As I finish work for the holidays, having handed in my notice ready to start my first college position in January, I thought I’d take this opportunity to look back at the year and reflect on the highs and lows and everything that I’ve achieved.
Decemeber 2010
This time last year I was looking forward to starting a PGCE placement at the Leeds College of Building where I was expecting to teach Functional Skills in Maths, English and ICT. At this point in the year I thought I might end up working an ICT Tutor as I’ve always had a keen interest in e-learning and computers however it turned out that apart from two classes I never really taught ICT. This probally turned out to be a good thing as I had forgotten nearly everything that I had learnt about databases and spreadsheets from when I was at college. Apart from the odd math’s class I spent most of the year teaching Functional Skills English which was a struggle to start with as I’d just been diagnosed with dyslexia so my confidence in my English language skills and my own expectations of my ability to teach the subject was at an all time low. However with a bit of practice and an inspirational mentor these feelings soon vanished and I began to love being infront of a class .
Febrauary 2011
I originally registered Gemma Teaches in 2010 with the intentions of using it as a reflective blog for my PGCE placements. However blogging in that capacity didn’t really take off as I wasn’t truely comfortable with sharing my teaching highs and lows at such an early stage in my career. February 2011 saw ‘Gemma Teaches’ reborn as a lesson ideas/resource sharing blog. My first post Cranberry Flashcards descirbed a free electronic flashcards generator and contained ideas for using the software with your students.
Later in the month I attended an interview for a CELTA course as I knew the job market was going to be tough and I wanted to increase my qualifications in order to give myself the best possible chance of gaining full time employment at the end of my PGCE. As part of the interview I was asked to produce a five minute lesson and teach this to the rest of the interview group. This provided the inspiration for my second blog post Celta Interview Teaching Task – Descriptive Writing. I was sucessful in gaining a place on the course for July but was unabled to attended as I started a full time teaching position before the course began.
April 2011
In April I completed my PGCE placement and was coming to the end of the course. I began attending interviews for my first full time teaching post and two interviews later I secured my first position.
During my PGCE I developed one of my favourite lessons ideas, ‘Teaching writing skills using popular films‘. I have used regulary throughout the year with great sucess.. Other popular lesson ideas are listed below:
Band Night – an ICT and English based lesson
June 2011
In June I started my first full time teaching position, teaching Functional Skills Maths and English to disaffected 16-19 year olds at a training provider in Doncaster. However, as the centre was brand new and there was a lot of competition in the area, by August I had been moved to their Rotherham branch and began teaching literacy and numeracy to unemployed adults. Teaching this age group was at first out of my comfort zone as I had never developed an interest in teaching adults however as I began to settle into the role I began to appreciate the differences between teaching young people and adults. The adults actually wanted to be there and would get on diligantly with their work without any fuss or aggrevation. On the other hand the young people at the centre had already been kicked out of school and college and behaviour management was a constant battle. I’m glad I only occasionally had to cover the odd foundation class.
A few of my favourite blog posts to come out of my role at Rotherham were:
Focusing on the positives – a lesson designed to increase the self-esteem and confidence of your learners
My favourite piece of kit – ideas for using post-it notes
On your mark, get set, go – a reading comprehension game
September 2011
After the summer break I returned to university to study a part time MSc in Multimedia and E-learning. During the first semester I have been introducted to a wide variety of e-learning software including the assessment web sites Lino It and Answer Garden. A comprehensive list of the software and technologies that have been shared through the year can be accessed on my ‘Teach Meet’ post.
November 2011
In November I graduated from the PGCE.
December 2011
After six months in my current role I felt ready for a new challange. Two applications later (two seems to be my lucky number with jobs) I was invited to my first interview and I was lucky enough to secure the post. After completing my notice period January will see me start a position as a Tutorial Learning Mentor at Barnsley College. Alongside teaching studies skills I will be supportng students to overcome barriers to learning and supporting them inorder to succeed with their A Levels. In preperation for this post I have already started a new Diigo site where I have bookmarked useful study skills websites including sites containing tips for writing reports and essays. As well as sharing this site with my students I might analyse the effectivness of bookmarking as a study tool for the research project that I need to complete next year as part of the MSc.
2011 has seen a lot of changes and I’m sure 2012 will be just as interesting. As the new year approaches I am looking forward to continuing on my journey as an eduactor and wonder what the year will have install for me? Hopefully I will be able to keep you all updated through this blog as I have really enjoyed communicating and sharing my ideas with you all. I hope you have had as much enjoyment reading my posts as I have had writing them for you.
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