Grand Day Out - Coming soon

Its official lol

BTW this ticket is reserved for a good friend who will be cheering me on throughout .. picture will be sure to follow - not that I am sure you are ready for that lol

Roles of a Professional Teacher

I had to come up with a presentation on the roles of  a professional teacher and I started with one of my favourite quotes - who can't help think of Socrates as influencing modern day thinking..

 

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher, 470 BC-399 BC)

Then I gave them what a teacher is

• Coach
• Mentor
• Guide
• Entertainer
• Authoritative
• Assessor
• Friend
• Negotiator
• Manager
• Time Keeper

Before finishing with what characteristics/skills a teacher needs

• Patience
• Strength
• Knowledge
• Respect
• Boundaries
• Support
• Discipline
• Management/Admin Skills
• Sense of Humour
• Understanding

 
Before summing up with a metaphor of a teacher
 

October Dawns

The dawns are happening later and later, the nights are drawing in and the mists are more frequent. I don't mind, the side benefit is the glorious golds and reds in the fields and trees. Saturday saw me go with SOH over to HMS Seahawk (or Culdrose to the uninitiated) to watch him referee the navy boys against a local village.

It is nice over there as their clubhouse is open, so I was warm, dry and comfortable and had the space to lay out my paperwork and crack on with some college work. Culdrose drew 1 all with the other team, but were not the politest team on the pitch.

Me, I enjoyed a cup of coffee, while watching from afar (which suits me) I prefer rugby and hope to see some more local teams playing this season. When we got home, we watched the very disappointing England's performance (or lack of it) against France, and enjoyed a chinese take-away for tea.

A good day, was had by all... shame then that Sunday the Sun didn't make an appearance we had misty weather pretty much all day, but I was busy downloading audio books onto many mp3 players ready for holiday which is fast approaching.

We have finally taken the cage down, which has been Jasper's home since day one. He now has a plastic dogbed with his quilt in it and he accepts it as his new bed, although he would prefer to sleep upstairs with the rest of us.. Sadly for him, as he can't stay still for more than 5 mins... can a dog suffer from adhd? .... he gets to sleep downstairs in his posh new pad but finally I could hoover up all the loose dog hair hiding behind the cage. We are now in the process of selling the cage which has done us proud over the past year and a half.

It's Done

I finally submitted the assignment for the first quarter of the course along with my fellow students this evening we gave a huge sigh of relief.

None of us are quite sure how we have done, and even if we have managed to interpret the requirements correctly as it all seemed to be a bit of a muddle about what was expected and by when. It didn't help when we had all the bad weather at the beginning of December as that made everything on the timetable go out by a week.

I will admit to not putting as much time on the assignments as I could have done over the Christmas period and I am pledging right here, right now, that I won't do the same thing for this assignment.

I think it will help that I am going to be exploring an issue involving e-learning which is my background prior to my current job I was employed as an e-learning officer providing both technical support and knowledge to lecturers.

Thanks

Thank you for all your good wishes, yesterday's session went really well. The feedback was good and in parts very good with a few constructive comments on what I could do better.

I apparently am very aware of the need to maintain personal space between me and my students and consistently ensured that the appropriate amount of space was maintained and I was blissfully unaware of it.

I enjoyed the hour session, and tried not to be too aware of the Tutor's presence in the room, and it passed by so quickly that I was concerned we wouldn't be able to complete the task but to my relief we did and with a few minutes to spare.

Just have to write up a microteach, I have two to do in a relatively short period of time, one on a subject of my choosing and the other on the acquisition of language... hmmm

PGCE - What it means

I am lucky to get on the PGCert, as you need to be teaching in some capacity in order to qualify and generally in order to get teaching you need to be qualified.. Hmmm chicken and egg syndrome I think.

I have been requested to put a bit more in about the PGCert (or the lesser but similar qualification if you don't already have a degree CertEd). It will qualify me to teach at Further Education (FE) level, rather than at a school level and appeals to me as most people wanting to do further education actually want to do it rather than being forced by their situation to do it.

So how to get teaching, well you can request voluntary teaching to count, a minimum of 150 hours over the 2 years it will take to complete the course is the absolute minimum but that works out to 3 hours a week. Can be a mixture of group sessions and one to one tutoring sessions as well as an additional 50 hours of supported teaching admin - Meetings, CPD etc.


The interview was straightforward, asked about speciality and what you would teach. Luckily again I have years of experience of IT as well as a current role in teaching literacy and numeracy all important to add to your application. A couple of references as to your suitability go down well particularly if they are from academics rather than personal friends as it adds weight to your application.


"If you already have a degree, consider a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). A PGCE course mainly focuses on developing your teaching skills, and not on the subject you intend to teach. For this reason, you are expected to have a good understanding of your chosen subject(s) – usually to degree level – before you start training" TDA Site 

Finally, there are distance options as well as classes. I have done a lot of distance learning and while I can recommend it, nothing like a class focuses the mind on the subject and the four hours on a Monday night go by incredibly quickly. I come home shattered after a 16 hour day and my mind is about as focussed as a flattened hedgehog but I recover very quickly the following day and have the good sense not to book too early an appointment.

So if after this you still have a burning desire to teach, check out who in your local area offers the Initial Teacher Training Programme as they will also offer the PGCert or CertEd.

Autumnal Mornings

Monday nights are college nights, I have to be up early Monday 6am to take Murphy out then leave at around 7.20am for the office in Truro (in order to get a space to park), then work through until about 4pm setting up appoitments during the week.

At 5pm the course starts, I am doing a PGCE, which will qualify me for teaching officially (at the moment I am a trainee). This finishes at 9pm when I get to get home and I am usually past the point of being tired. My brain is screaming overload, my stomach gave up long ago the hope of being fed anything but snackfood. I do take sandwiches, but somehow they lose their appeal along the way. I want more drink than anything else.

Final job is to make the lunchboxes for tomorrow, on autopilot, but anything goes. I am trying to keep Tuesday mornings free as a break from the grind on Mondays but Murphy still wants to get up and go out in the mornings early so we get to see the sun rise and it has been absolutely glorious display of autumnul sunshine through the mist.

Murphy has been released from his cage during the day, instead he behaves himself immpeccably and has the choice of two beds, one downstairs and one upstairs. He has a couple of chews and toys to play with and gets to go outside before I get home each day.