The Summer Institute: Day 1

This time 2 weeks ago, I had just sat my last ever exam at Warwick, was suitably drunk, downing a vodka lemonade whilst being spun in a circle in Leam, on Amy and Cora's amazing pub crawl quiz thing.

2 weeks later, it's 11pm and i'm in my pyjamas, packing my bag and doing my homework for tomorrow - What a turnaround! This weekend was manic. In the space of 24 hours I packed up my Tocil room, got it all home, unpacked and repacked a bag for Teach First and on Sunday I made my way to Camden where i'll be living for the next 4 weeks!

That already feels like a lifetime ago! After negotiating tube line closures, replacement bus services and a broken suitcase, I finally arrived at our halls. After having various documentation thrust upon us (4 big folders worth) we ditched unpacking in favour of the Welcome BBQ and a few pints in the pub.

Today was the first official day of the Summer Institute and it's great. Intense, but great. I would tell you all about it, but i'm far too exhausted right now! It was a jam-packed day: admin in the morning, various sessions throughout the day, set our first PGCE assignment, met my mentor from my actual school, and on top of that the Welcome Ceremony! What a day!!

A lot of the focus today was about having a vision, and discussing our reasons for being part of Teach First and what we hope to achieve through it - they played us this video - it pretty much sums up the Teach First mission, and explains why I am embarking upon this journey....

...bed time for Miss Richards :)

Welcome to London!

This week has been a whirlwind. I woke up on Friday to an email from Teach First entitled "Welcome to London" - WHAT!? After hurriedly reading the email, my heart pumping so fast I was actually a bit breathless, it was clear that it was true - I had been re-assigned from the West Midlands to LAANDAN! Before some smart arse pipes up with a comment about how i'm being shifted from pillar to post because no one wants me- shush. The reason for the change is that Teach First Primary has really taken off in London, and the rest of the country are still cautiously catching up - therefore, there are simply many more primary schools in London that the rest of the country.

THEN. I was sat at my desk yesterday, doing some revision and my phone rang, I recognised the number as Teach First and assumed it must be the "Welcome to London" follow up call, which it was. After making sure I was happy about my re-allocation, I was told I had been placed in a school!! What is it they say about buses!? What is shocking is that the school is very close to home! In the space of a week i've gone from having to move to Birmingham, to potentially moving back in with Ma and Pa! A perfect money saving opportunity, I have friends, family and even teacher contacts at home - my life seems to have be chewed up and spat back out again! (I still think Ma might have bribed Teach First!!)   

The school itself looks great, with an Outstanding Ofsted report, it looks like the perfect environment for me to begin my teacher training! The school is described as: an urban, multi-ethnic primary school situated in a large estate of mixed housing in an area of high deprivation. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and those with learning difficulties and disabilities is higher than that found nationally. The percentage from ethnic minority groups and those whose first language is not English has increased over the last 4 years and is very high. - This is very typical of a Teach First school.

So what does this all mean?

1. I won't be getting my PGCE from Warwick anymore, but from the Institute of Education in London.

2. Instead of living in Birmingham for 4 weeks in the summer, i'll be living in CAMDEN!

3. My hopes of having a fully furnished flat, with a drive way, for £500 a month is nothing more than a pipe dream.

4. With all the money I save I can still buy a Fiat 500 :)

So all in all, not much will change, but after psyching myself up make the big move to Brum, I need only worry about the actual teaching bit :S I can't wait until all this degree stuff is over and I can really focus on my teaching!!!!

Now just got to make sure I get that 2:1 :-)

**I'm hoping to continue this blog as I start teaching, but I have purposely not revealed the name of the school, nor will I reveal any names of staff or pupils.

What are you good at?

 

This kind of says it all. Try new things. Find something you enjoy doing. Find something you are good at. Be the best at it. It doesn't matter if fractions scare you or past participles send you running for the hills, if you find something that inspires you, whether that be science, painting, football, writing - pursue it.

I was defined as an 'all rounder' at school, and whilst doing 'quite well' at most things, there was never anything that stood out as my forte. Even my decision to go to university was figured along the lines of 'well that's what people do after A-levels', I chose my degree based on what I enjoyed doing at school, not necessarily what I was best at and whilst enjoying every minute of it, have never found anything that I would say 'inspired' me - until, that is, I spent time teaching in Germany. In my personal statement for UCAS  I rattled on about my 'passion' for English Literature, and 'fascination' of German culture. 'Lies' is a bit strong, but really? I am certainly interested by Germany, and enjoy English Literature, but a 'passion' for it!? No, at Warwick I have met people with so-called passions, and I am certainly not one of them! Normally I cringe at words like 'inspiration' and 'passion', but I am nothing but envious of people who have found theirs.

