Working with a beginning teacher (BT)

So far this year I have worked with three different teachers and three completely different styles of teaching and planning. This has got me thinking about they way I teach and plan. This term I am working with a BT (beginning teacher) and I have already realised that my way of planning lessons doesn't gel with there's.

This is one problem you have when planning and teaching in a team. I have had to adapt my way of planning to suit someone else. Now, I can hear some of you asking 'why doesn't the other person change theirs?' and to be honest fair comment but as an experienced teacher and them a BT is that fair? I have the experience to adapt and change where most BT find this quite hard to do.

I don't plan long detailed planning these days. Back in the UK we were always expected to have detailed planning of every single lesson and even then I found that hard as I had a tendency to chop and change everything. These days I don't plan in so much detail and I tend to plan the first two days and then from that gauge how the rest of the week will transpire. My planning is fill of scribbles annotated notes or post its. I am quite happy to go off on a tangent if it means meeting my students needs.

I am someone who can pretty much think up an idea on the way to work and run with it. I chop and change my planning, ideas and pretty much my day sometimes.

This isn't for everyone.

I began to realise this in the first week with my new colleague. While I was explaining my ideas about blocking out the whole morning for reading and writing I could sense she wanted actual times. I had envisage we would mix it up a bit. Set whole class teaching of the writing, let some go off, small groups teaching, a bit of reading, back to writing etc. What they wanted was a lot more structure and a block for reading and writing.

I am learning (slowly) that sometimes you have to let go your ideas and slip into others even if it is not want you want. There will be time for me to help develop my new colleague into being a little more flexible but for now my role is to be supportive and help them become a great teacher.