Teaching in London

DJM Teachers Top Tips

These Top Tips for Teaching have been compiled from the words and experiences of past and present DJM teachers and schools

We value the voices and views of our teachers and schools.

Here we have summarised their collective wisdom about the best ways to succeed as a supply teacher in London.

DJM TEACHERS say:

1. Have a positive attitude and be willing to give things a go.You never know until you have tried it.

2. Be resourceful Find solutions and strategies to any problem, issue or situation. Then, if all else fails, show your initiative and wing it or just go with the flow.

3. Be political. The schools dont appreciate smart arses or know it alls. As a guest in the school, appreciate that you although you may be certain you have all the solutions to the schools problems, you are a GUEST in their school and they dont know you from a bar of soap.

Earn their respect and trust and then you might have the chance to share all your pearls of wisdom.

4. Be considerate.If the shoe was on the other foot and you were the classroom teacher, what would you like from a supply teacher who visited your classroom? How would you feel if you returned to find the room had not been tidied up at the end of the day, the work left unmarked or your planned programme completely ignored?

DJM SCHOOLS say

1. Arrive before 8.15am

Make sure you have time to settle into the classroom and check out the programme. This shows schools you are interested in them and what they are doing by giving them enough time and consideration. It also helps you to feel prepared for the day ahead.

2. Mark the work

Marking is a chore but it shows the school you respect their needs and priorities. It also demonstrates that you care about the students’ learning and the programme of the classroom teacher.

3. Follow the curriculum notes/plans and learning outcomes

Look at the Learning Outcomes and work to them. Leave lesson notes to explain what you did and why.

DJM says:

Supply teaching is like being invited to a dinner party. You, the teacher, are the guest and school is the host.

The host or school has spent a lot of time preparing the menu, organising the guests, setting the table and preparing the room. You are invited to come because you will add something of value to that dinner party. Don’t panic if the host serves food you have never had before or has a dinner table set in a strange or unfamiliar manner. Just take it as it comes, and enjoy it as an experience in itself.

As a guest at the dinner party, your role is to work as hard as you can so that the host has the best dinner party ever. And! The best thing about dinner parties is that you never know who you will meet or what you will learn from the host or other guests.

It could work out to be the best dinner party you have ever been to.

Dinner party analogies aside, teaching in London can be a very challenging experience. BUT it can also be the best time of your life.

If you are open to all the experiences of being in a different system than your own and being a visitor in another teachers classroom, you can learn so much about curriculum, how it is put together and have access to lots and lots of resources.

These can be the most rewarding and enriching teaching times. And it can be the best Professional Development (PD) you could ever have in your career.

And in the process have a lot of laughs and a lot of fun.