End of Term 2

Now that it’s the end of term, I feel it’s an opportune moment to include an update on how my teacher training is going thus far (plus I actually have enough time to blog!). Two terms down, one to go – and aren’t I glad. School 2 is completely different to School 1 to the point when I was questioning whether or not I actually want to be a teacher. I’m not going to say anything too judgemental because I’m more professional than that and I don’t want any comments to come back and bite me in the bum five years from now! Let’s just say that this PGCE has made me realise which type of school(s) I’d rather work in – and I’ve surprised myself. School 1 is what many people would call a “challenging” school – indeed, when I told people which school I did my first teaching practice at, they’d say things like, “Well if you can survive there, you can work anywhere!” and “Rather you than me!” There are behaviour issues and attainment is generally low (BBC Education says 51% A*-C but I don’t believe that!) School 2 is a lot more academic, with a lot more focus on exam results. I thought, having come from a very academic background, I’d prefer a school where the children are brighter. But no, how wrong I was! The catchment area of a school really does have a great influence on what it’s like. Pupils at School 2 have a very different attitude to the pupils in School 1. In School 1 I felt like I could make a real difference to children’s lives and that the pupils really wanted to learn. I’d love to work in School 1, but unfortunately there are no job vacancies this year and there’s not enough money to create a post. Even for a physics teacher.

When I saw an advert for a physics teacher vacancy at another school in the LEA, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t feel optimistic when I applied though – somehow School 2 has knocked out any confidence I had in myself. I remember posting the application form – this was the first serious job I’d ever applied for. As in, a job that wasn’t a summer job. Lo and behold, a couple of days later, I got a phone call saying I had been shortlisted. I was so excited! I really wanted tot work in that school because I know the area and I know the pupils would be similar to those at School 1. When I went there, I fell in love with the place. The staff were warm, supportive and friendly and settled any nerves I had. (Having said that, my panel interview did not go very well…) I had to teach a lesson about Light to Year 8. And it went pretty well considering I’d never met the pupils before! (Note to self: remember how difficult it is to plan for pupils you don’t know!!) But as I said, the panel interview didn’t go very well. I was asked the general questions of “What would you do with a Year 9 pupil who was continually disruptive in your lessons?” and “How do you know if pupils have achieved learning outcomes?” I said all the correct buzzwords in the interview – Assessment for Learning, formative assessment, How Science Works – but somehow my nerves got the better of me.

I was so excited to get a phone call later from the Head of Science to say that they were very impressed with me and they’d like to offer me the post! I’m really looking forward to working there. Plus it gave me a confidence boost, something I really needed having been bashed about at School 2. School 1 thinks I’m a good teacher, my new school thinks I’m a good teacher – it’s just School 2. So now you’re reading the blog of Penglet, the new physics teacher due to start at Penguin High in July…

It’s all about the planning

Time management. Something I used to think I was good at until I realised just how much I like my sleep. (Also, since March 2007, I have blamed Facebook for the decline in my work ethic, although it’s purely my willpower at fault.) This afternoon, I found out I have an interview at the start of next week for a vacancy I applied for a couple of weeks ago. School 2 also have a vacancy, with the closing date at the start of next week. They keep asking me why I’m not applying – I keep saying that I’d like to experience different schools but really there’s only one reason – I really don’t like the department. They just don’t gel together. They’ve all been totally unsupportive while I’ve been there and they’re always at each other’s throats – it’s nothing like School 1 at all. School 1 still want me to work with them – I still want to work with them, but there just aren’t any vacancies!

This blog is a wonderful form of procrastination. I have two lessons to plan for tomorrow morning, a 5000 word assignement due in on Thursday (of which I have done 1100 words) and I have an interview to prepare for. And all I want to do is sleep!

It’s not the teaching that’s hard…

It’s the staff. You know how I said that I knew I’d hate School 2? Guess what, I was right! The staff are the most unsupportive bunch of people ever. They criticise me behind my back and then change my classes so that the higher achieving pupils don’t “suffer”. Of course, they never tell me how to improve, just that I need to. And I’ve been told off for not asking “how”, but how are you meant to know what questions to ask if no-one’s told you? I cry in my frees in the staff toilets and I cry when I get home. I’ve cried more in the last week than I can ever remember doing in my whole life.

I’m seriously wondering whether or not I want to be a teacher now. I know it’s just the school, because I loved School 1 so much. The staff at School 1 were so supportive of me and each other that I thought all schools must be like that. All schools should be like that.

And on top of this I still have to plan lessons, mark books and write assignments. Great.

I never realised a career in teaching would be a career in politics.

