I am 28 years old and decided to leave my job to follow up my aspirations to become a Primary School teacher. Having worked in sales for 4 out of the 5 years since I graduated it was a big step for me, but if you are thinking of embarking on a PGCE then I can re-assure you that the people on my course are from very diverse backgrounds.
I travel from Epsom (in Surrey) to South Bank at least 4 days a week to attend University.
As a bit of a twist I am studying a 'flexible' manner on a full-time course at London South Bank University. This means that instead of the usual September start and summertime finish, I started on 11th January 2010 and will finish just before Christmas (but then, people who know me would always say I never do anything the normal way!).
As mentioned earlier, I started the course on 11th September 2010. I have completed the first 3 weeks of the course with the first week just being an induction week to settle us all in.
I won't go into detail too much about what I have been doing for the first two proper weeks, but will summarise what the experience has been like.
As you can imagine, we were all bombarded with booklets, course guides, handouts and resources for us to use throughout the duration. The PGCE staff and lecturers all spoke to us at length about the course, the administration and the subjects they all taught; But also understood that it was a lot of information to take in!
Indeed this is going to be the most challenging year of my life and I am not naturally an organised person. I decided that I was going to get organised and this was the result...It seems key (for me anyway that you are organised because so much does go on and you really need the Wednesday that you get off to catch up on work. Even then, I sit down at the weekend to do reading and audit my English and Maths (I will come on to those later on in my blog, as I should get the results soon)
A "to-do-list" really has been key for me and it is helping me keep track of everyth
ing I do. I was taught this when I worked in a job 2 years ago and have kept the idea going as it really works for me. As soon as I get home I write down what I have to do and then once I have done it I highlight it through, gives that 'visual satisfaction' that I've achieved something!I intend to take my camera with me from now on and will try to update this blog as often as possible. This blog not only serves a purpose as an account of my time throughout my PGCE but I hope that it will serve to help others and illustrate the role that ICT can play in education.
I hope to be able to use a range of media perhaps even braving a video at some point. Please feel free to comment on any of my posts.
I am in no way an expert so please take whatever I post with your own interpretation. The blog is totally independent of LSBU and the views and opinions are mine entirely.
