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PGCE - Current Students Thread

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Original post by Red Lightning
I've started to apply for NQT jobs but I was wondering,how long would you commute? I saw this really good school but I know it will take me an hour(or more) to get there door-to-door.


I realy hate commuting - my first placement had a long commute (varying from 35 minutes to over 90 in the evenings!) and it really made things so much harder for me. So I was only really interested in 20 minutes or so as a commute, but the tradeoff was that I was prepared to learn to drive or move house (plus I live in London so there are a lot of schools close by). Ultimately, if a my ideal school came up I would just move, but I wouldn't commute. In the end, I took a job in my first placement school and have resolved to learn to drive over the summer.
Original post by Red Lightning
I've started to apply for NQT jobs but I was wondering,how long would you commute? I saw this really good school but I know it will take me an hour(or more) to get there door-to-door.


My current NQT school is an hour commute door-to-door on public transport (walk, train, bus) and the earliest that I'll be able to get to school because of the bus is 815 - not ideal.

So, I'm currently learning to drive. I start in July but it works out to only 13 days of doing that commute.
Woken up feeling really nervous about my observation. I think I'm ready but I'm just terrified that timings will slip and ill forget something in the chaos.

My timings are all so tight :frown:

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Original post by adastraz
Got a phone call this afternoon to let me know that I'd got the job! So relieved :biggrin: I really didn't think I'd done well enough in both the lesson and the interview. Seems like a lovely school, and it's really close to my house, which is such a bonus. Now I can relax and focus on passing my placement!


Congratulations!!!!



Original post by ParadoxSocks
Woken up feeling really nervous about my observation. I think I'm ready but I'm just terrified that timings will slip and ill forget something in the chaos.

My timings are all so tight :frown:

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Good luck! :-)
My observation went completely to pot.

My tech didn't work at all - they had to replace my amp halfway through the lesson and it just completely went wrong.

I cried a bit to one of the other teachers in my department too :frown:
Original post by ParadoxSocks
My observation went completely to pot.

My tech didn't work at all - they had to replace my amp halfway through the lesson and it just completely went wrong.

I cried a bit to one of the other teachers in my department too :frown:


Don't worry! Everyone has a rubbish observation once in a while. I'm sure your next one will be ace. Cheer up :smile:

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Original post by ParadoxSocks
My observation went completely to pot.

My tech didn't work at all - they had to replace my amp halfway through the lesson and it just completely went wrong.

I cried a bit to one of the other teachers in my department too :frown:


Sounds like technological fault rather than your teaching. In these situations it is all about how you deal with it and that comes with experience, I'm sure. What a horrible time for it to happen though! So sorry. :-( What did your tutor say?
Original post by outlaw-torn
Don't worry! Everyone has a rubbish observation once in a while. I'm sure your next one will be ace. Cheer up :smile:

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It was so so bad though. With everything going wrong my behaviour management went to pot and another teacher came in to shout at my class. She's since apologised that it's because she's having a bad time but I'm just embarrassed and ashamed.

I thought I was doing so well but based on that observation I'm really really not :frown:

Original post by Esmeralda4
Sounds like technological fault rather than your teaching. In these situations it is all about how you deal with it and that comes with experience, I'm sure. What a horrible time for it to happen though! So sorry. :-( What did your tutor say?


She said I recovered well but I feel like my entire teaching ability has been ripped apart. All of my confidence is out of the window and I just want to cry. I want to just go home to be alone.
Original post by ParadoxSocks
It was so so bad though. With everything going wrong my behaviour management went to pot and another teacher came in to shout at my class. She's since apologised that it's because she's having a bad time but I'm just embarrassed and ashamed.

I thought I was doing so well but based on that observation I'm really really not :frown:



She said I recovered well but I feel like my entire teaching ability has been ripped apart. All of my confidence is out of the window and I just want to cry. I want to just go home to be alone.


It's bound to make you feel that way and not much will.make you feel better right now. Hopefully after some rest and reflection you can pick yourself back up again. At least your tutor recognised some positives too!! :-)
Original post by ParadoxSocks
It was so so bad though. With everything going wrong my behaviour management went to pot and another teacher came in to shout at my class. She's since apologised that it's because she's having a bad time but I'm just embarrassed and ashamed.

I thought I was doing so well but based on that observation I'm really really not :frown:



She said I recovered well but I feel like my entire teaching ability has been ripped apart. All of my confidence is out of the window and I just want to cry. I want to just go home to be alone.



I had a bad observation too. Go home and put your feet up, you did a good job today! Uni observations are not easy and im sure you will reflect on your lesson and become even better!
Original post by Red Lightning
I had a bad observation too. Go home and put your feet up, you did a good job today! Uni observations are not easy and im sure you will reflect on your lesson and become even better!


