Welcome Back!

It has been well over a year since my last post and without boring you with the details, I have been extremely busy with my degree, final placement, and life in general, leaving me with lots to update you on. Having already completed all of my assignments, today marked my final day at University with my Personal Development Profile for my Qualified Teacher Status being signed off by my tutor.

The past three years have been such a whirlwind and I’m glad I took to using this blog to document the parts I found most important. Over the next few weeks I intend to update this blog with all of the things I have missed to date so be sure to keep an eye out!

I’m really grateful for those of you who have already reached out to connect with me and I would appreciate it if you could like this post if you have enjoyed it (and look forward to the next!) and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

My Second Placement is Almost Over!

Just as it had so quickly begun, it is now coming to an end. My second teaching placement. I have finished most of my assignments now (not as well as I would have liked but I am pleased with them nevertheless), I have my Maths exam coming up, and one final module assignment. It is fantastic for me to be able to share with you that I have passed my second teaching placement “with flying colours”, and I have loved every second of it.

I went into my placement alone this time (I was placed in a pair last year), and somewhat doubting myself and my presence after not teaching for a while. I needn’t have worried, the staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and I wasn’t too rusty in the classroom!

One way I feel I quickly asserted my presence in the classroom was through learning names. I was able to praise and correct behaviour through addressing each child personally which they respected and appreciated. The children were all fantastic, and the school itself wasvery good. Standards are high and the entire school ethos benefits the children and the staff making it a lovely, motivating, encouraging environment to be placed in.

The planning, marking and teaching was just as I remember and the feeling when you see the children progress and that you make a difference will never get old. I have attended parents evening, a football tournament, the Race for Life event, the Easter Service, and a residential trip. I have offered my support for a future school trip with my current year group later on in the year.

My observations and feedback has all been really positive and motivating. The class teacher is fantastic and despite being so busy with multiple other responsibilities always makes sure she spends the necessary time with me and supports me. The headteacher is just as caring and considerate, as are many of the staff.

It has cost me a small fortune to buy all of the teacher’s and children’s gifts, but will definitely be worth it! Especially for my class teacher considering all she has done for me. As always I will struggle to leave not knowing where the children will progress to or where they will go in life, but that’s just something I’ll have to get used to!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me or to comment on this post, I would love to help out.

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Observations

I am lucky enough to be able to share with you my experiences of observations, one of which is positive, another not so much. I think it’s beneficial for me to able to look back on both of them and for me to build on myself and how I respond to feedback constructively. It also will give you an idea of what to expect from your observations whilst on a Primary Education (with QTS) course. All Universities will go through the process and layout differently, however again I can give a rough guide as to expectations.

Two of my observations were carried out by the Class Teacher on our placement-the commuicatiion between all of us was very effective and easy and so giving and recieving feedback was a positive constructive experience. From my perspective, being observed bvy the Class Teacher is also best because they know their class and the style in which they are taught.

On the other hand, the external observations from our University Tutor for that same reason, were difficult to take feedback from. In some ways we found ourselves justifying why we disagreed with the feedback because the UT didn’t know the class or how they responded behaviourally. In others, we realised that although we didn’t necessarily agree with the way it was expressed to us, that all of the facts were still true if we were to have taught the lesson to a different class in a different school. We did however feel like some of our feedback was entirely negative with no positives despite the positives being passed on seperately to our CT who just so happened to relay this information to us. But yet again I have to counterargue in that when we are qualified or in future placements, we must get used to being more robust and receptive when it comes to feedback from external sources, and for that, we found ourselves growing professionally.

In terms of what was observed in our first year, there was not much expected of us. The idea was for us to get used to the environment and what the job partially entails to see whether it was right for us. We were expected to be able to put into practice our behaviour management, our ability to plan effective and creative lessons, and to assess.

Each time we were observed against the Teachers’ Standards and the feedback is all very useful in terms of how to move forward not only in that moment, but in future placements and classes.

Having so much time in your class before your observation and having a good line of communication with your Class Teacher can mean you are more comfortable when being observed because you’ve already had the opportunity to iron out any creases.

