1. Rose Post: Teach my son gently if you can. Rose remembered the powerful mix of emotions every parent goes through when first sending a child to school. East Spencer resident not happy with.
2. The past several months have been filled with tension, worry and anxiety. Not only for adults, but children as well. Katie Stoeher, the deputy commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, said children may be worrying about economic issues in the home caused by the pandemic, or dealing with grief because of the death of a family member or loved one, and these issues are being.

Westwood Farm Federated Schools, Fullbrook Crescent, Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire RG31 6RY Tel: 3 Email: dfinn@westwoodfarmschools.w-berks.sch.uk Website: www.westwoodfarmschools.w-berks.sch.uk Two Part time Teaching Assistants needed for 1:1 Post (am or pm) Fixed Term Contract from start of Spring Term to the end of Academic Year 2020/21 (with possible extension) 16.25 hours per. Yes dear first hundred post for our getting experience, How much worked needed to the organization of crypto talk. We should learn from these first 100 posts, how we work hard and how we posting safely and correctly post. These first hundred post teach us about the rules created by the organization of the crypto talk.

Exactly three weeks ago was the last day of school my principal called me up to receive a breathtaking bouquet of flowers from one of my favorite students, Nicolás, a charming first grader who is Bolivian-American and bilingual. Blessed Sacrament is the name of the Catholic school where I have been the sole Spanish teacher for grades K-8 for the past two years. My time at Blessed Sacrament has come to an end and has been the perfect place to practice teaching Spanish since completing my Master’s degree in teaching Spanish from the Instituto Franklin-UAH Teach & Learn in Spain Program in 2016. Now I move on to an exhilarating opportunity to teach middle school Spanish in an esteemed public school district.

If you are like me in that you discovered your passion for education while living in Spain as an English assistant, you may be wondering how the Teach & Learn in Spain Program can be of service to you and your career path. I participated in the Máster en Aprendizaje y Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera. Updating my resume with information about my Teach & Learn in Spain Program experience alone was enough to impress the principal of Blessed Sacrament back when he hired me in 2016. If you are a recent graduate of the Teach & Learn in Spain Program and plan to return to the US with teaching in mind, some of the following insights could give you direction as to how to proceed.

My mom was the one who found the job posting for Blessed Sacrament just days after I had finished my Master’s Thesis. I feared that my Master’s degree would not be enough to get me a teaching job right away in Massachusetts. I told my mom she was crazy to think I was already qualified, however she explained to me that to work in private education I did not necessarily need a public teaching license. This meant that even if I wanted to make the transition over to public education, I could press pause first on the paperwork without having to stop teaching. I wanted to enjoy my friends, family and not worry about getting my Master’s from Spain recognized right away. It gave me time to breathe.

Even more beneficial than simply taking a breather, I have realized that the past two years have been like a dress rehearsal for my upcoming position. I have found my own teaching style, refined my classroom management techniques, and prepared the necessary paperwork for moving on to public education. It was an overwhelming amount of work to be the only Spanish teacher for so many grades, but it was totally worth it as it gave me time to practice teaching without the pressure of state standards. I had time to mentally prepare for the next step and that is exactly what I started working towards this past January.

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With a bit of focus and persistence, I was able to have my Master’s degree from Alcalá validated here in Massachusetts in order to get my Spanish teaching license for grades 5-12. The process consisted of the following general steps:

• Taking the MTELS (Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure).
• Requesting my Master’s transcripts from the Universidad de Alcalá.
• Getting my undergrad, Teach & Learn in Spain Program transcripts and my degree translated into English by a professional translator*.
• Uploading the translated documents for review by a state approved third party company called WES** (World Education Services).
• Submitting aforementioned documents and any other supplemental materials for approval by the Massachusetts Department of Education.

The most helpful information I could give you is this blog by Franklin Alumni Brandon Gatlin (Master in Bilingual and Multicultural Education 2013-2014) who has an excellent blog. Check out this specific post-graduation page that has screenshots taking you step by step. (HERE)

*If you are in need of a translator for your documents, the one I consulted comes highly recommended, please see my email below if you wish to have contact info.

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**WES is one of many organizations that can evaluate your credits, I am not sponsored by them in any way but I am happy to endorse them.

Getting my license approved was not an easy feat as I managed my full time job at Blessed Sacrament. It was not a cheap process in that I had to pay for my license, the standardized tests, as well as the translation and evaluation services. However it was more affordable than having to enroll in another Master’s program here in Massachusetts. Despite the numerous steps I needed to take towards earning state licensure, it was worth the effort as I will begin my new position in August with a significant salary increase of 35%. I also will only be teaching middle school grades 6-8 which is a drastic difference from having to teach K-8. I am nervous for the new experience that will be teaching in public school when I have gotten accustomed to private, but my excitement outweighs any doubts or apprehension.

Back when I graduated with a Spanish major from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2013, friends and family would all tell me that I was “so brave” for moving to Spain for a year. Many people told me they “could never do it” which makes the experience feel that much more valuable to me. As a thriving teacher, I simply cannot imagine where I would be had I not taken the risk and lived in Alcalá for those three years. The two years I spent working for the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte coupled with my year studying at Instituto Franklin-UAH were invaluable to giving my current students the most dynamic and authentic Spanish education I could offer them.

