End of placement one and the launch of the NSFA

Today, my first school placement has finished. I have now been at Sawston for four full and five half weeks and can honesty say that I have learned a lot! This is what I wrote for my end-of-placement report:

"During my time at Sawston Village College I had the chance to develop a range of different skills and increase my subject knowledge. Although I still feel a little bit insecure about my Spanish, I have grown much more confident in teaching German and French. Visiting and leading a great variety of classes has given me the opportunity to get to know the Scheme of Work and topics from Year 7 to Year 11.

I found it especially enjoyable to see how the relationships with my Year 9 German and Year 8 French/German class improved over time. It was fantastic to be able to teach whole lessons in target language and engage the students through my references to German culture and the life of the pupils in Germany. I have started to plan for different levels within one class and now pay more attention to the learning of the individual student. In my next placement, I am looking forward to being attached to classes for a longer time, getting to know the pupils and their language levels and monitoring their learning closely.

One of my biggest strengths is my positive attitude in the classroom together with firm management, however, I need to make sure that all of the pupils respect me and listen to me when I want them to. I also have to focus on adapting my lesson plans according to how much progress has been made and targeting individual ability groups with differentiation. Overall, I found my time at Sawston Village College very valuable and look forward to experiencing more teaching and learning practice in my new placement. "

Sound very academic, doesn't it? :-) Overall, I had a really good time and did not find it quite as exhausting as I had feared. Thankfully, I had at least one or two lessons off a day in which I focused on my lesson planning and essay writing. Next Friday, the last one before Christmas has to be handed in. I am also very excited to work in Cambridge next term and be part of the MFL department of the Netherhall School. I have also asked to be able to teach a bit of Film and Media (yay!) and doing some A-Level work should be fantastic.

With regards to Alternative Education, I applied for a PhD in Democratic Education at Oxford last week. The decision about the place will not be made until mid January and in case I am successful the process could take a few months more in order to secure the funding, but I am very happy to get the paperwork on the way.

I also have some news regarding my film projects: This weekend is the launch of the National Student Film Association in Bristol, which should be extermely exciting! It will be so nice to see everybody again and I see the NSFA as an amazing platform for all student film makers in the UK. As an extension, a friend and I have started the International Student Film Association, the ISFA, which will do the same great things, just for students world wide! Although I am very busy with my studies, I have already set up the website and I am also in contact with students from all over the world so hopefully I will be able to delegate a little bit in the next months! :-)