Must stop....

I really must stop buying teaching books.

I've just won (I love that word, makes it sound like I'm not spending any money) on eBay:

Insider's Guide for New Teachers
Beginning Teaching, Beginning Learning
and
Readings for Reflective Teaching.

I've looked at them all at work (the perks of working in a bookshop - though I really should do some work one day) and they all look really interesting.
I've decided that if I buy any more I shan't have enough time between now and September to read them all, so I'm avoiding eBay for now.
Having said that, I did find a book at work called 'Sue Cowley's Teaching Clinic' which looked fab.
It's her answers to frequently asked questions and problems. It's only £9.99 so I'll doubtless treat myself to that too (she wrote 'how to survive your first year in teaching' and other good books, so worth while I think!)

My website for the day is:
http://www.classdisplays.co.uk/index.html
People have sent in photos of their displays, arranged by lesson, year group and topic, for all to see and get ideas from. There's some great ones there.

On a different note...

I've decided to keep a track of books I'm reading on my blog, since I now HAVE a blog.
It'll be my teacher training books (what I'm reading and if it's any good), my fiction and anything I read to my 5 yr old too.

So, TT book - Numeracy Skills Test - Passing QTS (Achieving QTS).
This is a book just about passing the Numeracy Skills Test. It gives examples of how to do things (briefly) such as changing fractions to percentages and then gives sample questions. It's pretty good for practicing extra questions but the explanations of how to do the sums can be a confusing. I think the bbc bitesize website is better for actually learning how to do the sums, but doing the questions will give me much more confidence. Eventually.

My fiction - Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon. So far I'm enjoying it. I've read loads of Barbara Erskine (who I love) and was told that Gabaldon was similar (historical/supernatural/also set in modern times).

Kids books - We are reading George's Marvellous Medicine which is just about holding his 5 yr old's attention, but today I bought him Mr Wolf's Pancakes. It's a picture book and is very funny. We all enjoyed it as a family. Good choice!

Patience...

...is a virtue I need to cultivate.
It's really frustrating to have to wait months to start doing the course.

Two days after I heard I was offered a place I finally came down from my 'high' and started to worry. I had got my letter telling me that I needed to do three weeks work experience - what if I couldn't get the time off work? My other half made some jokey comment about them not being a 'real' DRB because they asked for a deposit for using their online community and then I started worrying that I should have not accept and gone with my original choice of DRB.
What if they choose a school for me in Bedford? That's just too far to go on a daily basis!

I rang the admin people and checked that the work experience didn't need doing in a block (it doesn't so I can take it during times I would normally have taken off for child care reasons). Just need to approach my boss and beg nicely for the unpaid leave.

Then I start worrying about stupid things - at the moment I have every Friday off which means I can take my kids to school. I really enjoy that time and I shan't have it when I'm teaching.
What about my son's sport's day and school play? Will I forever miss them now, having time off during term time is really hard as a teacher, so I've heard. How can I bear to miss my 5 yr old's school plays? That would be really hard.

Eventually I realised I was worrying over nothing (or not much).
I got an email from the DRB (in response to my own) saying they would place me in a school in the area of my choice. Hurrah. I realised that although I would miss the Fridays, I would have the whole weekend (I work Sunday so I can have Friday off) with the kids, and school hols too. And even if I miss my boy's school play this year, then once I'm teaching properly I'm sure they can't be so mean as to deny an afternoon off for something like a school play. And even if they are that mean, I'll have to find a way round it somehow.

Back to being excited again!

And now I have to wait, wait, wait. Arghh.
I've decided to read as much as I can and use my time in a constructive manner.
The 'Achieving QTS' books look pretty good so I've ordered some from eBay.
'Beginning Teaching, Beginning Learning' also looks really good, so I've eBayed that too.
And 'Insider's Guide For New Teachers' by Sara Bubb.

I'm watching Teacher's TV (on the internet - http://www.teachers.tv/- on a regular basis as it's full of really useful stuff, and makes me feel like I'm doing classroom observations while sitting at home!

