NQT buzz from the TES forums

16th October 2009, 1:00am

It’s now more or less midway through the first term for most NQTs and half term is finally in sight. There are some positive experiences on the forums mixed with discussions on planning, teaching assistants and dealing with parents.

In the depths of NQT despair there are some positive experiences shining through. Maths_Caz (www.tes.co.ukpositiveNQT ) is exhausted, but in her own words, “loving it”. Why can’t everyone’s first terms be like this?
A young NQT issued a few detentions in the first week and is worrying that her pupils’ parents will query her “lack of life experience” during confrontations (www.tes.co.ukparentconcerns ). Butterflies87 is confident that she has the backing of her head of department, but fellow forum users are advising on classroom control as well as alternative punishments for the talkative pupils.
Your first meeting with parents can be daunting enough, but when your presentation is going well, you wouldn’t want your teaching assistant taking over the talk without warning, as happened to this NQT (www.tes.co.uktakingover ).
Here you’ll find some various tips from experienced teachers to help new teachers to record what is happening each day in lessons (www.tes.co.ukplanningtips ). Wondering if her weekly literacy and numeracy grid sheets aren’t “professional” enough, lillipad is reassured by bunny1984, who “doesn’t think it is possible to track every single child’s progress in every lesson”.
Workload stressing you out already? It will get better according to forum users, who list a mass of issues and problems that are much easier to tackle after one year in the job. Englishteacher2 lists five big things that got much easier once the first year ended (www.tes.co.ukgettingbetter ), so there is light at the end of the NQT tunnel.

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