Franklin Alumni Máster en Aprendizaje y Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera 2015-2016

I would like to thank Iulia Vescan for working tirelessly and advocating on behalf of her students as well as my fellow Franklin Alumnifor their support and guidance during this process.

People inevitably differ on opinions about TeachFirst, the training route for “high-achieving graduates”. We can debate those opinions all day and I’m happy to do so. But too often those debates are hampered by ideas about TeachFirst which simply aren’t true. So, below, I’ve written out the main ones and tried to put the record straight. What I have written is based on my years as a participant (2006-08), then a tutor, then an in-school participant mentor.

1. TeachFirsters only have six weeks of training. Categorically not true. Yes, participants do a six-week Summer Institute before starting in their classrooms. Think of it as a really really intensive way of doing those first PGCE bits (nb: it’s residential, 6 weeks, twelve hour days). And don’t worry, the tutors at the Institute are HE tutors – many of whom have worked for years with PGCE and GTPs, or still do alongside their TF work. Even so, this is not all of the training. For the whole first year participants also have two HE tutors – a professional and a subject one – who observe them regularly. They have an in-school mentor and a TeachFirst Learning Development Officer. They do similar essays to PGCE students (theory, development, SEN, etc). They complete their QTS folder (like everyone else), and they attend half-termly day-release subject training sessions. Beyond that there are optional activities: conference, evening workshops, and there is the online community where you can gain help or discuss issues. Oh, and there’s the journal – with weekly reflections. All this, plus having their own classes that regularly monitored and observed in-school. Hence, to suggest that TeachFirsters “only have six weeks training” is not only wrong, but when you have been through the programme it actually feels quite insulting.

2. TeachFirst only takes the “brightest” students, but being bright doesn’t mean you can teach. Of all the myths, this drives me most daft. If accurate, it would read: “TeachFirst doesn’t even take the “brightest” students”. Academically you do need to be decent: a 2:1 or above (from any university). But on its own, that’s not enough. There are also 8 competencies that are tested over the full-day assessment centre all participants go through. A process which has been monitored and continually improved by one of the most professional graduate recruitment teams imaginable. If during assessment participants don’t meet a high score on each criteria, they can’t go on the programme. Every year of its existence (at least until 2011) TeachFirst recruited under-quota because it would rather have fewer trainees than take someone who doesn’t meet standards on the day. Why? Because doing training while also teaching a full NQT load is really very challenging, so they want people to demonstrate the abilities needed to do it well. The entry requirements are not there to say that someone with a 2:2 can’t teach or wouldn’t be an excellent teacher who is even better than a TeachFirster. But when there is so much for a trainee to do on the programme, it’s reasonable to ask for the ability to achieve well in a structured environment (as demonstrated by a 2:1) and then check this alongside all the other skills needed – resilience, leadership, etc.

3. TeachFirsters all leave after two years. On average 60% of participants stay in teaching for a third year. By 5 years that number dips to approximately 40%. Given that teachers through any route who teach in challenging schools have higher turnover rates this number is only to be expected. It’s also true that younger teachers have higher turnover rates, and TFs are predominantly (though by no means all) under 35. Given that general teacher turnover over five years is around the 50% mark you can see that 40% is really not so problematic. It’s also worth pointing out that an estimated 20% of participants also stay in education in other ways – e.g. my studying for a PhD in education, or going into HE to become teacher trainers.

4. TeachFirsters are unqualified teachers. No, TeachFirsters in their first year are trainee teachers. While unqualified in the technical sense, they are unqualified teachers on a programme to achieve QTS. This is distinct from people teaching without qualification and not taking part in any training (so are ‘unqualified teachers’ in the classic sense). In the second year TeachFirsters are newly qualified teachers. This confusion arises because schools, at a minimum, paid TeachFirsters at level 2 on the “unqualified teacher” pay scale in the first year.

5. TeachFirst is just a new name for FastTrack Teaching. Nope again. TeachFirst is a route for training new teachers. Fasttrack was a programme to help new teachers improve quickly and go on to become future lead practitioners. They are really quite different.

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6. There’s a “secret handshake” that TeachFirsters all know. Maybe I’ll leave this unanswered just to keep a little mystery….. 😉

One final point: Hopefully this covers a lot of what people are confused about, but I can also imagine some people are now chomping at the bit. However, before you write in the comments that “I knew a TeachFirst and they were awful/boring/arrogant/brilliant/genius” do remember that this is likely true for every training route. Furthermore,TeachFirst isn’t bullet proof. An occasional participant makes it through on interview and falls apart at school for a whole heap of reasons. Whether that should be allowed to happen is one of the things we can debate but, please, let’s do it on the basis of what the programme actually is rather than on hearsay or the random TF duffer who once taught in a classroom next to you.

Okay, real final point: I’ve worked less with TF participants since 2011 so if something has changed for the latest cohort rendering something above unintelligible do let me know so I can change it.

I wrote a book! With Drew Povey (from Educating Manchester)! It’s called The Leadership Factor, and it’s short, and cheesy, but funny.Get it here.

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Further Reading

Brett Wigdortz’s Autobiography which explains why and how he set up the company