I've always known that I don't like maths and I'm not great at it so I've decided to focus on improving my mental maths. This means learning my times tables. I didn't learnt them at school, and I've discovered that you are incredibly hampered when attempting mental calculations if you don't know your tables!!
So. www.mathsisfun.com/tables.html and http://www.teachingtables.co.uk/

I wish they'd tell me which school I'm going to be in.

Apparently in April or May I'll have to do some sort of Training Entry Profile (I did one to support my application) which shows where my strengths are and which standards I already meet or partly meet so they can draw up a training plan.
That's when I get my login info for the online community type thing where I can talk to others doing the GTP and do some activities. Can't wait.

The aftermath...

I thought I'd easier to live with after the interview. No more practicing my presentation on my other half. No more trawling the Internet for current ed issues and asking inane questions on the TES forums.
I don't think I was any easier to live with, just annoying in a different way! Now I was constantly wringing my hands and wondering aloud when I would know. Thrashing over the bits I thought went wrong and trawling the Internet for info that would tell me whether I got the maths and science questions right or not (in many cases: not!)
The interview had been thursday. I had Friday and Saturday off work and was back in Sunday. I spent several minutes with various people telling them all about it. They were all confident I'd been brilliant. I knew they hadn't been there and it was all very nice but they knew no more than I.
Monday arrived and I kept telling myself I probably wouldn't hear 'til Wednesday. 12pm lunch. Checked my mobile. I have voicemail. I feel my heart start to thump and a tiny voice inside my head whispers that it's probably just my mum.
It's not my mum: "this is soandso from the DRB, please call me back...."
Okay, now I'm actually shaking as I write down the number. I'm in the staffroom at work (bookshop, in case you've forgotten already) and my colleague can obviously tell it's important. She watches me while munching her lunch and I prepare to fight back tears at any moment.
I call the number.
"Ah yes," says the woman in a blank, unreadable voice, "you came to an interview last week."
I say I did. She doesn't sound hopeful.
"Well, we would like to offer you a place." Same unexcited tone.
"You WOULD?" I screech, not quite believing it.
She laughs. "Yes. Yes we would. Did you think you hadn't got on?" She's laughing now at my hysterical giggling.
"Well, I didn't dare hope..it's such a big thing."
She's caught my excitement now as I babble. "Well, you have got a place, I wanted to ring you as soon as I could to let you know. The letter is in the post."
I babble thank yous and hang up to be congratulated by original colleague and hugged by another who came in during the call. I'm useless for the rest of the day. Giggling with apparently no reason and muttering 'I can't believe it' over and over again.
I ring and tell my fella and my mum. Mum tells the whole world within about 5 minutes!

That was 2 weeks ago and still can't quite believe it. I keep looking at the letter and grinning madly.
It's a conditional place - I need to get in 3 weeks experience in a school before 4th September. My original school (who unfortunately cannot train me with this DRB) have very kindly agreed to continue to support me and will let me come in for the experience.
I only have 8 day annual holiday so have begged unpaid leave for most of it.
Phew. I'm practically a teacher (all apart from passing the course, getting a job and passing the NQT year, but I'll cross those bridges when I get to them!)

The interview....

Okay, so on the TES forums there are load of threads about interview questions and it mainly boiled down to:
- Why would I make a good teacher?
- How has my own education helped me?
- What is my motivation to become a teacher?
- What contributions have I made/can I make in and out of the school environment?
- What makes a good or bad teacher?
- How would you deal with a child that is being bullied?
- What have you learned from your previous classroom experience?

So I practiced answers for these questions, making sure I thought about them regularly and, when I could, I would answer them aloud so that I was kind of reinforcing my memory by listening to the answers as well as thinking them.

I read up on current issues: Every child matters, phonics, mfl for primary.

For the starter I had to talk about 'maths starters for yr 2 pupils, focusing on mental and oral starters and talking about resources and ensuring they are appropriate for the age of the child'.
I made a fan with pictures of various shapes on, and blank clock face to use during the presentation. I decided to talk about why we use starters, how to differentiate during a starter and then give a couple of examples of starters which don't need resources and a couple which do. I also made a hand out with examples of possible starters to hand out afterwards.