I hope that I may have found my forte with teaching, but only time will tell. I may be about to put myself through the worst 2 years of my life. Or I may have finally found my (cringe alert!) passion. 

Earlier in March I spent 5 days at a Teach First type primary school, and whilst I could go on and on about everything I experienced one boy in particular stood out for me. This boy was in year 4, had been recently diagnosed with dyslexia, and let's just say he wasn't taking it too well. He thought dyslexia was a label for stupid, and refused to acknowledge it at all. He admitted to hiding any of the equipment to help him with reading and writing and spent a whole hour saying 'Miss i'm not stupid, I could do the work but I don't want to, I just need glasses.' My heart really went out to him; he spent half the morning in the year 2 class for literacy, which whilst catering to his literacy level, was clearly not doing much for his 'street cred' and he was very reluctant to do anything, lacked concentration and was badly behaved. The next day I was in the year 4 class, the same boy was there and I was shocked to see the change in him. He was sat at the front of the class, being very well behaved, putting up his hand to answer questions, doing exactly as the teacher told him. The reason? They were doing art. He took pride in the work he did that lesson, and really engaged with the task (they were making figurines by bending wire).

The moral of the story? Not everyone can be good at everything. Not everything can be your passion. Try new things. Find something you enjoy doing. Find something you are good at. Be the best at it.

.... And don't be panicked when you don't find that something overnight!

Children See, Children Do

Disturbing?  Hard-hitting?  Accurate? 

The phrase 'do these kids stand a chance?' springs to mind when I watch this video - and by that I don't mean that every child who has parents who smoke, swear, or have a drink now and then are destined to a life of disadvantage, however, for me, the video does accurately highlight just how easily influenced children can be by the adults around them. 

As a primary school teacher it will be my job to be a positive role model for my pupils. I will be with the same 30 children from 9am until 3pm, 5 days a week! (is it too late to back out!?) and therefore, I will have a massive influence on the lives of the children I teach. Children who attend a Teach First school are more likely to come from impoverished backgrounds and have unstable home lives and relationships. Therefore, it is more important than ever that the primary school be a safe and secure environment where children are encouraged to dream and achieve. 

I'm not saying that all children will inherently mimic everything their parents do, but when I think of my own life, there are certain things that I say, or habits that I have, that are no doubt ingrained upon me by my parents' behaviour and their expectations of me. In the same vain, if children are witness to violent and aggressive behaviour, it is hardly surprising that this kind of behaviour will feature in their own lives... 

Breaking the mould and re-setting the trend is what Teach First is all about. Where you come from, and who your parents are, should not limit what you can do, or who you can be. Maybe this is an idealistic statement. But what's wrong with dreaming?

As time goes on, and university pressures mount, I must admit there have been a few occasions that I have asked myself if Teach First is really the right way to go? Would it not be easier to do a conventional PGCE instead? This evening I sat down to work on my Teach First assignment; we have to read a number of different articles, reports, testimonies and reflect on how they relate to teaching, and especially teaching in a Teach First school.

I am now sat here, with tears streaming down my face, fully reminded of why I applied to Teach First.

 

It isn't particularly Luke's grotty living conditions that upset me about this video, what upset me was that a boy, aged 11, has already lost hope. He has already self-diagnosed a future of poverty.
There is no reason why Luke should not be a vet.

Am I idealistic? Possibly. Am I wrong for wanting help children like Luke? Definitely not. 

My Summer Project!

I was about to call this post "A Shamless Plug" but thinking about it, it may be more relevant to My Teaching Story than I first thought...

"I'm raising as much money as possible for Kenyan Orphan Project because all children have a right to health and education."

The Kenyan Orphan Project (KOP) exists to support orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya on issues of health, education and social welfare, fighting poverty, disease, social exclusion and injustice. The charity was founded by Nottingham graduates in 2001 to improve the lives of some of the world’s most impoverished orphans and vulnerable children by providing them with food, education and health care. In the last 12 years, KOP has expanded to other universities and students across the country have been involved in establishing a hospital, a health clinic, two primary and one secondary schools, two community/feeding centres and a support and rehabilitation centre for street children all in the Nyanza province in western Kenya .

