PGCE - Current Students Thread

Out of interest, have you chosen to only teach two lessons a week or is that your school?

Since the week after half term, I've been teaching 8 lessons a week... In addition, I have three collaborative lessons a week and 2 observations. And as I'm only in school Monday-Thursday, I get about 6 frees a week which means i'm doing a lot of work at home too.

I'm glad in a way - it means that I'm kinda used to the 8 hours a week now.

The first week was so difficult though.

Well uni says I'm supposed to teach seven hours a week in my first placement. My mentor and I agreed that after half term we would build it up to seven. However since the school runs on a two week time table it just happens that I haven't had to teach the classes I was supposed to yet. For example, I was supposed to start year 9 teaching last week but I have no year 9s in that week.

I do sort of feel like I would have benefitted from more teaching hours earlier on, because it means I feel I may be underprepared for my second placement where I am expected to do 16 a week.

However there's another trainee at my school and she teaches one hour a week and told me that's how it is going to be for her whole first placement (until March! !), which sounds really odd to me.

But yeah, it's varying experience even at the same uni. When I see people on uni days it really is a mixed bag. Some are doing a lot more hours than we are supposed to, others haven't been teaching at all. I've got a great mentor at my school who would let me do as much or little as I like, so I've just ran with her suggestions so far.

You sound busy!! How many teaching hours are you supposed to be doing according to your uni?

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That's good - at least you're going at a pace that you're comfortable with. It's quite daunting when you don't know the classes but it's amazing how much better and more confident you feel when you're teaching slightly more.

Ah yeah, the two week timetable is a nightmare! My week A is awesome, everything's really spread out but in week B i have almost all frees on monday and tuesday and then two 5 period days weds and thurs D:

We're supposed to be doing 8 (I'm technically doing 8.5 because one of the lessons I teach is a 1.5 hour lesson D so I'm on track but I'm just panicking slightly that I'm not going to get any better in the 17 days left on placement :/

So i face my y7s again tomorrow and im already streasing out about it. Mentor says lesson looks fine but i need to make it so that my entry and starter activity are one and the same. I thought what id set was, questions on the board for them to consider as they come in (what is a function etc) then go through the answers as the starter and move on to the main. But she says find something that all just does the work, im really stuck :/ plus i need to redo their seating plan and really dont know how to do it, i hate this lesson so much and according to my mentor i should love y7 as theyre the most fun (hah!)

So i face my y7s again tomorrow and im already streasing out about it. Mentor says lesson looks fine but i need to make it so that my entry and starter activity are one and the same. I thought what id set was, questions on the board for them to consider as they come in (what is a function etc) then go through the answers as the starter and move on to the main. But she says find something that all just does the work, im really stuck :/ plus i need to redo their seating plan and really dont know how to do it, i hate this lesson so much and according to my mentor i should love y7 as theyre the most fun (hah!)

What are you struggling with in terms of their seating plan? X

Just something workable. My mentor set me the task of doing it as a way to get to know my pupils. So last week i did boy/girl alternatiting with awareness to behaviour and ability so low ability were sat next to high ability, the disruptive kid between two calm quiet kids. It didnt go badly but now im thinking i should shift them about as one of the quiet girls came up to me after and begged not to be sat next to the disruptive kid as she found it hard to concentrate on her work, but the boy who my mentor usually sits next to the disruptive kid as a controlling influence actively came up and thanked me for moving him so he doesnt have to deal with the disruptive kid. Just not sure where to go with it...my mentor says its all entirely up to me but kids work better next to their friends but how do i sit them next to their friends and still have some form of control over who is sitting next to who?!? Lol

That's quite a mean thing for the mentor to ask of you, actually. Learning how to handle the class dynamics of a bunch of kids you don't know is a big ask. As a long standing old bag of 30+ years' experience, I start with alphabetical order until they prove themselves worthy of choosing their own place, but then, I most certainly wouldn't pass a PGCE now anyway, largely because I would be telling the university where to shove its unreasonable demands... and I used to be a mentor, too...

Two lessons to plan for tomorrow and I'm completely stuck on one of them D:

So i face my y7s again tomorrow and im already streasing out about it. Mentor says lesson looks fine but i need to make it so that my entry and starter activity are one and the same. I thought what id set was, questions on the board for them to consider as they come in (what is a function etc) then go through the answers as the starter and move on to the main. But she says find something that all just does the work, im really stuck :/ plus i need to redo their seating plan and really dont know how to do it, i hate this lesson so much and according to my mentor i should love y7 as theyre the most fun (hah!)

Thanks i feel its alot but my mentor says since ive been with these guys since the beginning of my placement it shouldnt pose a problem, but im finding worrying about that and trying to get the lesson right in the first place is really getting me down. My husband has made me walk away from my computer till after our roast as im just starint at tomorrows lesson plan in dispair!

Everyone enjoys different things about teaching, so I wouldn't let that worry you, personally. And I also don't get what your mentor means by changing the starter - if you don't assess it in some way there's next to no point in doing it (except as a fascinator, which can be very effective). With regards to the seating plan, if you have a class test to hand I would use that as a guide; think about the areas of the classroom you naturally focus on - I tend to look to the left - and place underperforming pupils there. Build from that to move behaviourally difficult pupils to the front separated by one or two docile pupils.

Everyone gets block some of the time. Are there any shared resources within your department? The TES is also brilliant for getting ideas from (even if quality is extremely variable). If all else fails, try asking on here.

There are resources within the department but I've been told off slightly when I've used them before :/

I've had a look on TES and I'm so stuck... I know what knowledge I need to give the kids but I can't think of anything more exciting than a written task to give them.

What have you got to do? Maybe we can help as a community?

My lesson is on the abolition of slavery and what led to the emancipation of the slaves in 1863...

Last lesson we covered the key abolitionists and the abolition movement in Britain so now I'm focusing on the American aboltion movement (Lincoln, divide between North and South etc)
It's for a mixed ability year 8 class

There are resources within the department but I've been told off slightly when I've used them before :/

I've had a look on TES and I'm so stuck... I know what knowledge I need to give the kids but I can't think of anything more exciting than a written task to give them.

Why have you been told off for using the department resources?