James Woodhall: Any school has it challenges. In a private school, the children think they own you. What makes a huge difference is mentors and how they introduce you to a class. My experience was excellent. I was introduced as a teacher - there was no student about it.
Sarah-Grace Dady: A friend of mine was meeting the head of a school, and as she was walking to the appointment she looked through one of the windows and saw children leaping about on top of a table.
Kenneth Wilshire: There is a difference between what we learn, which are the latest theories, and what is normal practice in our schools. I went to do my first lesson based on a textbook recommended by the school and it just didn’t make sense. Have these authors ever taught the material in the book? It has staggered me, just how out of date are some of the books being used in schools.
Charlotte Nicholls: I have used the TES Resource Bank (www.tes.co.uk) to build lesson plans. It’s a great idea to share resources in this way.
Zack: I heard a story about year 6. The teacher provided a list of words and pupils were asked how they felt about each word. One of the words was textbook, and half the children put their hands up to ask what a textbook was.
Florence Afolabi: I use a variety of internet tools as well as Teachers TV and the TES. I like BBC, Youtube and Flickr. And I love interactive whiteboards.
Darryl Tomalin: I’m not bothered where the school is. It is more about the atmosphere, management and attitude of the other staff.
Tom Collins: I hope to start off in an inner city school. And while I know it will be challenging, I think it is somewhere you can make a difference. It would be ideal to go to that private school in the countryside where the pupils are mollycoddled and you have infinite resources. But I’m not sure I could make such a big difference to their lives.
Mary Emma Aston: I use the DCSF Standards site, but I do find that there is a huge amount of information and that it is hard to navigate.
Laura Bowles: I love the fact that children can come up and interact using the whiteboard.
