PGCE Day 60 - School placement halfway mark

Two weeks into the first block placement. It has felt like the longest two weeks of my life. Getting up at 6:10 and going to bed at midight or beyond is beginning to take its toll. The past two Fridays have consisted of me having a relax on the sofa in front of the TV but before the opening credits of Eastenders, I've been giving it Zs.

School is great. The kids are a delight and already I'm very fond of them. I've found Spanish (my 'specialism', you remember) a nightmare. This school is a centre of excellence for the teaching of Spanish and the specialist teacher who teaches them and the native speaker are superb. But the style is very much rapid fire questioning, games and songs. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't do rapid fire - in any language. The cogs of my brain need time to grind around if I am so much as making a cup of tea. I can't do games, 'cos I always forget who had the last go, who scored the points etc. But I like the songs. I am getting there but it is heavy weather. The whole lesson is in target language and it is difficult knowing what Spanish they know in order to communicate with them. It is very much a a matter of learning the cues. The key is that it should be fun and not stressful for them in any way (it is allowed to be stressful for the teacher, though!)

One thing I have discovered is that you never get a proper lesson in primary. There are always kids going out for their peripatetic music lessons, choir, ad-hoc assemblies, hymn practice or transporting Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to the hall. On Wednesday I was supposed to be doing English and Maths but the 'Legs Akimbo Theatre Company' were in doing a Macbeth workshop. I was supposed to be getting observed doing Spanish yesterday but then I was told that the Fire Brigade were visiting so Year 6 would not be doing lessons before break and after break they were helping move Christmas Fair goods. Part of me was relieved because it took the pressure off. But part of me wanted it over, since it now means I have to do two observations next week and the week after. Also I had spent until 1:00am Friday preparing my Spanish lesson. I could have had an early night! Next Wednesday my tutor from college is coming in to observe me doing literacy.

I find it is best not to be phased by anything and to expect the unexpected. I have been in Facebook contact with a lot of my colleagues and we are all finding it enormously stressful. I think tiredness has a lot to do with it. Many have been in tears at some point. Thankfully I have not been that low. The worst thing is the lack of resources. The thing about teacher training is that you have not built up a bank of resources and lesson plans. There is an expectaction that you spend hours creating your own worksheets/PowerPoints/card games/whatever. There is actually a wealth of stuff on the internet but it takes hours trawling through and invariably it is crap or doesn't do exactly what you want it to. I am also required to do two displays before I finish on 7th December. It matters not that this is one of the 24 tasks that teachers are no longer required to do, we have to put our stamp on the classroom environment.

I feel a bit bad about wishing this time away, since there are actually so many positives regarding the school, the staff and the children, but I'm finding the whole experience so draining.

His Lordship is being an absolute tower of strength and has removed so much from my shoulders to enable me to concentrate on this. I cannot praise him highly enough.

Roll on 3:20 on 7th December.

AT LAST ! THE BA*!£RD HAS GONE!!! YESSSS!!!

Forgive my rather aggressive joy. I have finally handed in the first assignment. I had to generate 3500 words loosely connected with the topic of learning theory, evaluating it critically (yeah, right) and drawing on lots of other boring books written by saddos with nothing else to fill their otherwise meaningless lives with. Oh, and my own experience. So which experience would that be, exactly? I am training to be a teacher, that basically means I have very scant experience. But I do have lots of friends and acquaintances who are. With this in mind, I approached couple I know from church with, "So, tell me, as teaching professionals, how does learning theory impact on your practice in the classroom?" They just laughed. OK, so it was a bit of an odd opening gambit, but all in the name of research. The more I thought about it, the less I felt capable of producing anything approaching an argument, critical analysis or anything else, for that matter. Anyway it is handed in now, the heap of poo that it is.

The problem is, forgive me if I bore you, the PGCE now requires Masters Level writing. If you don't get Masters level for all three assignments, the most you can get is a 'Professional level' qualification. I have no problem with having a professional level qualification - that is what the PGCE was until September. What I object to is that if you have a two level qualification, why not let the standard level qualification keep the name PGCE and call the other one something different? The higher one should be optional, new and have a different name. It's like saying, "GCSEs now require A level standard writing. If you fail to achieve
this, we will award you a merit certificate." But what worries me is that in the work place they just won't understand it. They'll think you couldn't get your PGCE therefore you are a poorer quality 'product' than last year's PGCE when it is exactly the same. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!!!

Anyway, I might have some time for lesson planning now. Next week I start my 4 week block and have to teach a 60% of the timetable, teaching all the core subjects and Spanish. A wee bit scary then, considering I haven't actually taught anything yet.

Anyway, I can't sit here blogging my time away...I have work to do!