The bit I was least worried about was working with the kids and reading them a story. I hadn't read a story in a class situation before, but had to groups of children at the toddler group I used to run, and a million times to my own sons. My youngest sat in front of me a few times and we pretended I was being teacher and he was a pretty tough crowd. That bit should go okay.

Then I worried and stressed and panicked about what to wear (brown cord skirt, brown top and knee high brown heeled boots - sensible, possibly boring, comfortable).

The day itself

I arrived three quarters of an hour early and sat in my car, going over questions in my head and read the kiddies book again. When I went in I was given a sheet to fill in (we had to bring various documents to prove who you were and passport photos for the CRB if you got through which I handed in then) and I was led through to a room where the 4 other candidates were.
I had brought my book (just a normal picture book), my shape fan and clock face, little cards as prompts during the presentation and my handouts.
The others had brought those giant reading books, great big number lines with beads that clack back and forth and all sorts. I felt very under equipped. They were all also TA's already, had borrowed equipment from school and had loads of experience in the classroom. Hmmm. It wasn't looking good.
Someone came in and gave us an over view of the day ahead which we all promptly forgot due to stress, then the other interviewers (4 in total) came in and introduced themselves.
We were left with the ICT, Maths, Science and written tests to fill in as the day went along and told we would be called up to read to the children.

The tests
The ICT one wasn't a test at all, more of a self audit, e.g. How well do you know Word/Excel/E-mail packages, and in what context?

The Science and Maths tests were at KS2 level, I guess. Science was respiration, food chains, solids, liquids etc.
The maths one involved knowing the difference between mean, mode, median and answering questions about it, reading a graph and something about weighting answers in a test which none of us seem to understand. I don't know how well I did with that one. I'm not great at maths.
The written test was a choice between two titles ('If only....' and 'The best and the worst of my current situation...') which had to be 300 words long. I chose the second title and basically said that the best of current situation was that I was on the verge of doing something really exciting that I have wanted for years, and the worst was that if I didn't get on the course I would have to wait a whole other year before I could apply again. I also talked about how my current job was good because I got to watch children enjoying books and paying for their own, but the worst was that I wanted to work with the children and not just watch.

Reading the book...

While doing my science test I got called in. It was such a weird situation, I sat in the library with the 4 interviewers at the back of the room with their clipboards. After some chat some small anxious looking children were led in and lined up in front of me. I introduced myself and read the book. I clean forgot to ask questions while reading, and realised that the children might have trouble seeing the pictures. I could see from some of their faces that the children were enjoying the book (it was 'Something Else' by Kathryn Cave, btw) I finished reading it and asked a few questions. 2 children squeeked some answers and at a loss for what to do next I just kind of said 'that's it' and was led out.
It didn't feel great. I was expecting some time in the classroom from what the letter said, and I was so nervous at the start that I'm not surprised it didn't go so smoothly.

Presentations

When we had all finished our readings we were to do our presentations.
One woman was using Powerpoint, so she went first. Pretty much all the presentations were basically actual maths starters but with us pretending to be the kids (the applicants lined up in chairs in the front and the interviewers and their clipboards at the back). We were asked to clap our hands a lot and count up in 2's, 5's and 10's on the number lines. I was beginning to worry that I'd got it wrong with my interpretation of the of what they wanted from the presentation. Mine was about the why's and how's of a maths starter - not a real one!
After 2 people had gone up and done similar things I decided to volunteer and get it out of the way. I glanced at the clock at the start but have no idea how long (or short) I whittered on for. I remember my voice trembling slightly, but I made sure I looked into everyone's eyes and cracked my 'here's one I made earlier' gag when I brought out my shape fan. At the end of all the presentations I realised that I had forgotten to hand out my handouts so I offered them informally. The other candidates all wanted one as they liked the sound of some of my ideas, and one of the interviewers took one too.

Lunch - sandwiches (all with pickle, bizarrely) and fruit and biscuits. Tea and coffee.

Left to carrying on our tests until we were called in for the actual interview.

The actual interview....

