Wednesday April 7th
Three days when the shiny new life lost its lustre and I got a little pissed off with the whole GTP thing.
Nothing major - I have managed to leave my career, move my family back to the UK, buy a house, get settled and tackle pretty much everything in front of me without faltering. My potential nemesis was the dreaded GTP assignment - 4000 paltry words on a subject of my choice with a 6 month deadline. How hard can that be?
It very nearly did for me as, amazingly, I left it until the week of the deadline. It played to all my weaknesses - preparation, in depth research, time management, and I tried to cram it all into 3 days of my holiday which built up a huge level of resentment in me, Mrs N, the kids and probably the cat. I was irritable, irrational, self-pitying for 3 days...all for 4000 words.
I chose to write about internal school websites and the role they can play in enhancing independent learning. It is actually an interesting subject...for a casual read and debate over a pint. The reality is that I haven't done anything like this since university. As I quipped to my mentor, I would get my PA or team to write anything like this in my old life!
I got it done in the end (I was counting every word in the bottom right hand corner) but it was definitely not my finest moment and the resentment still burns deep inside - resentment that I had to do it at all (isn't it hard enough to be thrown in teaching from Day 1?), resentment that I gave up half my holiday worrying about it and 3 days writing it) and resentment that it was so bad.
Showing posts with label GTP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GTP. Show all posts
Day 256 - Mouths To Feed
Monday December 28th
I am definitely beginning to crack at the seams - so much for two weeks of quiet reflection, calmly filing all my GTP evidence, writing cogent and inspiring lesson plans and catching up on a few relevant articles in the TES. I barely make it out of bed before our next visitors arrive - The Goulds from Essex. More presents. More mouths to feed.
Day 197 - St Edmunds Pot Luck
Friday October 30th
Guy came over for a run. We did about 10 miles and had a great chat. He used to work at Diageo and jacked it all in and is doing GTP in Slough. He's also a very accomplished runner and triathlete. We shared experiences and they are quite similar. He doesn't care for the lack of management competence he fins in his school and enjoys the "thinking on your feet" challenge of the classroom. I worry less about that aspect but do worry about my subject knowledge. It's there but a little rusty.
Spent all afternoon trying to bring some order to my portfolio and had some success and then we had the long anticipated St Edmunds pot luck. Unfortunately, Simon at Number 1 suffered a heart attack this week so we were down to 3 but we had a good time and will do it again when he is back at full strength - appetizers at Number 3, main at Number 4 and dessert at ours where once again, Ted's magnificent key lime pie stole the show.
Day 181 - Assignment Day
Wednesday October 14th
Day at Uni - bliss. Took the bus, did some marking, envied some students and then completely changed my assignment title. I loved the tutor who basically told us to do what we needed to do to pass and no more. I'm all for that
I haven't really shared experiences with my fellow GTP students yet so maybe that is still to come but it looks like I will be spending my second placement at a school that has lower academic achievements and you know what that means - some outstanding behaviour to deal with. Great
Day 180 - Treasure Hunt
Tuesday October 13th
Busy day today but prospect of a day at University to look forward to tomorrow so can enjoy it.
Had a good session with BYS and discussed my GTP assignment. This requires a 3,000 word paper on exploring an issue or opportunity in education. She rejected my first few ideas as being too philosophical and impossible to test or apply simply in the classroom. I think I have a good title with some excellent buzz words incorporated.
Had 10.2.2 in the computer room today and set them a task to plot Olympic medals on an Excel scatter graph. It ended up working very well and while very warm in the room, we almost finished on time. I followed that with a 7.2.1 Treasure Hunt around the corridors of Kings. I briefed them and sent them on their way only to find out that the Head and her team were walking the corridors. Fortunately they were all well behaved.
Ted had a Cup game for the school and won. What a contrast with his club team. He is now a regular starter so very proud of him for that. I went off for some hill work and mile repeats with WADAC. Hills felt good, miles less so
Day 175 - Monster Spreadsheet
Thursday October 8th
Just the one lesson today and my karma is holding up. Had a good lesson with 8.2.4 and then spent an enjoyable hour with the other GTP students sharing experiences and evidence. It's obvious but we need to do more of this as we can draw strength and reassurance from each other. We briefly met the PGCE students as they are in school for the first time. This is good as I don't feel like the newbie any more.