I wish you all the best with any observations you may have!

My First Placement

 

I am fast approaching the end of my first placement, and I couldn’t be more devastated. I have adored every minute and I could not have asked for a better class, class teacher, or partner to be on my placement with.

The school itself is a Church of England school and it is heartwarming to see so many children getting involved-including those from different faiths. I couldn’t be more pleased to see that none of the parents excluded their children from the RE or worship lessons, it really gave the school a unified, diverse feel. The behaviour of the children is impeccable, and the staff are fantastic. My first impression of the headteacher really set the tone for my whole placement, never before have I seen such an active role being taken, even down to menial tasks such as photocopying. I sense genuine passion from the headteacher and being a part of the school for two months made it clear to me that this filtered down to all members of staff. I also have to commend the teaching assistants, the work they do goes above and beyond any other assistants I have seen-they are truly invaluable to the school and their classes.

As for the other student I was on my placement with, I couldn’t have wished for better. It is so lovely to feel so comfortable in a school with a person just as eager as you are to do the best for the children and to bounce creative ideas off. We discussed everything from the education system, politics, Pinterest, and our love for what we are going into. Having somebody beside you to split the workload, offer help any and every time and to be happy to do the same for them is really great, especially on your first placement.

The children come from a variety of different backgrounds and I feel privileged to have been a part of their education even if only for a short time. Their personalities are absolutely at their peak and no two children are the same. If I could give any advice with regards to the children it would definitely be to talk with them and really get to know them-this helps when it comes to guiding their behaviour, knowing how to engage them in class, and where to place them in mixed ability groups to benefit everybody.

My placement has taught me a lot about different children, my opinions on the education system, what to expect from a great school, and most importantly myself. I have found what I am supposed to be doing, and I have found my purpose. If you have read my previous posts you will see that I have recently rejoined my long desired path of teaching, and following my heart was the best thing I have ever done. I could never imagine loving or finding another job as much as I do this one. I’ll be honest when I’m lying in my warm, comfy bed I remember how much I hate early mornings, but as soon as I’m on my way to school I am filled with nothing but excitement and positivity thinking of what the day will bring.

If you have any feelings/stories from your own placement or teaching experience or have any questions please feel free to message me privately or comment. Feel free to follow my blog, and my various social media accounts: TES, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.

In my next post I will be discussing cheap and easy gifts to make or buy for your 30 surrogate children for the end of the year, and gifts for teachers/teaching assistants as a thank you (if you’re a student teacher).

End of Term!

We’ve reached the Easter Holidays and I have officially finished my pre-placement. After we return for the start of the new term we begin our block placement and teaching one lesson a day.

First and foremost I’d just like to make a point of how lucky I am to have been placed with somebody so similar to myself and that’s so easy to work with and as enthusiastic as I am. This will only make it all the more easy when it comes to having to teach and having her as my TA and vice versa when she teaches.

I’m also glad that we don’t have a perfect class, but we also don’t have a class that is off the chart with bad behaviour. It gives the right balance to be able to thoroughly enjoy the class and every single one of their personalities, whilst at the same time having the opportunity to practise behaviour management. My only slight issue with that is due to the intelligence of some of the children in that it is very hard not to make a comment relating to behaviour, and be met with smart answers which draws me in to having a conversation and argument almost with them. I need to take time to stand back, remember my role, and not put myself in that position-I’m just grateful that I’m seeing and learning this now in my first placement to make changes.

We will soon be receiving the Class Teacher’s medium-term plan for this first upcoming summer term after which we can adapt those plans to implement different techniques and styles of our own for us to use to teach. I begin by taking all of the Literacy sessions, whilst my partner takes the Numeracy lessons (both in the morning), and in the second week we switch. It will be quite nice to have all of those lessons each day for the whole week for us to be able to see the progression and the start and end of a topic that we have taught and developed with them (also giving the perfect circumstances for us to assess their learning, as well as our performance).

