Personal Statement

I am now, as I said yesterday, fully focussed on writing my Personal Statement for my PGDE course. Everything I read tells me that this is one of the most important parts of the application process, so the pressure is mounting!

I am reasonably confident that I can get across everything I want to say in my application, but I just wanted to share a few documents that I have found so far that have helped me. This is for the reference of anyone who is reading the blog wherever and whenever you are, but also for me so I don't forget the documents.

The first helpful thing I found was this advice sheet from St. Andrews University. Some nice tips here on structure and things that you should and should not do. A nice visual bit at the end too.

Another really helpful document here , slightly longer, but definitely worth a read through. Looks at common mistakes and structure ideas and loads more. This is from Wolverhampton University, so a few of the references to courses are out for me, but I managed to get over it!

Also as a final one for just now, the GTTR website where you actually apply has some good advice. I need to remember to look over this too. If anybody is going to know what makes a good personal statement I would say it would be them.

I would also recommend visiting the website of the institution you are applying to and reading everything there is to read about your course written by them. This is what I plan to do because they will give the best idea of what they are looking for in a candidate.

 

Summer Holidays

I feel bad that it has taken so long for me to write another Blog post, so as above, I am sorry, I am sorry... I currently work for The List magazine, and we are right in the middle of Edinburgh Festival at the moment. So I know this is not a great excuse but it is the one I am giving for not writing many posts in the last couple of weeks.

I am also in the process of writing my personal statement for applying for the PGDE, and am concentrating my efforts on that.

I found this really nice blog (Miss M's Learning Blog) about someone who has been through exactly what I am about to embark upon (that makes it sound like some horrible ordeal, which I am sure it is not). It has been helpful reading her posts, and the blog is exactly what I am trying to do with Tiny Little Teaching, keep track of all my thoughts and progress around teaching.

She also suggested a great site ScotEduBlogs which has been a great tool for finding out more about what teachers are doing around the country.

So apologies again for the time off, but rest assured I will be more regular with my updates from now on. I may post my personal statement here, and if there is anybody who stumbles across it, maybe they will have some advice and pointers.

Back to school

I know I have explained a little about my recent experience in a Primary school, however I thought it would make sense for me to offer a little more detail. I know that this is such an important part of getting on to the teacher training course, so it will be helpful for me to articulate my thoughts here, but also for others reading (if you are out there) to see how my experience compares.

I was very fortunate to be able to get some experience in a lovely school in fife, Crossford Primary to be exact. I was offered the chance to work my way through the school, having less time with each year, or to spend all my time with one class. I made the decision to work my way through the whole school initially, as I felt this would give me the best understanding of the differences between each age group (which thankfully it did).

And so it all began with a quick visit in my first week to the nursery class. I have mentioned before that I have some experience working with this age group with the Macrobert nursery, so I had a rough idea what to expect, but it was the number of children and their levels of energy that surprised me most. There was so many of them all ridiculously happy to be playing at their favourite games.

I managed to acquaint myself with one group of cool looking children who were playing with the water games (my favourite of all the nursery games). Overall it was a great experience and I felt already that the decision to come to a primary school was a good one. It was interesting to see how the older children were getting prepared for making the transition from nursery to Primary 1. It was also valuable to me to see how the Nursery teachers structured things so that it was not just a free for all to see who could scream the loudest.

Moving on, I next visited the Primary One class. This has actually been one of my favourite weeks which was a big surprise to me. I had seen the structure of the Nursery, but couldn't really imagine how the structure would work in Primary one, and how lessons would work etc. I observed that the way the teacher spoke to the children, and the language she used set the class apart from play time. The children had individual jobs and responsibilities, and lessons were planned and structured to challenge the children and really get them thinking. There was a fantastic story telling session which was used as a catalyst for a creative writing excercise. I had a great time with the Primary one group and really didn't expect it to be one of my favourites.

Primary 2 and 3 were in the next couple of weeks, and I continued to be surprised with how much I enjoyed the early years. The P2s were such a polite group of children and really enjoyed having me in the class. The progression from Primary 1 was unbelievable, which was really interesting to be able to compare. By Primary 3 the children were working on more complex mathematics and using language that was way above what I had expected. The teacher showed me some of the artwork that the children had been working on, and some of it was fantastic and displayed amazing amounts of creativity and vision.

Primary 4 was an interesting age group, because at this point the children were more aware of my presence as an outside in the classroom. They were playing up, and trying to get my attention in various ways. This was really interesting and really highlighted for me the lack of a male presence in the classroom. Some of the children asked me if I was a Policeman, and a couple of them giggled when I said I wanted to be a teacher, as if it was an unusual thing for a man to want to be.

