Source
r/TeachingUK•
kayamon

What are classrooms like these days? (research help)

Hi, a bit of an odd request but I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me out here.

I'm trying to write a story with a scene set in a modern-day UK secondary-school classroom, and I want to get a feel for what a modern lesson is actually like. Except I haven't been near a school in 30 years, and I don't have any kids to ask.

Now when I were a lad, it was all chalk and blackboards. But I'm told these days they have LCD displays and interactive whiteboards, so I can imagine teaching must be completely different. Do people just show pre-made slides, or do teachers write out everything like in the old days? And does every class have an interactive whiteboard, or are they rare?

Can anyone give me a quick rundown of how modern GCSE lessons (in subjects like geography/history/english) might be taught? Or better yet, does anyone know of any videos I could watch that would really capture a true 2018 classroom feeling? I'm looking for the "actual" warts-and-all content, complete with misbehaving or inattentive students, not the "everything's perfect and wonderful" promotional videos you find. :)

Posted Apr 24, 2018, 11:39 PM UTC

212
ComradeHTrainee, Religious Education•

What the PP is saying, is that every classroom is different. Hell, even classrooms in the same school hugely vary from one another. A truly authentic perspective would be one you'd gain yourself, but I appreciate that that might not be ideal.

I teach in a school of 1200. It's an older school so the rooms and general facilities are quite worn. My room is mixed gender (though we do experiment with single gender teaching during years 10 and 11).

I have the kids in 8 rows of 4, 4 kids on either side of the aisle. Our rooms are big, but that's definitely not the norm. I have a whiteboard for writing, and a SMARTboard for videos, presentations and what not. My desk is at the front, so im facing the kids. Different subjects will have different equipment and layouts.

I generally display kids work on my walls (on display boards), but many displays are dedicated to technique (how to structure work) and literacy.

I can send you a pic of my room if it helps, all identifying details obscured of course. However you'd get a good feel for modern classrooms from school websites as they tend to show them in prospectus' etc to showcase the facilities.

3
kayamonOP•

This is great, thank you!

I have a question; if you have a SMARTboard, why wouldn't you use it all the time? What are the advantages of writing on a boring old whiteboard if you could instead write on a fancy digital thing?

1
bluesam3•

Fancy and digital =/= practical to use. They're slow and buggy for anything you're interacting with in real-time.

5
kayamonOP•

Okay that makes sense, thanks :)

1
ComradeHTrainee, Religious Education•

You use the whiteboard for things you need to do quickly- like writing up a spelling, lesson objectives, writing behaviour warnings. And the date.

Maths, sciences... subjects which use formulas or whole class input to work things out would also use the whiteboard more.

3
dratsaab•

Handwriting looks terrible on a smartboard.

2
_Lilah_Science Teacher•

I’m in science and use the whiteboard loads to draw diagrams of equipment or for on the spot analogies. I’m also known to climb precariously onto a step stool and sometimes a table to write on the larger whiteboard that my PowerPoint projects on to so I can annotate my slides with anything additional that comes up (I haven’t got an interactive whiteboard thank god-I hate them).

I make up a lot of my teaching on the spot. My PowerPoint dictates what I want to teach, key facts and the tasks I want the kids to do...but how I deliver it and how much support I give will depend on who is in front of me and their needs and for that I use the whiteboard.

2
kayamonOP•

I’m also known to climb precariously onto a step stool and sometimes a table

lol I bet that gets a laugh :-)
Thanks!

1
_Lilah_Science Teacher•

On explaining the meaning of a saturated hydrocarbon the other day:

So if you came in from the rain soaked to the bone I might say wow you are saturated! So what do we think that means?

But miss that would be a weird thing to say.

This is me we are talking about, I’m weird, it’s well established so saying it is in keeping with my character....what does it meeeeaaan.

My point is the kids don’t even raise an eyebrow anymore. 😬

1
UKCSTeacherSubject Lead Computing/ICT•

If you're writing a story, then you shouldn't rely on other people's stories to get an idea. Most schools would be ok if you reach out and ask to do a day's shadowing of a teacher so you can understand what goes on in a classroom. If they are funny about it, tell them you're considering going into teaching

1
kayamonOP•

If you're writing a story, then you shouldn't rely on other people's stories to get an idea.

I'm not relying on other people's stories, I have a great story already. This is a small part of it, and I want to make it realistic because if kids end up reading it then they should be able to associate with it. :(

If they are funny about it, tell them you're considering going into teaching

But I'm not considering going into teaching. I don't want to lie to someone, and a class of 30 students who don't deserve some weirdo sitting in their class watching them, just to be able to write my bullshit novel.

3
UKCSTeacherSubject Lead Computing/ICT•

I think you are downplaying the power of authenticity in your story. Writing about your own personal experiences will be so much better than relying on other people's and its such an easy thing to accomplish. Most kids would be quite impressed if you tell them you're writing a book, and if you want it to be aimed at children you could use those conversations to get an idea of their reaction to the themes. Don't not do something because it might be hard, when the reward could be so great.

I also have never seen anyone truly be able to describe a classroom situation in enough detail to give someone else a real idea of what life is like. It is just something that has to be experienced.

1