We have had targets set already based on the teaching standards, and have been filling in a School Based Training Booklet filling out practical information with regards to the school (health and safety, safeguarding policies etc.), observations of lessons and weekly review sheets that need to be filled in when we begin our block placement. It’s all fairly straight forward and once you know what you’re doing and are familiar with the booklet it doesn’t take a lot of time to fill in. We’re also gathering as many worksheets, resources, lesson plans, and pictures of wall displays as we can to put into our PDP folder (Personal Development Profile) that contributes to our final QTS at the end of the three years. We’ve been lucky enough to have had an incredibly helpful Class Teacher who has helped us with everything we need, as well as arranging a variety of teachers and year groups for us to observe. So far, we have observed a Nursery class (although there wasn’t much observing being done, it was more a practical morning to say the least),  a Year 2, 3, 5, and a Year 6 class, all of which were incredibly beneficial in terms of how to teach children of different ages and abilities, as well as behaviour management.

Overall, I have had an incredible two weeks, and I could not have asked for a better experience. I am thoroughly embracing the two weeks off already, but I can’t help but find myself missing the class and wondering what they’re doing. It is rather strange to go from being around 30 children 5 days a week to all of a sudden not have any idea what they’re doing or how they’re getting on for two weeks. And I have no idea what I’m going to do when we finish our placement. It wouldn’t be possible to keep in touch in any way nor would it entirely be appropriate, but it is an incredibly hard pill to swallow thinking of a time when I will have spent so much time with those children and watched them develop and progress, and to never know how they get on or what they grow up to do or be like. I guess that’s something I’ll have to adjust to, and hope that during my teaching career at least a few reach out again to give me some solace.

If you have enjoyed reading this post please like/comment and follow my blog to keep up with my teaching journey! 🙂

 

Placement: Day 1

I feel really lucky to have such a lovely class to be placed with and such wonderful supportive teachers and senior management. As I’m sure you can gather my first day went excellently, and I could not have asked for better. It is beyond intriguing to see what the children of today are expected to, and do know, and it excels almost everything I was taught at school over ten years ago. The children keep up tremendously and in particular their desire and enjoyment of reading is thoroughly uplifting, and it really does translate into their writing.

Today had a primarily literacy focus in order to finish a piece of extensive writing to be completed for the term to meet the school requirements. It was so lovely to see the children not only completing their work, but also editing it, and following on and responding to the comments that had previously been written by their class teacher.

One tough area was the seating arrangements in that some of the children, one pair of children in particular could be very distracting with one another in terms of diverting from the task, however in the same token they were very intelligent and complemented each other well in terms of producing high quality work. To split them up would solve the issue of distraction, however the benefits of the support they give each other far outweigh the issue of them being seated together.

I look forward to trying to get involved with after school clubs and the beginning of a parent’s evening in the near future should the circumstances allow, in an attempt to try to get as much experience of all aspects of the primary education as possible.

I intend to update this blog every few days, however should it be the case that there are not enough points for discussion, I will simply write a post at the end of the week.

Please feel free to like this post, join the discussion in the comments, and follow me!

FINALLY!

I am so happy to finally be getting on track with keeping this blog active!

Unfortunately the situation didn’t fix itself, I had to ring again this morning myself to enquire, and this time I went via the School of Education within Birmingham City University.

I’d like to run you through what happened previously, I enquired 7 months ago about switching my course via an internal transfer from Law to Primary Education. This was all going fine, I was told what I needed to do in terms of a DBS check, and work experience. I eventually got myself a placement (and absolutely loved it) you can read all about that placement here. I sent off my DBS check, had my interview and was successful, passed my Professional Skills Test, had it all sorted, and at that point was told I’d done all I needed to do, and to wait to hear in July for some information.

