A Permanent Position!
After completing her Bachelor of Primary Education, Amy spent the summer wondering if she would ever receive the fabled phone call from the DET. As school term one was drawing closer Amy did get the phone call! She was so excited that she had secured one of the few coveted full time teaching positions offered by the NSW DET. Amy’s new school, Park Hill Public School (PHPS) was located in a public housing estate community that had been established in 1976 in Sydney’s south west. Like many of the public housing estates created in the 1970s the estate was designed to separate traffic from pedestrians. As a result, houses in the suburb did not face the roads, which resulted in problems relating to crime in the suburb. The school was in one of the most socially disadvantaged suburbs of Sydney. The average income was just $549 per week compared to a national figure of $1171. The vast majority of homes were rented (86%) and 94% of these were public housing. None of these statistics phased or even concerned Amy. She felt confident and buoyed by the fact that she had been selected by the DET for this assignment.
Despite the social disadvantage of the suburb Park Hill, the school had a committed and dedicated staff that created a safe learning environment for the students. The staff consisted of the Principal, Deputy Principal, 5 Assistant Principals (3 Relieving), 14 Classroom Teachers (6 of which were on Maternity Leave), 10 New Scheme Teachers, 3 Support Teachers, Teacher Librarian (4 days per week), an ESL teacher (4 days per week), STLA (3 days per week), Support Teacher (ESSP - 3 days per week), Aboriginal Resource Teacher fulltime, Aboriginal Education Officer, 4 School Learning Support Officers, 3 part time Integration (Funding Support) Aides, An offshoot of the disadvantage that made up the PHPS student body was that it was a reasonably well resourced school. Park Hill Public School was in the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership.
At the staff Professional Development day of term one Amy had to stop herself from laughing out loud when another teacher confronted her and asked her to remove herself from his chair, what she thought was a joke was serious and she soon felt all the eyes of the staff upon her. Amy couldn’t believe the types of things that were valued and moved to another chair.
The principal welcomed everyone back and introduced Amy to the staff, and then reminded the teaching staff to share resources and work collaboratively especially in regards to Accelerated Literacy the principal was proud that through this whole school approach to teaching literacy there had been tremendous gains in students’ reading levels, especially in the K-2 children. He then launched into a lecture about school and classroom management and discipline. He insisted that discipline of students be the top priority. He then gave some of his own pointers for maintaining good classroom discipline.
“Try to keep your students motivated” he said. “Use rewards. You all know how children love rewards for being good. Teacher-centered instruction and teacher-centered activities will also help with discipline”.
“You MUST have a classroom management plan and stick to it. Your relationship with your students will play an important role in your ability to manage the classroom. You MUST be in control of the students at all times.”
Amy couldn’t say that her first day at PHPS was a 100% success but she felt ready for the new school term the next day. However, Amy was faced with something she had not experienced before; the school had a policy of not finalising classes until week 3. The principal said that this policy was in place in case a new student should unexpectedly arrive. “No problems” thought Amy it can’t be that bad but she soon found that the children’s behaviour was challenging, she couldn’t start any quality teaching because they were not her ‘real’ class’, she tried to set rules and routines nothing worked. Any teaching ‘tricks’ that she had picked up through her Professional Experiences and Internship were no longer working and because the classes weren’t set she didn’t have a grade partner to collaborate with although she had been assigned a supervisor. However, her supervisor had not even asked her, her name.
After completing her Bachelor of Primary Education, Amy spent the summer wondering if she would ever receive the fabled phone call from the DET. As school term one was drawing closer Amy did get the phone call! She was so excited that she had secured one of the few coveted full time teaching positions offered by the NSW DET. Amy’s new school, Park Hill Public School (PHPS) was located in a public housing estate community that had been established in 1976 in Sydney’s south west. Like many of the public housing estates created in the 1970s the estate was designed to separate traffic from pedestrians. As a result, houses in the suburb did not face the roads, which resulted in problems relating to crime in the suburb. The school was in one of the most socially disadvantaged suburbs of Sydney. The average income was just $549 per week compared to a national figure of $1171. The vast majority of homes were rented (86%) and 94% of these were public housing. None of these statistics phased or even concerned Amy. She felt confident and buoyed by the fact that she had been selected by the DET for this assignment.
Despite the social disadvantage of the suburb Park Hill, the school had a committed and dedicated staff that created a safe learning environment for the students. The staff consisted of the Principal, Deputy Principal, 5 Assistant Principals (3 Relieving), 14 Classroom Teachers (6 of which were on Maternity Leave), 10 New Scheme Teachers, 3 Support Teachers, Teacher Librarian (4 days per week), an ESL teacher (4 days per week), STLA (3 days per week), Support Teacher (ESSP - 3 days per week), Aboriginal Resource Teacher fulltime, Aboriginal Education Officer, 4 School Learning Support Officers, 3 part time Integration (Funding Support) Aides, An offshoot of the disadvantage that made up the PHPS student body was that it was a reasonably well resourced school. Park Hill Public School was in the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership.
At the staff Professional Development day of term one Amy had to stop herself from laughing out loud when another teacher confronted her and asked her to remove herself from his chair, what she thought was a joke was serious and she soon felt all the eyes of the staff upon her. Amy couldn’t believe the types of things that were valued and moved to another chair.
The principal welcomed everyone back and introduced Amy to the staff, and then reminded the teaching staff to share resources and work collaboratively especially in regards to Accelerated Literacy the principal was proud that through this whole school approach to teaching literacy there had been tremendous gains in students’ reading levels, especially in the K-2 children. He then launched into a lecture about school and classroom management and discipline. He insisted that discipline of students be the top priority. He then gave some of his own pointers for maintaining good classroom discipline.
“Try to keep your students motivated” he said. “Use rewards. You all know how children love rewards for being good. Teacher-centered instruction and teacher-centered activities will also help with discipline”.
“You MUST have a classroom management plan and stick to it. Your relationship with your students will play an important role in your ability to manage the classroom. You MUST be in control of the students at all times.”
Amy couldn’t say that her first day at PHPS was a 100% success but she felt ready for the new school term the next day. However, Amy was faced with something she had not experienced before; the school had a policy of not finalising classes until week 3. The principal said that this policy was in place in case a new student should unexpectedly arrive. “No problems” thought Amy it can’t be that bad but she soon found that the children’s behaviour was challenging, she couldn’t start any quality teaching because they were not her ‘real’ class’, she tried to set rules and routines nothing worked. Any teaching ‘tricks’ that she had picked up through her Professional Experiences and Internship were no longer working and because the classes weren’t set she didn’t have a grade partner to collaborate with although she had been assigned a supervisor. However, her supervisor had not even asked her, her name.
