In pursuit of Health, Wealth and Happiness

Dinah93

Hope today is brilliant and everything you hoped it would be x

Lara44

Tete, can't wait to hear all about how it went Hope you're not too knackered!

Kittikins

How did you get on? Hope it was awesome, can't wait to read all about it

poddle911

Hey Tete, ditto everyone else - was thinking about you going back to school yesterday! How did it go?

Kittikins

Hi Tete, hope you're having a good weekend and have had a great time this week. We're all dying to know how you got on

My school placement is BRILLIANT - the school is v. posh, v. small and v. lovely I wish I could stay for the year! I'm in a 'big class' - of 18!! The classes are generally between 10 and 14, so this is mahoosive for the school,lol.

I'm creating my first wall display tomorrow morning and hopefully going to lead parts of some lessons this week - and then the lectures start at uni next Monday.

I met up with a girl from the course on Thursday night for a drink and so it'll be nice to recognise a face in the crowd next week. Have you had lectures yet? Not sure how your course is working, if it's a block at school then a block at uni, or a mixture of the two during a week.

Hope it made you smile, feel invigorated and happy

Tete_en_l'Air

Long time no post! It's been a bit of a whirlwind so far: one week of general settling in, one week of block training, one week observing in the dept and around the school as a whole and a week in a primary school AND I've already been out on a school trip! I feel like all the settle-in type things are out of the way now and I'm really going to get going in the next couple of weeks. Next week I'll be in the dept full time, observing the classes I'll be taking over and I'll start teaching parts of lessons the week after - yikes!

I must admit, spending a few days in primary after being in secondary made me glad I opted for the latter in the end - young kids are such FAFFERS, you never seem to get anything done, it would have frustrated me no end and I was glad to get back to my school.

The school has an actual Spanish Spanish teacher and I've been having conversation sessions with her - it's awful! I can understand everything but have real trouble coming out with anything meaningful myself, the words just aren't there on the tip of my tongue It put me in a massive panic at first but I've been in some Y11 Sp classes since and they're fine, I guess I just need to immerse myself in it a bit and the words will come.

The theory side was a bit bamboozling at first but I'm starting to be able to see techniques being employed in practice so it's all feeling a little less overwhelming now. The academic side however ... well I'm a little lost with the first piece of written work but am aiming to sit down tomorrow and just get SOMETHING down, and go from there. My mentors have said they'll have a look at it with me which is fab. The teachers in my dept are all lovely I have to say, my two mentors in particular, really approachable and inspiring. Oh and the pupils are lovely! I've seen no bad behaviour other than little bits of chatting in lessons - certainly no swearing at teachers or anything, they're amazing. I'll probably get put in the roughest school possible for my second placement after Christmas and have a meltdown!

I also did the Great North Run a couple of weeks ago! I did it on a knee injury, fuelled by Nurofen Express and surprisingly (frustratingly) finished within a minute of my Edinburgh Half time from May, which is an easier course so really it's a win but we runners want to see our times come down! I'm now resting for as long as it takes for my knee to get back to normal, but I have to say being on my feet all day and running about up and down stairs in heels is not doing me any favours.

I also signed up to weight watchers and lost about 6lbs in two weeks, then fell off the wagon a bit for two weeks and don't know how much I've put back on, probably all of it - gah! Just can't seem to get into the zone food-wise, every day there seems to be an excuse to buy a massive Dairy Milk or something - I deserve it because it's been a hard day or a boring day or I've got a lot of work to do that night or..... I need a good slap.

Right, that's been a bit of a long ramble (I have had wine) and I'd best get to bed, want to have a nice lie in in the morning and then tackle that work!

Kitty how are things going your end? Are you still in lecture heaven? How is everyone else??

Kittikins

Yay, she's alive! Sounds whirlwindy in the extreme! Yup, I'm still loving it, but oh my goodness there's so much to do and they're really ramping up the pressure at Uni. I think this week will be tough, especially as my to do list for tomorrow morning is on 2 sides of A4. Ho hum.....

So glad you're loving it and you've done so much. What assignment do you have? I'm doing a group presentation on an academic article on Thursday, but not really sure what my take on it is, all this critical evaluation lark is a bit beyond me.

Thankfully all the lecturers are lovely and I'm hoping that when I get into my first school in a couple of weeks' time that I'll have good mentors there too.

Tete_en_l'Air

Two sides of A4 - yikes!! My assignment is along the lines of "compare and contrast the educational theorists' views on how children learn with what you have observed in school" which is a bit vague to me Only 2000 words though so not too worrying. I also have some critical reading to do for a discussion in a couple of weeks but it's all I can do to fathom what they're talking about let alone evaluate it!

I'm sure your mentors will be lovely - keep me updated on how you're getting on!

French-Spanish-French tomorrow, just to be confusing! Best get to bed....

Tete_en_l'Air

Augh, had a crappy day today - for some reason couldn't sleep last night and only got about four hours, was late setting off this morning so of course that meant the traffic was awful and I was doubly late for the whole staff meeting they have every morning. At the time I thought it was better to go than not but on reflection I'd have been better sloping straight off to form than walking in late.

Then met two of what are going to be 'my' classes and they weren't very nice!! All the kids at this school are amazingly well behaved but all of a sudden I'm seeing more and more chatting and sniggering ... I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with these gobby Y9 boys and all my old insecurities from before I decided to go into teaching have re-emerged

Finally, in the last class of the day, I was observing but sitting at the back with one easily distracted boy. He ended up doing a piece of work wrong and although it's not strictly my fault, if I'd been listening properly to the instructions I would have clicked that he was doing it wrong and corrected him - the teacher must be wondering why I didn't

Oh and all of a sudden all the language seems really hard, I got a bit overwhelmed in French wondering how I'm ever going to remember where all the accents go and what's masculine and feminine.... just having a bit of a down day all round really Hopefully an early night will sort me out.

Lara44

Don't worry Tete, it is so normal to have insecurities when you are learning. But nobody else in class will know them.

Already you are reflecting on what you could have done differently today, and that is what will make you a good teacher. You care

It is stressful swimming at the deep end but don't lose heart. You are a very strong lady and this will become second nature to you as time goes on.

This is a reminder to persist. And this is some advice for beginners.

:heartsmil