Uncategorized – Wigan & West Lancashire Catholic School Direct

E. Williams – Trainee Teacher of Chemistry

Dec 142018

So my day started with a traffic jam on the M6 getting to college. Unfortunate because I’d volunteered for the “thought for the week” in staff briefing at St John Rigby this morning. Anyway I got there just in time to set up my power point and collect my thoughts. When I volunteered it seemed like a good idea! Something to evidence! Nerves kicked in just prior to my delivery but it went really well and I received positive comments from colleagues throughout the day. Then I had an observed lesson, Period 2!! I discovered about 15 minutes before the lesson I’d meticulously planned that some of the material had already been mastered by the class so I frantically set about finding more challenging tasks for them to do and changing my questions planned to accommodate this new information!! I had no confidence as I started the lesson but luckily the pupils (who can be a bit unpredictable) performed brilliantly. The extra resources quickly put together in the last moments did the trick and I scored a 2a from my Professional Mentor!!!
Then we went to St Mary’s for our School Wide Development on Technology – just as I thought the day couldn’t get any better, I learned how to colour code cells to indicate whether pupils were above or below their target grades in Excel!!!

P. Barnes – Trainee teacher of Mathematics

Nov 092018

Since September, I have been placed at St.Gregory’s CHS in Warrington. I have been the sole Maths teacher of a year 8 group for most of the first term, and at the beginning of second term we held Autumn assessments that covered all the topics I taught. The results came back strong, and two of my students have been promoted to Set 1 and I didn’t lose anyone to Set 3 which I am delighted with.

Mr. Jones and I have been running the Y8 football team and have both established great rapport with the lads who played some good football over first term, having 2 of the lads that play football in my Maths class has certainly helped me build good relationships in the classroom.

A. Nayef – Trainee teacher of Computing

Oct 262018

I have had a great experience so far with WWLCSD. I applied relatively late in the academic year, in June, unlike most of my peers who applied earlier. WWLCSD called me for an interview and showed great understanding in accommodating my need to wait to attend the interview until myself and my family had arrived in our new home in England. I was delighted to successfully gain a place on their course. Since I have not come through the English education system myself as a child, it was not as easy for me to understand the whole aspects of PGCE and School Direct programme as others, but after two days of Induction everything became much clearer.

WWLCSD are very successful in guiding and supporting their trainees during their one year journey in placement schools, university study, professional experience, and even in their personal life. They have been really supportive to some of my colleagues on the course who have found it a little difficult to adjust to the workload, and they have helped them to stay strong and stay with the programme so that they can fulfil their ambition to qualify as a teacher next summer. Thank you WWLCSD.

J. Moores – Trainee teacher of Computing

Oct 192018

This week I taught my first solo lesson. Unfortunately, it did not go entirely as I would have wished and so knocked my confidence a little .

However I was given great advice and feedback on how to improve from my Subject Mentor and from another colleague in the department and when I followed this guidance in my next few lessons they went really well . So I ended the week on a real “high”.

I am really enjoying working with and learning from both my Subject Mentor and other colleagues, and I appreciate the help they are giving me towards realising my goal of passing the course and becoming an excellent teacher.

Thank you WWLCSD!

B. Moakes – Teacher of Mathematics

Oct 122018

Today I did a presentation on what it is like to go to Oxbridge to the highest achievers at GCSE who have just entered Year 12 and the goal was to inspire some of them to think about applying to Oxbridge and to try to stamp out the idea that people from Wigan don’t go to Oxbridge and that they wouldn’t like it. At the end, about 45 of them had ticked that they were interested in Oxbridge. Also, 2 of them had noted that I did Law at Cambridge and came to me at the end and said I’m thinking of doing Law at Cambridge and asked me a few questions! I’m looking forward to hopefully hosting a question and answer session for them all.

J. Morgan – trainee teacher of Mathematics

Oct 052018

On Wednesday last week I took my first full lesson. It was a Year 9 class and I was teaching them multiplying decimals – not the most exciting of topics…

I made it interesting by discussing Formula 1 and where decimals can be found in the race cars and stats about the next race this weekend. We worked with track length and number of laps to find total distance travelled etc. It was a really positive lesson and the pupils really enjoyed it.

What I’m most proud of is that on Monday this week a fellow WWLCSD trainee was teaching the same pupils about sport in her MFL lesson and one of the pupils from my class started telling her how he was learning all about F1 in Maths with me. It was really nice that even after the rest of the week and the weekend that my lesson had stuck with him.

E. Williams – Trainee teacher of Chemistry

Oct 012018

One week into my teacher training year and I want to already thank WWLCSD for a great start to the course. When I was interviewed in December last year I was asked the question “Have you ever embarked on a PGCE course previously?” I replied honestly (as it’s best not to be untruthful in an interview!!) that I had and that a few weeks into my first placement I had some rough circumstances at home and failed to ‘keep all the balls in the air’ and ended up dropping out.

During the introduction and start of this course I have thought about that time (I often regret having dropped out thinking I could be a teacher by now – although even with hindsight the circumstances at that time for me were pretty difficult and I still feel I did the right thing at that time). Anyway I think about that course compared to this one and can honestly say that WWLCSD is excellent in comparison! I feel like I know what I’m supposed to be doing, I know what’s expected, I feel completely supported, basically I’ve been given all the tools to give me every chance to become a great teacher. Even though we’re only a week in, I don’t feel ‘bogged down’ or stressed or worried about anything. I know there will be challenges. I fully expect it to get more intense as time goes on – but I feel that it’s very ‘do-able’ and the support will continue throughout. Thank you.

C. Carracoi – Trainee teacher of Design Technology

Apr 202018

One of the reasons for training to teach was to show pupils the opportunities that lie within the art and design industries. One of my first lessons in school was to teach typography and logo design to a yr 10 graphic art class. I decided to show them a technique that I’d used in a graphic design agency to quickly draw up a range of logo ideas. I talked through the task and at the end, as I explained that if they worked in a design agency as graphic designer, this is how they’d work, I heard a little “wow” come from the back of the room.That moment really made me feel like my reasons for teaching were valid and even though pupils have chosen art and design subjects at GCSE they are often unaware of the career paths that it can lead them to.

M. Heywood – Trainee teacher of MFL (Spanish)

Apr 132018

I teach two Y7 classes. In one there’s a pupil who has autism and diabetes and another who is also autistic. I have found the best successes come when I get them involved in the lessons.

I ask one pupil to stand and choose things on the whiteboard and act as my assistant choosing other students for answers and ask for answers that I know they knows to boost their confidence. I then get the biggest smile which instantly changes your mood … but you can’t help but think you’re doing a good job when you see that smile 🙂

B. Mallam – Trainee teacher of Mathematics

Apr 062018

WWLCSD has provided me with many fantastic experiences and opportunities that have built my confidence and allowed me to develop my teaching practice in the classroom. During placement one, I had the delight of teaching an enthusiastic year seven group amongst other years.

One particular moment that stands out to me is when I first started teaching that year seven group; hearing my students say, ‘Are you teaching us today Miss?’, and cheering when I confirm that I am really reaffirms why I went into teaching. Being able to make pupils enthusiastic to learn maths not only makes my day, but also pushes me to become an outstanding teacher.

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