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PGCE - Current Students Thread

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Original post by *Darcie*
Sorry, missed this post. I'm the same, just concentrating on getting through the next six weeks. Don't even want to apply for jobs atm as I don't feel like I can handle the extra pressure.


Ditto. I've got 10 weeks left. I just want to get through it all.
People on my course are applying for hundreds of jobs - literally - and a few have passed remark on my lack of interest in that, but I just don't think I want to apply for a teaching job now. Maybe in a couple of years. But right now, I would much rather be unemployed for 6 months than sign up for all this stress again next year. :redface:
I have now had the grand total of 10 interviews and still no job... starting to get slightly desprete, i know getting interviews is hard enough but everyone else seems to get jobs after 2 or 3 tries why am I finding it so hard? Sorry for the rant!
Have you asked for feedback?
Original post by affinity89
Ditto. I've got 10 weeks left. I just want to get through it all.
People on my course are applying for hundreds of jobs - literally - and a few have passed remark on my lack of interest in that, but I just don't think I want to apply for a teaching job now. Maybe in a couple of years. But right now, I would much rather be unemployed for 6 months than sign up for all this stress again next year. :redface:



I've got 6 weeks teaching left and I am applying for approximately 2 a week just so I can really make an effort visiting and then with the application form. I'd rather do that than send 100s of carbon copies. It's so tough out there and you're right it adds so much pressure to everything, but then if I land employment for Sept I'd take that stress any day. Just out of interest, why in a couple of years? I'd be very wary of doing that without good reason, once you're out of education it's tricky to get back in. Good luck with the rest of your placement!


nikki_louise

I have now had the grand total of 10 interviews and still no job... starting to get slightly desprete, i know getting interviews is hard enough but everyone else seems to get jobs after 2 or 3 tries why am I finding it so hard? Sorry for the rant!


Wow, what's your application secret! I've applied for 3 but no replies (I know it's not a lot, but still!) Have you asked for interview feedback? Or is it always really see-through? I had a friend who was told she didn't show her sense of humour enough! Keep going you'll get one eventually!

---


I had my summer job interview today, only 10 minutes! (after I got there ridiculously early accounting for rush hour-which didn't seem to occur!) so I'll find out tomorrow! Fingers crossed.

How is everyone coping on placements? I'm just getting into proper teaching now and the mountain that is my workload just seems to get bigger and bigger, got my first observation of this placement on Friday too, eek!

Hope all is well :smile:
Original post by Mrknowitall10
Seriously just stick at ut if u can. I know its mental torture and probs the toughest thing ive ever done. Its defo worth it in the end. Think the government should review the course and reduce the workload somehow...


But unless that comes with the reduction of a teacher's workload I'd rather them leave it as it is, as odd as that sounds- what's the point in babying us for a year moreso than now, and there then being an increase in workload for someone starting NQT?
Original post by balloon_parade
I've got 6 weeks teaching left and I am applying for approximately 2 a week just so I can really make an effort visiting and then with the application form. I'd rather do that than send 100s of carbon copies. It's so tough out there and you're right it adds so much pressure to everything, but then if I land employment for Sept I'd take that stress any day. Just out of interest, why in a couple of years? I'd be very wary of doing that without good reason, once you're out of education it's tricky to get back in. Good luck with the rest of your placement!


To be blunt, I don't want to be a teacher. I realised that in approximately July last year lol. But, I decided to give the course a go and it has been a struggle to stick at it. I am just focusing on crossing the finishing line now. :smile:

I think I have developed a lot of skills this year though and my confidence has improved - I didn't say a word in my seminars etc but now I have to stand in front of 30 children, two TAs and the class teacher every day and I don't feel nervous. :biggrin:

A couple of years because I might decide I want to do it after all. But, first, I want to experience some other things - I especially want to live/work abroad. I think having experiences outside education can act as a strength - the most interesting teachers are often those that have done other things too. :smile:





Week five of this placement now. It all feels pretty natural but I am getting frustrated going to the same place every day. The routine is rather dull lol. In school for 7am [it is a very early to rise school], teaching from 9am-3.15pm, marking/sorting things out/reflections until around 5pm and then home to prepare the lessons for the following day. Yawn. The only real variation is my PPA afternoon and the after school club I co-run on a Thursday lol. :redface:

