PGCE - Current Students Thread

Where did you teach and what teaching styles did your colleagues use, if you don't mind me asking. I'm working in ESL at the moment.


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I taught in South Korea, and I worked differently with each co-teacher. Although all of them were actually co-teachers, some of my friends had co-teachers who would just read a newspaper in the back of class and slap a kid round the head if they got too rowdy.

What do you mean by teaching styles? How we split the teaching? Who took responsibility for what? Or specific things that they did?

Ooh I start in a year 5 class on the 13th. So nervous! I'm repeating my first placement, and I'm hoping that because I already did 5 weeks the first time round I have a bit of a better idea what to expect this time, and it will be nice starting at 20% teaching and working my way up again. I was in year 2 last time and have zero ks2 experience so rather scared!

I guess as you're on your final placement you're responsible for most of the teaching. Could you maybe use the first lesson of a new unit to gauge where they are and then plan the rest from there?

Maybe try doing plenty of thinking and pair discussion during the whole class teaching part so you can get a good idea of their level of understanding before you send them off to do their independent work. Have you tried asking your mentor for ideas too?

How do you find behaviour management and attitudes with year 5? Do they still like stickers and pleasing the teacher or has that started to wear off? And if you don't mind me asking, what story books are you reading as a class? I'd like to read a couple before I start jsut to get an idea of what they enjoy, thanks! x

Thanks. I mean how you split the teaching. Did one teacher take the first half of the class and the other the second, or did you teach alternate classes?


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Or what about anagrams/countdown style activities? Who can make the longest word for example?

Hey they loved the anagrams! I think I'm going to make the students teach the class something once a week hen do some kind of anagram activity boys v girls for the other session as that really got them on board Thanks!

Just had yet another horrid lesson. There are three boys who almost always cause trouble. I managed to speak to one boy's mother though, so we'll see what the behaviour is like next week. My technology took ages to load so I couldn't show them the video I had planned. Overall, an awful hour. I'm not cut out for this.

Nothing more annoying than when you spend nearly half of your bank holiday weekend planning 2 year 10 lessons (I find KS4 really difficult to plan for) complete with full lesson plan and ppt, and the regular class teacher decides that she is going to take the class, and then proceeds to have them copy out of the text book for the entire time. Because that is SO much better than the lessons I busted a gut to plan.

That's ridiculous - if you'd planned the lessons surely they should have let you teach them! (Unless there are exceptional circumstances like Ofsted when you'd expect them to take the classes back). What was their reason for taking the lesson back off you? Will you be able to use the stuff you'd planned for them another week or is it totally wasted?

I'm quite glad I got all my KS4 experience in my first placement (November to January), well away from the exam season. I was in a 14-18 school, and I bet it's really stressful there now with all the exam pressure, but I'm now in a KS3 only school, so there are no GCSEs to worry about, just a lot of demotivated Y9s who know they're dropping the subject next year so don't care any more.

They think OSTED may be in next week - so she wanted to take the class back so that if they do come in, she has a better feel of where they are all at.

Most stressful week of my PGCE done and dusted! I have only a week and a half left of the placement and only uni to go! Thank god I've finally got a job lined up for September after 4 interviews wooooo! Not long now everyone!

Well done!
I've got one more week of teaching my timetable before my final report, and then my timetable reduces for the last few weeks so I can sort out my file and produce resources for the school. Don't completely finish 'til mid-June, but the pressure is definitely going to reduce soon.

I've been invited to 2 job interviews on the same day next week, so have got to call one of them to let them know I can't make it. But there seems to be a big gap between the 2 schools in terms of how much my subject is valued, so I know which one I'm going for.

Wishing you the very best of luck Myrtille. I think I may have read (and agreed) with a thread of yours over on the TES about having a lot of interviews (it may have been on here, I can't remember, I know you are a regular over on the TES and I've seen your resources on the front page!) and I had 4 in total before I got my job. It is actually a one year fixed term maternity cover, which I didn't really want but I love the school, and who knows what'll happen in a year?

I also had to pull out of 3 more interviews this week! So glad it's such a weight off my mind.

Now I have to pass the numeracy (after failing it by one mark!) moved it back so I have more time, also have a tutor. That's the remaining mega-stress!

Last 6 weeks of placement coming up, and instead of upping then reducing the timetable towards the end to let us get our folders in order, LSBU have decided that we get to teach more and more each week, giving us less and less time to arrange our folders in between observations and teaching 80% of the timetable

I'm so close to just walking. The only thing stopping me is the knowledge that I have a job waiting (as long as my bleeding references get done!)

Anyone else started to feel horribly negative now we're almost at the end? I'm almost questioning whether I want to teach or not!!!