[Sarah S]

As the first days of my History PGCE are becoming scarily close, I thought I would start a topic for this year's PGCE students, if there's anyone else around!

I register on 31st August, and I can't believe how quickly it's come around. My interview in December seems a million miles away now. I'm starting to get quite anxious about it now - I have so much work to do, both revision of aspects of history I haven't studied since I was in year 7 myself, and lots of work on the theoretical books I was asked to read before the course. Is anyone else in the same sort of position?

I also wanted to say thanks to all the teachers who have posted links to their own revision websites - reading degree level textbooks on subjects you've never studied is much easier after reading GCSE revision notes on the same topic!

(Edited because I can't seem to use this keyboard....)

This post has been edited by Sarah S: 23 August 2007 - 02:29 PM

[Carl Fazackerley]

Hi Sarah

Welcome to the forum and well done for setting up the PGCE diary for this year. I found the diary incredibly useful when I was training as it helped me to realize that as well as the lows there were a lot of highs! The process of writing on the diary helped me to reflect on what was going on in the classroom and also to get some input and perspective from people who were truely independent from my training.

Try not to worry too much about content knowledge; you will find it comes with time and it is often better to focus on the subjects you will be teaching when you are on placement. As for the theoretical books; I bought all of the suggested books prior to commencing the course with the best of intentions to read them before I started in September - it didn't happen and I wasn't alone. I would also suggest that you will get more from them by reading them along side the course and your experiences as they will beof more benefit in this way.

With only just over a week to go until 31st just enjoy the last bit of the break you'll need it!

If I can be of any help during the year then post on this diary or if you'd prefer drop me a private message.

Best of luck,

Carl

[Sarah S]

Thanks very much Carl for the advice and for the offer of help - I'm sure I'll be using the forum quite often in the next few months!

Hopefully I'll be able to post lots of positive things - I've made a pact with a friend to write down at least 3 positive aspects of every day I spend teaching so I might use the forum to keep track of them. Fingers crossed that the highs will outnumber the lows!

[Carl Fazackerley]

Sarah S, on Aug 23 2007, 04:04 PM, said:

Hopefully I'll be able to post lots of positive things - I've made a pact with a friend to write down at least 3 positive aspects of every day I spend teaching so I might use the forum to keep track of them. Fingers crossed that the highs will outnumber the lows!

They sure will and I remember making the same commitment in the diary in 2005 with some of the other students posting there.


If you want to look at some useful things before starting on PGCE can I recommend these threads;

Classroom Management
It's a hard job sometimes, Behaviour & learning strategies with yr9
Teaching History to Special Needs classes, Do you agree - have you ideas to add?

[Edited to include hyperlinks]

This post has been edited by Carl Fazackerley: 23 August 2007 - 03:37 PM

[Sarah S]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I registered at uni today and met a fair few people from my course. Apparently there's about 60 of us, wasn't expecting there to be so many!
I signed up to two unions (NUT weren't there for some reason) and was given a copy of our timetable.
I can't wait to start now, but first day in uni isn't for two weeks, as we've got a week in a primary school first

[SarahJas]

Hi all! I'm also embarking on my course and currently trying very hard to boost my subject knowledge. I feel quite overwhelmed! I am quite worried because; firstly, I studied a Humanities degree of which only part was history based; subsequently I have so many gaps in my knowledge. I undertook a subject audit which seemed to assess all my areas as needy. Secondly, I undertook my degree some years ago so I am not making the Uni to course progression very quickly. I am rather glad about this as, personally, I feel it makes me a better teacher. However the knowledge is an issue. I am trying to read widely and focus on GCSE level texts. I do worry about having adquate knowledge in areas which I have never studied before. Anyone got any advise to guide me? Is it possible to successfully teach areas which are new to me as well as my pupils?

[sarahn]

yes, I would say you are able to teach successfully if you are learning at the same time as the pupils - as long as you stay one step ahead of them. if you feel comfortable enough to, say that it is not your area of expertise, but you will try to answer as many of their questions as possible.
they can go away and research the rest.
you can always say you cannot possibly know all of history!
hope it goes well for you
sarah

[SarahJas]

sarahn, on Sep 10 2007, 02:08 PM, said:

yes, I would say you are able to teach successfully if you are learning at the same time as the pupils - as long as you stay one step ahead of them. if you feel comfortable enough to, say that it is not your area of expertise, but you will try to answer as many of their questions as possible.
they can go away and research the rest.
you can always say you cannot possibly know all of history!
hope it goes well for you
sarah

Thank you so much! You've helped reassure me.

