How can I survive a PGCE with my sanity intact and still have enough left to be a teacher.?
371725
You just answered my question (What is the most important thing you ever learned?) in the way that makes a teacher trainer believe in what she is doing!\nLook, I can't speak for the UK these days. Got qulaified -Got out! I'm on International Eductaion now and it's been my passport to the world...and a vocation I still believe in after...well too many years at the chalk face! The profession doesn't need people to make up numbers, as much as it needs dedicated professionals who seek a reward far richer than gold. I have funny feeling you are just the sort of teacher the kids are so desperately needing (and frankly deserve!)...so hang in there, cos it really is worth the slog. You can contact me for info about a curriculum based on learning to learn for life ...not for tests or govt. figures, if you're interested. jacquelinewebb@isoz.ch.
76445
Be prepared w/ your lessons, expect the unexpected, and have contingency plan. If you truly care about children you will do well. Don't let the kids know you're unsure, they can smell fear.
648436
Just do it I fell youre pain i am a student myself.You can do it .Dont never give up.
181471
find something you have a passion for and something that you can make money from. there is so much info on the internet also you could go to collage , special schools alos if you have a heavy learning problem.\nMost of all dont beat yourself up over it that will just make it worse.\nIf you are lucky enough to have afamily member or friend or relative that will listen to you let them know how you feel and they will guide you in the right direction
759715
The only advice i have learnt about education is that unless you have a will power to do it, there is no way you will succeed.  You need to have the stimulation that this is the course you want to do and this is the career i want to be and no matter what happens I will pass the course.  You have a relatively good chance of passing in computer but mathematics alone cannot determine.
780712
be a genius... \n\nbeyond that, you're pretty much screwed...
985066
I can see how desparate you are.\n\nHey I saw your message posted on too many message boards to ignore it any further.\n\nLet me tell you this......\n\nI am currently doing my bachelors in Engineering and I do know the position you are in.\n\nThere are several tips I could give you:\n\n1. First record your answers into a tape. "Listen to it when you are about to fall asleep". This helps a lot as the answer is subconciously loaded into the memory in the state of semi-sleep. You have to understand that this is effective(highly) but only in the state of semi-sleep. There is a great theory that a person obeys almost anything in the state of semi-sleep. That is the basis of hypnotics.\n\n2. Prepare your own notes for studying. It always helps a lot when you jog down the data to suit your needs. Say you could prepare separate notes for definitions, theorems etc.\n\n3. Have a "carry in the pocket note". This is not only useful for you now but for the rest of your life. You could have all math formulae or something very important like theorem statements(v.Important ones) You could just give them a glance while you are travelling or when you are bored etc. This is very helpful\n\nfor math practice is must\n\n4. After a month of this, write model tests. I suggest that you first get the Q's from the teachers but later you start preparing your own Q-papers. This helps improve your prediction skills and you will be able to understand the mentality of Q-paper setters. It is a very useful skill considering that you would like to be an engineer.\n\nFinally man have faith in yourself. That is the most important thing of 'em all.\n\nThere is this EQ-----> Emotional Quotient. Be less tensed as possible as it helps to increase your EQ. It is very important because it is very important to reproduce everything that you have studied.\n\nBest of luck
368179
Sure, go for it!  You'll learn a lot of tricks that you can use when you're able to find a job as a regular education teacher.  Who knows, maybe you'll decide to stay in special ed!
645241
Congratulations! Now is the time to get that Prozac prescription...just kidding!\n\nReal things to do to get ready for next year:\n\n1. Find out if your school uses a standard form or expects you to use your own for Present Levels of Performance reports. Review the district form, or ask to speak to a veteran sped teacher in your district about the paperwork requirements. The same goes for your lesson plans. Do NOT turn to a regular ed teacher for this. You MUST link up with a veteran sped teacher. The sooner you have the "templates" and "cut and paste" part of your paperwork down, the less time will be sucked out of your busy schedule during the actual school year for the routine stuff.\n\n2. Ask to look at a sample district IEP, or even better yet, if they know your caseload already, look at your kids' IEP paperwork. Get to know the paperwork format backwards and forwards. \n\n3. If you can review those IEP's now, review commonalities in individualized goals and modifications, and center your planning around linking the curriculum to those shared elements (tweaking from that point for further individual needs is easier than going student-by-student from the ground up).\n\n4. If you can get into your school over the summer, do it. Start working on organizing your classroom now. You won't have time at the start of the school year, especially as a new teacher, with the additional new teacher orientation meetings, additional sped staff meetings, and possibly incoming IEP meetings prior to the children returning.\n\n5. Did I mention hooking up with a sped teacher from your building (or a nearby building at the same level) as a mentor? Your district may assign you a "mentor," but he or she may not be special ed. If your official mentor is not special ed, you are not going to be able to turn to them for many things. A veteran sped teacher knows the ropes...the ones that are so different for us than for the regular ed teachers.\n\n6. If you haven't done so already, start to invest some of your own resources in alternative curriculum, materials, etc. Most districts either provide only a little, or no funds, for alternative materials at the building site level. Start to build wish lists and wait for the sudden "we have $100 each teacher that must be spent by day after tomorrow" announcement, too. Ensure open communication for yourself both with your school front office and with SPED central office. When I started in my classroom, I was provided with one copy each of each regular ed textbook from for each grade level (K-5), and access to the school materials closet. Excellent resources for getting the real materials and curriculum you immediately need to start things off, are your prior cooperating teacher from student teaching (if that worked out ok), and your sped colleagues. Make sure you write your name on EVERYTHING that you either buy with your own money, or gain through hand-me-downs.\n\n7. Have a clear picture in your mind about the roles you and each of your educational assistants will be playing within the classroom. What decisions will you maintain full control over, what will you delegate to them, and how will you ensure both quality services from your EA's, and their job satisfaction so that you won't have rapid turnover? Always be alert to the different support requirements between 1:1 EA's (assigned to a particular student) and EA's assigned to you as YOUR assistants for general use across your program(s).\n\n8. At the start of the school year, identify the following people, and throughout the year work on building positive professional relationships with: the school secretaries (who are the real heart of any smoothly functioning school); all therapy providers (SLP, OT, PT, etc.); the school counselor; the other sped teachers in your building; every single educational assistant whether they are sped or not (you never know who and when you'll be to
1141762
Okay, just get through this.  Do what you have to do to get the marks you need to get your credential.  Use what you've observed with your master teacher to decide what not to do.  Try to learn some techniques that you will want to use, or at least modify.  It takes a number of years to find the 'happy medium' between letting the students run over you and being a martinet.  Good luck.\n(30 + years teaching middle school, female and working every day and year on that happy medium)
525006
Find a reson for you to exist. Perhpas you need to help in the local school Maybe you can join a local drama club.
