Before setting sail onto “The Sea of Supply Teaching” here
are a few suggestions you, as ship’s captain, may wish to consider.....
1.
Research your preferred “Port of Call.”
·
Firstly, research web addresses of your selected
school communities.
·
Personal contact
with the administration of the school is always helpful in order to both
introduce yourself as well as ask any further questions regarding school
policies or school map. Through this process you may familiarize yourself prior
to your first supply teaching days.
·
Seek
professional connections and actively work at building relationships. Offering your time freely in support programmes
can also demonstrate your commitment as well as allowing your skills to be
demonstrated in a working environment.
2.
Double check the ship is in tip top
condition with plenty of supplies.·
Organize your resources at home into approximate
year level selection. It is quality not quantity, clever not expensive,
creative not common, that counts here.
·
Choose
resources that can be used in a rich variety of learning opportunities without
the overuse of a photocopier. Display books are both practical and inexpensive
way to start such a system. Add as you go.
·
Add a clever selection of age appropriate literature
and a variety of teaching strategies that make good use of everyday classroom
resources such as clocks, dictionaries, word knowledge, atlases, maths facts
and general knowledge.
·
Develop a
bag of tricks so you don’t rely on others like always carry a whistle, joggers,
hat, and well stocked pencil case to name a few!
3.
Be ready to sail with the tide.·
Be ready from 6 am for phone calls for work. Schools
just want to hear you say yes. Flexibility and reliability are the keys to more
work. By this I mean never saying no to
half a day’s work or refusing to take part on a sport’s carnival. Being open to
all teaching situations (Prep to Yr 7) will make you more valuable in the long
term. If you are a specialist teacher by
all means make that very clear from the start.
·
Invest in a diary and log your hours and
personal contacts.
·
Sometimes your teaching day may be a variety of
year levels as often supply teachers are employed to release a number of
teachers for a short amount of time over the course of one day.
4. Be the Master of your own Ship.·
While you must work as a member of a school
community, you are in charge of your own professional journey, master of your
own destiny.
·
Be a part
of on-line teaching communities.
·
Seek
opportunities to join school professional development and staff meetings; this
is only a matter of asking for an invitation.
·
Be proactive in asking the questions and seek
more knowledge whether regarding school resources, policies or simply approaching
the principal to discuss employment opportunities!
5.
Sail in style.·
Give some time to professional reflection as to
your “teaching style”. How are you going
to make your teaching day memorable for the class? What strategies do you use
to manage your teaching day with creative style? Facing new classes and
constant change demands this high level of professionalism.
·
Consider
the behaviour management strategies you will employ for different year levels.
How will you creatively gain attention when with younger grades and differently
when teaching the older students?
·
What are
your personal and professional strengths? How can you best utilize these skills
for the benefit of the learners in your care? How do you cater for all learning
styles?
6. A good captain knows his crew.·
As a relief teacher, this is the most
challenging aspect of your role. Relationship is essential to the management of
any classroom. Take time to reflect on all the strategies you could develop to
build rapport quickly. These ideas can be easily woven into the expectations of
the school day through transition activities and your classroom
leadership. The more quickly you can
personalize the teaching day through your knowledge of the individuals in the class,
the more easily other aspects of the teaching day will follow.
·
Consider
how you are using reward and positive reinforcement when your expectations are
being met.
·
Have a clear understanding of the schools
behaviour management policy. Read any
notes or school information the class teacher may have left for your
professional information. Children with high special needs often don’t respond
to change well. Don’t take this personally, instead actively look for
strategies that build relationship and lessen the stress of change for the
learner.
7.
Navigation on the high seas in fair weather
and foul!·
In this teaching role, one has to realistically
expect that there will be days that are difficult and days that are pure joy.
Every day brings learning. Once again,
do not take a “foul” day personally. The classroom culture is determined by the
leadership of the full time teacher and the dynamics of the class group. You cannot change this in the short term. You
can, however, offer stimulating and rewarding learning experiences for the time
you have the privilege to work with that class. No matter what, you will learn more through
these encounters than you would ever know.
8.
Run a tight ship!·
Students are reassured when they sense that
their “new” teacher knows what they are doing. Even if this is not the case, be
decisive and have a clear focus for the day’s learning. Outline your expectations and continually
reinforce them simply and clearly. Firm, fun but fair is not a bad ship’s
motto!
·
Leave the
classroom tidy with student‘s work corrected and a record of the day’s agenda
and notes attached. Classrooms run to a routine. Outlining the agenda at the
beginning of the day, (even if this has to be adjusted during the day) and tick
off the day’s achievements as both a visual reminder for yourself and the
class.
9. Chart and journal your journey.·
Keeping records are very important, from the
professional development you participate in, to the names of the students in the
class you may encounter regularly. Recording your teaching notes at the end of
a day, or the week, is essentially displaying your professionalism and
commitment. The class teacher doesn’t need to read a novel but does need to
understand the curriculum covered as well as any classroom management issues
that arose in the time.
·
Keeping a journal of great teaching strategies
you encounter will only enrich your knowledge and confidence. This is also a
good time to record interesting teaching resources you come across or make
notes about professional advice or online learning resources you could investigate
at a later date.
10. Every experience on the high sea is a
learning opportunity.·
There is none richer than the variety of
experiences a relief teacher will encounter in this essential and dynamic
school role. The professional enrichment and development you will encounter
will be priceless. However, as with life generally this reward will only come
to those who actively work with the mindset of continual self improvement and
professional reflection. Reflection is the key to growth.