July came…and passed, without hearing anything. So I emailed again, and was told that because I stopped my law course, that they had placed me on ‘interruption’. I’m going to drag this out so that it’s easier to understand, for an internal transfer it makes sense that I must be enrolled on a current course to be able to be transferred, and due to leaving my course and accommodation, I was on interruption and therefore not enrolled. If I had been told this to begin with I could have been working on getting it sorted. I was offered a place formally via email and was told they would try to chase up the transfer. I heard nothing, through to the end of August at which point I emailed again. I got a response and was again told it would be handled-that was two weeks ago. So today I’d finally had enough, it was a lot to have hanging over me, University beginning in 2 weeks time and still not knowing where I stood. A lovely lady answered from the School of Education (who I’d not previously gone through), she sent me the welcome pack via the email, discussed the enrolment with me for the course on the day, and said she would sort the transfer for me. Considering this was the first bit of good and useful information I’d heard for a while I was extremely grateful to say the least!

And so I’ve reached this point. I have an information timetable to tell me what’s happening in the welcome week, where to go, how to enroll for the week beginning Monday 19th September. And fingers crossed all goes smoothly-however if it doesn’t, I’m sure the issue will get sorted a lot quicker when I’m sat holding up a long queue of those waiting to seamlessly enroll (sorry in advance!).

I foolishly used the term dates to work my holiday around, and so it turns out now the welcome week to enroll is a week prior to those dates, so I will miss 3 of the last days. But, as I have already confirmed with the lady I spoke to today, that’s fine. As long as I’m there for the first two, to enroll and to find out where I should be, and receive my timetable, then it will be okay. The rest of the days are simply to go through the information I already know from my first year (libraries, resources, help, etc).

It’s safe to say I am incredibly excited about beginning my course, getting my timetable, and finally being able to consistently update you!

I genuinely cannot wait to begin my learning journey and start on a path I’ve wanted to be on for a long time now.

So please feel free to like and follow this blog to keep up with everything I’m doing and experiencing 🙂

Transfer Update!

First things first, the transfer process is nothing even close to seamless. The uncertainty is my main issue with the lack of communication, if I was 100% sure that what was supposed to be being done, was being done, that would be fine by me. However, a part of me constantly feels like I’m chasing things up and trying to fill in my own blanks.

I’ve still received nothing from the University about my transfer in the post. Since my last post I’ve emailed my Programme Director I think is the name they gave her, to ask where everything was up to. I got a reply eventually stating that everything was moving as it should be in the background, and that the Law course had communicated with the Education course to ensure a transfer. However, I was also told in that same email that I would receive confirmation of this in the post in July. I was emailed in June, so thought maybe it would arrive in the middle of July. It turns out I waited throughout July, right up until the very end, and now of course we’re in August. Today I have emailed again just to check that they have the correct address and to check the progress on everything.

I’m put in a difficult position really as I’m desperately waiting to begin my course and share my experiences and opinions with you all, but I cannot begin that until late September. In the same aspect, I want to be able to give you information on transferring courses and the rough process that takes place, however due to the lack of communication I’m receiving, I’m struggling to do that also!

So for all followers and potential future followers, please bare with me as best you can, and I hope to have something a little more interesting with you very soon.

Sending lots of love!

Mental Health and Primary School Children

First and foremost, I would like to give a small introduction to open this article to abolish any misconceptions you may have about this post. No, I do not believe we should ‘quickly label’ or diagnose children who simply appear to be behaving differently; no, I do not think that the fault is on the parents, nor do I think anybody is to ‘blame’. Mental health should not be written off as something you just have to ‘fix’, or that the problem needs to be entirely eradicated. Sometimes it’s as easy as providing children with coping mechanisms.

Certain mind-sets of adults can be very narrow, whether it is intentional, or indeed unintentional. You may have sat and said to yourself ‘what kind of mental health issues can a 7-11 year old really have?” and it’s so easy to forget so many important things. As an adult, mental health can in some cases be linked to situational factors, such as finances, relationships, work etc. I am very aware that in some cases there is no real reason for somebody becoming depressed or having any other mental illnesses that can be caused by a ‘malfunction’ of the brain, and its chemicals and functions. However, I for this particular article would like to consider the causational mental health issues.

