Even for the most experienced teacher, the autumn term in secondary schools can feel like a whirlwind. As the term comes to its conclusion, many music teachers are too busy looking forward to the next term to stop and reflect on the successes of the past few months. Take this time to celebrate all that has been achieved individually, as a department and by your students. As an Early Career Teacher (ECT), you have much to celebrate – you survived! But once the dust settles from the end-of-term celebrations, start to plan ahead to maintain momentum and embed key aspects of your practice from last term into the next.
Re-establish routines
As Geoff Barton reminds us (Oberholzer, 2020), having clear classroom routines is essential when establishing good behaviour and creating a positive learning environment. Whether the behaviour of your classes is secure or you have more challenging groups, use the first lessons back to re-establish classroom expectations and ensure students are engaged. During the run-up to the break, routines may have been altered to allow time for extra rehearsals or off-timetable learning opportunities, so do not shy away from putting your classroom rules back up on the board and explicitly going through them.
Build on the success of the winter concert
There is always a feeling of post-concert blues after a successful winter show. Build on the enthusiasm of all participants and encourage new students to join ensembles and choirs. Lots of schools run spring concerts or put on their musical during this term. Consider running a battle of the bands or an open-mic session during assemblies or lunch-times to keep students performing. You may even want to start a new ensemble altogether. Encouraging students to form bands and start projects may also lead you to find that behaviour and subject engagement have improved, along with your relationship with students. It is also a good opportunity to encourage students to start private lessons, and to encourage other staff into the department, perhaps through joining a staff band or choir, or getting their support at upcoming concerts.
Mocks and coursework deadlines
Many schools will hold mock exams just before or after the winter holiday. This can be a stressful time for teachers and students alike. Whether you value mocks or not, senior leadership will look at trends in outcomes to monitor student and departmental progress and, as a teacher, mocks offer a range of opportunities to prepare students for the summer exams.
Revisit the concepts of assessment, including the important formative use of summative assessment (Fautley, 2010 & 2015). Now can be a time to reset expectations with exam classes, build confidence in students or develop listening skills and learn the set works (Stafford, 2022). Coursework deadlines are also looming, and the spring holidays always come around quicker than expected. Draw up a timetable for coursework completion and share this with your students. Ensure they know when the deadline is and, working backwards, what is expected from them week by week. The earlier you instigate this, the better.
Exam performance recordings
The performance-exam period is among the most exciting parts of the academic year. It is a great opportunity to enthuse your students in the subject again and to develop positive relationships as you approach the exam. Ensure the performance-exam recording dates are in the school calendar, to protect this time, and that a timetable has been shared with students well in advance. Try to book out a purpose-built performance space rather than a classroom; for example, a drama room or stage area. It needs to be a space in which you can set up a quality recording-environment while adding gravitas to the experience. If you have an option to use a space that has stage lights, use them! You want your students to feel excited when they come in to record their solo and ensemble performances. Ensure the room is set out with all the equipment you may need – it helps if you have a departmental technician but, if not, encourage sixth-form students to help. As a tip, if you have arranged for your students to be off timetable and they have completed their performance recordings, keep them in the music rooms and use the time to complete their compositions as well.
Embedding professional practice
The spring term is a short, fast term. It is easy to forget about your personal development as we race towards coursework deadlines. Ensure that you continue to reflect on your teaching practice and consider what areas of subject knowledge need developing for upcoming topics and schemes of work. During your ECT sessions in school, there will be opportunities to share reflections with other trainees. Set manageable and realistic targets for the term and share these with your subject mentor. The term will fly by, so be prepared, and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from getting the job done.
Reflections of an ECT
'Since starting my ECT, I have taken on a new responsibility as a form tutor, which is my favourite aspect of the job. I have found that there is much less paperwork on the ECT than I was expecting and have been able to focus on my teaching. I continued at the same school where I had completed my PGCE, and this helped me embed my practice and build on what I learned last year. This term I am focused on designing new activities to enhance student engagement, and exploring adaptive teaching strategies, particularly at KS3, to ensure all learners are making progress. Importantly, I have learned to talk less in class and, instead, get students to make more music.’ – Eden, south London
