September 17, 2022
6 Top Tips for Newly Qualified Teachers
So you’ve completed your Level 5 DET, received your QLTS status, and now you’re ready to start teaching! Before you get started, here are our top 6 tips for newly qualified teachers to start your exciting new career on a high.
1. Practice your lessons to ensure you cover all questions
When teaching something for the first time, practice your lesson at home in front of friends/family, they may ask questions which will help you plan your responses.
We often advise our teacher training candidates on PTLLS courses to do this.
It will also give your family a change from watching TV!
2. Use your learners’ names when speaking to them or asking questions
Getting to grips with people’s names is vital, especially when dealing with a new class and although you might find it difficult, here are some handy ways to ensure you have the right name on the tip of your tongue :
Make a secret seating plan
When you first start a new class, jot down their names on a bit of paper in the order that they are sitting in the classroom. Do this very casually. You will find that people prefer to take the same seat for every lesson. We are all creatures of habit! This gives you a chance during the lessons to glance at the note and look in the correct direction to say, “Do you agree, John ?” and be sure that you are looking at John.
Call out a name
Glance at your class list and if you cannot put a face to a particular name, wait until you are ready to give handouts or course sheets to your class then say “Diana” (or whatever name you are having difficulty with) “could you give me a hand with these?” and ask the learner to help you distribute the material to their classmates. This gives you a chance to use their name twice. Once when initially calling them and again when thanking them, thus impressing their name on your memory
Make them leaders
Plan a group activity and nominate a member of the class to be speaker or chairperson for each group, put the teams on the board and title them by the leaders’ names e.g. Team Frank, Team Fatimah, Team Anita etc. This gives you a chance to interact with people on a first-name basis, for example “How did your group manage, Diana ?”
All this takes effort, but in the adult education sector service and personal interaction are vital.
3. When teaching ensure you use SMART objectives.
What does this mean? It sounds very wordy!
Objectives are statements that describe what your learners will be able to do at the end of the class/day/week. Let your class know what to work towards and what they will gain from the lesson.
The SMART mnemonic is often used in project management in order to evaluate the objectives of projects, but it can be used by teachers to ensure that their objectives are :
S – specific
M – measurable
A – achievable
R – realistic
T – timed
Make sure that the objective is specific. In other words, it has to be focused on one specific learning outcome. Try to make it as simple as possible, and do not use complicated sentence structure and terms. After reading your objective, one should clearly see what skill, technique, approach, etc. your students will be able to show by the end of your lesson.
Make sure that the objective is specific, clear and state what you are trying to achieve and why.
4. Get your stuff proof-read
Check overhead transparencies, slides and handouts for spelling, grammar and punctuation. You might think that your handouts are great, but you should always get somebody else to check your basic spelling and grammar. This could be a colleague, family member or friend.
If you are a teacher, you have to have credibility with your students and a basic slip-up in grammar or spelling can erode this.
5. Check your timing
Just like great comedy, all great teaching relies on good timing.
Check your timings are realistic, and have an extra activity in case you have spare time.
You can check your timing by doing a read-through at home with a family member (or even to the mirror of you can’t find a volunteer), or make an educated guess at any groupwork activity. This will not only help you revise and get familiar with your lesson but also ease any first-time nerves.
6. Set up the teaching area to suit your topic so that all learners can see and hear you well.
Here are some samples of typical classroom layouts :
Theatre-style
Pros
- A large number of candidates can be accommodated in one session
- Great for larger classes when you do not need to have any class participation
Cons
- No chance of any class interaction
- Candidates might feel uncomfortable if somebody has to enter or leave during the lesson – remember being at the cinema when somebody had to squeeze past you?
U-Shape Tables
Pros :
- Candidates get plenty of chances to speak to each other
- Everybody can see the teacher
Cons
- Desks can sometimes appear to be a barrier between the class and the teacher
Cabaret Style
Pros
- Relaxed atmosphere
- Great for group-based activities
Cons
- Difficult for the teacher to monitor all activity
- Difficult for some class members to see the teacher
Hopefully, these tips have helped to inspire you with your lesson plans, how you’ll lay out your classroom and other strategies for success as a new teacher. Good luck!
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