I thought I'd update you on what is going on with my PGCE. Before the PGCE students went into the second block placement (6+6+5 weeks intersected by half term and Easter break), we were told that February was going to be a dark month. No sleep, continuous preparation, classroom management issues, missing support and lots of marking. Oh, plus our biggest assignment yet: 1C, with 8000 words to write on a study that we have to design ourselves. Now, I would love to be melodramatic and go: Boy, were they right! But the truth is that I am doing fine.
Yes, I have been very lucky with my school (which is only a few minutes away from my house), my mentor (who is awesome and tries to adapt the program to what I want to get out of it) and my classes (which the exception of one which I swear is made of monsters in training). I would not go as far as saying that I enjoy it all the time, which I don't, or that I don't feel challenged at times (see the monsters), but overall I am ok, sane and fairly healthy. This however is quite a stark contrast to a lot of the other PGCE students many of whom have not been as lucky as I am in either of the three respects above and sometimes don't get home until 6pm and then have to get onto marking books.
Through a miracle I am only teaching 9 classes a week and have time to be chair of the NSFA, run the Cambridge Student Film Festival and visit my friends in Oxford and London over the weekend. I have to say that the latter three contribute hugely to my emotional balance and that in a way, they make me enjoy my time at school much more because of the diversity of the things that I am doing. This afternoon for example I am going to meet up with people from the university to discuss collaboration opportunities for Cam*Era, the film festival. Sometimes it feels like the film projects are my real work- they demand more attention but also give me much greater high points once something works out. Last week for example, I paid in a cheque of £3000 sponsorship money for Cam*Era.
The one thing that is really exhausting about the PGCE is the continuous assessment. Being a teacher on a training course is a little bit like being an actor who has three auditions a day- you have to be good all the time. Professional teachers observe your lessons almost every single time and write comments on very scary blue sheets of paper with one copy going to the faculty of the university and one going to your personal mentor at the school. It is sometimes quite funny to see how a really positive lesson can turn into a nightmare on paper or vice verca!
I am still glad that I am doing it and it will ultimately also be very beneficial for my CV. As the majority of the PGCE students I have also had my doubts, but now there are only 8 and a half weeks left and I am sure that I will be able to complete those as well! What comes after will be another matter completely and I doubt very much that it is going to involve secondary school language teaching but that my future will rather lead in back into the direction of film or event management... We will see :-)
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