They were very nice, and the guy was the one I gave the handout to, I was pleased to see.
Trying to remember the questions:
- Why do you want to be a teacher?
- Tell us about a good teacher you've had.
- Tell us about a bad one.
- Tell us about your work history.
- Now tell us a bit more about your time as a TA.
- During your time as a TA, tell us about a time when something happened that was rewarding.
- This doesn't happen very often anymore but we like to ask it as we can see how well you can think on your feet: If another teacher was off sick and the head brought round 5 children for you to have in your class for a morning, what would you do?
- Why did you choose our course?
- Which age would you prefer?
- How much support do you have at home?
- If you were given a great big pile of work to do, how would you cope? (I'm not sure how my answer went down, I said things about prioritising, and then having a bottle (i meant to say glass) of wine at the end of the day! I also mentioned how my OU degree while working and with kids was good practice at handling stress and large workloads.
When asked: Have you got anything to ask us? I said: Are there any qualities in a teacher that you are looking for that you do think you've seen in me today? (I got this cool question off of the TES forums). They seemed taken aback, and possibly impressed. They answered that they would have to discuss that later but they were really impressed with the interview (YEAH!) but my book reading showed my lack of experience. However (she said) they often give offers on the condition that the candidate gets more experience before the course starts (Sounds promising).
I also asked about which school I would train in and expressed a preference to the ones closer to my home.
Phew. Then it was over. They said they'd gave me a ring at the beginning of next week (interview day was a Thursday) and I went back and finished my tests.
When I finally left the building at 2:20 I began to shake with relief.

The story so far...

Right, well, I've always wondered about teaching. When I was in secondary school I did work experence in a primary school and really enjoyed it, but I was too shy and not confident enough then.
After I had kids and grew up a bit I kept thinking of it but didn't do anything about it. I completed my degree with the OU (psychology with science and IT) and realised this was something I could actually do.
Thought about it for a while and in the meantime (Oct 05) I got a Christmas temp job at Ottakars bookstore, which turned into a permanent job. When we were taken over by Waterstones I once more began to think about my career options, having realised that I couldn't, and wouldn't want to, be a bookseller forever.

September -
It just so happened that this decision came to me in September (2006), right at the start of when DRB's start giving out info on their GTP's, and even start accepting applications. I found that my local DRB asked you to find a school first, and then applications needed to be in by the end of Feb.
I thought the hardest bit would be to find a school willing to train me so I began in a panic to work out how on earth I was going to convince some poor school that they wanted me.
My first and most obvious choice was the wonderful primary school that my youngest son attends. They had already taught my eldest, and helped him in such an amazing way through his learning difficulties, and I love the school and really believe in it.
I decided my best course of action was to write a CV emphasising my school and children experience (I ran the village toddler group for two years) and created a cover letter in the form of a kind of personal statement. I emphasised my knowledge of the school and why I picked them, then went on to say why I wanted to teach and why I thought they would be a great place to be trained.
I took the letter into the school office intending to leave it with the receptionist. Luckily, the head stopped in the office and I took a deep breath and grabbed her (not physically, that would be a bad start.) and explained what I was all about.
Amazingly, she was really positive and was more than happy to look over my letter and CV. From then on it all just rolled, she was happy to take me on, the governors were happy so long as it didn't cost too much, and I was happy, happy, happy!! Almost too easy!
So then I knew that the DRB needed 'at least 5 days experience in schools'. My job pattern means I work Sun-Thurs with Fri and Sat as my weekend. So every Friday for 6 weeks I volunteered in the school. I started in yr1 (bypassing Reception because my little one was in there and it might disrupt things) and spent a day in each year group until I had gone all the way up the school.
This was great because it gave me a chance to see if I preferred any particular age group but to my surprise I enjoyed all of them! Yrs 3 and 4 were lovely, and yr1, but that might also be because I knew quite a lot of them from my 'running the toddler group' days.
So far, so good.

