Tag: pgce

My Reading List – Before I start my PGCE

Posted on by teachingmrsallen

I have bought a few books to read before I start my PGCE SCITT programme in September. When I say read, I mean flick through. Many of them are quite chunky and I am sure they will be more useful for research purposes as while I am doing my course.

I thought I should just do a short blog post on the books I have done so far. Also, just to mention in order to remain transparent, I have included the affiliate links below too. These are literally my first ever affiliate links, I thought I might try them out and see what happens.

I have genuinely bought the below books, they were actually recommended by my university course as a starting point to build my knowledge before the course starts.

Click on any to be taken to Amazon UK for the details on each book. I have read most of the PGCE Survival Guide book as this was based on the use of Twitter with #PGCEtips which I found interesting and it encouraged me to try to use Twitter more. I still prefer instagram though – I think i’m addicted!

Books I have on my wish list are below (with affiliate links) I want these purely because they are recommended by my fellow teachers on instagram.

Everybody seems to be raving about The (Un)official Teacher’s Manual at the moment so I can’t wait to get my hands on this. If you choose to buy this, let me know what you think.

And I think the National Curriculum Handbook will definitely come in handy – I love a good handbook.

Please let me know of any suggestions you have on further reading to help me get through my PGCE and NQT year.

Thanks for reading.

@teachingmrsallen

My Welcome Meeting at Keele University

Posted on by teachingmrsallen

I had the chance to visit the SCITT base at Keele University a few weeks ago. It was my first ever visit to Keele, let alone the University and it was a good chance to do a “reccy” so I knew the route and time it takes to get there etc.

It’s a good 30-40minute drive from where I live which is fine. When I arrived at the campus I was impressed by how huge the place was. I ended up getting hopelessly lost driving around the campus looking for somewhere I can park, and then only because I had looked on google street map at home that I knew what the building I needed looked like. However, I did manage to get there on time, just.

I didn’t know what to expect from the welcome meeting. I was a bit nervous but excited at the same time to meet some of the other people starting my course in September 2019.

There was a mixture of people there, some were still doing their degree and some were career changers like me. They all seemed nice and probably just as nervous as I felt.

The meeting was hosted by two enthusiastic SCITT educators who had planned a couple of activities for us to do in groups as a way of an ice breaker. The first activity was a list of Shakespearian words cut out on slips of paper and a list of modern words we all know on slips of paper. We had to match the meanings of the Shakespearian words to the modern day word. It was fun and interesting at the same time, the activity allowed us some time for a giggle and chat to get to know each other.

The second activity was with clay! we had to make a sturdy 3D shape of any kind. My group made a cube by making our 6 sides individually (sat together whilst chatting) then we put it together. We came across some issues but worked together to solve them. The two SCITT educators occasionally came over to talk about what we were doing etc and gave us some pointers. Each group then presented their creation and discussed the process they went through to create it.

The main thing we got out of the welcome meeting was a bit of fun and a chance to see some of the faces we will potentially be working with in September.

It wasn’t mandatory that I went, but I am glad I did. My next thing is the Induction day on 12th July. I will keep you posted about that…

Welcome to My New Blog

Posted on by teachingmrsallen
Thanks for reading my first blog post

This is the first post on my new blog. I am new to the Instagram Teacher community and I am enjoying it loads. I will definitely be taking inspiration from many many teachers on there and so thought I need to contribute to this lovely community via my own blog as well as my insta page @teachingmrsallen

I am just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. I welcome any suggestions on topics you would like me to write about.

P.S I imagine this blog getting more interesting once I start my SCITT!

Sooo… I’m going to train to be a teacher! (Yikes)

Posted on by teachingmrsallen

This post is to catch you up on where I am at so far …

I have never really wanted to be a teacher before, I did consider it when I was thinking about future careers in high school (as you do) but dismissed it as it was of no interest, despite my mum being a primary school teacher at the time. It was not until I had my son in 2013 that my interest in child development started to grow. Also, my confidence of how to be around children was realised from having my son, as I had just never grown up around young children, I think my son might have been the first new baby I had ever held!

I later decided I wanted to make some steps towards changing my career, so In 2016 I did a Level 3 Early Years Educator course part time, alongside my full time job at the council, which was completely unrelated to children or education. I really enjoyed the course as it involved some work experience which I did with a local childminder.

Following the childcare course, I started to look into what jobs I could go into with this new qualification. It seemed my options were a nursery practitioner or a teaching assistant, which I know I would have loved, but they just did not pay enough compared to where I was working already.

Jumping to October 2018, I decided to bite the bullet and apply to do a PGCE with a SCITT approach – I had a couple of interviews which were very nerve wracking (more on them later). In January 2019 I was offered a place at Keele University. Go Me!

My offer, of course, was on condition that I pass the Numeracy and Literacy Skills test at an official test centre. I just wanted to get this out of the way as it was the only thing potentially getting in between my new future career. I put lots of practice into my numeracy skills as I was least confidence with this one, I did very little revision on my literacy. I took both tests on the same day in Birmingham and thankfully! I passed both! Go Me! again.

Since fully securing my place on the course, I have had some info sent through from Keele University about a Welcome meeting and an induction day prior to the course starting on 29th August.

So this is where I am upto so far. I will post more soon about my welcome meeting, and make sure you click to follow my blog to keep an eye out for a post on my induction day which will be on 12th July 2019.