8.45am: 10 minutes to go. This is the start of your very first teaching appointment - the moment you’ve been waiting for, when you finally get to make a difference to the lives of young people. The seemingly endless lesson plans and schemes of work and the juggling of the timetable are behind you. Now you get to do what you’ve been working towards for so long - to get on with the job of being a teacher. You’re on your own now, and what you have in your behaviour management repertoire will be decisive in whether you prove to be an effective teacher or not.

1 Greet the class with a “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” or, if you’re in Wales, use the bilingual approach and include “Bore da” and “Prynhawn da”.

This is not just polite - it also gives space for mutual observation and for catching your breath!

2 Get to know the names of the pupils you teach as quickly as possible. This is easier in primary school but not impossible in secondary schools. Many supply teachers carry a roll of sticky labels and a black marker in their bag to make badges so that pupils can be identified by their chosen names.

One child on my register called Sarah Cecilia was always known as Sally. If I called her by any other name, I would have to suffer the consequences.

And don’t forget about yourself. I have a tricky name and was once known as Mrs Wetlegs by a Year 1 pupil. On a personal safety note, always remove labels at home time. A child with its name on a jumper is an easy target for the unscrupulous: “Mary, mummy sent me to pick you up because she was late.” Children will be much more trusting towards people who their names.

3 In secondary school, this is more difficult, so keep a copy of the class list handy and when you’re doing registration, ask people to put up their hand when they respond so that you can put names to faces. And watch out for friends calling out for truants - this is an important safety issue in case of fires or other emergencies. You should also write your own name on the board.

4 School room plans, lesson and break times and a class seating plan are essential to avoid having disgruntled pupils who see you are eating into their break time (they always know), and find the room you are supposed to be in before your pupils arrive.

5 Always carry spare pens and pencils with you and try to familiarise yourself with resource stores in the school. One of the most frequently used time wasting strategies is to say: “I’ve forgotten my pencil case” or “My pen’s run out.”

6 Having plenty of paper and spare exercise books will also help to avoid problems with “No book Miss” and, in the case of supply teachers: “The teacher took the books in last lesson.”

7 Always come prepared for lessons with extra photocopies of the work.

School secretaries are an invaluable resource and are usually more than willing to run off the odd few extra copies but it eats into lesson time and stops you and the children from getting on.

Of course, it’s unavoidable sometimes. I remember I once gave my Year 4 worksheets to my Year 3 maths class by mistake. They did the work quite comfortably but it left me with a problem for the following lesson. Don’t abuse their good natures.

8 Use your pupils to hand out worksheets and books. Children know the names of their fellow pupils better than you do and this helps to avoid hold-ups that cause children to become disengaged. If you have any problems with disruptive pupils, take their names and write them down - memories fail even the young and this has more emphasis. Don’t use up valuable class time on anything but the most serious problems. Make it known that you will deal with matters at the end of a session in the pupils’ own time. Deal with situations as quickly as possible. Don’t leave it till later, otherwise it will cause problems for the next teacher. It will also increase your chances of forgetting the incident.

9 Familiarise yourself with the school discipline policy. If possible, agree with a colleague to deal with difficult situations. I once had a pupil who was going through a difficult patch and refused to work. A colleague and I agreed that I would send him to her with a blank note whenever a situation developed. She knew what it meant and would have his work sent for. In secondaries, a note to the head of department with a trusted pupil will be just as good. Use the headteacher only as a last resort.

10 Above all, think positive. Keep in mind the aims of the lesson and remember that managing behaviour presents a learning curve. The teacher in the next class was an NQT once, so don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice if and when you need it.

Lin Westlake works as a supply teacher in Wales