Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The true sign of a real teacher is......

when you coun't down the days to your holidays! 3 DAYS TO GO!!!! Whooo hooo

I am exhausted, thankfully we have a holiday just around the corner - pity it was not longer.

I am starting to enjoy myself teaching - even although I don't think I am doing a good job. I was hoping to come into teaching and be good at it, but I am slowly learning that I am not going to be the best teacher in the world from day 1. I am making so many mistakes and I can see myself making them - but at least I am realising this and I am able to try and think of ways to improve them.

I think one of my biggest problems at the moment is that I don't feel comfortable in my classroom. The whole classroom set up has quite bad dynamics and as a result I feel this makes a difference to the environment in the classroom. For example, my classroom has had 20 Pc's squashed into it and 25 desks (2 rows of 10 desks in a row) and one row of 5. The chalkboard is to the left of the classroom (miles away from the pupils on the right) and the whiteboard is to the right (miles away from the pupils on the left). It makes it really difficult to teach, as I am unable to position myself in the middle. Plus, in some of my classes I have 30 children, which means the extra 25 have to sit around on the computer desks - which means they are not facing me. Its crammed!!!!!!

I hate not being good at something though, I care about these kids education a lot and sometimes I feel that I am failing them.

Any ideas on how to increase my confidence? Any hypnotic techniques which will make a good teacher?

5 comments:

Kenneth... said...

Hello,
how about posting a photo of your classroom (minus pupils) to show us fellow bloggers the dreadful working conditions. :D

PS PC Passport is an SQA qualification not a Microsoft one.

LesleyJ said...

Thanks very much for all the advice you guys give me, it is very much appreciated. Im one of those people would want to do well, in everything they do and its annoying that I am finding it difficult.

I am learning new techniques everyday and I hopefully I will take on these and actually see improvement.

Kenneth: I know that PCP passport is an SQA qualification, I was just trying to make my list easy for my international blog readers to comprehend what I was teaching.

I don't think I'll be able to get a picture of my classroom. I was not saying they were dreadful working conditions - just that I find it difficult to teach in.

David said...

" I am slowly learning that I am not going to be the best teacher in the world from day 1. I am making so many mistakes and I can see myself making them - but at least I am realising this and I am able to try and think of ways to improve them.

The day you stop learning this is the day you stop teaching.

"20 Pc's squashed into it and 25 desks ...Plus, in some of my classes I have 30 children, which means the extra 25 have to sit around on the computer desks"

The extra 25!? I'm glad you're not a maths teacher! :-)

Kenneth's suggestion of taking a photo (or photos) is a good one. Why not post it to Flickr, like the exercise we did last year, and we can leave notes and comments.

How easy is it to follow Anne's suggestion? Some schools have software that allows you to take control of pupil's screens and show them what's on your screen. Does your school have this facility? Perhaps it's something you could suggest to the department.

Finally, I think the very fact that you are asking these questions suggests that you are not failing your pupils. See my first comment above - you are learning, and more importantly, you want to keep learning. Good stuff!

Duncan__ said...

"how about posting a photo of your classroom"
Sounds as if we've both got "less than ideal" classrooms, Lesley. I posted my classroom on Flickr, but I think you'll need to sign in to see it. I thought it was poorly laid out, but it sounds as if yours puts it well in the shade! (At least I needn't fear getting a class of 30 pupils: they wouldn't all get through my door.)

"you could try chanting - "I think I can, I think I can..."
Try "I know I can ..." Works better! :-)

Victoria said...

Hi lesley. I hope you dont mind me having a wee look at your blog. Im doing the pgde at jordanhill just now and am finding your blog really helpfull. Its nice to know that there is someone else out there who's been through the same, and has survived. Im starting my own blog so if you fancy passing on your advice its much appreciated. Thanks very much.

Victoria