10 tips to help you survive your Computer Science NQT year

You are about to embark on your NQT year. You have finished your initial teacher training and managed to get a job as an NQT in what you hope is a nice computer science department. The past year of assignments, observations and lectures is over and you will finally be let loose on a new bunch of students that you will totally be in charge of.

Your NQT year will be exhilarating, exhausting and emotional and in September the summer holidays feel like a lifetime away. How will you ever survive? We are here to give you 10 tips which we hope will make that journey a little easier.

1) Create consistent routines

Decide on your routines early on. Do the children come straight into your class or would you prefer to make them wait outside until you invite them in? Are they expected to log on and get on with a starter activity first or do you want to call a register and explain the lesson before they get going? Make sure your classes are aware of your expectations from the beginning. The first time you meet your class, make sure you are waiting by the door and take a moment to explain who you are and what they need to do immediately i.e. “Hi, I am … and I’m your new Computer Science teacher. Come in and put your bags on the centre table but don’t log on just yet as I am going to tell you where you are sitting in just a moment.” Keep if brief and be prepared to repeat is for those who were not listening or couldn’t hear you because of the chatter in the corridor.

2) Learn your student’s names

Learning names is probably one of the most important skills for building relationships. Spend time trying to learn a few names per lesson, you will not be expected to learn them all overnight, but you should aim to know the majority (if not all) by the first parents evening which in some schools is only a few weeks into the autumn term. Find out if your school has photographs saved for each pupil that you can access. The new year 7’s will not have photographs at the start of the year but the system should have photos of the older year groups. Use them to help you put faces to names.

Seating plans help with learning names but be prepared to move pupils around if your plan is not working and update your seating plan to reflect this. If you move a pupil somewhere in one lesson update your plan when you get a moment in that lesson as you will never remember it later and it can cause problems if the student is adamant they are sitting in one place when your plan says different. Until you meet your classes you will not know which combinations work well together so don’t worry about trying to get it right first time. Create a basic plan and change it as necessary.

3) Noise Levels

Decide on the noise levels and behaviour you will find acceptable and think about how you will make your expectations clear to your classes. Can the children talk quietly while working on individual topics and are you going to insist on some silent time and how can you communicate which is in place at any one time with the class. If the noise levels creep up think about how you will grab their attention early and keep on top of it. Your students don’t know you or what you think of as acceptable and it is your job to communicate this clearly and constantly.

4) Grab your class attention when you need it

There will be times when you need their focus. Give them notice as it is very frustrating when you are half way through a sentence and somebody wants to talk to you. Tell them it to finish the sentence, line of code etc. they are on and then face you so you know they are ready but be aware of those that will push the boundaries. Give a second warning that people are waiting without identifying those that are still delaying and finally identify individuals politely as they may be so engrossed they did not hear you in the first place.

You will want your students focusing on you whenever you are addressing the class, in which case how can you stop them from getting distracted by their monitors? They can switch them off, some schools have software which freezes the computer monitors of the pupils or you can simply explain you are trusting them to pay attention when you ask for it. Maybe you could stand in one particular place whenever you are addressing the class which means they have to swivel their chairs away from the computers to face you but this is not always practical in some classroom layouts.

When students are working and you need to grab their attention, plan what you need to say to avoid having to interrupt your class every couple of minutes. For some pupils it can take a long time to pick up where they left off and constant interruptions will make it difficult for them to make progress.

5) Smile and show you like them

There is an old saying “Don’t smile until Christmas” but of course you can smile. It tells your students you are happy to see them, that you are proud of them and it sends a far stronger message then words alone. Just make sure they are genuine smiles otherwise it may come across as creepy.

6) Be consistent but flexible

One of the hardest things about behaviour management is balancing consistency with flexibility. What may work for most of your pupils may not work with everybody. You might have a student with Asperger’s who finds eye contact extremely uncomfortable but will still listen while facing away from you. In which case talk to your SENCO and find out ways of supporting a student’s individual needs and respect their differences. Make your expectations clear to these students without singling them out by drawing attention to their differences to the rest of the class. Most students quickly pick up when one of their peers has special educational needs and understand that the same rules don’t always apply to everybody as long as you give the impression that it is planned and it is deemed fair. Children have a very strong sense of what they see as fair and unfair and it will destroy their trust in you if they feel they are being treated unfairly.

7) Get to know your students

Become an expert on the special needs of the children in your class - SEN matters. Find out from your SENCO and other teachers if there is anything you should be aware of with individual pupils and take this into account. Some children are careers and have to look after younger siblings and so staying after school will never be an option for them, others have a parent who is ill and may find it difficult to control their emotions with so much going on.

Most primary schools will give some details about the new year 7 pupils who are moving up to your school, take time to read the teachers notes and make a note of anything you think may be important.