Two Weeks On

We had drama today and guess what I was?

No, not a tree.

Try again.

Yes, you at the keyboard.

A candle. Excellent.

Yes, I was a candle - guarding the old King Hamlet's tomb as his lifeless body lay in state.

And yes, you gifted and talented ones will have noticed this scene doesn't actually appear in Hamlet. At least not in the Bard's version.

Go to the top of the class.

But can you tell me what the difference between being a tree and being a candle is?

Come on. Think.

Correct. There is no purpose in being a tree but there is a purpose in being a candle.

It was all part of the workshop to engage reluctant Shakespeare readers with the play.

If you create a purpose then it is OK to be candle or even a tree.

So there I was with 20 other English graduates fumbling around with bits of material and paper to recreate the scene.

It could have been worse, I could have been a cross (and have to hold my arms out for ages) or even a spiky gatepost.

But we got it.

Create the context, build on suggestion and let the kids create and own the space and you have the holy grail - engagement.

I could see the theory but here was a dramatist and a teacher of 30 plus years and the personna to carry it off.

And what if the kids had so much fun they wrote about this non existent scene vividly in their GCSE exam?

Tricky.

And that's what make the course fascinating as a mature student.

I am more inclined to question and think things through more carefully for myself than if I was a 22-year-old.

One of the advantages of being a more mature student I guess.

The day ended with a practical lesson on ....lesson planning, learning objectives, key stages, the National Curriculum and the Framework.

I can't say I have mastered lesson planning but I now understand my children's school reports.

Next week I am off to a primary school to observe Yea r6 before starting my first secondary placement at a High School nearby.

Wish me luck.

School Shoes

Phew! I have survived the first week and what a week.

It was probably the longest five days of my life.

So far!

We've had lectures on Teachers And The Law, Putting Together our Professional Portfolio, Behaviour Management, Assessments, The English Framework and much more.

At 8am on Monday I have my first tutorial with my course tutor and for that I have had to complete a comprehensive review of my (lacking) ICT skills, match up where I am now on achieving the 33 standards I will need to acquire qualified teacher status (a long way), audit my subject knowledge (six hours of misery to find out I knew a lot less than I thought) and compile a CV for my placement profile.

I have also got to finish reading "Stone Cold", a YA novel for next week which Iam thoroughly enjoying and read "Of Mice And Men."

Of course I couldn't get through the week (and the weekend) without a little reward so I have ordered a new pair of Clarks pumps (above)  and a skirt from the fab new online Zara.

I think I will be limited to online shopping only for the next 36 weeks.

Next week we find out which High Schools we will be working in for our first placement.

The First Day

My original timetable suggested a week of half days which made me mightily relieved as my dad is still in hospital and my childcare arrangements (mum) were well out of the window. However, the timetable was only a timetable of welcomes. The real timetable began after 10.30am.

A quarter of a century on from my last first day when a tiny speck of a man uttered a few inaudible words in a large lecture theatre we now have an all singing all dancing audio visual presentation from the “I’m a perfectionist” Dean. A speech that terrified the staff never mind the students who walked in late when he was discussing the lack of professionalism in those who turned up late.

More speeches,more audio visual presnetations (a power point presentation by any other name)and then finally into our subject groups.

Our course leader is a former English teacher with 29 years experience including a day when he fell asleep in the classroom during a particularly dull reading of a not so engaging novel.

And then the pleasantries were over. We were handed stacks of paper, booklets, calendars and reminded of  the tereminable to-do list which will dominate our every waking thought until July next year.

We have to book our QTS tests in literacy, numeracy and ICT. We have to audit our skills, we have to prepare for our first tutorial and we have our first assignment looming in the next few weeks. We also have to read a novel for a lecture for next week,four Shaekspeare plays and reams of professional documentation and much much more.

As we left the lecture theatre early (at 3.30pm) I heard a (young) fellow student says she was “shattered”. I didn’t hear what she planned to do for the rest of the day as I stil lhad to get home,feed my family and take my mum to the hospital to visit dad.

Interesting times lie ahead.

Enrolment Day

A quarter of a century after my first university enrolment day in September 1985 I am back again.

And how things have changed.

Instead of one queue to fill in my registration forms and one queue to pick up my grant cheque, the digital revolution now dictates that I need to queue up no less than eight times.

The first was an ID check to ensure I am who I say I am.

The second to make sure details are correct for my bursary.

The third to prove I have funds to pay the course fees.

The fourth queue I didn't need to be in but this was to collect keys for the halls of residence.

The fifth to get my photo taken for my Unicard for the library.

The sixth to verify that I filled in the form they gave me in queue 1.

The seventh was a good one because now (unlike 25 years ago) I have to pay course fees in excess of £3,000 they give me £200 back to spend on books.

The final queue was to pick up my National Union of Students card.

By the time I had finished queuing I had almost forgotten what my fears were.

But not quite.

As I write I have a few concerns about the coming year.

The first is writing essays. Yes, I know I have been a writer for the past 20 years but I have not written an academic essay since May 1988. I have forgotten all about references and footnotes and for some reason this bothers me. Really bothers me.

The second main concern I have is the perennial parental one - I don't want to short-change my family. I have tried to prepare them as best I can but family life is wont to throw low balls just when you least expect it.

But I am not alone and I am still excited.

And still terrified.