“You’re late Matilda, sorry but no smiley face for you”.  I’m 22, I shouldn’t care about smiley face stickers, but seeing everyone else in the room with one I do feel a tiny pang of ‘oh’.  It’s day 3 of the Teach First Summer Institute, and my Subject Studies Class (Science) is reconvening after lunch.  Twenty-four young adults sitting at desks like a group of school children, ready to discuss theories of education and consider how you’d define “science” for an 11 year old. 

Our tutor switches between talking to us as adults, and modeling aspects of classroom management.  It’s a brilliant touch, because without formally being told 20 different ways to assess understanding, I now have the ‘thumbometer’, ‘traffic lights’, ‘3 level hands’ and ‘please explain what I just asked you to do’ in my repertoire.  The on-time stickers are just another teacher-tip being modelled by our tutor.  Will I use it in September to encourage my own classes? Right now I don’t know, but I want as many ideas as possible, and the Summer Institute does not disappoint.

Thinking back to the first day it was a whirlwind of packing, leaving uni, unpacking, repacking and then finding myself in another halls of residence with that fresher’s week feeling of “so what are you studying?” (Spot the recent graduate), “I mean what are you TEACHING?”

A welcome BBQ kickstarted the proceedings nicely, one of those few times where friendships might start simply from standing next to each other in the drinks queue.  With 388 participants in the London region this year, I know I will never meet everyone, but Teach First have been very good at grouping us according to the city areas we’ll be teaching in (shout out to Central 1) and that way we become closest to those we can easily stay in touch with.  A cluster dinner on Friday night ensures the ice is fully broken when our meal descends into games and revelations.  There have also been weekly sports nights, a quiz night, and only yesterday I went on a Jack the Ripper tour of London. “Her throat had been cut.  Ribs cracked open.  Intestines pulled out and dumped by her side.”  Donning a fat, heavy, plastic sumo suit and wrestling another is also an experience I won’t forget in a hurry; Summer Institute has definitely been fun so far, work-hard play-hard all the way.

It’s hard to define it in just one persons account though, as these weeks will be very different for everyone.  Different according to what region you’re in, according to your subject (science get to teach a fish eye dissection to visiting students!), and in second week, which is teaching experience week, different depending on what school you visit. 

My school was in full swing of activities week, so I was helping students to make rockets, record interviews or cook Indian food.  It was great to spend so much time with the same students, feeling I got to know them quite well by the end, the cheeky, the sullen and the hardworking.  Some schools laid on workshops between lesson observations, or people had a chance to teach their own lessons. 

However, this only reflects the diversity of the profession, as no two schools will ever be the same.  Similarly, I came with the idea that the majority of participants would be graduates fresh out of university like myself, but over half of our cohort have actually done many interesting things in between, from working at the BBC for eight years, to PHDs, to working abroad.  Next week we will meet the schools that we join in September, daunting but exciting! Then to Warwick where all the regions will come together for the National Summer Institute, I’ll let you know how it compares…