有些人似乎只是确切地知道他们应该在哪里。Taylor Donnelly, a 25-year-old primary school teacher working in the south-east corner of Queensland, Australia, is one of those people. Having been fortunate enough to meet Taylor at one of ourBrisbane Teacher Eventsearlier this year, I can say that her enthusiasm for teaching is genuine and it’s infectious!
首先是单期合同…
As a Year 11 student, Taylor volunteered a few mornings a week in the Year 1 classroom at her own school. At the time, this cemented what had been a long-term desire to work as a teacher. Like many beginning teachers trying to find their way into the workforce, Taylor took a single-term contract straight out of university, which she describes as “an insanely challenging and rewarding experience”. It’s an experience that I’m sure most of us can relate to.
“我是新鲜的肉，孩子们知道了！我累了10周。我永远无法在夜间关闭大脑，因为我的思想总是对如何处理行为，建立资源和杂耍课程要求的想法进行奔跑。万博足球体育
The first four weeks were TOUGH and I was definitely challenged in every aspect, but then I began developing a good rhythm for it. The experience really shaped me as a teacher and allowed me to show a brand new school that I was capable and confident.”
对于这位年轻的老师来说，只有一群五年级的学生在学年的最后一学期就苦乐参半。
“My favourite thing (about teaching) is comparing (students’) work from the start of the year to the end of the year and seeing that progress… Having your own class is amazing. That’s the biggest thing I noticed after graduating from university.”
Beginning teaching对大多数人来说都是旋风，但是对于泰勒（Taylor）来说，他的热情是通过见证学生的成长而引起的，在过去两年中，安顿下来，进入自己的教室并教授第三年课程是她需要的基础经验。在这个时候，泰勒已经能够体验她的感觉是工作中最好的部分。
“（见证学生）进步！无论是学术，社会，价值观，行为……看到学生成长和学习只是可以想象的最令人心动的事情。”
反射后,泰勒说她感觉铜rriculum can be a little fast-paced at times. However, she quickly moves beyond thinking about this external pressure as an unconquerable force, instead articulating what she herself can do to improve her students’ learning within the expectations of the current curriculum.
“我正在努力的事情是能够更好地确定学生的需求，以便我可以通过课程中的所有内容，但也能够花时间练习和玩概念。我讨厌匆忙浏览事物，我喜欢能够促进询问和“动手”学习。”
Opening the Door to Taylor’s Classroom
Taylor takes great pride in creating a classroom space that is not only colourful, creative and welcoming but one that makes student work the star attraction. A part of this is to ensure students feel a sense of ownership of the space and that the room illustrates their hard work. Showing parents, visitors and other community members all that her students are capable of is something she is proud of and wishes that she sometimes had more if an opportunity to do.
I asked Taylor what three things she would change about the expectations that are placed on teachers, carers and students in the current climate of education. Her response illustrated the immense value in communication between schools and their communities and the benefits that can come from breaking down some of the invisible walls that can sometimes exist between home-life and school-life.
“I wish more people were aware of the time we, as teachers, spend thinking about our students, making resources for our students, marking assessment or book work, and designing and reflecting on our curriculum structures.
I wish more parents visited the classroom to see all of our awesome learning and the amazing things these little people are capable of.”
“每日董事会”
One teaching strategy that Taylor has found extremely effective has been to set up a “Daily Board” in her classroom. Each day a different question is written on the board for students to respond to. The question topics rotate between Maths, English and Kindness.
例如：
- “The answer is 30, what is the question?” (15 + 15, 6 x 5, etc.)
- 用这些字母做尽可能多的单词：_______
- What is one way you could make someone smile today?
Taylor says the Daily Board keeps her students engaged first thing in the morning, as she found many wanted to hand around her desk area for a chat while she was talking to parents or preparing for the day. Not only that, but it has been a great way to keep her students thinking about concepts that are currently being explored in class.
Sprinkling Kindness Around Like Confetti
Inspired by some of the great teachers that taught her in primary and high school, Taylor adores her work and is in a school with staff that she describes as her second family. Kindness is a recurrent theme in her work, both in the classroom and around the school. Taylor says she wishes more people would promote “that being kind is the new cool!” It’s a sentiment that quite obviously informs all that she does as well as strongly influencing the values that she promotes and teaches in her classroom.
While the retention stats for beginning teachers are frightening (it is reported that more than 50% of graduates leave the profession within the first five years), Taylor appears to be drawn to education by a force that cannot be articulated. She describes having taken a year off from her Bachelor of Primary Education after “a poor prac(ticum) experience” in her second year of study, though it seems that short time spent moving away from education only strengthened her resolve to not only finish her degree but to become an amazing beginning teacher.
“I know that I’ll be in the teaching profession for as long as possible, in some capacity. I hope to gain more classroom experience for the next five years and then hopefully transition into a special education or enhancement role.”
泰勒一直是万博manbext手机官网下载and while researching for this piece it became a little clearer to me why that might be. When asked what three things she would like every single one of her students to leave her classroom with, she answered:
“Kindness, resilience and a hunger to learn.”
现在，如果我要问founders of Teach Starterwhat they would like to achieve through the work that we do, they would answer:
“激发每个孩子通过学习来建立有目的和幸福的生活。”
让我们知道，像泰勒这样的热情，热情和关怀的老师正在利用我们的资源来帮助实现自己的学生学习愿景，这几乎是圈子。万博足球体育尽管我们希望启发，支持和鼓励老师，但我们同样受到您的启发！
Taylor’s Top 3 Teach Starter Resources
With that in mind, I asked Taylor for a list of her three most favourite Teach Starter resources.
1)Editing Checklist Cards
Some examples of our editing checklists include:
2)Reading Comprehension Strategy Resource Packs
Some examples of these comprehension strategy bundles include:
3)Create-Your-Own Word Search Widget
非常感谢泰勒（Taylor）与我们分享了她的想法和经验，这是这个老师的聚光灯。您可以在Instagram上与Taylor联系www.instagram.com/teachinginqld
