How better to introduce a group to the concept of learning from the front, than by allowing two of my most confident and able student teachers, from my year five class of 2018-19, to show off their skills.
Over the first week of the new term, I mentioned the idea to Jess and Safi, who then dedicated some of their free time to crafting a PowerPoint that they thought would grab the attention of my new learners. It was a great process working as a student/teacher team on where to pitch the level of work and what sort of things might interest them. With a bit of help they were ready to rock and roll, and on the afternoon of Monday 16th September, I handed over the reins and let them do what they are fantastic at.
The class enjoyed a good forty-five minutes of SPaG, based around the use of possessive apostrophes to show singular possession. My student teachers were a little nervous about working with a new group of children, but quickly warmed up and explained the tasks before floating between learners, helping them with their understanding, providing feedback and attempting to mark! The class was a little chatty but remained on task in general. Lollypop sticks were used to randomly choose students to read their work aloud and behaviour was managed through clap backs and countdowns. One child was reprimanded for persistent silliness with a 20 minute lunchtime detention - I had to laugh...
By the end of the session, my new fives had had the opportunity to see what could be accomplished, in relation to autonomy and confidence, with a bit of hard work and determination. I'll begin allowing them to lead some basic lessons in the coming weeks, as well as introducing them to a number of other leadership based activities and ideas that I will blog about as and when they happen.
A huge thanks to today's student teachers, hugely mature, calm and focused as always (You are going far girls), and to my assistant head, their new year six teacher, for freeing them up to support my approach!
Today's PowerPoint, hand crafted to appeal to the audience!