PGCE - Current Students Thread

I remember coming to this thread about this time last year and seeing a slew of negative posts, so I think I should provide a bit of balance.

I'm still really enjoying the PGCE. It's been undeniably tough, and there're still a tonne more tough things to get through, but for me I am going into a career that I really want to be involved in for years to come. My first placement school was excellent, and I took a job there; my second is less good, and the pupils more challenging, but I'm still getting plenty of enjoyment out of the course. The important thing to remember is that Easter is one of the two big crunch points on the PGCE, when most dropouts seem to occur (from discussions with NQTs, anyway); combining that with the fact that it's easier to complain than boast and that would be why this thread tends to be pretty negative. So there are still plenty of people enjoying the PGCE out there.

On the flipside, I don't really feel like I'm getting much useful feedback at my new school. They seem happy with the way I'm teaching and are just leaving me with it. There might be a very helpful things specific to the class/lesson (E.G. pupils at the back can't see the bottom of the board), and a couple of pointers on working with EAL or SEN, but in general I feel like I'm learning more through trial and improvement. And whilst I like the faith being put in me, I'm also certain that I'm nowhere near good enough to not have a list of things to improve for most of my lessons. At first I thought I was being eased in gently, but I'm a reasonable way into my placement (4.5 weeks of 11) and it's continuing.

I'm throwing myself into the positive pile too. I feel like in the past two weeks everything is just starting to click into place. I need to spend half term gathering my evidence for my teachers file but I finally feel like I can finally do this.

How often do people mark? And how long do evaluations take you?

I hardly ever do book work so I don't have to mark as much. Only copying my mentor there.

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Thats awesome. Ive been just using the time left as my drive to go forward. 6 weeks left on placement and i can walk away from that school forever so just need to work my bum off for those last 6 weeks and we are sorted.

Thanks for adding some positivity! Despite some of the things I say on here I love teaching and can't wait to get back on plavement.

As for your placement issues, please share your concerns with your tutor/mentor. You may very well get to the end of your placement and find that there were a number of things you could have improved on - I feel like that is what happened on my first placement. Maybe your school are afraid to hurt your feelings! Or you might just be a very good trainee. The only way to find out is to ask.

How often do people mark? And how long do evaluations take you?

I hardly ever do book work so I don't have to mark as much. Only copying my mentor there.

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I've had another brilliant day. I can barely stand up now though - my legs are so sore from running around so much!



We're almost there. It's a scary idea to think we're almost done but we are almost there and whether we all continue to teach or not, at least we know we can survive even the hardest of years.

I think it's a massive achievement just being on the course, surviving this long is a brilliant thing to have accomplished and anything else we manage is definitely a bonus.

I follow the school marking policy. At my first school that was once every 2 weeks (killer for classes of 30 or more), but my new school is once every 3 weeks which is more manageable.

Why? It doesn't reduce the workload. It means you have to mark 3 weeks of stuff rather than 2. If anything it's better to do it in smaller chunks on a regular basis.

''how do you ensure everyone in your class makes progress''

Is this an AFL question?

Wow how are you managing that??

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to apply for that job. I've applied for one I really want somewhere else and they shortlist thurs/fri this week, so if I don't get that I will be applying after all.


Samus2 how on earth do you do all your work on a Saturday? What about marking and evaluations? Do you never have to change your plans? I'm jealous! On my first placement I was working 3-10 like a lot of people here

Just worked out that there are 13 weeks left of this course, not including Easter. We don't get half term.

I'm not writing lesson plans and can now plan/resource a lesson in about 30-40 minutes and I do them in the morning before school. On Monday I had a 5 period day and planned and resourced them all in an hour and a half and they went well.

Book marking I do in my frees, same with evaluations.

Saturday's I use to catch up with general admin (uni work mainly). And yeah - honestly, my teaching is so much better since I stopped planning my lessons by minutes because the progression is much more natural.

My marking is 'outstanding' supposedly and a set of 32 books with extended writing in them (history joy!) it takes me about 4 hours to do a set and every other week, due to the nature of my timetable, I have most of Tuesday and Wednesday free so I mark books on those two days...

I don't know why this placement is so different. But I'm no longer stressed, I go out and socialise on both Friday and Saturday evenings and I actually feel like I'm doing okay.

I have an exercise book which my mentor/class teachers write notes in for each lesson and then set me three targets at the end of each lesson which are easy to implement next lesson.

I'm not writing lesson plans and can now plan/resource a lesson in about 30-40 minutes and I do them in the morning before school. On Monday I had a 5 period day and planned and resourced them all in an hour and a half and they went well.

Book marking I do in my frees, same with evaluations.

Saturday's I use to catch up with general admin (uni work mainly). And yeah - honestly, my teaching is so much better since I stopped planning my lessons by minutes because the progression is much more natural.

My marking is 'outstanding' supposedly and a set of 32 books with extended writing in them (history joy!) it takes me about 4 hours to do a set and every other week, due to the nature of my timetable, I have most of Tuesday and Wednesday free so I mark books on those two days...

I don't know why this placement is so different. But I'm no longer stressed, I go out and socialise on both Friday and Saturday evenings and I actually feel like I'm doing okay.

I have an exercise book which my mentor/class teachers write notes in for each lesson and then set me three targets at the end of each lesson which are easy to implement next lesson.

Has anyone had to video themselves teaching a lesson? I need to do it, evaluate and then submit the actual video to uni but I don't think I can hand over that lesson. The thought of it makes me sick. I'm happy me seeing it and evaluating it but I absolutely despise videos and audio of myself in an 'my anxiety levels are now through the roof' kinda way. I have a disability agreement about reasonable adjustments and not having to do anything that makes my anxiety go loopy (and I have done absolutely everything - including the giant presentation at the very end) but I think this is a step too far for me :/



I'm exactly the same way. I had a couple of unrelated wobbles a couple of weeks ago but now I've settled into my routine for marking, basic planning and resource making and it's not keeping me up at night with worry unlike first placement. I tend to have everything prepared the day before, run down to repo in the morning and then I'm all good from there.

I'm really hoping I can find a job in a place like this school. I have never felt more supported or wanted and I feel like I belong here. I come out of my lessons smiling, I walk the corridors and pupils are talking to me about what they did the evening before.

I just love it here :')

You could speak to your tutor, explaining that others viewing you on video can be an anxiety trigger and ask if you'd be able yo submit a transcript (with notes on important elements of body language, visual things like looking at people etc). If that's what you decide you'd rather do of course!

Xxx

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Did anyone do anything for the eclipse? I had to take my form out and they absolutely loved it!



Well I have to evaluate the video anyway so I wonder if they'd allow screen grabs, a transcript and the evaluation as enough evidence. The thought of them seeing an actual video just make me insanely anxious.

Gah. It's such a silly daft thing!