become a teacher

Completely finished now! I have achieved QTS (qualified teacher status)!! Will have to quickly get a job sorted for next year now!!
Thanks to everyone for your encouragement, comments and cheers.

Well it’s been quite a journey getting to this stage of the course, but I have about 2 weeks to go. I can’t tell you how happy I feel about this!! I’ve finished the curriculum with most of my classes, so we are mostly having fun lessons – which is great!
Still, 2 weeks is a long time – I’m not there yet!

8 weeks and 2 days left to go. If I make it, it will be a miracle – in the true, literal sense of the word!
I’m not trying to impress anybody anymore, each day now is just about survival. I’ll spend all the time on my planning and my essays, but I’ll just smile and grit my teeth when things go wrong and think “2 months to go!”

Right, I’ve finished the first full week after 3 partial weeks at my new school, and things have gone very well. Only taught 7 lessons this week – next week and subsequent weeks I’ll be teaching 12 a week. But all my classes have been responsive and respectful. My mentor had a word to me about this job and said I’m a very strong candidate, the head of science then said to me “I’d appriciate it if you’d apply for the job”
So feeling very confident about teaching at the mo! See how long that lasts!!

Even though I’ve still got over 4 months left of my training, there may be a potential job opportunity!
My second placement school have a science teacher vacancy and although I’ve only been there for 3 weeks, they have suggested that I apply. My mentor has told me he’s had good reports from all the teachers I’ve been working with. So it’s sounding quite good.
He’s going to give me an offical observation after the half term. I’m sure I’ll be petrified in that lesson!!

Whoever said “the key to surviving teaching is by celebrating the small sucesses”, was dead right. Yesterday I managed to get silence in one class and sustained it for the entire time I was speaking. I went to the pub in the evening feeling on top of the world!

Shame about today though!! But I guess that’s what it’s all about – the ups and downs

This is a picture of the kind of kids I try and teach chemistry too!!

I really am not sure whether I want to do this anymore. I had the worst day ever today. I tried every strategy I know to get pupils settled and quiet and I just couldn’t do it. No learning took place today.
On my drive home I just wanted to cry!! I can’t wait till the christmas break now (4 days to go!!)

Teaching is the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done! I’ve done 4 weeks of teaching so far, and I’m counting down the days till christmas now so I can have a break. If I just had to plan lessons and teach, that would be fine, but I have essays and coursework to do for university as well which makes it twice as hard!
Oh well 3 more full weeks of teaching, then a 3 week break for christmas (and that’s pretty much the half way stage of the course!)

Hard work – I’ve had thoughts of giving up, but I keep sticking it out! Very rewarding (mostly) and I love my year 7s and my year 8s (hate my year 10s though!)

So I did my first ever lesson today, and I survived it, my class survived it, and my mentor survived it – so it can’t have been all bad!! The thrill of completing my first lesson intact has been replaced with the fear of a weekend of planning for Monday since I have 3 lessons all on Monday!! This fills me with dread! Can’t believe how quickly this course is going – there’s only about 40 weeks left!

Attended countless lectures and seminars, spent a week in a primary school, tons of work but all been great fun. Tomorrow I start in my first Secondary school. I’m really looking forward to it!
The work load is quite horrific, but then it is only a 9 month course!