Also, the school is expecting Ofsted any day now. They've been told that a 'selection' of schools will have a no notice inspection. Out of five classes, four have students teaching. The real teachers are getting really stressed out about the entire thing and that, obviously, stresses us out in turn. The pressure to have everything as close to perfection as you can, for example, makes you panic when planning. :/ Part of me hopes they turn up soon - maybe next week - and then at least it will be over with and people can relax a little as the term carries on. :redface:
(edited 11 years ago)
Well I'm week 1 of 7 and I've already almost wobbled twice. I've only taught 4 lessons, ouch.

Main thing for me is not only am I doing a primary PGCE, I've also been thrown around all over the place. I was in a tiny tiny village school for my second placement with EYFS/Y1/Y2 all thrown in and now I've just started my final placement in a (quite) challenging Y6 class in a large (challenging) school. Thankfully despite all the stress and self-criticism, I managed to get mostly good with some outstanding features on my first appraisal today. What nailed it for me was four boys, so engaged by their work that I almost forgot they were there, and I consequently allowed the children to carry on with it for the entire afternoon (they were doing a history timeline and had to add historical periods to it using books and the internet). The girls gave me some grief, but there had been mayhem and name-calling at lunch time so there were some tears and folded arms over that.

I have felt very stressed this week though. I find I'm spending hours and hours pouring the internet for ideas for lessons and it's killing me. I'm trying to cut down and settle for second best but being a perfectionist, I find it very hard to do that. I'm only doing 30% at the moment as well (due to SATs mostly) and I'm going to be doing 90% for 3 weeks near the end, so I need to sort this out!

Despite the attitudes and hormones flying around, I quite enjoy the older kids. I don't have to stoop down and screw up my face for little kids this time. I feel I can be more myself as a teacher with older children, even if they're the ones screwing their face up at me. They do it to their main teacher anyway, so hell with it! I'm getting quite a taste of high school with this class honestly, some of them look far older than 11. I often wonder what it's like to teach a bunch of A level students!

Keep going, it's been a hell of a ride but the light is there at the end of the tunnel. It will be if you want it to be at least.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by affinity89
To be blunt, I don't want to be a teacher. I realised that in approximately July last year lol. But, I decided to give the course a go and it has been a struggle to stick at it. I am just focusing on crossing the finishing line now. :smile:

I think I have developed a lot of skills this year though and my confidence has improved - I didn't say a word in my seminars etc but now I have to stand in front of 30 children, two TAs and the class teacher every day and I don't feel nervous. :biggrin:

A couple of years because I might decide I want to do it after all. But, first, I want to experience some other things - I especially want to live/work abroad. I think having experiences outside education can act as a strength - the most interesting teachers are often those that have done other things too. :smile:

I guess that's fair enough! I'm impressed you've kept going, it must be really difficult if it's not what you want to do. Sounds like you're doing really well!


-----


Jenren22
.....


Looks like you are really doing a great job! Go you ! :biggrin:

I got the summer job :biggrin: :biggrin: now to actually get a teaching interview!!! (oh and complete the mountain of work on my desk! )
I'm really really positive today. :biggrin:

Despite being at school for 10 hours again [it is the norm - I don't mind necessarily, but it is hard when you have to bring work home on top and don't get chance to have lunch lol], and spending the last 2h30 marking Big Write, I just feel very happy. I help run a tennis club after school and that was really good fun tonight - the children had a great time. :smile:

I admit though, the fact it is Friday tomorrow is the cause for at least some of smile. The fact that it is Bank Holiday Monday next week is responsible for another part of it lol. But, I feel in control at the moment. There is always loads to do - I have resources to make for tomorrow, for example - but I am generally feeling good.

Week 5 [or week 3 teaching 80%] of my final placement is almost complete. :smile:
Glad you had a good day. I had an up and down day today. For the up, a parent who works in the school approached me this morning and said how much his son enjoyed my lesson yesterday, and how I was described by him as a 'good teacher'! Apparently he was googling loads about what he'd done in the lesson and his mum seemed very keen about my lesson ideas! I felt great.

