As a pupil, I generally enjoyed maths as a subject. Although I didn’t find it particularly easy, I found joy in the achievement of working out a problem and finding the answer and experimenting with different ways of solving a problem, figuring out what worked best for me. As I worked my way through school, maths progressively got harder however I was always blessed with very good teachers who made the subject enjoyable and took the time out to provide support and guidance if I needed it. This however all turned around when I reacher Higher maths in 5th year of high school. The huge leap from National 5 was overwhelming for me and on top of this, my teacher changed and I ended up with a teacher who had little patience for people who didn’t catch on straight away, and only provided one way of explaining something. This was very difficult for me, however I feel that it has had a positive effect as I have learned what affected me in a negative way as a pupil, and what affected me in a positive way, and therefore I look to carry this experience forward when teaching younger pupils myself.
Managing my Learning
Teacher Ambition
When leaving school, I never had a clear path like a lot of my friends did. I always felt lost, unable to pinpoint what my future would be. I tried a few different things; different college courses, working full-time and coaching. However the only thing I was ever really interested in was coaching gymnastics. I decided to do as much coaching as I could whilst also still working a full time job for income. When it came to Christmas 2017, I realised that I was becoming too comfortable and not exploring to discover myself and what i wanted to do with my future. I decided i wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and step away from what I always knew.
The next step for me was a journey away, meeting new people and discovering and experiencing new things. I traveled to the USA on my own to take part in the Americamp programme. This changed my whole persona. I gained more confidence, and skills than I knew I was capable of.
After this trip I knew I had more to offer than what I had been spending my time doing, I realised that I needed to stop being scared and challenge myself again.
I still wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to be my next challenge, but I spent some time thinking and the more I thought, the more I realised how rewarding it was, when on camp in the US, helping the children develop insane amounts of skills over a period of time and watching it unfold. I saw children turn from shy, anti-social individuals, to making heaps of friends and going out of their comfort zones to try a lot of new activities; from swinging on the trapeze, to gaining the confidence to stand up in front of the whole camp and sing on a microphone.
Having the opportunity to help these young people to develop and grow was something that I knew was special. I knew it was something that I wanted to continue doing and could do well. That’s when the idea came to me…. teaching.
Hello world!
Welcome to blogs.glowscotland.org.uk – Glow Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Welcome to your WordPress eportfolio
Welcome to your ePortfolio. This is where you will document and share your professional thoughts and experiences over the course of your study at the University of Dundee and beyond that when you begin teaching. You have the control over what you want to make public and what you would rather keep on a password protected page.
The ePortfolio in the form of this WordPress blog allows you to pull in material from other digital sources:
You can pull in a YouTube video:
You can pull in a Soundcloud audio track:
You can upload an image or pull one in from Flickr or any other image sharing site.
You can just about pull in anything that you think will add substance and depth to your writing.