I’d like to take you back to why I even came across such a topic, and it all stems from my Primary Education with QTS interview (which you can see below); we were asked to choose a current educational issue to discuss, and this was what I had chosen. A lot of things I subsequently read about showed me just how much I’d forgotten about the impact of certain issues for children at such a precious and impressionable age; a few examples of these are bereavement, divorce, and even moving house or school. We as adults get to a certain point whereby although we can be deeply affected by these same issues, we over time, have accumulated coping mechanisms and know that as devastating as anything is, we must continue and find a away through. Children can struggle with the same issues more than we do as adults because they simply have not learnt yet what to do with their emotions.

I know that the vast majority of parents and guardians pay a lot of attention to their child’s thoughts or feelings, but many people through their own business, grief, or displacement, unfortunately simply assume that their children will be okay or are coping. Just as I sit here and say that children don’t know how to deal with their emotions, they can also be unaware of how to show them at all. Should it be compulsory for you to cry or look sad when you’re upset before somebody notices? Should it be compulsory for you to shout and lash out if you’re angry before somebody notices? And the answers are of course no. Communicating appropriately with children is absolutely essential, and can not only help your child, but can help you to feel closer and more in touch with your child. Learning about the ways to do this, and how to do it effectively, is something that I am most definitely looking forward to at University.

It’s also worth thoroughly recognising that it is not unheard of for children to put on a façade to comfort their parents or guardians. Is your child really desperate to play that game now, or can they just see how stressed or unhappy you are and are trying to comfort you? This would not seem so far fetched when we realise that that’s what we have taught them to do; When they are unhappy or upset we try to do anything we can to distract them and keep them happy. So is it so unusual to consider the idea that maybe they try to do the same for you? And so I think its very important that as teachers in a school, whereby our purpose is to teach and listen to children about their emotions and how they deal with things, to try to improve the mental health of our primary school children.

Statistics have shown that 1 in 5 children have issues surrounding mental health before the age of 11, and this statistic can be found in the following link, which will also give you a lot more information around the topic from a factual point of view: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/02/08/childrens-mental-health-week_n_9185014.html

Not only do I think it’s something very important to focus on, but I also think it’s very worthwhile making the figures known to everybody. It is an issue not greatly spoken about, and that unfortunately seems to go unnoticed to a certain extent. If nothing else, I would love for this article to have raised awareness of the potential of mental health issues for primary school children.

In other news, we’re reaching a time now where there is a slight ‘plateau’ shall we say, in the amount I will be posting. This is solely down to me waiting on more information about my course, hence the posts around general topics, much like this will be. Therefore I’d like to invite you now to comment or contact me personally if there is anything you would be interested in seeing on this blog.

My Primary Education with QTS Interview

24th March 2016

As soon as I had heard back from the primary school about getting some work experience with them, I could get back to the Admissions Team at Birmingham City University (BCU) about when I could attend an interview. My university was very accommodating and extremely helpful with the entire process. This post will tackle further the in’s and out’s of my interview. Needless to say I was very nervous about it! After my work experience and much serious though, I realised just how much I wanted to be a teacher.

As I was a ‘transfer’ for me to begin in September, I only had one interview at BCU. This was by choice; if you wanted to apply to different universities or if it’s your first application to university you would apply through UCAS. I was told in my pack to prepare me, to allow the whole day (from 9-4 roughly). The set up was intended to allow time for a Maths and English test, a personal interview, and a presentation of a book or an artefact.

I decided that I didn’t want to present a typical book and simply say I would use it in English. You can do that, it’s perfectly fine and is a good idea, however I wanted to do something a little different. I therefore chose to make an artefact to be used in science. I made a book from scratch using coloured paper and card, and stapled in some more coloured sheets. I’d used Word to create each page, the pages varied from a quick ‘label the diagram’ activity to refresh their knowledge, to information pages in between for them to write the new information, to a final page for them to self-assess. The last page asks them to think about one thing they had learn, and one thing they would like to look over again. The original diagram on the first page would have also been used in the middle of the lesson for the children to colour in to break up the lesson slightly and to keep their interest levels high. I chose to use card to make the book for my artefact to present, however, practically in a classroom a teacher would just use blank paper, and coloured paper for the front cover, and simply staple the pages together down the spine when they have been folded in half. I felt this would be something different for the children to do, and would be nice for them to have their own different section in their books, as the booklets could be stuck in. My artefact was related to plants and their parts and functions, and would be used in a Year 2 class.

