Back in School... so what do teachers do during the summer holiday?

Our term ended with a triumphant and joyous speech day two weeks ago.

Now i'm back in class. Drat!

A good teacher needs to work an additional three hours a day by my reckoning. Good marking, planning, assessment and putting together amazing lessons are all lengthy endeavours that cannot be rushed or skipped through.

I like to compare teachers to film makers. An amazing film maker- for example, Ridley Scott, will spend a decade or so practicing his techniques, making films that aren't quite perfect, and learning from the more experienced cinematographers, sound engineers, and casting directors he/she works with. It's possible for a first-time director to come out with a crackingly good film, but in general they will achieve repeated success fifteen to twenty years into their career. The years pass, their body of work accumulates, and they become a legend.

Teachers follow the same career path. Young teachers can be enthusiastic, creative, and fresh but on balance they will make mis-steps every term. Missing out children in planning, teaching to only the middle level of ability, concentrating on their strongest subjects- all beginner errors that I see repeatedly as I observe other classes. For this reason Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) are assigned an experienced mentor teacher- although in reality i'd assert that the majority of good teaching is learnt through interaction with the children; essentially, experience makes a teacher experienced!

So here I am, at a point in my career where I have made an impact (Alien, if you will!) and this has gotten me a job in a fine private school. The next two years will be my Blade Runner- creative, different, and offering a revolutionary new approach that will change things in my school- and hopefully beyond- for years to come.

So that is why I am in school today, and why I will spend much of my nine week holiday either here or at home working on school matters. Teaching isn't like most other jobs; you can't really turn up and do it if you want to be successful. If Ridley Scott came to my house, sat me down in my cinema room, and played me the greatest hits of his career i'd be astounded, entertained, educated, and enlightened. As an individual who wants to become an amazing teacher I have to put together a body of work that will impress and amaze my pupils year after year. Each presentation I create, each classroom resource I design, each book I choose for my class to read is a part of creating the perfect curriculum.

Many teachers won't set foot in their school this summer. Many will only begrudgingly start planning for the winter term a couple of weeks before the new term starts. If you ask your child's class teacher what they are doing over the summer and they enthusiastically talk about redesigning the classroom and their exciting plans for the new term you can rest assured that you are talking to a great teacher.

I'm off to organise my new guided reading scheme- catch you next time!