This certainly has been a training year to remember.

I should now be approaching the final stages of my placement - I was stressed about final observations and compiling evidence for my folder.

Obviously, that has not happened. Much of my final training has been spent working remotely - which has had its insights that will no doubt stand me in good stead, too.

I fully understand why many are anxious about returning to school and I’m not here to advocate for a return or dismiss concerns. However, I know that, for me, the joy of teaching is being in the classroom and engaging with pupils directly.

Why I’m here

I entered teaching because of the joy of being in the school environment; I had worked as a sixth-form tutor in a school previously.

I love the relationships you build with students, both academically and on a personal level, and seeing them have that moment where the spark happens and they understand a difficult topic is wonderful.

From a geographical perspective, I miss being able to tell the students stories in the classroom about how the world works and how they can influence the world around us.

This can be replicated to some extent through remote learning, but the emotional aspects of a classroom are something that I long for.

Nonetheless, I am also looking to learn what I can from this situation to help me in the future.

Silver linings

On my school direct training program, I am fortunate to have undertaken my training at a school that is blessed with technology, with each student having an iPad. This undoubtedly made remote learning a lot easier.

There are plenty of apps and tools that can be used to send and post work to teachers, useful apps like Google Expeditions that are a geography teacher’s dream and the chance for them to present work in innovative formats.

I am assisting with the delivery of online content and remote learning for some classes. It has been an incredibly worthwhile experience where I have gained knowledge about how to communicate more effectively with students.

For example, rather than uploading lots of work in one go, breaking the tasks down into chunks by dates or uploading smaller amounts of work each time improves student motivation and completion of the work.

This is much like being able to see light at the end of the tunnel, I suppose.

Moreover, it has surprised me how independent students can really be and far more than we give them credit for. This can have positive implications for the return to the classroom as we can enhance the independence of students in their approach to learning.

These are all positive things to come out of this crisis.

However, this remote learning does not fill me with the same excitement or pleasure from interacting with students in the classroom environment.

It is hard to instil the same strong routines in students and set continued high expectations. This is hard to create and sustain without the benefit of face-to-face interaction.

There are also challenges for students who you worry about on a daily basis. The ones without access to technology or who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. It has been harder to properly engage with these students.

At the other end of the scale, it is also hard to fully extend and challenge the more able students who are also be impacted by this crisis, as are all students of course.

Ultimately, though, it’s the little things that even as an early stage career teacher I am missing most.

I miss greeting the students as they enter, chatting about their day and seeing them become excited about geographical concepts.

I miss chatting with other teachers and feeling like we’re all doing something wholly worthwhile.

I can’t wait to be back - whenever that is.