The presentation itself was fairly casual, we were taken in smaller groups along with a tutor (making a total of four people in my group, not including myself). We sat around a table and simply had to show everybody our artefact or book, and cover the information that was requested in the interview preparation pack. We then passed it around the table so others could have a closer look and received feedback from the other prospective students. I’m not sure whether feedback was given in the other groups between each other, however I wanted to let the girl who had presented her book to the group just what a good idea and concept it was, and from there we all had an input in each others presentation. The other three girls had brought books, but were all very different and used in different ways.

The English test was simply a question on what our experiences had taught us about the education system and generally our reasoning for wanting to become teacher. The question was pre-set and was given to us before the day. Most of what I had to say was the way I felt, and what I had learnt from my experience, and therefore I didn’t really prepare anything beforehand, I had decided that would add an extra element of nervousness that wasn’t necessary. We were informed that our English test would contribute in someway to our application, and that on the other hand our Maths test would not. The idea behind the maths test was simply to establish what level we were at, and what kind of assistance (if any) we would need if we were to start a course there. The maths test was fairly easy, and covered some basic concepts such as amounts, money, area, and angles of triangles. But again, there is absolutely nothing to be nervous about.

The majority of this post is back to front really, so I’d just like to give you a quick overview of the day, in the correct order. To begin with when we arrived we were greeted at the door and asked to sign in and provide our details, along with proof of our qualifications. We were taken to a room, offered the usual tea and coffee, and sat until everyone had arrived, and were then given a presentation from the course leader all about the course and what would be happening for the rest of the day. After this, we were split into groups, presented our artefacts, and had our two tests (which, combined, took around an hour and a half).

After being led back to the room we were taken one by one by a member of staff to have our individual interview in their office. The lady I was paired with was lovely, and made me feel at ease straight away. Personally, I found my entire interview process very calm, casual, and friendly, which definitely helped to settle my nerves. We had already been given a list of questions to prepare for in our interview pack, including being prepared to discuss a current educational issue. I decided that I wanted mine to be something that wasn’t too obvious, and personal to me, and that was the mental health of children. I spoke about how I thought the mental health of primary school children was incredibly overlooked, and how more support should be given. Children have a way of making themselves seem care free and that they’re coping rather well, or start to behave in a certain way seemingly without reasons, and I think it’s important to try to recognise that there may be a problem that they have and that they simply don’t know how to properly express it yet. It is incredibly important that the mental health of children at a young age is supported, particularly surrounding issues such as family bereavement, divorce etc. Just because a parent or teacher feels that a child doesn’t know or isn’t aware of a situation, it is important to recognise that actually you may well have unintentionally overlooked the possibility that they might. The statistics were staggering and statistics show that 1 in 5 children have a mental health issue before the age of 11. When you consider that age range, and how many that equates to in a class of 30, or school of 250, the figure is worrying. I presented and discussed all of this with my interviewer and she seemed genuinely interested in my opinion and what I had found.

My interview finished, and that was the end of my day. I heard back within a week whether I had been offered a place or not, and the good news is I was, I was over the moon. Of course, the offer was conditional upon further health checks, and me passing my PST (which I later went on to do).

I am incredibly excited to receive more information about my course, and I can’t wait for it all to begin! Until I hear more from the University, my next few posts will be my opinions on various education-related topics. A few ideas I have are what to wear on a work experience placement in a school, why I chose to become a teacher, and an interesting discussion (or insight, if you like) into primary school children and their mental health. I welcome you to get lost in these personal posts, and give your opinion wherever you would like to, I would be very interested in hearing your points of view!