Welcome

...to the shared blog of the 2016-17 EMC/Goldsmiths Media with English PGCE group.

We started with an induction day on September 8th and the first job for the new students was to fill out three post-it notes...

1. with something to which they were looking forward
2. with something they were worried about
3. with a question for the tutor

1. What are you looking forward to?
start of a career
learning the skills needed to be an effective teacher
developing my subject knowledge and skills
working with students
meeting everyone
being able to deliver media studies to the next generation
becoming a teacher
exercising my brain again
overcoming challenges
teaching things I love
helping to develop thinking skills
learning how to engage and help the kids learn
starting a new path in life
qualifying
gaining the experience and skills

2. What are you worried about?
having good classroom management/managing a difficult class
not knowing enough about the subjects
placements
placement observations
workload
returning to study mode
being mistaken for a pupil
travel costs
writing lesson plans
essays
not knowing absolutely everything yet
paperwork
ensuring I can do my best
integrating into the first days at school
having a lack of freedom when it comes to finding a way of teaching that works for me

3. Questions for the tutor
when do we find out about our placement school? (within the next two weeks)
what advice would you give us for the first few weeks? (advice will be ongoing!)
how much flexibility do we have on the texts to use in lessons? (depends on school and exam board)
what advice do you have on surviving the PGCE workload? (keep it simple, take my advice as we go along!)
when do we get the essay question? (you come up with ideas for it and we negotiate end of Sept/Early Oct)
what would be your top tip for us future media teachers embarking on our PGCE? (top tips given every day!)