Many Secondary school teachers will be asked to take on the role of form tutor when starting at a new school. Alongside your normal subject teaching, you will get a group of around 20 students who will report to you at the start and end of the school day, for you to mark their attendance as well as aid them with their studies.
For newly qualified teachers, taking on this pastoral role comes with its own set of challenges.How, for example, can you as a form tutor get to know all of your pupils individually when you only have a very short space of time in which to interact with them all on a daily basis?
The following article will provide tips for boosting learning and motivation as a form tutor.
The Role of the Form Tutor
The role of the form tutor is basically one of care. To each one of your pupils you will be the first teacher they see every morning, therefore your main priorities, according the National Association of Pastoral Care in Education should be;
Tips for Making the Most out of Registration Period
20 minutes at the beginning and end of the day isn't a lot of time to meet the above objectives, but there is still a lot of scope for using this time effectively enough to build positive tutor/tutee relationships that benefit each pupil.
For example you may want to try some of the following tips with your tutor group;
Teach them how to organise themselves
Organisation is an area of which many Key Stage 3 pupils have yet to master skills in. In primary school, pupils are not typically required to move classrooms after the bell; therefore some pupils may struggle with timekeeping and organising themselves effectively. As a tutor you may want to run through organisational techniques with your tutor group, in the form of maybe a five minute talk in registration, or you may want to provide a hand-out with some good tips for pupils. Alternatively, get your pupils to list the areas in which they need to better their organisational skills and then make a note of their targets and track their progress over a number of weeks.
Teach them How to Study
Younger secondary school pupils also thus far in their educational careers, haven't been required to carry out much revision in their own time. Some pupils therefore may have developed some misconceptions about studying. For example, some students may believe that naturally 'clever' pupils won't need to revise at all because they're 'a brain' and already remember everything they need to know. Some pupils may also believe that revision simply consists of reading through your old text books in the hope that some of the information will stick.
As a tutor you can get a head-start on dispelling these myths by running through some study techniques with you pupils during registration. One exercise you may want to try is getting your pupils to make one revision flashcard of a previous day's lesson by showing them techniques like 'memory chunking' in order to get the kids understanding that comprehension, not merely osmosis, is the way to get the material learnt.
Play some Music
Studies have shown that playing classical music in the classroom is a proven way to improve spatial-temporal reasoning in pupils. Play some Mozart quietly in the backgroundas your students come through the door each morning. This technique will also help calm down some of the louder pupils in your group, who will subconsciously mirror the volume of which the music is playing.
Give them some Chores
As part of your duty as a form tutor, you need time to speak to your pupils individually. However, with tight time constraints and admin tasks to carry out, it can be hard to squeeze in time for pupil one-to ones. Get your pupils then to take it in turns fetching the register from reception, collecting forms and other bits of admin which you believe they can be trusted to carry out, in order for you to have more time tending to the caring aspects of your tutor roll. Try and get the register done as quickly as possible and make sure that your pupils are rewarded for the chores that they successfully carry out.
Encourage Unity for School Events
Events like Sports Day are designed to foster a positive school community with a bit of healthy competition. As a tutor, get your pupils to design banners in groups or make up chants to cheer on their house teams. Doing this will help them feel more connected to the school, even if the vast majority of your tutor group are not participating in any events on the actual day.
For more tips on outstanding lesson planning for KS3, check out this resource and if you have any comments on how to boost learning and motivation as a form tutor, leave a comment below.
