What I wish I knew with Lucy WiIliams

Lucy Williams has just completed the first term of her teacher training. She has worked with children for the last 18 years, so she definitely started young. She studied child development at GCSE, then completed a diploma at college, before gaining a 1st class honours degree at university. And now she’s putting all of that study into practice by training to teach.

In this episode we discuss ...

• How a fabulous male teacher helped Lucy face each day and cope with the death of her father when she was only 7 years old.
• The importance of developing a range of strategies for dealing with learning difficulties, in Lucy's case dyslexia.
• The need to be strong, resilient and tough enough to get through the hard times. You can do anything you want to if you are willing to work hard enough.
• How being a child minder, SENCO in a nursery, working on a children’s ward in a hospital (including with young oncology patients), were all experiences that helped Lucy develop her understanding of how to help children get the most from every situation.
• Why you must make the most of every day however tough it is. You have to find something positive even on bad days because if you give off positive feelings these will be mirrored back to you.
• How having great mentors like Sharon Jakobek and Rhian Fisk make anything possible.
• That training to be a teacher is tough but you have to keep your foot on the accelerator to make sure everything that needs to be done is done.
• Why you have to recognise your achievements so that you can look back with pride at all you have done. When you go through those times when you are losing confidence or imposter syndrome is taking a hold, this is an effective coping strategy.
• Bringing out children's natural smiles and seeing them succeed, is the best possible feeling. This is reason enough to become a teacher.
• Getting positive feedback from parents, such as when they thank you for making their life easier in the mornings because their child wants to come in to school, is such a good feeling.
• The importance of reflecting on your difficulties in class so you can take immediate action to address an aspect of your teaching that could be improved. See this as development and explain to the children why the situation has to change so both you and the children can achieve more. Don’t brush issues under the carpet; tackle them and move on.
• Being consistent with children is an essential element to becoming a great teacher. They have to know what you expect of them every day so the way to be successful in class is absolutely clear. Make sure there is no ambivalence. This is a great lesson!
• The value of scaffolding to give children ownership of their learning and the confidence that they can overcome problems on their own. This makes them become more independent and helps them to believe they can achieve.
• When one person is teaching, two people are learning.
• Why observations are so valuable so don’t get overly stressed. Embrace them and realise that they are going to be great learning opportunities that will be really valuable as long as you respond positively to them.
• Enjoy the moment, trust your children, show them you care and love them and value them. They are the next generation so nurture them, give them great learning opportunities and help them to become a great citizen. Be yourself. Be unique. That’s what children deserve.