Teaching

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don_quixote

Trent End
soooo... im starting my pgce in two weeks time. can't wait to start. i'm doing secondary maths.

read a load of teaching books over the summer... some relevant, some not so but nonetheless interesting. anyway, ur, any tips?
 
jenks

jenks

thread death
Cool - good luck with it. not sure what to advise - been a few years since i did mine (18 years ago, in fact), but I have mentored my fair share of trainees and now run a dept.

Best advice is always going to be about planning - a well planned lesson has so much more chance of success and kids generally really like to see someone who has themselves organised.

What books have you been reading? Any of them any good?

You can always PM me if you want to ask anything
 
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don_quixote

Trent End
mostly maths teaching books, um;

mike ollerton - getting the buggers to add up
martin hughes - children and number
louis cohen - a guide to teaching practice
david wood - how children think and learn

i've been taking everything i can out of leicester library. there was another one that i got about learning to teach mathematics; but i can't remember what it was! it was quite old tho as there was a whole chapter on logo. the martin hughes book was fascinating but solely concentrated on infants. the ollerton book was inspiring and i'll probably use it a lot once i get going. the david wood book was mostly a psychology book, but had a great chapter on why children struggle with maths. oh and the cohen book i'd possibly take out again, but the edition in leicester library was so old it was antiquated.

i spent a year teaching unqualified last year, so i've already seen the advantages of a well-planned lesson. last year however i taught university students who had a habit of not turning up en masse so it was hard to muster enthusiasm for much planning when you could be teaching 6 students out of a class of 20. so i'm quite looking forward to lessons with a full class.
 
mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

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These are geared more towards primary maths, but would still be of use with lower sets in secondary:

Liping Ma: Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers' Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States

Julia Anghileri - Teaching Number Sense

Other:

Brian Butterworth - The Mathematical Brain (pop sci/maths arguing that arithmetic has its own specialised module in the brain)

Leone Burton - Thinking Things Through (seminal text on teaching 'problem-solving' activities; useful for planning such things)

Otherwise, the most useful thing would be to create as many well-planned presentations and activities as you can on the subjects you will teach, geared towards different ability levels - this will leave you energy to manage behaviour/do the masses of paperwork required on the PGCE. :eek:
 
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Beast of Burden
How on earth do you get unqualified teaching experience? Is it required for PGCE application?

I'm intrigued. I have terrific academic qualifications in my subject, but haven't taught anything in my life.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
oliver craner said:
How on earth do you get unqualified teaching experience? Is it required for PGCE application?

I'm intrigued. I have terrific academic qualifications in my subject, but haven't taught anything in my life.
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unpaid work experience is the best way (or do a part-time teaching assistant type job for a bit).

not sure about PGCE, but experience is essential for a BEd. it will certainly be looked upon favourably.

i'd recommend getting into a classroom before deciding whether you want to teach- you'll either love it or hate it, regardless of academic quals. People do drop out simply because they don't like contact time (or find the planning, marking etc too much- a problem if you're a perfectionist type)
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
mixed_biscuits said:
Even more so if you're not! :D
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well, having taught for 9 years or so, i've get used to having to compromise a fair bit- learning resources/lessons are often 'works in progress', otherwise, i'd never sleep.

for example, i haven't written a lesson plan for at least 5 years, apart from when ofsted are in (thinking of you this week jenks!).
 
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Beast of Burden
unpaid work experience is the best way (or do a part-time teaching assistant type job for a bit).

But do colleges/schools offer this? How would I find out? Do they advertise, or would I contact a local institution offering my, uh, services?
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
oliver craner said:
unpaid work experience is the best way (or do a part-time teaching assistant type job for a bit).

But do colleges/schools offer this? How would I find out? Do they advertise, or would I contact a local institution offering my, uh, services?
Click to expand...

just give 'em a ring. some are more than happy
 
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don_quixote

Trent End
with a secondary pgce they expect you to have seen some stuff before you interview, with a primary pgce you've had to have done LOADS beforehand because it's so competitive.

warning: they might want a recent crb. then again they didn't even check mine.
 
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Beast of Burden
er, what's a crb?

Seriously, I'm just starting to think about this, I'm lower than base one...
 
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Beast of Burden
Alright, thanks. I'm not a criminal so that would be ok.

I've heard of people in their forties switching careers to take up teaching, for example a man who was in industry for 2 decades and jacked it in and became a teacher. What does that take?

What I mean is, I'm 30, and fed up of my, uh, career: how many steps, or years, would it take to become a qualified teacher?

Because I have to way this up financially and time-wise against other options...and I know I'm not the only one who starts at a late stage with no teaching experience.
 
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Beast of Burden
And yes, I am attracted to teaching and do, I think, have some abilities to teach my subject, although I'm a bit worried about controlling 14 years olds, but we'll get to that later. So I'm not wasting all of your time.
 
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don_quixote

Trent End
http://www.tda.gov.uk/

this should have most of your answers. you may not even have to go back to uni as you mat be able to do a graduate training programme within a school.

the way im going it takes a year to train and then you spend a year as a newly qualified teacher which is a probation period and you pass at the end of that to get qualified teachers status.

also you get paid to train (mine is £1000 a month tax-free for my 9 months of training, but i'm not sure how specific this is to subject)

(i think that's correct)
 
jenks

jenks

thread death
Right...

I f you do a PGCE they usually ask you to go do a week at both a primary and a secondary school before you start. In the past you contacted a school and asked them if you could coem in for a week. Now with CRB you will ahve to provide evidence of non-nonce status.

Another thing you could do is become a cover supervisor for a while - whilst you would not be teaching you would be inside a school and getting a fair idea of what kids are like. Essentially the job is baby sitting kids who have no teacher - we have had a few in my school and teh best are marvellous and I would have no hesitation having them teach in my department. It's tough because you are not actually theie teacher and you move from subject to subject but it does give you a chance to see how you would deal with aroom full of 14 year olds.

Alternatively you could get some work as a teaching assistant - particularly in over worked SEN depts. mostly you would working with small groups of kids with particluar difficulties - some eye wateringly severe.

Or you could go work in the private sector where qulaifications have always been less of an issue.

Finally there is the Graduate Teacher Training Programme which is basically on teh job training - reduced timetable, a mentor and regular training days - it's very much dependent upon the school, its Head of Training and the department you work in. Also, it's not guaranteed taht you'll have a job at the end of the year, although I think most do get employed.

As to age, I think that they are grateful for anyone who comes into the profession - it's always been a question of retention in teaching. It's decently paid on entry but those of us who have reached the top of pay spines find ourselves hitting our heads on that infamous glass ceilings.

Hope some of this helps
 
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jenks

jenks

thread death
matt b said:
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for example, i haven't written a lesson plan for at least 5 years, apart from when ofsted are in (thinking of you this week jenks!).
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Thanks - the bastards didn't even come and view a single member of the department:mad:

The feeling of relief is palpable round here
 
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