Consistency year after year

This is the first year in my teaching career where I have had some of the same children in my class for two years consecutively. In my school it is very rarely the case when children have the same teacher. In fact those people in working in the administration department deliberately do not put children with the same teachers year after year. Although I have never delved further into the reasons why, I can see that there are benefits for children having different teachers, particularly English teachers. Children can gain a wider understanding of the differences in culture even between different western teachers, get used to different accents and experience a range of teaching styles which can prepare them for further education. On the other hand, difficulties may arise because English is the second language of these children and consistency in teaching style and accent ensures that children feel stable and confident learning a second language. I have always worried about the ability for young children to understand and adapt to different accents, when learning phonics for instance.

Well, so far this year I think I have become a fan of this consistency in teacher and class, especially for children this young. I am now teaching 4-5 year olds, the ‘Lower ' level in my school. Half the children in my class are from my ‘Nursery’ class that I taught last year. The next step for the children will be ‘Upper’ level. My life was made a lot easier at the beginning of the year because I only needed to remember 12 names instead of 25. In turn, this meant that I was able to concentrate better on settling everyone into a new classroom routine and get on with the extensive curriculum that is quite different from the Nursery level.

I have found it easier to speak with parents and can continue to develop on where the children finished up last year. As I already know half the class’s strengths, and areas to improve, I can easily observe the other half and plan for activities that help the whole. I have noticed some of the children in my previous class trying to push my boundaries as they know me well, in these instances I have had to lay down different ground rules, but this is usual for a new term and new school year anyway.

Overall, I am pleased that I can nurture these children for another year and watch them develop new friendships with different children and become more competent in English and begin writing and reading. It is a great pleasure.

One month in.

Over one full month in my new role as Deputy Head of the English Department has proved to be a challenge and most definitely a learning curve. With numerous questions from staff needing to be answered, a speech to approximately 150 parents, meetings with the head mistress and other senior members of staff I have experienced a lot about the day-to-day running of a Kindergarten as well as a lot about myself. My capabilities, my limitations, my skills and my attitude to early childhood education.

This role gives me scope to extend my passion for teaching young children to other teachers. I can share my thoughts, research new and exciting ideas to communicate with the staff in the area of teaching as well as administration. By giving the teachers more of a voice through communication channels that were before either non-existent or unavailable, new concerns have come to light and some of those concerns already dealt with and smoothed over. Although I have noticed that many of the concerns of individual teachers and groups of teachers alike are tricky and will take time to work through and take a lot of understanding. Often these types of concern require only a listening ear as most teachers understand the difficulties in pleasing everyone in such a diverse team of people.

I have never worked so close with adults expressing different opinions and expectations. I am always happy when 1.30pm rolls around and I go to my classroom to see my amazing class of 4/5 years old little ones. That is my little escape from the hectic meetings, paperwork, computer work and answering staff questions. I can close the door and do what I love. They make my day complete!