[Sarah S]

Hi Sarah,
Nice to meet another PGCEr, and another Sarah at that!
I'm struggling a bit with subject knowledge too, but I'm reading up when I can, I guess you can't know everything!
I'm in a primary school this week, and I'm exhausted already! Year 5 were lovely today, but I'm still totally frazzled from the amazing-but-totally-crazy year 2 class I was in yesterday. At least I'm now sure I don't want to teach primary

[robp]

Sarah S, on Sep 11 2007, 06:15 PM, said:

Hi Sarah,
Nice to meet another PGCEr, and another Sarah at that!
I'm struggling a bit with subject knowledge too, but I'm reading up when I can, I guess you can't know everything!
I'm in a primary school this week, and I'm exhausted already! Year 5 were lovely today, but I'm still totally frazzled from the amazing-but-totally-crazy year 2 class I was in yesterday. At least I'm now sure I don't want to teach primary

hi room,
my name is rob and im starting my PGCE secondary course tomorrow at Durham University. its nice to see that there are other people who worry about the coming year. in regards to expanding subject knowledge i think you will be fine learning alongside the children. it will be a 1 in 5000 shot that you will have a pupil with the intentions of catching you out.

[Andrew Field]

Great you are going to Durham - do say hello to Martin Richardson from me. I did my PGCE there in 1998-99.

Quote

in regards to expanding subject knowledge i think you will be fine learning alongside the children. it will be a 1 in 5000 shot that you will have a pupil with the intentions of catching you out.

However, I do think you'll find out your odds are a bit out. In terms of subject knowledge, if you encourage students to be inquisitive and engaged in the work, there will be a 1:1 chance of you not knowing something. Yet that is when the teaching really starts to get interesting. You can ask students to try and find out and make sure you also find out for the next lesson. Most certainly nothing to worry about if you don't know an answer - butit is important to deal with it in the right way - you establish a much better relationship with the class if you do that.

Hope everyone starting their PGCEs have a great time. It is an incredibly tough year, but well worth it. Take every chance to experiment and develop ideas!

[andrewhemel]

hello, I'm also starting a history PGCE this year at Exeter. My degree was in International Relations so, whilst I can talk for hours about the Cold War, my knowledge on British history is flakey at best. I've been using British History for Dummies for a basic reference to what happened and when and using online encyclopaedias to add meat to the bones. Its been good as I can now tell you something about every king from Edward the Confessor to Henry VII. If you don't have much time, its a good method to get some basic knowledge stored!

[Carl Fazackerley]

andrewhemel, on Sep 16 2007, 04:59 PM, said:

hello, I'm also starting a history PGCE this year at Exeter. My degree was in International Relations so, whilst I can talk for hours about the Cold War, my knowledge on British history is flakey at best. I've been using British History for Dummies for a basic reference to what happened and when and using online encyclopaedias to add meat to the bones. Its been good as I can now tell you something about every king from Edward the Confessor to Henry VII. If you don't have much time, its a good method to get some basic knowledge stored!

Hi Andrew - glad to hear to see an Exeter trainee! I did my PGCE there in 2005-6 so please give my best to Kevin, Jamie and Graham! If you are honest on the subject audit the three of them will be more than supportive in pointing you in the right direction to develop your knowledge.

[sarahn]

hi andrew!
I also did the exeter pgce and I have to say it is an excellent start - four years down the line I feel as if it prepared me well.
all the best
sarah

[DAJ Belshaw]

Andrew Field, on Sep 16 2007, 11:48 AM, said:

Great you are going to Durham - do say hello to Martin Richardson from me. I did my PGCE there in 1998-99.

I also went to Durham (2003-4). Martin's great, but I understand he's scaling back his teaching load a bit. Don't let him scare you with his mini-subject knowledge tests (!)

Andrew Field, on Sep 16 2007, 11:48 AM, said:

However, I do think you'll find out your odds are a bit out. In terms of subject knowledge, if you encourage students to be inquisitive and engaged in the work, there will be a 1:1 chance of you not knowing something.

Lessons should not be content-heavy or even, in my opinion, content focused. They should be concerned with the skills pupils should be learning to become great historians and the processes through which they go to get there. Because of this, there's opportunity for pupils to become 'experts' due to being particularly interested in a certain area. Allow them to be an expert for a bit - either in front of the whole class or one-to-one if you have time. There's a great activity in the Teacher's Toolkit book called Mantle of the Expert that you might want to try out. They then see you as a co-learner, which is the way it should be.

Doug

PS Remember, you only have to pass the PGCE essays - no-one will remember whether you passed by lots or a little!

PPS You might be interested in the 3 books I'd give every new teacher over at my blog.