I walk into the room. There are a lot of new people I haven’t met before and I can feel my anxiety rising. Not because I fear talking to new people, it’s just that the inevitable question of "what do you do?" is bound to come up.Let’s take a closer look at a typical day for maths teacher, Brook Johns writes.People generally respond in one of two ways: “Oh, I never was very good at maths’’ or “Wow, you're lucky to be a teacher” followed by a hasty and painfully awkward retreat.
In a typical class of 32 students, any maths teacher needs to make sure they are aware of the different educational needs , create a combination of concrete, written and abstract learning opportunities matching the course syllabus, incorporate ICT where possible and identify any areas of misunderstanding or underlying misconceptions.
Combine this with continual changes in curriculum, marking, prepping, restrictive report writing, staff meetings, parent phone calls and emails, IEPs, GEPs, BMPs, PLGs, ESTs, EBAs , playground duty, exam supervision and assessment development, and you can see why we are struggling to retain graduates as fewer people opt for teaching as a profession.And at 3.30pm, when I have finished my teaching for the day, I pack my bag with the marking, emails or solutions I still have left to do.