Posts

Start of Year Priorities

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  Happy New Year - Slightly Belated! Well the new year has started with a bang and things have been busy here at the University, as I am sure they have been for you.  I just thought I would update you with where the trainees are now and their current priorities: On Placement  Trainees should be working weekly on their PDR which should be complete to today's date (I have checked and a few are behind with this) Trainees should be teaching approximately 6 hours per week with 6 hours of purposeful observations in their own area AND in other areas The focus of this portfolio is embedding the wider curriculum so all trainees should have observed meaningful embedding of wider factors including maths and English in both discrete (GCSE retake classes), and embedded elements in all sessions eg E&D, digital skills, sustainability. If they have not done this, can you please work with them and the professional mentor to make sure that this happens please? Trainees require 2 observ...

Mentor Training and Deadlines

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I hope that the new term has started to ease a little and you are getting into your routines of teaching and working with students this academic year. I thought it might be a good time to share the final Mentor Training recording I did from the session on 18th October which was a mop up session for those that had not made it to a session. This is mainly due to the observations happening at the moment, and the submission of the portfolios is coming very quickly!  To view this session for a reminder click this link https://port-ac-uk.zoom.us/rec/share/67epp0o3dQzicnqkrOlrr3Wsk1bO4iQqFSJ0iZqHPqBXfay92-B59a_blSiZ1GDb.HMei4WQTKUXmfoXC    And enter the following Passcode: 3xgj%VCg  The slides from the session can also be found here and these have access to the example documents and Roseshine reading as discussed in the training. I have linked these here for ease of reference: Rosenshine  Mentor Meetings Guide  Example OTL 2023.docx  Example Subject Men...

Absences, Health and Resilience

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  Hi all I just wanted to share with you the importance of communicating absences and reiterate the procedure for absence reporting among the full time/pre service trainees you are supporting.  I know this is news from last year but it does shed a harrowing light on why we need to have joined up communication between us.  https://inews.co.uk/news/ education/my-brother-took-his- own-life-but-his-university- didnt-even-know-he-was-absent- things-must-change-1889629 Absence Procedure  (this is directly from the Course Handbook which is available on the Mentor Information Centre) ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----- University Days The days at university will be varied and contain key lectures, seminars and workshops for which attendance is mandatory. If you are unwell and therefore unable to attend you must email Jo.Elliott@port.ac.uk before 8.00am, and complete an ab...

It is half term :)

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And just like that, it is half term. I know for everyone this half term is the most challenging of all, settling into new routines, new students, new roles and generally everything new! This can cause huge overstimulation and overwhelm.  This is a really small post just to say, have a restful half term. I hope that you manage to find some downtime, time to relax and time to catch up with yourself. I will write again after half term, when observations will begin, trainee teaching practice really starts to step up, and we move into the next module phase.  I hope that the start to placement has been good, and that the PDR has been a helpful document to pin development and communication around. I will be looking at these next week to see how the trainees are getting on and to make sure they are on track with their paperwork  In case you want a reminder of the Mentor Training, and to make sure that you have completed the register and profile, I have included in this blog ...

3rd Week on Placement

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  It is now the start of week three of placement. I hope that everything has been working well so far and that the trainees have been able to dabble in a little bit of teaching. Please ensure that you check the Teaching Hours Guide to check they are on track. Trainees should have done 1 hour last week and have 2 hours of teaching planned for this coming week.  It was lovely to meet the majority of you at one of the many mentor training sessions I have done over the last couple of weeks. As I stated in the training, please ensure that the PDR and respective meeting is the held as an important contact time and use the guidance document I produced to help you with this.  I just thought I would send a little update about where we are on the programme at university and what you need to focus on at placement this week:   University - Last Week Last week at university was our formatively assessed microteaches in which all trainees received feedback on their teaching ...

Mentor Welcome

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  Thank you for agreeing to be Subject Mentor to our trainee teacher this year. They are very much ready and excited to come and join you and the department next week. Attached to this email is the trainee profile and their welcome video from your Professional Mentor. This provides an overview of the trainee teacher’s subject specialism as well as a brief piece of information about them personally. Attached to this email are some useful documents and starting points for you to refer to. These include: Key dates found here.   Student Topic Plan with hand in dates for uni work here . The Placement Timetable shows the days on placement and at university Induction - students spend the first 3 weeks on placement Monday - Wednesday only and these days should be scheduled in advance of the trainee arrival completing tasks such as safeguarding and other college procedure training, observing a variety of lessons, tour of the college and completing all induction tasks as per their Indu...