Happy birthday, Mr Darwin

Even though I am, by degree, a physical scientist, I can’t help but be fascinated by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The more I think about it, the more I am amazed by it – how it all just makes sense and, as my boyfriend put it, how incredibly simple it is. The idea that all species are related to one another is just so… elegant. Having been born and raised a Roman Catholic, I had never though of the idea that humans could have evolved from other animals – after all, I had believed that God created Adam from soil and later Eve from Adam’s rib. How grateful I will remain to my parents for not sending me to a faith secondary school and for helping me to develop a curiosity for science that is not clouded by religion. Anyway, I will stop wittering on.

As I am sure you are aware, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his awe-inspiring, revolutionary book, On the Origin of the Species. In honour of this, the Natural History Museum in London has been running an exhibition, Darwin, since November 2008. (It closes on 19th April 2009.) As it was half term this week, I decided to treat myself and go to it. It contained some incredible artifacts, for example Darwin’s beetle collections and his notebooks. It was a very thoughtfully created exhibition, which appealed to pretty much anyone with an interest in science that was at least 8 years old. Unfortunately, because the exhibition catered for the masses, I found that I didn’t really learn much from it – however, as I did mention, the artifacts were brilliant. It depends on what you want from an exhibition. I’d certainly take a group of more able Year 8 and/or 9 pupils, but not a group of A-Level biologists. It’s worth visiting if you’re in London, but don’t make a special trip. (Word of warning though – you MUST book tickets in advance as they’ll be sold out on the day.)

On a similar Darwinian theme, I was gobsmacked by the programme the BBC showed a few weeks ago called Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life as part of its Darwin Season. Maybe it’s BBC’s production skills, maybe it’s Sir David Attenborough’s wonderful way of explaining things. That programme was incredible.

First day nerves

Today was my first proper day at School 2. The staff seemed a little more friendly than they did before – maybe they’ve realised I’m there until May so they’d better get used to it! Or maybe I have lowered my expectations. My tutor at uni told me that the last trainee who went there clashed with the staff so spectacularly that she failed the course. I am the first trainee to go to School 2 since. Well whoop die doo. Maybe I should just stick my iPod on and keep myself to myself.

So, back to today. I was really nervous this morning. It didn’t help that it was pouring with rain and that my outfit was being ruined as I walked to Reception! But I found my feet after a while. The other trainees at school (one does History and the one does English with Drama) are nothing like me at all – I’m not sure I’ll build the same relationship with them as I did with the trainees at School 1. I think the fact that each department has it’s own staff room doesn’t help that either. I met the headteacher today and she seems lovely – I’m having a formal introduction on Thursday, which should be good.

I met my Year 8 class today. They seem like my Year 7’s from School 1 on a good day! Bella, their class teacher, is really focused and she used to be a mentor before Bob did it, so she knows the exact advice to give me. Plus she’s really easy to talk to. I’m teaching Year 8 about Food and the Digestive System after half term, which should be “fun”.

All in all, as I was explaining to my family, you instantly get a feeling about a school when you walk in. It’s difficult for a school to grow on you. School 2 may not be similar to School 1 in any shape or form, but I’m feeling a little more optimistic now. I hope my optimism isn’t misplaced!

Let it snow

So, I have been snowed in to my suburban London home and though it would be an opportune moment to blog about my teaching career thus far.

I love it, plain and simple. If you know me at all, I love filling in forms and pretening I’m organised. (I know, I’m weird.) That’s why teaching’s the perfect profession for me – I love paperwork. It’s got nothing to do with educating people! Seriously though, I love that moment when a penny drops for a pupil or you manage to convince a totally disinterested pupil that science can be fun. Or someone who has no faith in themselves realises, with some help, that they can actually do science. I love giving pupils that little push to help them believe in themselves and to develop the confidence to admit they don’t understand some things – too many people are too scared to admit they don’t know everything.

I love teaching, I love working in schools – I just hate doing my PGCE! Sessions at university are so dull and lectures are so irrelevant. I wish I could be back in school. Even School 2, with the delight that is Bob, my new mentor.

Thank you and goodbye, School 1

So that was that. My final day at School 1. I had a meeting with David the day before (my usual weekly meeting) and we decided that it’d be better for me to let a cover teacher take my last lesson with Year 9 as their normal teacher wasn’t in and, for health and safety reasons, trainees can’t do practicals without a science teacher present. To cut a long story short, I didn’t have to teach on my last day. Which made it quite fun! I had tutor time with my delightful Year 8 form. And I mean delightful – I loved them! I took them chocolates and they’d organised a party and all signed a card! I felt so loved, I really did. I had to try so hard not to cry. All us trainees went to Nando’s for lunch as well, which was very yummy!