Though this afternoon, PE was a nightmare. Didn't help that I explained a game to the children and they thought I'd said 'go' and I hadn't. Simple misinterpretation, yet a teacher from another class marched in and ordered all the kids to go back to the classroom and sit down. She obviously thought that they were doing something they weren't supposed to...they were playing bulldog so they're meant to run around like looneys trying to tag each other. Felt a bit annoyed really.

Not only that, about 3/4 of my small class of 16 year 6 have awful behaviour and about every one of them showed it this afternoon. Rude comments, cursing, face-pulling, answering back, you name it. The TAs were just sighing really as it seems to happen whenever the class is taken by anybody who isn't their main teacher, and it's quite often.

Hmmf.
Really nice to find this thread as I'm on my last few weeks (6 and counting!!).
It's so nice to read how people are feeling though a lot of you make me feel guilty for the amount of work you do. Just wondering if anyone here is teaching Secondary? I'm currently training as an RE teacher for Secondary. Love my school at the moment but keep getting pulled up on behaviour management which is starting to make me feel under pressure.
Hope everyone's enjoyed their week....
I'm doing secondary R.E. too and am also struggling with behaviour management. I am in a 'satisfactory' rated school and behaviour is definitely a school-wide problem. I get really frustrated sometimes because I want to actually teach, not crowd control! How do you cope?
Original post by golden_bough
I'm doing secondary R.E. too and am also struggling with behaviour management. I am in a 'satisfactory' rated school and behaviour is definitely a school-wide problem. I get really frustrated sometimes because I want to actually teach, not crowd control! How do you cope?


That's the exact problem I have with this whole thing! I don't want to have to deal with misbehaving children all the time. I'd rather teach in a 6th form but regardless, when doing your PGCE you have to teach year 7+ right? I'm thinking of just teaching at university for that very reason!
Original post by Feartheunknown
That's the exact problem I have with this whole thing! I don't want to have to deal with misbehaving children all the time. I'd rather teach in a 6th form but regardless, when doing your PGCE you have to teach year 7+ right? I'm thinking of just teaching at university for that very reason!


There are still some courses that allow you to train specifically for post 16.
Original post by Feartheunknown
That's the exact problem I have with this whole thing! I don't want to have to deal with misbehaving children all the time. I'd rather teach in a 6th form but regardless, when doing your PGCE you have to teach year 7+ right? I'm thinking of just teaching at university for that very reason!


I'm the same - the only time I enjoy teaching is with the 6th form. Lower down the school there is rarely a lesson in which a student is not sent out of the room or sent to inclusion. And trying to get them to leave is a nightmare - they just answer back - 'I wasn't doing anything', 'you don't have the right to send me out', 'you can't make me' etc Today a full on fight broke out in my lesson! It feels like I'm working in a zoo...I don't remember school being like this, and I only left three years ago.

It's not just the behaviour though, it's the general reluctance to learn. It is such a struggle to get any of my classes to write anything down. If the title has more than four words, they begin to complain, and heaven forbid if they have to answer any comprehension questions. Some students point blank refuse to write. I have no idea how to deal with this - I can't MAKE them write!

And the disorganisation drives me mad - usually, around 3/4 of the class turn up without a pen (so not prepared to learn) and the school has a policy of keeping books in the classroom unless there is homework, even for KS4, because students will lose/forget to bring them. Surely students need to take responsibility at some point?!

It's just so frustrating when you spend hours planning lessons that you barely get through due to the need to distribute pens, send students out, quieten the class down, confiscate mobile phones etc.

Am I just working in a particularly bad school or are all schools like this? If they are, I think I might have to reconsider my career options!
I understand the concerns about behavior. As I said earlier, I have a Year 6 class for my final PGCE placement that have awful manners and behaviour, constantly back-chatting, cursing under their breath and pulling faces. However, I've actually found that they really enjoy fun, competitive games as part of the lessons, and it really does take away bad behaviour. They might get a bit over excited, but I don't find that to be too much of a problem if they're engaged with their learning.

