Two Weeks Already Passed

A full second week has passed and it passed with so much going on that tired doesn’t cover how I feel. My first day, observing which I have already written about, was followed by a full-on day on PGCE. A day full of overwhelming, information overload. It was the first day where I really thought ‘can I do this?’ I had to give it time however, to sink in and remember that time is short, only 9 months but that is enough to do this or else no one would do it, right?

I understand that my biggest burden to myself would be working weekends so being aware of the workload in advance could be beneficial. So far I feel that I have been able to keep on top of things (even though a part of me feels we haven’t even begun in earnest) and though I feel tired; it is all new and it will take time to get used to a new routine.

With my worries back under control I got on with shadowing.

The BA students were my next class and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them, noticing a clear difference between them and the other classes I had shadowed. I did expect this though as there is a large step educationally, between the classes and the maturity that comes with being on a BA differs greatly.

My final shadowing class was perhaps one of the more interesting ones, a mixed group of students only a year or so from going to university (if that is what they choose) and I was yet again surprised at the level of ability, some students were still on about needing to pass Maths and or English and tasks and knowledge I would have expected them to be able to do or know were beyond them. There were some students that did try and you could see that they wanted to try however there were others that were clearly the type that does as little work as possible even though if they tried just a little they could probably achieve quite well. It is these students that I feel shadowing will help me understand as it is often these students which are the most tasking.

This coming week sees more shadowing and then the scary stuff happens, then I have to start teaching. I’ve been assured we start with co-teaching before we take on a class alone so there should be nothing to panic about… apart from the eight assignments, lesson planning, reading, shadowing and learning how to be a teacher stuff… nothing to panic about at all.