I decided I wasn’t going to piss about in the staff room like I usually do when I’m free in the afternoons. (If David or anyone else asks, I was busy planning lessons!) Instead I went an had a natter with Susan. Eventually the end of the school day came and everyone was telling me to get down to the pub. But I didn’t want to. I was scared. I was scared because I knew that, unless the headteacher was lovely and created a vacancy for me, that’d be the last time I’d be in School 1. I was trying to delay leaving. It really felt like home. And they’d all signed a card for me too. I know they’d've done it for anyone who left, but it felt really special. So, having read my card and everything, I finally was being dragged to the pub. Susan wasn’t able to join us and I cried so much when I had to say bye to her. (My eyes are still filling with tears as I type this.) She is truly one of the most wonderful people I have ever met, she really is. Everyone took the mick out of me for crying but I didn’t care.

I loved School 1 so much. I know there’s behaviour issues and they school’s not that academic, but for the most past the kids are lovely and the staff are amazing. If they’d have me, I’d be there in a heartbeat.

And now the end is near…

… And so I face the final curtain.

As my time at my first placement school comes to a close, I am actually typing this with a tear in my eye. But, surprisingly, just the one. For I have come to realise that that’s life – you have to move on. It’s only a placement and I was only ever meant to be there for twelve weeks: it’s not like I’ve worked there for years and have had to come through really tough times. (Maybe I’ve spoken to soon – there are a few dsays to go!) But, having worked at School 1 for the grand total of  54 days, I’ve built relationships with my colleagues and peers and I’ve finally developed a rapport with some of my classes. In the last three or four months, I’ve spent more time with my colleagues than my boyfriend, which is weird if you think about it! And I’ve only really seen my friends on about three separate occasions. So I guess that’s why I’ll miss School 1. I don’t think I’m dreading it too much as I’m secretly hoping I’ll get a job there for July! Just think, I’ll have initials on the school timetable!

I’ll stop being silly now. Well, too silly. I haven’t found it half as stressful as I thought I would at School 1. Having said that, my paperwork and teaching files are practically non-existent – maybe I;d be more stressed if I’d been doing all the paperwork properly! Granted, there’s been tough moments, and I’ll freely admit I’ve had moments when I’ve been thinking: “Why on Earth am I doing this?! I DON’T WANT TO BE A TEACHER!!!” But for every one of those moments, I’ve had a thousand good ones. Here’s to all the other trainee teachers out there, especially the scientists at my ITT university. Best of luck for your second placement.

Accidentally referring to School 1 as “home”

So I visited my second placement school (which will hereon be referred to as “School 2″) yesterday as I start there in a few weeks. And it felt weird. I felt like I was betraying School 1. My new managing mentor is lovely, although she doesn’t work on Wednesdays – which would prove to be annoying later in the placement. And my new mentor, Bob, is the polar opposite of David. In fact the entire school is the opposite of School 1. Oh, David and Bob are both the Head of Physics in their respective schools. But that’s where the similarities end. Bob’s never been a mentor, he told me in not so many words that he never wanted to be a mentor because of the extra workload, and he’s a bit, well, meh. (I love the word “meh” – it says so much without saying anything at all!) But what got to me is how insular the staff are. People in the same department barely talk to each other, let alone go to the staff room. On the plus side, there are paper towels in the staff toilets, which School 1 lacks.

So that was that. I went home and cried, and told my mum how I can’t believe I’m leaving home soon. She was shocked until she realised I meant School 1. I do honestly think of School 1 as home now – the staff are so close and supportive of each other. Please don’t make me leave. If you do, I promise I will cry.

Out with the old and in with the new

I’m coming up to the last week at my first placement school and, I’ll be honest with you, I’m dreading it. I’m absolutely s*****g myself. I have a horrible feeling that the staff at this school are exceptionally nice and that most mentors aren’t a tenth of what David is. And I’m guessing the science faculty is more wonderful than most as well. I’m scared.

On Friday I am spending the day at my second placement school. Just the whole admin side of it – sorting out a timetable, getting books and class lists, making endless photocopies of my CRB disclosure. It’s a school that’s very local to me and I know the area well (it was the follow-on school for my primary school, but I didn’t go there). It’s a relatively small school (1200 pupils) in a residential area and scored all 2’s and 3’s in its most recent Ofsted report (as opposed to placement 1’s 3’s and 4’s). Oh, I’ve just looked at the date of the most recent report – March 2006. Which means They’ll be coming while I’m there. Unless it’s in the few weeks before I start…