Teach First OFFICIAL Application / Assessment Centre thread

Hey everyone, 3 days ago I got my offer for English (yay!). How long did it take for them to send you your SKA? I haven't received mine yet.

Thanks!

Hey guys, just submited my ska and it says 'locked for submission' when the guidence document says it should say 'awaiting review'. Have i done the right thing? x

I went over the 2500 word limit, but I spoke to someone and they said as long as the site doesn't cut you off your fine, but you wont know until you submit it. Think my whole thing came to around 3000 ish words, good 1800 were the first question. They asked me to explain more about the gaps in my knowledge regarding British history at Key stage 3 and how I would go about fixing that. Found the whole thing rather silly, particularly question 1, I massively bull****ted that entire thing.

I was asked to update mine in the same way. I've been asked to explain more about the gaps in my knowledge of british history and how I would fix it. And I was also told to refer to specific books that I would use to rectify this. What kind of thing did you say you would do and what books did you say you would look at? I agree its really silly.

any advice you've got would be great though.

cheers

Hey i have an assessment on the 18th September! I was quite worried about the gap between now and the actual assessment so glad to hear someone else is in the same boat! What subject are you hoping to teach?

I was asked to update mine in the same way. I've been asked to explain more about the gaps in my knowledge of british history and how I would fix it. And I was also told to refer to specific books that I would use to rectify this. What kind of thing did you say you would do and what books did you say you would look at? I agree its really silly.

any advice you've got would be great though.

cheers

I never mentioned books at all. I said, that I would take courses in British history at uni. I've only just finished my second year, and i'm deferring for my year abroad, so I don't start till 2014, so I said i'd take courses next year, and in final year. I basically said I know no British History, which is true as far as domestic history goes anyway. She only wanted it in relation to KS3 anyway, so I went through all the aspects of it, and just explained that I understood basic aspects of each one, but that in order to improve my knowledge i'd have to learn about x and learn about y etc. Overall though, I just said further reading, advice from other students, and taking courses at uni.

Thanks, thats really helpful. When you added in the parts that you knew about and didn't know about, where did you add them in? did you alter what you had put down in the questions where they ask you what your 5 strongest and weakest areas are, or was it just in the action plan in the 5th question that you added in the updated info that they asked you for?
Sorry for all the questions, it just seems a bit vague that they put the feedback at the top of the page and not specific to any particular answer.
Really appreciate your help.
Cheers

Hi,

I've got a Teach First AC next week for Maths, but the part that's worrying me is the SKA as I've not heard any news of what is involved in the Maths version. Could anybody help?

Also, did anybody do a powerpoint in their 7-min lesson? I've been told there won't be a projector, is that a deterrent to anybody wanting to go down this path?

Thanks

So I got rejected post-application. Have to say, I'm pretty confused. I have straight A/A* at GCSE, AABB at A-level and predicted a high 2.1 or maybe even a First for my degree. Three and a half years of non school related work experience in the UK and six months abroad, and three separate school related placements (two in what Teach First would call challenging schools and one of which lasted a year). Not really sure what else I could have done really, considering I know people who have got through to the assessment centre with worse academics and never having had a job or any major extra curriculars. Sigh.

I accept their decision and clearly they were just looking for something else. I could understand if I'd been rejected post assessment centre if the interview went badly or I wasn't good at the tasks, but I don't really see what I could have done to make my paper application any stronger.

Hi everyone I have an assessment centre next week, I want to teach English. I'm quite worried about the 7 minute lesson as the titles seem fairly vague - does anyone have any tips on how best to approach teaching the 7 minute lesson?