Week 8

I feel as though I've actually made some progress this week.

In uni we've been looking at exam boards. We had to give presentations on WJEC and a local teacher visited to talk about AQA. Apparently they're the main exam boards for this area.  My school's chosen OCR.

We also looked at many many ways of teaching Cormier's Heroes. We had a play at some of the activities ourselves- it's nice to feel like you're in school again. University's been great this week.

For some reason I was dreading going to school this week. I still don't fully know why. I'm thinking it was a combination of not having been in school for so long because of half term, and of not really knowing what I'll be doing when I'm there full time, which is only about 2 weeks away- eek!

Thursday in school is my busy day. I have four lessons (just observations at the moment). Being busy really helped dispel the dread. I was also invited to attend parents' evening on Thursday night. This made for a very long day, and a very tired Lotte; however, parents' evening was a fantastic experience. I am very pleased that I've seen one.

Friday was the weekly meeting with my mentor. I used this opportunity to ask my mentor to check over my lesson plans, for the lessons I'll be teaching next Thursday and Friday. These lessons make up part of my first assignment, so I'm desperate to get them vaguely on track. Her feedback was positive. She said it was clear that I'd thought carefully about the activities and levelled them well for the ability of the group. BOOM! Massive confidence boost. I am well chuffed with that. It's nice to have some kind of reassurance that I'm  not completely missing the mark. I'm nervous about teaching them, but I have spent quite a bit of time with the class, so I know which characters to watch out for, which are shy, cheeky or general boundary pushers. Just got to get my resources ready.

I used the meeting to ask the questions which had been worrying me. Can't believe I worried and worried when it was just so simple to ask. Sometimes I think I try to do too much myself- and I have to tell myself that I'm not expected to be able to do everything right now. I've been training for less than two months. Anyway, now I'm far more relaxed about things, and have some idea as to which direction I'm going. I'm really looking forward to starting full time.

This week's top tip is:
  Do not be afraid to ask questions. If you're nervous about asking in front of everyone (for fear of looking stupid or something) just take someone to one side to ask, or wait until your mentor meeting.


And now, back to the assignment.