A turbulent few years are to come.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
― William Arthur Ward
Today, I started a week-long taster week in school. This is the first time I’ve ever spent any time in a secondary school (being a student at 16 does NOT count!). Having left secondary school nearly 15 years ago now, this whole experience is nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time.
Tomorrow, I get to experience three full days of a full geographical timetable. I get to see year 8s through to year 11s in all of their glory. I am SOOOO excited, I tell you!
To some, I suppose this would instil pure fear. But, this career choice has been a long time coming. I’ve put serious thought into this difficult but rewarding career. Only now do I feel confident in my actions and my ability as a potential teacher.
My partner, Chris, has been preparing me for the long nights, working weekends and 50+ hour weeks, oh, for the past few months. We’ve been watching “Tough Young Teachers“, that documents the lives of Teach First teachers after having 6 weeks worth of training.
Yet, I find myself looking for tips from this programme, whereas Chris finds himself knowing that this career may not be for him. I think to myself that I have never been so ready to teach in my life as I do now.
Trust me, I am under no illusions as to the difficulties that are to come. I know that a PGCE is hard, hard work. See quote below:
Just 62% of newly qualified teachers were still in the education sector a year after qualifying according to the latest figures available (for 2011)
Academy Today
As such, I want to gain as much knowledge and experience as I can before I start. However, I wanted to gain a proper insight into the experiences of a teacher in training and found none that really resonated with me.
I found no real blog or website that I was hooked on.
So, I decided to start my own account of the life of a prospective PGCE geography secondary student. Hopefully, my experience will motivate and inspire those also looking to go into the profession.
I’ve not even started applying yet but plan to; ready for September. I’ll be documenting a variety of areas as I go along.
What to expect from this honest blog:
- A truely honest account of the application and experience process
- How to cope with balancing the application process with full-time work
- The ups and downs of education
- Relevant geographical news to help with study and pedagogy
- (Eventually – this is a long way away yet!) resources to help the prospective teacher
I hope that you find this blog useful, honest (sometimes brutally) and realistic. Hopefully, it proves useful to you at some point!
Ta ta for now x x
A Secondary Teacher's Diary 