During the December break I have been working hard to save some money to pay for university next year.  Working 8-12 hrs daily was stimulating and doing different jobs has kept me going for the past month.  Quite a shock to the system having to get back to uni with over an hrs drive there and back where I was driving 5 minutes to my work.

Very interesting lectures today with the introduction to Teaching Across the Curriculum with Curriculum for Excellence, Numeracy, Mathematics, Literacy, Language, Science and Technologies.  I am thoroughly looking forward to specific lectures on these subjects with the lecturers who are very passionate about their chosen field.

With placement in the next couple of months, I am very optimistic about going into the classroom again on placement and I am excited to have a local school close to where I live.  Having looked online at the school’s website, I have observed that it is a newly built school like many in the Angus area.

Looking forward to a busy semester with lots of positive learning and starting reading from day 1!

I have been a chef for the last 5 years and now I decided was my time to live my dream and become a Primary Teacher.  I worked hard throughout school to get the my grades and also do lots of work experience but unfortunately was unsuccessful in all 5 University choices at the time.  I decided to do something completely different to gain valuable life experience which I think is essential.

Throughout my education and working life I have gained many valuable skills which are all key to the success of becoming a teacher.  Communication is key in university and also teaching as there are many different people who you have to speak to throughout the course and when entering into the profession. I feel that I have gained this while working in many different places as a chef and also doing work experience in schools and with Rainbows and Brownies.

Time management is also very important and I have had to work hard at this throughout my chef career as it requires careful planning and precision to ensure that all tasks are completed in the allotted time.  This will help me in my future career as being a teacher requires excellent time management and planning to ensure lessons are ready for classes and ensuring the pupils are busy throughout the day.

All the transferable skills which I possess; time management, leadership, communication and organisation can all be developed, university and personal study will help with this.  I am very interested in professional development and feel that with there being so many changes in teaching it will keep me interested and learning at all times.

Being very passionate about teaching and learning I feel that I can pass this onto the children and make them want to learn too.  It is essential to engage the children in their learning. Different schools can vary from composite to small classes to very large classes and very mixed ability it is important that all children are included and engaged in their lessons.

I now feel that I am ready to progress in my life and looking forward to becoming a teacher in the next 4 years and seeing the changes in education in the coming years.