Hey everyone! I’ve been teaching in multiple High Schools, and plan every lesson by myself. I have little to no input from my JTEs. At most, after the first time we run a class they might comment on it.
I know ESID, but just was wondering how much help, guidence or information everyone gets from the JTE normally?
12 comments
I’m an ES and kindergarten ALT, so very different experiences in general I guess. But I plan kindergarten and 1st and 2nd grade lessons completely independently, but there’s no JTE for those classes.
For my classes with my JTE, she generally does the lesson plans, but asks for my input (particularly with games). I do sometimes get asked to plan lessons myself though (usually review lessons). I always show my JTE these lesson plans, but she usually doesn’t give much input.
However, I know ALTs with less… helpful JTEs, who expect the ALT to completely plan and execute lessons by themselves. This generally seems to be due to the JTE wanting to pass some of their workload to the ALT so they don’t have to do as much.
But if the lessons you’re planning are meant to specifically be different than regular lessons, like maybe fun lessons with the ALT that they have every now and again, that would be a very different situation. I also think it matters how much experience the ALT has. A newer ALT shouldn’t be expected to do too much on their own with help/guidance.
In my case, I teach 1st to third graders in JHS and special needs. The only input provided to me is at X date I want you to do X activity from the textbook. How you execute is your own business in my school. I usually add some fun activities if time allows. I’m on the same boat with receiving comments only after the lesson even if I check with them prior to doing the class. While for special needs I don’t even have an end goal where I want the students to be unless I think of one on my own.
When I taught ES and JHS, my JTEs planned most of the lessons and asked me to make an activity to fill a certain time slot in the lesson.
I teach HS now (transferred) and the schools have an ‘English’ class taught by the JTE which is mostly grammar, then an ‘English Communication’ class taught by me and I’m told to do whatever I want. It’s nice because I’m doing my MA in TESOL right now so I get to experiment with the things I learn in class…but the workload and chaos of trying to manage the ever-changing schedules of 4 schools is overwhelming. My JTEs are mainly in the classroom because they have to be. I try to involve them more but they’re always running around to some odd meeting or being stuck with administration work that they have no business doing.
I miss being the Assistant
In my school, the teachers have a meeting (which as an ALT I’m not privy to) to determine the lesson plans. After that they all follow the same lesson plan. I get told to come to a class, and help with writing and conversation. I am not involved at all in the teaching of the class. (I’m in rural Kochi, so the English classes, even at 3-1 use Japanese all the time.) I get more time to talk to students at English club or at lunch or in-between classes.
It seems you are being taken advantage of by the JTEs. You are paid to be an ALT. The JTEs are living the dream – foisting their work onto you!
If you want to be fair you should offer to do classes for the Math and Social Studies teachers too!
So Im in the same boat as you. The most they give me is a grammar point to build around. Im not sure of your situation, but at my school there is one JTE for each grade that is responsible for making the lessons for the entire English department. I work with two JTEs one for each grade I teach (1年生 and 2 年生). When I am done planning the lesson I normally print it and give it to them so they can go over it and bring up any concerns and changes they may have. Once I get the thumbs up I print the rest of the lesson plans for my other JTEs.
That usually works well for me but again, ESID.
I’m in the same boat. I have to completely plan and execute multiple lessons each week with very little help or input from my JTEs. They typically just tell me the general grammar point to focus on and if I ask for more guidance or feedback they brush me off.
Reading some of these posts and I really feel grateful for my situation ahha
It varies depending on my JTEs and my school. However, I’m T1 in all my classes. My JTEs rarely get involved with my lessons and just let me do my thing.
At my visit school, it’s very low level so I just play games. I get literally no guidance or input. I asked for the textbook so I could get ideas and was told “No textbook.” So I just browse ALTopedia for ideas and hope for the best.
My base school is academic so we follow the textbooks a bit closer. My JTEs go at a similar pace and meet regularly to discuss upcoming lessons, tests, etc. Then one of them will approach me about my next lesson. They sometimes lead with “Do you have any ideas?” If not or if they have something specific in mind, they’ll ask me. Sometimes it’s as specific as “We’d like you to lead X project” or other times it’s “Can you do an activity based on this chapter?”
When I’m given little to nothing, I pull together whatever I think will be interesting and, again, hope for the best. I haven’t gotten any negative feedback so far, so…🤷🏻♀️
I average about 12 classes a week, though, so it usually leaves me with enough time to prep. I feel like my JTEs are generally mindful of my workload.
Also a high school ALT. While I only have 1 school, I hardly ever get anything from my JTEs. some of them don’t even bail me out if I’m sinking, just got to deal with it and find a way through myself lol
Have you tried communicating with your JTEs that you would like like more input from them?
I am at a “high level” high school, and I have JTE’s who literally don’t say a fucking word during classes and they are the *HEAD* of the English department. Some JTE’s will be your guardian angels, and some will fuck off forever. It is what it is