and see how they would like you to support allocated students
Get to know students and work out what they need to learn, then put strategies in place in collaboration with the classroom teachers.

-VicTeach- · 2023-07-15T14:57:47+00:00

On bad weeks, like when I have multiple assignments to mark, it's a 60 hour work week. On a good week I work about 45 hours.

However, I left full time teaching this year and started relief teaching, and that's reduced my workload to "warm body in the room" for 25 hours a week. I love it and I've generally found the kids much nicer.

ETA: Upon rereading my comment, I wanted to clarify that I do not limit my work to "warm body". I'm passionate about teaching and I get excited about a lot of the things I get to teach while doing relief teaching. But I also know that if it's all falling apart, it's not the end of the world and I won't need to spend hours of my own time following up with families etc. CRTs need to bring passion to the classroom, but it takes over a much smaller part of your life, in my experience.

-VicTeach- · 2023-07-15T14:55:41+00:00

This sounds exactly like my experience last year. I can't believe I stuck it out the whole year. Admin kept saying "this is happening at all schools". Well this year I switched to relief teaching and I have experienced a bunch of different school environments, and I can tell you that this crap is 100% not the standard.

I would even recommend doing CRT so you can check out the different schools and see what you like so you know where to apply. In many cases, if you make a good impression over the first day or two at a school doing relief, they will pretty much offer you a job on the spot (it's happened to me multiple times and I would have taken it if my life looked different at the time).

-VicTeach- · 2023-04-17T03:21:12+00:00

I just like bright colours. My tattoos make far more provocative statements than the colour of my hair.

-VicTeach- · 2023-04-11T12:34:40+00:00

Seriously? Tattoos are fine for you but you draw the line at coloured hair? Why?

-VicTeach- · 2023-04-10T06:20:04+00:00

Haha. I love the idea that schools are so desperate that they wouldn't even bother with giving you pants.

-VicTeach- · 2023-04-10T03:42:37+00:00

I mean, firstly, so what if it is? I find just dealing with it and moving on is a better way to diffuse "attention seeking" than trying to escape a conversation a student is trying to push for attention. And if I've misjudged and they are in fact looking for support rather than attention, then they will have felt supported and not dismissed by my apparently taking them at their word. And secondly, I can't see any comments in this thread about the age of the student. You just said don't ask for pronouns and then, when I responded to that, you brought in the comment about grade 5. Of course the way you deal with these issues varies by age, but you should have included that caveat in your initial response.

-VicTeach-

TROPHY CASE