November-
It was early Novemeber and I realised that in the neighbouring county was another DRB which found a school for you. I really, really wanted a place in my chosen school but decided that I needed to try as many options as I could since, if I failed to get in this year, I'd have towait a whole year just to get an interview again, never mind start the course!
So I emailed and to my surprise and panic I was told that they would be interviewing in the next two weeks and that they'd send me an appliation form out!
Argghh.
So the form was duly filled in and sent off. I heard nothing. The week passed and I convinced myself I hadnt been up to scratch so emailed to check, and ask for any help with further applications.
To my delight the emailed reply was that they simply ran out of places at that interview but would be in touch about interview dates in January. Wow. Practically the promise of an interview.
And then the worry - what if they accepted me? I wanted to work with my chosen school and couldn't do that with this DRB. It slowly dawned on me that an offer shouldn't and couldn't be sniffed at, and any interview would be valuable experience. So I tried not to worry about it and continued to get work experience and fill in forms for the first DRB.
I also found out that in another area of the county was another DRB. These lot also find a school for you, but applications need not be in until March, so I figured that when I had been turned down by the first two DRB's I could apply to them!
By now I was reading TES every week, reading everything I possibly could that was even vaguely to do with teaching, watching Teacher's TV on the internet and borrowing and buying loads of Teacher's Resources books from work. I shall list these in a later posting, at least the useful ones!

December -
A week after Christmas I got my offer of an interview. Ohmygod! Panic.
The instructions were really clear:
Bring a book to read with some children,
10 minute presentation on 'maths mental and oral starters'
ICT, Maths and Science tests, and a written test.
And the actual interview bit.
Lunch provided!
Starts at 9:15, finishes about 2pm!

My application for the original DRB wasn't even completed by the school yet, and I'd spent all Christmas writing personal statements and the application form, and now I had to write a presentation on maths starters and work out how to answer any possible interview question!
Stress!!!!

How to get on the GTP

Okay, so there's a few things you need.
Firstly, everyone needs GCSE grade C in Maths and English (or equivalent). And if you are doing primary (like me) you also need GCSE grade C in Science too.
This link: http://www.tda.gov.uk/upload/resources/pdf/g/gcse_equivalents.pdf will give you official info on equivalent qualifications.
Luckily I did my degree with the OU so one of my courses was equivalent to the Maths 'C' I didn't quite get when I was a daft kiddie.
As I mentioned before you will need some amount of experience. Personally, I was a TA for two months, five years ago. I then went in and volunteered in my local school every friday (my day off) for 6 weeks.
From what I've seen DRB's all vary in the amount of experience they expect. At my interview I was told I needed more experience but they gave me an offer with the condition that I completed an extra three weeks work experience before the course starts. So lack of experience need not get in your way. But it might.
More important, I think, is that you can show that you've learnt from your experiences and that you are vaguely intelligent and with professional promise.
Blimey, how'd I manage that then?
Well, your guess is as good as mine but I'll tell you all about my trials and tribulations that led me to being offered a position in the next few blogs.

What is the GTP?

Hey there! Welcome to my GTP blog.
There's loads and loads of info out there about PGCE's but precious little about what it's really like to do the GTP so I thought I'd have a go at blogging my experiences to help others.
Aren't I nice?
So, the GTP...what is it?
The Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) is a teacher training programme for..er..graduates. It's a learn on the job type thing where you are employed by a school as an unqualified teacher and trained by the school and the training provider (the Designated Recommending Body(DRB)).
You can train to go into Primary or Secondary schools. Primary places are hard to get into (that's what I'm doing) and so are non priority Secondary subjects.
Secondary priority subjects change yearly and by region.
You are paid to train (around about £14k PA) so it's a great way in for those of us with families and mortages etc.
Unlike the PGCE or SCITT routes there's no golden handshakes at the end, but then there's no course fees or student loans either.
It's also extremely intensive (so I'm told since I haven't started yet) and definitely hands on.
What better way to learn a 'hands on' kind of job than to actually do it?
Generally to get on the GTP you need to have experience in schools since you will hit the school running, so to speak, and within a few short weeks (or days, or hours, god help me) will be planning and taking whole lessons by yourself. So, it's handy to be a Teaching Assistant (TA) before hand.
Me? I'm a bookseller. Hmmm. Okay, so I was a TA for a couple of months five years ago but that was ages ago. Most DRB's expect you to have at least 2 weeks work experience in schools recently in order for them to invite you to interview. More about pre-requisites in the next blog...