EPV Summer Course Collaboration 2020

We are delighted to announce an upcoming summer course collaboration with the one and only Niamh Dunphy aka Irish Primary Teacher!

Rahoo is all about providing courses that advocate for teachers and help with practical solutions. The work that Niamh has been doing with her educational blog and other professional endeavours means that she has a unique insight into the problems teachers are facing every single day. Niamh is committed to creating a course that will inform, engage and motivate teachers in this area of their practice – and we cannot wait to share it with everyone!

Here’s what Niamh had to say about the upcoming course:

“I decided to write a course on Classroom Management because I find it’s the most frequently asked question I get in my weekly question sessions on Instagram/Facebook. I find that it is a huge area that a lot of teachers are really worried about when they first start teaching and there isn’t a huge amount of information available. It’s also an area that is so important throughout our careers as teachers.

I wanted to create a course that would be practical, straight forward and easy to implement based on real life in classrooms throughout Ireland and further afield. While theory is obviously very important I wanted to create a summer course full of ideas and tips that work to best support teachers in their classrooms.

For me, classroom management is probably the most important element of being an effective teacher. It’s something that needs to be right before any really effective learning and teaching can take place. Sometimes we think classroom management is just about behaviour but it’s really about lots of different things from relationships with the children, routines and procedures, classroom culture, rewards and consequences and behaviour is definitely an element too.

On a personal level, I try to complete 3-4 summer courses every year. I’ve completed some really fantastic courses but I’ve also completed a few that were a complete waste of time and energy so I wanted to ensure that this course would be something that everyone from student teachers and newly qualified teachers to more experienced teachers would get something from.

The tasks will give you the chance to reflect on your current practice and use some of the tips and ideas to develop a plan for your classroom going forward.

I really hope it will be useful for you and the children in your classroom and will support you to support them throughout the whole school year”.

My hope for this course is that you’ll sit down with a notebook and pen jotting down the things you’ll try to implement in your classroom from September and by the end of the module you’ll have a range of different ideas to use that will be effective. My aim is for this course to be really effective, practical and worthwhile.

We are beyond excited!

Here is a brief overview of what to expect on the course: 

Module One: Introduction will focus on the importance of building relationships with your pupils and their parents and the use of restorative practice when things don’t go right to ensure that relationships are repaired and restored in the best interest of all people involved. There will be lots of really easy tips on ways to build relationships with pupils and how to use restorative practice in your class.

Module Two: Classroom Culture focusses on that feeling you get when you go into a classroom – how to make your classroom a positive, warm and welcoming environment for your pupils. More tips and ideas on how to build classroom culture on a day to day basis will be shared.

Module Three: Routines & Procedures focuses on the key to success in your classroom. We’ll look at the importance of routines and talk through some routines that you’ll need to have in place throughout the school year too. There will be an opportunity for you to take time to plan and think through the routines you want to have in place in your classroom while using some tips and ideas about what works in mine.

Module Four: Rewards & Consequences focuses on the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and look at different ways that we can motivate the children in our classrooms. I’ll share some of my favourite rewards and we’ll also look at consequences and how to use them effectively in your class.

Module Five: Behaviour & Strategies to Support Students will focus on behaviour with other practical strategies for classroom management and organization too. I’ll talk through the most common behaviour issues you will likely face throughout the year and some ways of supporting children to modify these behaviours and change them from negatives to positives.

Learn more about the Classroom Management EPV Summer Course HERE.