Tuesday 20 December 2011

The bad feeling when you find lots more work to do ...

After a week long break from anything to do with my PGCE I have been struck down by the discovery of a whole host of reading I did not realise I had to do.
I actually missed doing work so I thought I would make a quick head start on some of the work next term but little did I realise how hard this would be.
I decided that I wanted to use the break to look at the future assignments I have, both of which count towards masters credits, only this has now scared me.
The first assignment has a 10 page pack just to explain what to do and has about 70 pages of quick reading to do before getting started. I then need to research theories in a lot more detail and link this to my school experience.
Now is a good time to point out that theories are something I really struggle with as I am a practical learner and so find it hard to understand theories from the likes of Piaget and Bruner.
Still it looks like my Christmas will now be dominated by those names as I make a start on understanding what they have to say. My theory being it will be a lot easier to do this now than during my teaching practice next term.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Blogs are back up and running :)


After a week of internet troubles I have finally got everything fixed and can blog again! And what's even better is that it is now the Christmas holidays on my course so I am getting the reward of all the hard work during the term.
It has no doubt been the hardest couple of months I have ever had but I feel like I have come out of it a much improved teacher and so all the long days seem to have paid off.
The big news from the past week is that I have officially passed TP1 and assignment three! I had my review day yesterday and didn't get any cause for concerns which is a massive worry off my back. I didn't think I was failing but with 33 QTS skills I wasn't sure if I would be on task on every single one of them. I also had a positive evaluation with lots of constructive ways for me to improve, which I will be taking forward into my next placement in January.
But as for now, it is a hard-earnt three weeks break for me with just light reading to complete before I return to school in the first week of next year.
Well done to everyone on a PGCE who has got this far and I would just like to wish good luck to all those who have reviews and hand-ins this week.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

The home stretch

It really does feel like the home stretch now - I have nearly made it through term 1!
It has been a hard slog but all the tough work is now over and it is putting everything together, ready for my review day on Monday.
I only have one more observed lesson to get through (which is already planned) and two days of observing Year 1 and I can completely relax and enjoy Christmas.
The really nice thing is that the workload is almost non-existant over the holidays, which is a huge reward for what has been put in this term.
It will mean I can use the time firstly to relax but also to look up educational books which I believe will actually help me, rather than being told which course books to read. Now all I have to do is get on Amazon and order some for holiday reading.
The main book I am after is one of PE as that will be my specialist subject and I want to read up a lot more on it. If anybody has any suggestions that would be great!

Thursday 1 December 2011

Catching up with the work

After weeks of hanging on in there I feel like I am slowly beginning to make headway in the stacks of work we have to do.
I have just handing in a draft of my assignment three and completed an observed lesson - two massive worries I have had all week.
Now all I have to do is get through another observation tomorrow and it is relatively plain sailing.
I still need to catch up on weeks of reading but compared to the last few weeks that should be a walk in the park