I've become a little bogged down in all the work, additionally illness and injury have taken their toll, so have not been able to blog in a while.
Today started out rather stressfully, almost to Cambridge (within 10 miles of our 40ish mile journey, we hit a stand-still. I'm impressed that we had managed this long without a major traffic jam, but today the luck ran out. We sat, with the engine off for over an hour, BUT we were only 15 minutes late for the lecture... All I can surmise from this is that we clearly leave home at least half an hour too early on the average day...
Today, was our last day in University before the first placement. I'm looking forward to being back in a classroom, but at the moment, I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount I need to prepare/sort/read/write/organise etc. We have a placement week, then a three week break before we go back to complete this placement in November. In the 'break' we have two weeks of classes - in which I have a group presentation, and a reading week - which I am going to need! We also have been set our first proper assignment: 6000 words on formative assessment in relation to a certain area of the curriculum. I have science to cover, but am required to make reference to specific examples I see within my placement, so I have background reading to complete right now, but am unable to think about the 'main body' of the assignment until I have started my placement.
There is basically very little time to do anything other than university work, and consequently, I am now finished blogging for today. Back to work I go.
S x
Showing posts with label Overload of work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Overload of work. Show all posts
Friday, 12 October 2012
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
25.09.2012: Maths and a million things to do
Tuesday, my first Mathematics lecture. I'm pretty certain some people will not be successful teachers, not because they don't know their subject matter, but more because they know too much and seem to have forgotten that they are training to teach CHILDREN.... Proving through trigonometry might be fun, but if you present that to a 5 year old they would laugh, and an 11 year old would be scared from Maths for LIFE. (Little rant over)
I actually really like maths, its always been my strong suit, and I had really great teachers that made it fun. That is my aim for when I teach - to captivate the children's attention, and get them interested in investigating, and just being able to see the real-life applications. After all, how often do you hear adults say 'I never used algebra in real life' but they do without even realising it. And it is this generation of people that put children off the subject as much as those who expect too much/make it too number-y! Maths is FUN. Fact.
This afternoon, we had a lecture about everything we need for our first placement... which is basically a tree's worth of forms to fill in and read and understand and process and edit and print and sign. It basically means I have even more things to do (like another 20 things on my to do list) and less time than I thought to write my essay!
One good thing though, some of my books arrived today! Whoop. Textbooks to help me!
Best be off to do all my jobs!
S x
I actually really like maths, its always been my strong suit, and I had really great teachers that made it fun. That is my aim for when I teach - to captivate the children's attention, and get them interested in investigating, and just being able to see the real-life applications. After all, how often do you hear adults say 'I never used algebra in real life' but they do without even realising it. And it is this generation of people that put children off the subject as much as those who expect too much/make it too number-y! Maths is FUN. Fact.
This afternoon, we had a lecture about everything we need for our first placement... which is basically a tree's worth of forms to fill in and read and understand and process and edit and print and sign. It basically means I have even more things to do (like another 20 things on my to do list) and less time than I thought to write my essay!
One good thing though, some of my books arrived today! Whoop. Textbooks to help me!
Best be off to do all my jobs!
S x
Saturday, 22 September 2012
22.09.2012: No rest for the wicked. Or trainee teachers.
It is the weekend, and I get no time to rest. 18 things on the to do list, I hope for at least 10 to be completed by tonight... But lets all hope for more!
English subject knowledge test and Audit. Nothing will ever fill me with more dread in my entire life than those words. I actually feel physically panicked at the thought of having to complete them again!
So, after a day of sitting and typing, I have achieved nothing at all on my essay, but I have done a lot of other things! There are 10 things left on my list, so I achieved my goal, but I could have done more.... If the links I needed had worked (connected to the right thing or actually allowed me to download my documents!) For the rest of the night I shall be doing my background reading for my essay in the hope that I will digest it all in my sleep and be more than prepared to write it all tomorrow. It is a short essay - only 2000 words, which is good in some ways - I should be able to write it in a day (like tomorrow) but such a short essay does mean I am likely to spend a long time chopping bits out....