KOP’s key objective is to make long-term, sustainable changes to communities, which will benefit them for years to come. Through the projects we undertake whilst we are in Kenya, we are able to make a very real and lasting difference to the lives of so many people whose lives have been destroyed by AIDs. The people we help live in desperate poverty, and struggle on a day to day basis.

  

When I signed up for this project, I didn't particularly think about how this experience would affect my teaching, however, the more I think about it, there are many parallels between the Kenyan Orphan Project and the aims of Teach First. I am not tarring these charities with the same brush, however it is undeniable that both projects that I am involved in have a united goal; that is to stand up to disadvantage and give children, whatever their background may be, the opportunity and the potential to be whatever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do. The crippling circumstances in Kenya cannot be compared to those of the UK; however it is important to realise that children are suffering all over the world; how can we allow this to happen when we have the means to help them. Teach First is all about creating opportunity for young people, and is what I will spend the next two years (attempting!?) to do. As I finish my undergraduate degree and face the world ahead of me, what better way to begin my journey into the world than by recognising, and subsequently helping people who will never get the same opportunities that I have been lucky enough to enjoy. This once in a lifetime opportunity will stay with me forever, and I hope it will have a positive influence on my teaching next year.

So I have taken up the challenge to raise as much money as possible for disadvantaged children in Kenya. We will be fundraising throughout the year, and in August we're going to travel to Kenya for a few weeks, to witness for ourselves exactly how the money we raise is put to use, meet the children who are directly affected by our fundraising, and get involved with projects which will ultimately change these children's lives. 

100% of the money we raise goes directly to Kenya, I am funding the trip myself, and therefore ALL of the money raised will be put straight into the various projects - I have a personal fundraising target of £800, and would be extremely appreciative if you could donate to help this cause! Every penny counts so please, dig deep and donate anything you can afford! One in three children are orphaned as a result of AIDs in Western Kenya, without our help these children are destined to a life of poverty, disease and injustice.

Many of you have already donated and I cannot thank you enough!

Please take the time to visit my JustGiving page, donating is straightforward and secure. http://www.justgiving.com/Danielle-Richards2
You can even donate by text! Just text DARI91 (+the amount you would like to donate) eg. DARI91 £X to 70070! 
  

If you have any questions about my project, please don’t hesitate to contact me, my email address is d.richards@warwick.ac.uk

THANKS!!!

We booked our flights last week, and it is all getting very real!! The scariest realisation was that by the time we jet off for Kenya, not only will I have raised lots of money for an amazing charity, I will have done my final exams, graduated, and completed my summer training for Teach First, when I get back I will have about 10 days to sort my life out before I start my career as Miss Richards. Wow. 2013 is going to be quite a year!!! 

January Blues

So when I intended to start a blog, I didn't account for the ridiculous work load of 4th year getting in my way. I realise I have been a bit slow on the old posting, but will try and keep it up!

During my time at university, whenever I have complained about any work I have do to, there is always a finalist within hearing who shut me up with "You wait until you're in final year", and to be honest I never really believed that my final year would be THAT much different from 1st or 2nd year? Well i'm here, and it is, and unfortunately I have become that condescending finalist!

The question that keeps cropping up is: 'Do I have that much more work to do?" or "Am I just taking it all more seriously this year?" - and to be honest, I think it is a mixture of the two. I only have the same amount of modules as in previous years, and some of my English modules are open to 2nd year students, so it can't be that the modules (in the English department at least) are any harder. What I can only think is that my attitude has changed. I couldn't imagine going to a seminar having not read the book - which we did all the time in 1st and 2nd year, a night in Smack would have taken precedence over finishing the last chapters of a book, and if I could get away with reading an English translation of my German books I would. (Awkward moment when one of my German lecturers stumbles across this - sorry in advance :-)) Not now. It's nearly week three, I have been back at uni for a month now and am yet to have a night out, I have already read 5 novels, some in German, written 10,000 words, done all my seminar homework, attended every class and still have another 5000 word essay to write before everything calms down again. Reality has set it and the end is in sight. Yes we have longer essays to write (5000 instead of 3000), and yes our final language exams are double weighted, and yes the grades I get this year determine what I might do for the rest of my life. But i'm trying not to get too bogged down in it all - after all, they say your years at uni are the ones you'll never forget, and I'm sure once these essays are handed in, the hard work will be forgotten :)

So I guess this is a post, less about teaching, but more about being a finalist at uni - I just hope the old saying 'Hard work pays off' actually comes off this time :)