I came from a background in the creative industry (video production and spoken word) and working with young people in alternative provisions.  Once I decided teaching was the direction for me, I recognised the need for a teacher training course from an institution that would successfully hone my strengths and prepare me to make a real difference as an educator. The PGDipEd Secondary Mathematics course at UOB was the tool that did just that. 

 

I completed my NQT year as a Teacher of Mathematics at Four Dwellings Academy in Birmingham and have been working here since.

Describe a typical day

A typical day starts with arriving early to read emails and prep the day, followed by a staff meeting and form time (sometimes followed by an assembly).

I teach four to five lessons a day on average for years 7 right through to 11. I am constantly reflecting on ways I can improve the understanding and attainment of my classes via well planned lessons that include successful modelling, effective questioning techniques, regular assessments, feedback, appropriate SEN strategies, etc. Other activities my time goes into include playground duty, planning PSHE lessons for form time, following the behaviour policy, departmental meetings, CPD meetings and running an after school poetry club to name a few.

What has been your most memorable day?

A memorable day was a particular lesson I delivered to a year 7 group with several learning difficulties. Moments before the lesson, I reflected and realised the revision lesson I planned was not going to be engaged with well. So I quickly dressed up the lesson in a Lord of the Rings theme! I spread the revision questions across the room, put the lights off, played some Lord of the Rings music and got into a Gandalf-type character (with a make shift costume to match!). I gave them the challenge of working through each work station for a set amount of time to see if they could not only score the highest in each section but also to see they could make it through to the final station by the end. Their engagement went through the roof as evidenced by their excitement and focus on the maths in each section. They asked me specific questions about the topic and I was able to guide their thinking to make connections for themselves.

Thinking back on your time as a student, what do you know now that you wish you knew then?

I know now that I am a lot more capable of things than I often give myself credit for. If I could speak to the me on the course, I would tell him to continue working hard, but not from a place of stress and fear, but from a place of confidence and peace. Though the work may get difficult, its difficulty does not automatically equate with you being a failure. A growth mind set approach dictates that some things just take a little more time to come together. Be consistent. Ask questions. Know what you know. Know what you don’t know. Keep learning. Take a break. Keep growing.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

Be confident. It is natural to feel fear. It is good to be real and acknowledge this, but when you stand before a class, that is not the place to display all of that. There will always be things you know well and things you don’t. So don’t think you have to ‘know everything’ before you can be confident. Your lack of confidence can do more to affect your teaching and make you lose connection and control of the class than your lack of knowledge. So plan to the best of your ability and when the moment comes, gather your thoughts, take a deep breath and take that stage…in confidence. 

How has your practice been impacted by your creative background? 

The PGDipEd course gave me a space to discover how connected creativity and academia are. As Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun!”. It is an approach to problem solving that is able to think outside the usual expected norms. In my career, I have found this to be a freeing thought, as when I plan lessons it helps me more readily discover effective ways of engaging students with the information I am trying to teach. It also helps me encourage them to make connections between what they are learning and the wider world. 

Additionally, I am constantly exploring new ways to utilise my spoken word artistry in educational settings. Besides trialling my own Maths Haiku writing lesson, I have also ventured into the world of PSHE. In the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020, I recorded the song ‘I SAID WHAT I SAID’ and created the accompanying PSHE resource, ‘Let’s Talk About Racism’. Also in 2020, I partnered with the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to record the song ‘Frustration’ as part of their #YouveBeenMissed metal health campaign targeted at students struggling with mental health issues during the Covid pandemic. This was rolled out to schools across the Midlands.

Photo credit: AlphaStandardMedia