Today I have also invested in some books - some being the operative word as I can't afford them all!! Student loans wrote to me today to say I need to send back another form and then they will think about sending me my money, so fingers crossed that gets sorted for next week! I would recommend buying your books prior to the start of your course unlike me, because its amazing how quick the essay has come along (that is our first essay was given to us on day two of the course...) I think my library card will take a beating this year as I have to create a reading journal for English also - full of children's books for all ages. I hope to have at least 100 books read and reviewed for their learning potential by the end of the year.
I'm off to carry on with my reading... well if CamTools lets me log back in so I can link to the articles...
Have a nice evening - I am celebrating this long, tiring, exciting week (plus getting my degree results) with a Chinese Takeaway :)
S x
English subject knowledge test and Audit. Nothing will ever fill me with more dread in my entire life than those words. I actually feel physically panicked at the thought of having to complete them again!
So, after a day of sitting and typing, I have achieved nothing at all on my essay, but I have done a lot of other things! There are 10 things left on my list, so I achieved my goal, but I could have done more.... If the links I needed had worked (connected to the right thing or actually allowed me to download my documents!) For the rest of the night I shall be doing my background reading for my essay in the hope that I will digest it all in my sleep and be more than prepared to write it all tomorrow. It is a short essay - only 2000 words, which is good in some ways - I should be able to write it in a day (like tomorrow) but such a short essay does mean I am likely to spend a long time chopping bits out....
Today I have also invested in some books - some being the operative word as I can't afford them all!! Student loans wrote to me today to say I need to send back another form and then they will think about sending me my money, so fingers crossed that gets sorted for next week! I would recommend buying your books prior to the start of your course unlike me, because its amazing how quick the essay has come along (that is our first essay was given to us on day two of the course...) I think my library card will take a beating this year as I have to create a reading journal for English also - full of children's books for all ages. I hope to have at least 100 books read and reviewed for their learning potential by the end of the year.
I'm off to carry on with my reading... well if CamTools lets me log back in so I can link to the articles...
Have a nice evening - I am celebrating this long, tiring, exciting week (plus getting my degree results) with a Chinese Takeaway :)
S x
21.09.2012: First Week Complete!
SO, it has been a long week, but I have loved every second of it!
Today, was (as Friday always will be, English day) I should probably explain now that English and Foreign Languages were my least favourite subjects at school, so the idea of a day of English fills me with dread. Saying this, I wasn't bad at them, in my GCSE English Literature and Language (and French for that matter) I got an A in each, so I know I am not particularly bad, I just don't enjoy it (in the same way that pretty much all my course mates seem to dislike Maths) But, it was all about the kids literature, so that makes me very happy!
I have to read children's books, so hello excuse to read the Hunger Games again, and Harry Potter, Famous Five, Charlie and Lola, Jolly Postman, Biff and Chip, and the rest! I am basically re-visiting my childhood (and teenage years, and my adulthood so far)
So, now I am off to read some story books. And write an essay.And read some uni texts. And write a journal. And takes a practice test. And update my CV. And fill out some paperwork. And you get the idea.
There is a lot to do, but its one week in, and I figure if I can cope with this week I shall be able to cope with the rest of the year.... Fingers crossed!
S x
Today, was (as Friday always will be, English day) I should probably explain now that English and Foreign Languages were my least favourite subjects at school, so the idea of a day of English fills me with dread. Saying this, I wasn't bad at them, in my GCSE English Literature and Language (and French for that matter) I got an A in each, so I know I am not particularly bad, I just don't enjoy it (in the same way that pretty much all my course mates seem to dislike Maths) But, it was all about the kids literature, so that makes me very happy!
I have to read children's books, so hello excuse to read the Hunger Games again, and Harry Potter, Famous Five, Charlie and Lola, Jolly Postman, Biff and Chip, and the rest! I am basically re-visiting my childhood (and teenage years, and my adulthood so far)
So, now I am off to read some story books. And write an essay.And read some uni texts. And write a journal. And takes a practice test. And update my CV. And fill out some paperwork. And you get the idea.
There is a lot to do, but its one week in, and I figure if I can cope with this week I shall be able to cope with the rest of the year.... Fingers crossed!
S x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)