After being offered an official place on the Teach First programme, I feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of preparation I feel necessary (I am sure that I will never feel fully ready to start teaching – like any new job, I believe you can never be too prepared).
It has been over a month since I was offered a place and I am starting to feel more prepared as I begin to tick things off my list. I must spend the next 7 months familiarising myself with the primary national curriculum and filling in any gaps I feel I have in this curriculum.
Whilst doing so, I find myself lacking confidence in many of the areas. This worried me at first and I kept asking myself “How are you meant to teach this when you don’t even know what a verb is!” I really have doubted myself, however I just need to remember that I haven’t ‘learned’ how to write, read or speak the English language since I was a primary school pupil. Of course there will be gaps in my knowledge – but the information is there, I just need to tap into it! (I find this to be true as I re-familiarise myself with verbs/nouns etc)
So if you are in a similar situation to me – do not overthink how much knowledge you feel you lack. Trust me when I say that it will come back to you – it might take some time but if you really are invested in this career path (as I am) you will find that time and you will enjoy that time.
I would advise you to invest in some CGP books for the specific area you may not feel confident in, use online resources such as bitesize (they have some fun quizzes to test your knowledge as you learn/remind yourself) and don’t feel ashamed to ask your friends and family if you can test things out on them. (I spend a lot of time on Skype with my Mother telling her all about how the Romans invaded Britain and I will continue to tell her all about any of the areas I familiarise myself with as I progress.)
I am a very visual learner. I enjoy creative outputs and find creating colourful worksheets helpful when trying to remember information. I have a sketchbook where I jot down information on specific subject areas. I have a subscription to TES and try to spend time reading interesting articles that apply to my future teaching career. I printed off the National Curriculum for myself as I like to highlight things and prefer reading things that are physically in front of me and not on a computer screen.
But that is just me. Find the best way for you and implement it. Do not feel embarrassed to not be familiar with specific areas of the Curriculum. I am 27 years old – I have been out of primary school for a long time. I studied art and photography at University at BA and MA level. I haven’t had to think about the history of England for a long time, I don’t spend my free time doing science experiments and I do not need to think about the specific type of word I use when writing a sentence. This is what I tell myself when I feel overwhelmed or doubt my ability to teach. I know I will be a great teacher – and I know it will require a lot of work.
Will it be worth it? I am absolutely sure it will be. I am excited, nervous and a little scared to continue on this journey and I hope this blog will help me with these feelings of nerves. Maybe I will also help others in this situation. I do not know where this blog will go (or whether it will go anywhere, it could just be a personal journal that only I read) but either way I am happy to publish my journey and thoughts online. (I am sure there will be a lot of cheesy endings to blog posts on here – that’s just the kind of person I am!)
Take care, I’ll see you next time.
– R
A Teacher in the making 