373767
The students always make it worth it, but you're in for lots of stress and heartburn (mostly administrative).  The coursework (if you keep your answers "politically correct") is pretty straightforward. Learn education-profession lingo, get faimiliar with laws, rules, and procedures, learn about different curriculum and methodology, etc.\n\nWhile you go through your teacher prep at the college/university, I would strongly recommend that you substitute teach for your local district (as soon as your credit hours make you eligible). There is a world of difference between a new teacher with substitute teaching experience, and one who only has had practicums.\n\nIt's once you walk into your first day as a full teacher that the "overwhelming" path to burn-out (lol) starts. Make sure you have a mentor teacher, who has at least 5 years teaching experience, preferably one that teaches the same level/subjects you teach, who is organized and not burnt out yet, and who is upbeat and patient, to walk you through all the expectations the district will have that nobody happened to mention to you during induction, interviews, staff meetings, etc. because the "old hands" all have those routines down...\n\nBe prepared for overloaded classes, an even greater diversity of learning abilities and behavior issues in your class as inclusion becomes an even greater focus, weekly lesson plans, daily paper grading, attendance paperwork, progress reports, fundraiser paperwork and coordination, parent outreach paperwork and phone calls, duty schedule, safety drills and related paperwork, student referral (learning or discipline issues) paperwork, Child Study meetings, grade-level meetings, school-wide staff meetings, school committee meetings, in-service training meetings, evening classes for professional development requirements, PTA, NEA or other professional organization activities, evening activities from different organizations, parent-teacher conferences, supervision of educational assistants and classroom volunteers, collaborative projects with other teaching staff, oh, and I think teaching the students comes in somewhere in there, too. \n\nIf you choose special education, also be prepared (in addition to the above) for IEP meetings, additional student progress reports, additional student assessments, additional planning time for individualized programming, additional time taken up consulting with other teachers for inclusion support and/or joint projects, additional conferences and training for profressional development, additional staff meetings and in-service trainings for special education specifically, and increased contact time for parents. \n\nDo all this for 1/2 to 1/3 the pay of any other profession with your level of training. \n\nAnd then, the kid turns to you, with a big grin on his/her face, and says..."WOW. That makes Sense!!! THANK YOU!!!" and all of it is TOTALLY worth it! My husband (also a teacher) has had the joy of running into students, now as adults, who have thanked him for his efforts.\n\nI love my job. It is a difficult path to take, however. I would suggest volunteering at your local school system to get a feel for things and see if it is something you really do want to do.
794155
Take little breaks now and then, so that you don't put your brain in overwhelm. Education is like a workout for the brain, but you also have to self-regulate so that you keep yourself in check. Don't talk yourself into quitting. Also, it's helpful to have a social life, using it as a reward system if your study projects have been completed. Use "fun" for your reward, and your mind will grow more agile so that you can get through it. Cheers!
930978
Make a revision plan about 6 months before a major exam and start reviewing one topic at a time from then.\nI feel envious of people who just perform well in exams without much real effort (so they say). The rest of us mortals have to follow the revision plan and cover everything as well as possible  in advance of the big day.
929680
Buy yourself your favorite chocolate. Leave it out where you can see it and make a contract with yourself that you cannot eat ANY of it until you've finished, say, one subject.\n\nOr make a contract allowing yourself to go shopping and buy a new outfit when you're done with everything. I sometimes find it useful to actually write up the contract.  :o)  Ha ha.\n\nAnd just think how proud you'll feel (and how proud your teachers will feel) tomorrow when everything's finished and looks wonderful!
206121
Talk to someone at your school, like a counsellor, who can put forward to the teachers that you feel this way.\n\nAs a teacher I appreciate knowing about my students and try to find ways around the hurdles put up to stop them learning.
71749
First be yourself and do not be intemidated by your students. You can be a good teacher and still feel extremely comfortable with your students as well as your students being the same.\nGet them interested and do not assume that a student is too stupid to learn. Always be there for your students and have assistants to help.\nReading material is great. Ask students for what they got out of the reading material. There should be no wrong answer.\nMake things fun. You are the teacher. Teach and enjoy