I'm going out for dinner with my friends this evening. I have my progress review in the morning and now I have the twisty nasty feeling in my stomach.

I know I'm progressing really well, my department have mentioned it to me and individual teachers have too but one visit from a uni mentor and it blasts all prospective out of the window.

I just really suck at planning :frown: What are other people's plans looking like? I'm being pulled on planning for behaviour but it just seems really alien to me.
Original post by ParadoxSocks
I'm going out for dinner with my friends this evening. I have my progress review in the morning and now I have the twisty nasty feeling in my stomach.

I know I'm progressing really well, my department have mentioned it to me and individual teachers have too but one visit from a uni mentor and it blasts all prospective out of the window.

I just really suck at planning :frown: What are other people's plans looking like? I'm being pulled on planning for behaviour but it just seems really alien to me.


My planning is good according to my mentor, but my problem is pace, I really can't seem to get the timing right. Don't get me started on planning for behaviour as it is alien to me as well haha!

Good luck with your progress review, I had mine last week and I was fussing over it for nothing as It went fine(better than expected in fact!).
Original post by ParadoxSocks
I'm going out for dinner with my friends this evening. I have my progress review in the morning and now I have the twisty nasty feeling in my stomach.

I know I'm progressing really well, my department have mentioned it to me and individual teachers have too but one visit from a uni mentor and it blasts all prospective out of the window.

I just really suck at planning :frown: What are other people's plans looking like? I'm being pulled on planning for behaviour but it just seems really alien to me.


Sorry to hear your obs didn't go well. I hate uni observations and I've never had a good one. All my amazing lessons haven't been observed. Typical. I do feel that it is unfair that we get judged on so few lessons (I have a total of three uni obs over the year). I just hope that even if all three went badly, our mentors would stick up for us as they know we are capable of more!

Try to forget about it tonight and enjoy being out with your friends. I'm sure your uni tutor is more understanding than you'd think - I'm sure they've seen much worse over the years!
My uni always tell us that their observations are focusing more on the mentor and moderating them. Our placement grade is given by the mentor. Is this different for other people??
Original post by Esmeralda4
My uni always tell us that their observations are focusing more on the mentor and moderating them. Our placement grade is given by the mentor. Is this different for other people??


Yeah, my placement grade is given by the uni. The mentor doesn't get much of a say for me, but I'm sure she would stand my corner.
Original post by Airfairy
Yeah, my placement grade is given by the uni. The mentor doesn't get much of a say for me, but I'm sure she would stand my corner.



Interesting! How can they make a decision with so little observation of you? I'm quite glad ours is down to our mentor...
Original post by Airfairy
Yeah, my placement grade is given by the uni. The mentor doesn't get much of a say for me, but I'm sure she would stand my corner.


Wow, the uni tutor decides?! I'm lucky for me it was my placement mentors. My uni tutor came in and observed a lesson where he'd be 'worried if it was his child in the room' and put me on cause for concern. Fortunately I had a top mentor who understood that I wasn't that bad and took everything into consideration.


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(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Esmeralda4
Interesting! How can they make a decision with so little observation of you? I'm quite glad ours is down to our mentor...



Original post by qwerty_mad
Wow, the uni tutor decides?! I'm lucky for me it was my placement mentors. My uni tutor came in and observed a lesson where he'd be 'worried if it was his child in the room' and put me on cause for concern. Fortunately I had a top mentor who understood that I wasn't that bad and took everything into consideration.


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Yeah I wish it was my mentor too! I feel so much pressure when I have a uni observation because I know so much rides on it. I don't think it's fair.
Original post by ParadoxSocks
I'm going out for dinner with my friends this evening. I have my progress review in the morning and now I have the twisty nasty feeling in my stomach.

I know I'm progressing really well, my department have mentioned it to me and individual teachers have too but one visit from a uni mentor and it blasts all prospective out of the window.

I just really suck at planning :frown: What are other people's plans looking like? I'm being pulled on planning for behaviour but it just seems really alien to me.


I find planning for behaviour relatively easy - in my first few lessons with each of my classes, I made a seating plan and annotated it with who to look out for behaviour wise and why (chatty, easily distracted) and it's literally just a case of anticipating at what point in your lesson they would misbehave. For example: When you've set the kids some independent work that isn't in silence.

If it helps, I could send you a lesson plan I've done before?
Original post by Airfairy
Sorry to hear your obs didn't go well. I hate uni observations and I've never had a good one. All my amazing lessons haven't been observed. Typical. I do feel that it is unfair that we get judged on so few lessons (I have a total of three uni obs over the year). I just hope that even if all three went badly, our mentors would stick up for us as they know we are capable of more!

Try to forget about it tonight and enjoy being out with your friends. I'm sure your uni tutor is more understanding than you'd think - I'm sure they've seen much worse over the years!


Wait, seriously? You only have three over the year?

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