Ben has been an iMedia Instructor at Junior Jam for over 3years. This is how he has found working for us!
Do you enjoy working for Junior Jam?
I have enjoyed working for Junior Jam ever since I started a few years ago, and I remember being nervous about teaching in a class for the first couple of lessons, but Emily, Tom and Luke made me feel right at home from day one! My favourite subjects to teach are iJam (being a musician helps this) and iProgram, although iAnimate usually shows me the stand out kids from my classes the best. My new schools this year have been excellent to work at, and I don’t know if that’s just because I’m more comfortable teaching now, or I actually have better schools.
How have you adapted to the lockdowns at your schools?
Although the social distance rules and hygiene procedure can be hard to follow sometimes, especially with the younger kids, I’ve still enjoyed working at my different schools. In the first lockdown the classes were tiny, around 4-7 students per class and it was really nice to get to know the individuals a bit better than you can in a full class of around 30 kids. Recently one of my schools asked me to start doing Zoom lessons to some of my classes, which has been the biggest challenge out of all the pandemic, because if there’s a problem on the iPads and the TA’s don’t know how to fix it, the class can come to a complete standstill.
What have you enjoyed about the holiday clubs?
I also enjoy holiday clubs very much because I can get to know other JJ staff, which we don’t normally get to do unless doing the carousel lessons. I’ve especially liked working with Danny Turton on holiday clubs because he’s a funny guy and Mike Burrowes because he’s very good with the kids and he’s passionate about his own! Also the holiday clubs give me a chance to play football at lunch times with the kids which is always good fun for me!
What is your funniest memory working for Junior Jam?
I find it funny all the random things kids say to you in class. For example; I just finished the talking part of a programming lesson in a Year 1 class, and I asked ‘okay, are there any questions before I hand out the iPads?’ and a child put his hand up and enthusiastically shouted ‘My granddad has a hot tub!’ as if that was relevant! (Maybe you had to be there for that one).