If the teaching and activities are mundane and dull, it gives them every reason to misbehave and I find that they are very quick to judge how good a teacher you are, especially older children. I think they appreciate it when you're creative and have thought of their needs.

It doesn't get rid of their bad behaviour completely, and they still don't listen to me sometimes, but when they're on-task I hardly need to do anything. They just get on with it really as the task interests them. They just need something to 'really get their teeth into', as my saying goes.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by golden_bough
I'm the same - the only time I enjoy teaching is with the 6th form. Lower down the school there is rarely a lesson in which a student is not sent out of the room or sent to inclusion. And trying to get them to leave is a nightmare - they just answer back - 'I wasn't doing anything', 'you don't have the right to send me out', 'you can't make me' etc Today a full on fight broke out in my lesson! It feels like I'm working in a zoo...I don't remember school being like this, and I only left three years ago.

It's not just the behaviour though, it's the general reluctance to learn. It is such a struggle to get any of my classes to write anything down. If the title has more than four words, they begin to complain, and heaven forbid if they have to answer any comprehension questions. Some students point blank refuse to write. I have no idea how to deal with this - I can't MAKE them write!

And the disorganisation drives me mad - usually, around 3/4 of the class turn up without a pen (so not prepared to learn) and the school has a policy of keeping books in the classroom unless there is homework, even for KS4, because students will lose/forget to bring them. Surely students need to take responsibility at some point?!

It's just so frustrating when you spend hours planning lessons that you barely get through due to the need to distribute pens, send students out, quieten the class down, confiscate mobile phones etc.

Am I just working in a particularly bad school or are all schools like this? If they are, I think I might have to reconsider my career options!


Yes, all schools are like this. Well, all public schools (in my experience anyway). I think usually it's just because most people don't care, they don't have any exams or anything whereas at A-Level you have a target to work towards-the exam! I think it's just the students attitude to education or the subject or perhaps having a turbulent family life.

What are you teaching? Also, don't change your career now, I mean your PGCE should be ending soon right?! Just apply to teach at a college, and I mean a good one - not one with all the belligerent students who couldn't make it into 6th form - preferably an independent.
Original post by Feartheunknown
Yes, all schools are like this. Well, all public schools (in my experience anyway). I think usually it's just because most people don't care, they don't have any exams or anything whereas at A-Level you have a target to work towards-the exam! I think it's just the students attitude to education or the subject or perhaps having a turbulent family life.

What are you teaching? Also, don't change your career now, I mean your PGCE should be ending soon right?! Just apply to teach at a college, and I mean a good one - not one with all the belligerent students who couldn't make it into 6th form - preferably an independent.


I'm teaching R.E. I'm still going to complete the course, I just don't know whether I will stay in teaching for very long - before I started the course, I imagined teaching to be about encouraging students to reach their potential. I have become quite disillusioned now that I have seen that it seems mainly to be about crowd control with most teachers unconcerned about their students, and more concerned about their targets. What do you teach?
Original post by golden_bough
I'm teaching R.E. I'm still going to complete the course, I just don't know whether I will stay in teaching for very long - before I started the course, I imagined teaching to be about encouraging students to reach their potential. I have become quite disillusioned now that I have seen that it seems mainly to be about crowd control with most teachers unconcerned about their students, and more concerned about their targets. What do you teach?


I'm still doing my undergrad in Biology but I'm going to do my PGCE when I finish... I've known I wanted to teach even before I started my GCSEs but sometimes I still have doubts. Like we have to be able to teach all the sciences which really annoys me because I'm a biologist not a physicist so how can I be expected to teach physics and chemistry! I'm seriously considering just teaching at university level and the whole crowd control you mentioned is another reason why! Did you always know you wanted to teach or was it something you thought about in your final year as an undergrad? Just wondering because maybe that's why so many people don't like the whole PGCE experience.
So I'm quite happily getting along, 3 weeks into the final placement and although I'm behind a little bit on the paperwork I'm managing the teaching workload and catching up.

And then I see the little sentence in my checklist.

"Complete a detailed lesson evaluation form for each lesson you teach in the first week of placement, and two a week thereafter".

Oops. 21 to do- 3 written tonight... :frown: :colondollar:

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