Primary 5 was great, and I was lucky to get in when they were doing something really creative. The children were designing new front covers for books they had read, and had to write new blurbs based on what they thought the book was about. It was interesting and noteworthy for me how much of an education gap there was between some children at this stage. Some of the children found this task easy and enjoyable and flew threw it with some really interesting pictures and words. A few others found the task almost impossible, and had a really difficult time with it. I found this interesting because a lot of my education experience before has been working with children who are all at the same level, and I thought the teacher dealt incredibly well with working with such a varied class (in terms of ability).

I then visited the Primary 6 group for a while, and I would say this was my least favourite. This, I am presuming, is largely down to the fact that we were very near the end of term by this point and the kids had already switched off for the summer. I did get to see the children doing their final stages of cycling proficiency which I thought was fantastic. I think this is an incredibly valuable thing for the children to learn, and they had all seemed to grasp the rules of the road. I also got to see a Religious and Moral Education lesson for the first time. I was disappointed with this though, as it was just a worksheet to fill out, and the children did not take it very seriously. Perhaps this was end of term excitement - but if I was their age I don't think it would have interested me either! I realise that this sounds harsh but I have tried to view everything with an overly critical eye as I need to reflect on my experience in order to progress, and it is good to see what I think doesn't work as well as what I think does.

I did not get to spend much time with the Primary 7 class, because end of term got in the way. However, during breaks I did spend a lot of time talking to the Primary 7 teacher. I am going to be going back to the school after the summer holidays, and I am going to request to spend an extended period of time with the Primary 7 class (or the primary 1's - I can't make up my mind).

This does seem like a massive post, but I could have gone on for ever, and this is me trying to keep it brief. One of my biggest criticisms would be the lack of use of the Smartboards. In every class teachers have a smart board which is (as far as I can see) a wonderfully powerful piece of technology, but in most instances, it was just being used as a projector. I couldn't help but feel that so many lessons could have been made much more intereactive an memorable if the Smart board had been used to it's potential. I think, for my next post I will do a bit of research into the technology and see if I can find examples of good ways to use it.

So apologies again for the length of the post, but it was really useful for me and hopefully somebody in a similar position will find it useful too. If anyone has any thoughts please comment and let me know.

Moving Image Education and the Curriculum for Excellence

 One of the things I did not mention in my very self-centred début blog posts, was my experience of acting as an advisor to a research group at Stirling University, looking in to how Moving Image Education (analysis, appreciation and creation) can be used in the curriculum for excellence.

The Curriculum for excellence, as I understand it, is a radical change to the Scottish Curriculum which looks to develop young people in to confident individuals, successful learners, responsible citizens and effective contributors. The new curriculum offers a broad and deep general education that aims to make children ready for life and work in the 21st century.

The aim of the research project was to look in to how moving image education fits with the curriculum for excellence, and indeed how moving image education can be used efficiently in classrooms. This was brilliant, and I learned a lot about the curriculum for excellence from working with Scottish screen, local authorities, teachers, artists and the Education department of Stirling University.

As a film maker, and someone who had a lot of experience working with children in a film making environment, a lot of what was being in the group rang true with my experiences. Moving image education can and does provide so many opportunities for pupils to develop within the four capacities of A Curriculum For Excellence mentioned above

A lot of the young people I have worked with in Film making workshops are not the highest achievers in terms of "traditional" subjects. However they become so creative, confident, hard working when they are making films. They show leadership skills and team working abilities and learn so much as a result.

Here is a great document that illustrates everything you need to know about moving image education and A curriculum for excellence. As I say it was a great eye opening experience for me, and it makes for a fantastic read. If you are interested in technology in the classroom or if you have been using moving image education in your classroom, I would love to hear about your experiences.

When I am a teacher, I am going to use moving image education as much as I can. Hopefully my enthusiasm for the medium will be infectious.

My Hopes of Becoming a Primary Teacher Part 2

So to recap, I volunteered for a charity, went to uni, worked as a youth group assistant, taught in France for a year and then became lead film mentor at Macrobert. Sounds like a lot when you put it like that does it not? (I didn't even mention that I got a First for my degree - not that I am bragging I just don't get much of an opportunity to tell people so I am running with it here)

The next part of the blog will explain more recent experience or my "Post Stirling days". I have always been following two paths in my working life. My film and media career is one path and my youth work career the other. I have been very fortunate in that these paths have crossed on several occasions, leading to some enjoyable and noteworthy experiences. However after working as Sales Manager at Macrobert for some time, I managed to get a job working for a very well respected Arts and Entertainment Magazine in Edinburgh, propelling me far down the Media path. I jumped at the opportunity and have not regretted it since.

