Useful books, blogs, podcasts and resources for ECTs
This is a personal compilation of things that I found useful during my ECT period (in Yr 4). It's more about approaches to learning than resources but see the later entries for free resources!
General
I found Sophie Bartlett’s site to be a really useful sane guide to starting work as a teacher. Unfortunately, the links to her historic blogs are now broken (I’ve mentioned to her) but there is still lots to read here (and you will see I have linked to more of her stuff below).
As Sophie says, your mentor will also be really important. I was lucky enough to have a superb mentor working in my year group which is as good as it gets. However, if there are issues, try to get them resolved early on - it isn’t something that you can live with for 2 years.
Now on version 3, I have a very well-thumbed copy of version 2. Full of useful advice, it also uses phrases which have passed into the way teachers speak (Cold Call, Do Now) so you will want to be familiar with it! Plus useful video content on the website.
Behaviour
If you are anything like me, behaviour will be your biggest worry on going into the classroom. It probably won’t be as bad as you expect and there is a huge (positive) difference between being the class teacher and a student teacher in someone else’s class. However, you will want to be prepared and these should help you get there.
Running the Room by Tom Bennett
An absolute classic from the government’s behaviour tsar. Should be required reading before setting foot in the classroom. Practical and comprehensive.
When the Adults Change, Everything Changes by Paul Dix
Eh? What’s this? Isn’t Paul Dix the complete opposite to Tom Bennett. If you believe this common view, you may not have read either carefully enough. I was recommended this book in an early student placement and found lots of use for it. (It’s instructive to see both when Dix and Bennett agree and when they don’t).
Adam Boxer’s blog
Everything Adam writes about behaviour is solid gold but I would particularly highlight his Front Loading the Means of Participation with a particular focus on the potential nightmare end of the day and the second in his new series of Most Common Actions on calling out. If you are a new teacher, dealing with calling out might be your most frequent challenge and these two entries are your best at getting it under control.
Dynamic Deputies podcast on behaviour with Andrew Percival
I don’t always find time to listen to podcasts so I want them to be really worth it when I do tune in and this certainly was! Thinking about behaviour as a curriculum is a really productive way to address it. Focus is whole school but there is lots for the classroom teacher as well.
Craig Barton and Pritesh Raichura on Poor Proxies for Listening
Another game-changer. I didn’t realise quite how much children weren’t listening until I introduced more regular checks for listening. Craig has lots more on this topic but this post and the video with Pritesh Raichura is my number 1 recommendation.
Reading
The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading by Christopher Such
If you read one thing on this list, make it this one - concise and filled with useful advice on all aspects of primary reading from phonics to comprehension. Busts myths and full of practical evidence-based approaches for the classroom. It even raises money for charity.
Spelling
Teeching speling yousing fonix in Kee Stayj Too – Missie Bee
When I started in Yr 4, I quickly realised that I was doing spelling wrong but this blog from Sophie Bartlett and Rebecca Buckland showed me what I should be doing. Bases spelling on phonics rather than “rules”. I see it has been updated again and it’s well worth the £5 Amazon voucher to get the full resources.
Writing and Grammar
I am not a fan of how much grammar is required to be taught in primary schools (and then completely forgotten in secondary schools) but your best hope of navigating your way through it is:
The Grammar Book by Zoë Paramour and Timothy Paramour
I also found the Englicious site very useful in coming up with teaching ideas and approaches.
Compared with maths, I found improving writing very hard work. It’s much easier to see tangible progress in maths and science. You can confidently say that they didn’t know something and now they do whereas in writing, children appear to progress much more haphazardly. I found part of the answer through The Writing Revolution in LKS2, a blog by Rebecca Buckland. The book that the ideas are based on is also well worth a read although it’s pricey and Rebecca explains a lot of the key concepts so well that you can action them without it.
Maths
Craig Barton - How I wish I Had Taught Maths
Although more focused on secondary maths, this is an incredibly useful book on the best approaches to teaching maths.
Science
I don’t have a go-to book or even a blog for science, probably because I was a bit more confident with this and also because the curriculum is quite realistic and sensible. However, both Stem Learning and Explorify were really useful and free websites.
Free / low-cost resources
A few years old now and some of these sites have started more charging but still really useful! And you should know about the TES site as well.
Free lesson planning resources for primary teachers | Teaching Resources (tes.com)
Late in the day, I became aware of Canva which is already very useful for templates and will become more so as more educators make things available.