Category Archives: Professional Studies

First week back

1 Reply

It’s the start of semester 2. There were a couple of timetable glitches which immediately sent me in to panic mode….”How will I work”, “when will I spend time with my own children?”. Luckily my employer has been accommodating and my husband has the flexibility in his working day that he can help with the children and the general household duties.

My New Years resolution is to spend more time with family. We’ve been spending much more time outdoors, at the park. We’ve introduced board game night so that I have time to chat to my children about their week and when my timetable allows I can still attend that karate class or school assembly. I’m already a very organised person but I will have to be a lot more organised in my home life this semester.

My placement is in a smaller school in a village. This terrified me to start with as it is something completely different to what I am used to. However,  I have now done some research on the school and I think I will enjoy the small school aspect where the local community has lots of involvement and less children who’s names i have to remember.

So far I have had an animation class. This was fun and different. When I was at school our IT didn’t exist until secondary school. That’s me now showing my age! To have all of these resources at our finger tips is fantastic and I look forward to bringing these lessons in to my own classroom.

I’ve participated in a dance class. First thing on a Friday morning is not what I expected but it wasn’t too hard going and seeing where classes like these can slot in to the Curriculum for Excellence is good.

We’ve had some overviews of language and literacy and professional practice. Going through these lectures has made me think more about what I remember from Primary School and that parts of that I can bring in to my own lessons. It has also helped me to become more reflective.

When I first saw the timetable I wondered why I decided to do this as a mother of two and I am sure this wont be the first or last time I feel like this in the next four years. I just have to keep remembering that it is a very short period of time in the rest of my life and what I can bring to children in my future classes will far outweigh the work I have to put in to my degree.

I will be practicing my lesson plans on my daughter to see how well they go so hopefully that gives me a head start!

A 20 year old dream…

1 Reply

It was 1998 and my ultimate goal was to become a teacher. My Primary 6 teacher at the time was inspirational, developing my skills, teaching, encouraging and enabling me to help others. He had a thirst for life and was always singing songs, reading us adventure stories and I loved going in to school. Since then I have been building on this foundation to improve on my teaching and communication skills. Throughout secondary school I had planned to continue on to uni to study for a degree in Education. I achieved good Standard Grades but as I was studying for my Higher exams my parents separated and it affected my ability to concentrate. I stayed at school but I let my studies dwindle, preferring to spend time with my friends. Then I realised I could make a lot of money without a degree…

I spent 12 years working, bringing up my children and doing the “family” thing. However, something was always in the back of my mind…I still wanted to be a teacher! Was it too late for me? My husband didn’t think so. Following the birth of my second child I was offered redundancy and this was the opportunity to change our life for the better. With my children in full-time education, I went to college and finished my Highers. Look at that… It turns out I do know what I am doing and I can pass exams. As well as attending college four days a week, I helped out in a primary school, one day a week for a whole year. I was allowed to take small reading and comprehension groups and I also got involved in Maths and in P.E. lessons. I continued to work in a pre-school two afternoons each week, which has given me a good overview of the curriculum for all ages from three to twelve.

As a parent I have enjoyed watching my children achieve something new, learn to read, write or count and to continue developing their skills. Watching my own children has given me a great sense of achievement, knowing that I have helped them to achieve it has confirmed that teaching is for me!

My confidence in my own ability is returning! I will use this second chance and I will work hard to achieve my degree and finally achieve 9 year old me’s dream not only for me but for my children!