However, in this job I don't have the opportunity to work with young people, and can't really do much in my spare time as the job is quite demanding. This absence has allowed me to realise that Youth work, and working with children is my real passion and it is something that I need to pursue for career fulfilment (cue emotional, uplifting music to really hammer home my life changing realisation).

I have now decided to apply for the one year course at Murray house in Primary School teaching. I feel that I already have a wealth of experience but understand that the course is extremely difficult to get on to, and I do not for a minute want to rest on my laurels. I had heard that you would not be considered for the course without Primary School classroom experience, so I made a huge decision to go part time at work to allow me to gain experience.

The work experience in a Primary School has been such a valuable experience and I can completely see now why it is essential to have spent some time in a School before applying for the course. I have learned so much from my time in the Primary school, from things like structure of lessons to how to cope with certain situations. I feel this experience will stand me in good stead for my future career.

I have also recently started working with a local Cubs group. I have been actively involved with getting the group off the ground in the local area, and we are looking to start the group in September.

The most recent thing I am looking to help out with is swimming classes for Primary aged children at my local fitness centre. I feel this will give me another form of experience that I have not had much of before. I  love sport and live a very active lifestyle so it will be great to channel this enthusiasm in to working with children in a similar area.

So all that remains now, after all this experience and 2 lengthy blog posts, is to apply for the course, get an interview, pass that with flying colours, become the best teacher in the world and live a happy contented life. Not that much to ask is it?

My hopes of becoming a Primary Teacher

Primary teaching is something that I have always been interested in, and have always thought I would make a really good teacher. I have always worked with young people and feel that I have had the strongest bond with those under the age of 12. This may be largely because I am of a similar mental age as the children, which I find helps. I love the energy, enthusiasm, creativity and general madness that comes with working with very young children. Recently I was looking for a way that I could build on this love of working with children, and Primary Teaching just screamed out at me!

I thought, for my first post, that it may be helpful for me to outline a little about my back ground, and my future plans. I feel this would be useful for me and is a good starting point for this blog. It will also allow any readers to understand exactly the stage I am at.

I started working with young people when I was 16, and I volunteered for a charity organisation in Edinburgh called Home Start. The charity provided a service for Parents or Guardians who were unable to look after their children for various social reasons. I helped out on days out that the charity organised, and I did a lot of film work with the families when they were producing a film about Home Start. This sparked a real interest in working with children which I later pursued with Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling.

I started University in Stirling when I turned 17, and I studied European Film and Media. I got a job with the on campus art centre, working as a youth group assistant. This was a fantastic job and it allowed me to couple my passion for the arts with my love of working with young people. I worked in this role for around two years before moving to France as part of my degree.

In France, I taught for an academic year as an English Language assistant at a Lycée (High School) in the outskirts of Paris. This was such a fantastic experience and it had numerous personal benefits. Firstly, I became very confident almost fluent in conversational French, and secondly I got hands on Experience of teaching and leading lessons. I loved working with young people in this formal setting, and I believe this is the route of me wanting to become a teacher. I also made my first film in Paris, and when I returned home managed to secure a lot of film work on the back of people seeing my work. 

I worked very closely with the Community Education department at West Lothian council. I worked on a few projects, all with looked after young children, using film as a tool to educate them on the democratic process. This was such a great experience for me and led to me developing both professionally as a Film maker and also as a youth worker.

On returning from France, I started work with Macrobert again, working as a youth group assistant and progressing to Lead Film Mentor. In this role I led the film making youth group, working with various age groups and teaching all stages of the film making process.It was this point that I truly saw first hand the creative potential of young people, and this is something that has inspired me ever since.

When I was working at macrobert, I also worked as Duty Manager  and later Sales Manager. As Macrobert was a centre led by it's dedication to the rights of the child, anybody in a management position had to regularly work in all departments. This meant I got the opportunity to work in the Nursery on a regular basis, working with children aged 6 months - 6 years. This was ace, and it was here that I managed to perfect my dinosaur ROAR!!

I am realising now that this blog is going on and on and on...so what I think I am going to do is end things for now and continue tomorrow. This is actually a nice place to end things as that covers my experience up to now. I have been doing a lot recently too since I made the active decision to do the course at Murray house, so that will make for an interesting second post I think.