What is a Jonathan? I hear you ask.
Now, my Jonathan happened purely by chance and never could I have guessed how much of an impact he would have on my learners.
Picture this: I was a month in to my NQT year in a gorgeous Year 4 class. It was at that point in the year where the original, ‘Yay! I am finally in complete control of my own class!’ excitement is starting to mix with, ‘Oh s**t! I am in complete control of my class!’ panic.
I had previously worked as a respiratory physiotherapist and had got to the point in my career where I felt pretty confident and I was well regarded amongst other therapists so it was a complete shock to suddenly be in a position where I had very little experience and felt completely out of my depth.
One day I was wandering around Morrisons (other supermarkets are available!) and I came across an aisle of reduced Halloween paraphernalia. That’s when I saw him! Jonathan!
Jonathan is an approximately 2 foot skeleton singing into a microphone. Maybe it was the security blanket of him being a skeleton and a reminder of my physio days but I decided to buy him. I had no idea what I would do with him. I had no idea where I would put him. But I knew I had to have him.
The name Jonathan came from my much loved English tutor on my SCITT course. Many a lunchtime chat would we have about my absolute lack of understanding about ‘abilities’ in education (that’s a whole other post!) So Jonathan he became!
What has this got to do with teaching? I hear you ask.
Jonathan has become the 31st member of my classes. Little did I know about how important this skeleton would become to the children in my class and how much he would stimulate their learning.
I will share some specifics, of course, but Jonathan has been a great way for the children to practise feedback, use reasoning skills, empathise with others.
I can’t imagine teaching without a Jonathan and would love to hear about any ‘characters’ that others use in their teaching.
Every class should, absolutely, have a ‘Jonathan’.
The Anatomy of Teaching 