Tomorrow I shall take my final interview - not a pass/fail situation but a discussion with my course tutor about how the year has gone and my reflections on my strengths and weaknesses as I enter the first year of "real" teaching - the probationary year.
Although the board of examiners doesn't formally meet until the end of June, I have passed all the requisite elements of the PGDE course and I am now entitled to call myself Mr Gordon.
I am a teacher.
It has been the hardest thing I have ever done professionally; harder than trying to find an IT job in the middle of the dot.com bubble bursting; harder than some daft-as-a-brush deadline set by some headcase customer; harder than accepting that after 22 years, IT simply isn't something to which I'm suited. Harder than all of them, but I've done it.
I feel proud, tired, scared. But actually.....mostly proud. Teaching is a hard job and I've demonstrated that I can do it very well - this is the first time in my life that I have genuinely felt this way.
Next up - 11 weeks of golf, holidays, wife-directed work and a growing sense of unease at the fact that - come August 18th - I'm going to be getting paid to do a job that scares the bejeezus out of me. But in a good way.
I am Mr Gordon. This has been monsieurfrites.blogspot.com.
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Not Being Dorando
The finishing line is in sight. Having matriculated back in August of last year, I have spent two months on-campus, six weeks on my first teaching practice, completed Assignment 1 (3500 word essay), four weeks on-campus; six weeks on second teaching practice (passing with full merits); completed Assignment 2 (3500 word essay); and am now on my final (four week) teaching practice.
By the end of this practice, I am required to submit another 3000 words of research (while having an almost full timetable). Following that, I have to prepare a 15-minute presentation on said research project, and pass a final interview on-campus.
I kinda feel like yon wee Italian bloke at the 1908 Olympics. Dorando Pietri was the guy who - having trained hard and targeted the marathon for a gold medal - bust a gut during the race to outstrip his main competitor, arrived at the stadium exhausted and badly dehydrated. Queen Alexandra had asked for the race to be extended by 385 yards so that she could see the finishing line more clearly from the Royal box, and the wee man was forced to endure an ultimately crushing final lap - collapsing repeatedly and being helped back to his feet. Although crossing the line first, he was disqualified for having received this assistance, and the medal went to the other bloke.
Having put in all the effort over the last eight months, I feel like I have arrived in the stadium, can see the finishing line and know that my legs will give way sometime real soon now.
I just need to make sure they give way sometime after June 6th.
By the end of this practice, I am required to submit another 3000 words of research (while having an almost full timetable). Following that, I have to prepare a 15-minute presentation on said research project, and pass a final interview on-campus.
I kinda feel like yon wee Italian bloke at the 1908 Olympics. Dorando Pietri was the guy who - having trained hard and targeted the marathon for a gold medal - bust a gut during the race to outstrip his main competitor, arrived at the stadium exhausted and badly dehydrated. Queen Alexandra had asked for the race to be extended by 385 yards so that she could see the finishing line more clearly from the Royal box, and the wee man was forced to endure an ultimately crushing final lap - collapsing repeatedly and being helped back to his feet. Although crossing the line first, he was disqualified for having received this assistance, and the medal went to the other bloke.
Having put in all the effort over the last eight months, I feel like I have arrived in the stadium, can see the finishing line and know that my legs will give way sometime real soon now.
I just need to make sure they give way sometime after June 6th.
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Yaldi 2.1
I've been back on-campus for a couple of weeks now, having completed my second school placement on the 13th March.
As I recorded in a previous whiny blog, this was a really hard six week slog, with high standards set by my PT (that would be "Principal Teacher" to the uninitiated). This guy is one of the most impressive professionals I have met (both in and out of the teaching world) - very charismatic leader, straight talking, fantastic teacher, great with the kids (some of whom are among the most challenging I have seen), and demanding of very high standards of his team.
This proved both enjoyable and unsettling as - with only six weeks to knock a student into shape - his feedback on lesson delivery and performance had to be succinct and invariably left me in no doubt as to where I needed to improve.
His job at the end of the placement is to complete a school report in which the student is graded across six separate aspects. For each area you can be Not Yet Satisfactory, Satisfactory, or Merit. Thus far I've managed to get at least Satisfactory for all my gradings, with a couple of Merits thrown in across my two tutor reports (see Blogs passim).
I received said school report today.
I got Merits in each and every category.
Tonight I am going to drink some beer.
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Yaldi 2 - Cliche Alert
Jesus H Christ.
An utterly murderous week. And an utterly brilliant week. So anyone still reading this will forgive me the use of a tired old cliche - an emotional rollercoaster.
Today I passed my second crit. University tutor sitting in on my lesson, watching my every move; dissecting my lesson plan; watching each and every pupil for signs of disengagement not being picked up on by yours truly. My third year class were reasonably well engaged for the first three quarters of the lesson - and bored titless for the last 10 minutes - so I managed to pass the crit on the bigger part of the lesson. Parallel resistors ? It kinda bores me titless too.
Am I happy ? Well, yes, but not for passing the crit. Yesterday I took a second year class through a chemistry lesson on producing some compounds - specifically iron chloride and copper chloride. A class that - one week previously - had brought me to my knees and made me question my entire future, had given me my most enjoyable lesson so far. Two-way questioning, experimental work, laughs, and successful learning. Pikey 13/14 year olds engaging in chemistry and demonstrating clearly that they had enjoyed my lesson - 55 minutes of life-affirming activity that sent me home with the biggest grin I've ever had with my clothes on.
