Monthly Archives: September 2015

How did gender affect me when I was a child?

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I was lucky enough to go to a primary school which was very inclusive of both girls and boys. I didn’t come across many incidences of gender stereotyping while at primary school. The main incident which sticks in my mind was during the casting for the annual nativity play. Every year I asked to be a shepherd and every year I was told that that role was for a boy and that I would get to be an angle. In fact unless you played Mary as a girl the only other role available to you was to be an angel. The boys on the other hand could be shepherds, wise men or an animal. This always bothered me and I knew it was unfair I complained to my mum at home and while she agreed that it was unfair she pointed out that that was the way it was. So I had to stand on stage in an itchy tinsel halo while the proud shepherds paraded past. The only other visible gender stereotype during my primary school days was the fact that we were sat girl-boy as the girls were ‘calmer’ than the boys and were supposed to have a good influence on the boys making them work harder. Although this probably did help some of the boys it also distracted many of the girls and re-enforced the idea that a girl is quiet and calm and the boys get to be noisy and move around.

Why did I choose teaching?

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If you asked me five years ago what I wanted to do I would have told you “not teaching!” I was adamant that I would never be in another classroom once I had finished school. I always enjoyed school and, despite one or two teachers who I didn’t quite see eye to eye with, I found the majority of my teachers interesting and supportive people, I just did not want to return to school once I had finished with my time there.  However over the last two years of my school life this changed, I began to be drawn to the idea of teaching to such an extent that at this point I couldn’t tell you any thing I would rather be doing with my University career and then my life afterwards.

I gradually started to do more and more work experience; helping the s1’s with their transition from primary to secondary school, spending two hours a week in a p6 class in my local primary school, working with a boy who needed extra support for an hour week and a week during my October holiday in which I went to stay with my aunt and work in her primary school down in Harrogate. This was hard work, she was determined to give me the full experience, starting at 7:30 and marking late into the night, however I had never been so sure of what I wanted to do with my life. As soon as I got home from the week with my Aunt I started my personal statement and applied to do Primary education at University. After this came interviews which encouraged me to read into the theory’s behind teaching and I began to realise that teaching was more than just a love of being in the classroom and helping children understand the world around them and that it was built upon a fascinating world of theory’s and concepts. This made me want to study teaching at University and to go on to be a teacher even more.

When thinking about what sort of teacher I want to be the first thought which comes into my head, is my year six teacher back in England. He was considered the scary teacher of the school by some, mainly the pupils who were in trouble a large percentage of the time, yet to me he was interesting, fun and incredibly caring. At that point in my school career I was struggling a great deal, I had always been a slow learner and by the time I was starting my last year of primary school, my teachers and parents were concerned over my maths and spelling ability, in fact I was told that there was little chance of me receiving a GCSE in maths or English, I managed to get a B at higher maths and a B in advanced higher English. I believe that my year six teacher had a lot to do with my success, he never wrote me off and was always willing to support me and go through everything again with me until I understood. He gave me back the confidence I had lost and let me know that our brains all need different types of help. I want to be a teacher like him, one who understands the pupils struggles and one who, as long as I can see they are working hard, will support a pupil no matter what level they are at. He also used to ensure that there were fifteen minutes at the end of each day in which he would read the class a chapter or two of a book. This was a great help to us as pupils as it encouraged a love of reading and books while giving us all a chance to unwind and relax before going home to our parents. This is a practice which I am determined to keep in any classroom in which I am lucky enough to teach.

In conclusion, although when I started my school life I never wanted to be a teacher I can now no longer imagine myself doing everything else with my life, and that throughout my life I have found inspiration for who I want to be as a teacher from those who have helped teach me and shape my future.