Here comes the breakdown!...

Week 14/18/10/2013

 

This week has been quite a challenge, and to be honest I was ready to give up with the teaching career...

 

Right then, had the first day in the classroom, not in the classroom at college but at my placement. On Thursday this week, was my first day of real life teaching on the entry level. This group consists of learners with learning difficulties.  The lesson was on the benefits of routines for young children. I must say I was fully prepared, all my planning and resources were ready, and I was quietly confident. I spent nearly all week planning and looking for different ways to make my lesson more interactive. Before I took the lesson, obviously I had to talk to the tutor of this group, and we went through different ways to keep these learners more actively involved as they prefer more practical activities.

 

Well when I walked in class, I was scared stiff, I started off feeling nervous but gained my confidence as the time went on. I followed everything on my lesson plan but somehow it got really difficult. Learners found it difficult to participate in class discussion, they found question and answer tasks to be challenging and boring. Now do not get me wrong but when I realised that everything was not going as planned, all I wanted to do was to finish the lesson as quickly as I could. I got so nervous and even forget what I was actually doing.  Anyway I managed to finish the lesson and honestly I felt terrible. I did not feel good at all and to be honest I did not achieve very much.

I spoke to the class teacher afterwards, who was there watching me ( not observing), which honestly did not help with my confidence at all, because I kept thinking ' ooh my world I'm doing it all wrong?'. Anyway talking to this teacher, it came out that I need to have more practical activities, and keep learners on task all the time.

 

Therefore with this teaching experience I have realised that discussion activities is not entry's cup of tea, they have not got the ability to sit and discuss things. They need more hands on activities. I was so shocked when I learned that these learners have got complex needs, and because of this I will have to accommodate their needs in my lessons, which is not an easy task to do. I have never taught learners with learning difficulties before, and this came as a shock to me, because I did not expect to be this difficult. Although I am ready for the challenge and I know this  actually might be a good experience, I must admit that I am bit nervous about the next lesson. I do not know how I will manage it.

 

Although I had a bad day on Thursday, On Friday, I did my second mini teach, which was a success. The topic was active listening . I am so glad that my group is so supportive because I had some very good feedback, which I hope they will really help me to improve my teaching skills.

 

All in all this week has been pretty intense with loads to take in and lots to do. I'm glad it is nearly half term, hopefully I will have a nice break.

My first ever PGCE mini teach... :) 05/10/2013

 

So far I have enjoyed watching others teach,  I am a very nervous about it, I keep telling myself, it will be fine because it is not only me, everyone is doing it, so basically everyone is going through the same feelings I have now.. but if that is the case why am I still nervous?

 

 I have got a mini teach to do on Monday. It is going to be a 20 minutes presentation. It is supposed to be something on my hobby, but when I thought about it, I couldn't really work out what was my hobby. So I  ended up doing a presentation about Tanzania. Well,  it is something I know well and I do it regularly, so I hope that people will find it interesting,

Preparing this mini teach was hard work especially when I had to have a lesson plan and a rationale which took me ages to finish.

 

I am actually looking forward to doing my mini teach, I am sure it will help me get ready for when I come to take a lesson in my placemat, which is not that far :(

 

Bring it on Monday!!!

I did it!..

 

7/10-11/10

 

This week has been great. busy but great! I did my first mini teach on Tanzania, and it went down really well. I was so nervous and worried about my chosen topic. However I must admit after reading my feedback, I realised that I was not that bad after all, because  I had some really good feedback from both my tutor and peer students. One of the things that I have learnt from my mini teach, is how important it is to use a variety of activities. For example in my mini teach I included activities which incorporated visual and auditory learning styles. This went down very well because it meant that I was able to meet some of the learners learning preferences.

 

I am so grateful for the feedback I have had from my mini teach, because this will definitely help when I come to do my lessons next week. This is going to be a challenge because It is going to be my first time taking a class full of teenagers. I keep worrying that something will go wrong, but again I must say that I am up for the challenge!

 

 

I have really enjoyed this week, I hope it will be the same for next week..

Observations...


I Love watching other people, especially if they have got a really nice way of doing things because I think then I can pick up and kind of take away part of that teacher...

observation is an important part of learning..

This week I had an opportunity to observe two tutors, one from specialised subject and the other one from the Education studies department.  I must say I was so amazed by how these two different tutors managed to keep their lessons s interesting, but I guess they have done this so many times so it has become like second nature to them.

Watching others doing something is great, but when it comes to other people watching me do the teaching, I do not think if is as enjoyable as it is when I watch others. 



 

To do list..

Things are starting to get pretty serious.. Very serious

I cannot believe how much I have got to do before I finish this module. it is quite scary and yet a bit exciting because I like keeping myself busy.. Now here is what I have got to do:

• Finish my 500 word essay
• Plan from my second mii teach
• Arrange my PTLLS file
• Complete a numeracy test
• Plan my ever first lessons for my entry level and level 3 students
•  

The list goes on but I will just leave it there for now..

When I began to reflect on my first two weeks on the PGCE programme, I found it difficult to condense all my learning experiences, therefore I have chosen to be focusing mainly on the things that I feel have the largest effect on my own learning and teaching.

This week has been quite busy, with me doing my observation, trying to get my PTLLS file sorted and doing my lesson plans. However one thing that I feel I have learnt from this week's lessons, is how important are lesson plans, aims and objectives. It is not like I have never heard of these things before, but It is just that I never really thought they were that crucial and difficult too. Our tutors are really good, they have given us a lot of information to look at, which will definitely help in developing my skills in lesson planning.

Although this week have been as intense as expected, with support of my tutor, I believe I will continue to enjoy the course over the coming few months.  there is quite a certain sense of achievement when leaving college every Monday and Fridays knowing I have learnt numerous techniques for both teaching and improving my subject knowledge, which makes me even more excited for a career in teaching.

More to come soon...