So in the space of a week, careerwise I've been the most unsettled I've ever been - and I've been the most exhilarated I've ever been.
In "Parenthood" one of Steve Martin's downward-spiral films (which probably started with the last 10 minutes of Planes, Trains & Automobiles) his mother-in-law describes her fondness for a particular type of fairground ride - some rollercoaster or other - in preference to the more sedate type of ride.
It feels like I'm currently on Sheikra - the world's mentalest rollercoaster.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
More Mental
This teaching placement is proving a toughie. The school I'm in is very different from my last experience - different kids, different staff. And I have a more challenging timetable with more challenging classes.
As a new teacher with a new class, it seems to be the case that you get a couple of lessons "on the house" before boundaries start to get explored, buttons start to get pressed and (with kids who are a bit more streetwise) it becomes extremely difficult to maintain a calm exterior.
However, I'm learning that good discipline is a real art and seldom involves shouting your head off. Time and again I see really good teachers with pupils outside classes talking calmly and clearly explaining the rules that have been broken. Pupils who are treated this way tend to respond quite reflectively and are able to accept that they have made a mistake.
Remarkable really, when you consider that many of these kids start their day with no breakfast and a long detour walk to school to avoid streets where they might get a kicking.
The profile of classes is also a huge change. S1 and S2 classes with 20 kids sometimes doped up on aspartame, sometimes falling asleep at their desks (and sometimes of course wanting to be entertained and taught stuff). But the converse is S5 and S6 classes of half a dozen really motivated pupils. This mix is providing me with a huge amount of learning and experience, but sadly it's a return to 4am waking, 13 hour days and a permanent knot in the stomach the size of a basketball.
Don't try this at home.
As a new teacher with a new class, it seems to be the case that you get a couple of lessons "on the house" before boundaries start to get explored, buttons start to get pressed and (with kids who are a bit more streetwise) it becomes extremely difficult to maintain a calm exterior.
However, I'm learning that good discipline is a real art and seldom involves shouting your head off. Time and again I see really good teachers with pupils outside classes talking calmly and clearly explaining the rules that have been broken. Pupils who are treated this way tend to respond quite reflectively and are able to accept that they have made a mistake.
Remarkable really, when you consider that many of these kids start their day with no breakfast and a long detour walk to school to avoid streets where they might get a kicking.
The profile of classes is also a huge change. S1 and S2 classes with 20 kids sometimes doped up on aspartame, sometimes falling asleep at their desks (and sometimes of course wanting to be entertained and taught stuff). But the converse is S5 and S6 classes of half a dozen really motivated pupils. This mix is providing me with a huge amount of learning and experience, but sadly it's a return to 4am waking, 13 hour days and a permanent knot in the stomach the size of a basketball.
Don't try this at home.
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Life's Most Important Lesson
Four weeks into the New Year and we're standing on the brink of another teaching practice. Anyone still reading this may remember I had a bit of a health disaster in my first teaching practice - prolapsing a disc and missing nearly two weeks of valuable teaching time.
This time round I'm fully fit and hopefully facing a clear run that'll take me to mid-March and the promise of some Spring weather.
The school for this placement is different in many ways to my last one - it's in Glasgow and has more by way of social challenges for its pupils. However, having visited it last week for a day I'm really looking forward to my time there. The pupils were by and large well behaved and keen to learn and the building itself is brighter and newer than my other school.
My targets for this term (to misquote Blair and his band of hobgoblins) consist of Assessment, Assessment and Assessment. No, no written tests and exams (usually referred to as Summative Assessment) but Formative Assessment which aims to provide much more by way of regular feedback to pupils and encouragement to become actively involved in their own learning. It's about sharing learning intentions at the start of each lesson, effective questioning to explore and gauge understanding, qualitative feedback upon task completion (fewer ticks in red pen and more comments) and a properly planned strategy to demonstrate successful learning at the end of the lesson.
Research shows that such an approach dramatically increases pupil attainment - well who'da thunk it ?
Anyways, my decision to take a madcap career jump was brought into sharp focus this week when I received the news that an old work chum died suddenly from a heart attack. John had plans to do other stuff in a few short years time when his pension kicked in - it's desperately sad that he's not going to get the chance.
Learning time people: if you've something you really want to do, do it soon.
This time round I'm fully fit and hopefully facing a clear run that'll take me to mid-March and the promise of some Spring weather.
The school for this placement is different in many ways to my last one - it's in Glasgow and has more by way of social challenges for its pupils. However, having visited it last week for a day I'm really looking forward to my time there. The pupils were by and large well behaved and keen to learn and the building itself is brighter and newer than my other school.
My targets for this term (to misquote Blair and his band of hobgoblins) consist of Assessment, Assessment and Assessment. No, no written tests and exams (usually referred to as Summative Assessment) but Formative Assessment which aims to provide much more by way of regular feedback to pupils and encouragement to become actively involved in their own learning. It's about sharing learning intentions at the start of each lesson, effective questioning to explore and gauge understanding, qualitative feedback upon task completion (fewer ticks in red pen and more comments) and a properly planned strategy to demonstrate successful learning at the end of the lesson.
Research shows that such an approach dramatically increases pupil attainment - well who'da thunk it ?
Anyways, my decision to take a madcap career jump was brought into sharp focus this week when I received the news that an old work chum died suddenly from a heart attack. John had plans to do other stuff in a few short years time when his pension kicked in - it's desperately sad that he's not going to get the chance.
Learning time people: if you've something you really want to do, do it soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