Got some planning done after lunch including a monster spreadsheet showing some self assessment by 11.2.4. It colour coded how confident they all feel about all the topics in the GCSE re-take they have to do in March. It looks impressive and will be a fantastic addition to my portfolio. Whether the 16 year olds involved give a flying f*** or not remains to be seen. Left early and worked a little at home before heading off to track.
Neil is doing the Solent Half this weekend and I SO want to do it but will show restraint and wait for Gosport on November. Fast course, fast time. We zipped around the cathedral a few times in the dark. It was busy so a little hairy. I need to wear my miner's lamp
Day 129 - Tax Credit Karma
Sunday August 23rd
Long run this morning. Thought about 10 miles but ended with about 8.5
A very calm day, dominated by growing nerves about heading of to York tomorrow. I haven't been away from the family or my own bed for a few weeks now and to head off for a whole week into the unknown is quite the upheaval. I actually planned what to pack and then packed the night before which is very unusual for me.
Completed the Child Benefit forms and Tax Credit application. We get about 50 quid a week for the kids, irrespective of income and hopefully some tax credits as a low income earner. Unfortunately, the form asks for my annual earnings from last year which will bring the credit right down I'm sure. I thought about fibbing as all my earnings have been in the US but as karma has been so good to me so far, I don't want to screw it up with some bad.
Alice had practice this morning so went along and chatted to some of the other mothers. One of them has just trained as a GTP Maths teacher so another good source of information.
England regained the Ashes. Rejoice.
Long run this morning. Thought about 10 miles but ended with about 8.5
A very calm day, dominated by growing nerves about heading of to York tomorrow. I haven't been away from the family or my own bed for a few weeks now and to head off for a whole week into the unknown is quite the upheaval. I actually planned what to pack and then packed the night before which is very unusual for me.
Completed the Child Benefit forms and Tax Credit application. We get about 50 quid a week for the kids, irrespective of income and hopefully some tax credits as a low income earner. Unfortunately, the form asks for my annual earnings from last year which will bring the credit right down I'm sure. I thought about fibbing as all my earnings have been in the US but as karma has been so good to me so far, I don't want to screw it up with some bad.
Alice had practice this morning so went along and chatted to some of the other mothers. One of them has just trained as a GTP Maths teacher so another good source of information.
England regained the Ashes. Rejoice.
Day 109 - Fantasy Maths
Monday August 3rd
Not really but at one point I did break from a very sincere focus on Maths to put my Fantasy Football team together for the new season.
Phone switched today so we had not phone or internet all day. I have ramped up my work focus this last week. Firstly, I got organised and read through all my GTP handbook. Secondly, I took a few GCSE past papers and made notes of the topics that I struggled with. It's working well but I still have three textbooks to get through by September.
Ellen sat and did a test paper with me tonight and she did very well in the first half. She got tired for the second half and lost interest. She did very well for someone who is not taking the exam for another 2 years. Did I say she is in the top band for everything? Clever girl.
Bless BT, the phone came on line just I went to bed
Day 83 - Fresher
Wednesday July 8th
Headed off to the University of Southampton today to register formally on my GTP course. I tried to drop Alice off at school but followed the wrong car into Bar End. Whoops.
It was a good morning. We spent it with Keith Smith, the lead tutor. I did not say a word as tempted as I was. It truly felt like being back at school, or at best University. I need to get used to it because this is what it feels like to be back at the start of something. I'm smart but know nothing about teaching so need to be OK with making mistakes, looking foolish in front of others. Not today though
Got the all important handbook and learnt about the infamous portfolio of evidence I have to accumulate. Basically, I have to put together 2 box files of documents that show I have mastered the 33 standards expected of a qualified teacher.
Headed off to the University of Southampton today to register formally on my GTP course. I tried to drop Alice off at school but followed the wrong car into Bar End. Whoops.
It was a good morning. We spent it with Keith Smith, the lead tutor. I did not say a word as tempted as I was. It truly felt like being back at school, or at best University. I need to get used to it because this is what it feels like to be back at the start of something. I'm smart but know nothing about teaching so need to be OK with making mistakes, looking foolish in front of others. Not today though
Got the all important handbook and learnt about the infamous portfolio of evidence I have to accumulate. Basically, I have to put together 2 box files of documents that show I have mastered the 33 standards expected of a qualified teacher.
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