advise please.

Miss_Mohabbat · February 2, 2005, 6:26pm

Im currently in the middle of my PGCE, for those who dont know, its a post graduate certificate of education, basically, you train how to become a teacher within 1 year instead of three.

now, all my life, all iv ever thought to do is teach, its all iv ever known, dont really know why. its all iv ever worked towards and has been my main priority for all my educational life. At my careers advice interview when i was 16, the lady told me i would never amount to anything, she said i shouldn’t aim so high and i should think about being a teaching assisstant instead. My dad said the same, as did other family members and people i know. I proved them all wrong, i passed my A level’s, got through the worst 3 years of life with my BSc and applied for the PGCE. It’s wuite a popular course and the interview was extremely difficult, i didnt ever think id get through, not in a million years, i said the word “crap”. Anway, i got in, apparantly cos the bloke liked the fatc that i was able to speak my mind.

Im finding it really really really hard, uni lectures are ok as i can sink into the backround and pretend im clever, but school placements are awful, i can’t plan lessons, or assess the children’s work and i can barely teach. I’v got some personal issues to deal with aswell, which make it difficult to concentrate.

I dont know whether or not i should defer my current placement, if i do, i set myself back a whole 3 months. My course finishes in June, but i wouldn’t be able to graduate will Oct/Nov.

should i struggle my way through? even though i know im finding it difficult.

And im fully aware of how life is diffiuclt and what not, trust me on that one, but i dont want to teach when i feel im not good enough, my personal issue is wieghing me down.

What shall i do? defer or stay put?

Im really sorry if this post is too long, but i need all the advice i can get.

Thankyou.

Ira · February 2, 2005, 6:38pm

Re: advise please.

Hmm.........MMH: There is always a reason behind everything that happens. Why is that you cannot plan lessons? Is not being able to concentrate the only reason? Think about the why's and why not's. And then try to figure out how to solve these issues. I personally am not one of the folks who give up easily for things that i have wanted for the longest time. The question is, how bad do you want to be a teacher? Try to answer all these questions and get to the bottom of it. And inorder to do that, if you have to defer for a few months, then so be it. Atleast, w hen you graduate InshaAllah, you wont have the personal baggage weighing you down. But dont give up, you are so close to your lifelong dream, which i hope you realise isnt what everyone else get to have.

Good luck with it, i know you can figure it out, just give it time.

Miss_Mohabbat · February 2, 2005, 6:42pm

Re: advise please.

aww bless thanks for replying love :)

the thing is, if i defer, my family will have been proved right, they wont let me carry on with the course. You know what most asian families are like, emotional problems are not considered as problems, i know for a fact they wnt let me complete my course, this is exactly what they want.

Verizon · February 2, 2005, 6:44pm

Re: advise please.

MM if your personal problem is History Prof, you need to get over that. It aint happening unless you are explicit and totally open with him.
As far as school is concerned I'd stick it out with it doesn't matter if you grduate on OCt /nov . I dont think it is considered a failure if you grad a few months late.

Miss_Mohabbat · February 2, 2005, 6:47pm

Re: advise please.

^hush u nitwit, you know it cant possibly be my professer, iv only ever seen the man twice, damn, you ppl need to forget him! i have!!

i cant delay it as my family will make me quit...

50-B · February 2, 2005, 7:10pm

Re: advise please.

I would stick with it. If you spend this much time and energy and its important to you then it'll be more worth it when you finish it. There will always be people who discourage you, and hearing it from family is worse b/c you expect them to be some sort of support system and we all dread hearing the "I told you so". Anyone who is successful,has failed , before they got to where they are. Dont be so hard on yourself, you know alot more than you think you do.

mAd_ScIeNtIsT · February 2, 2005, 7:31pm

Re: advise please.

Stick with it, MM. When the crap hits the fan, we all get the urge to throw in the towel. But really, struggle through this and no matter what the outcome is, you'll know that you came out of it a stronger person.

If you leave now, any time in future you face similar stressed you'll want to leave too.

Lucid_Chaotic · February 2, 2005, 7:54pm

Re: advise please.

Just like everyone said… I’d definitely encourage you to stick to it… being in the teaching profession myself, I can still remember how difficult preparing for that very first class is… looking back now, its been 5 years and it all seems routine – its best not to think of these issues as problems but just some initial snags that you will eventually leap over and clear in no time inshaAllah.

W.R.T. the family being one of the off-putting causes, I guess we all go through it at one time or another. Allow me to narrate an incident that has kept me inspired through the time that I’ve been in school for my Bachelors, Masters and currently my Ph.D. … I had a friend who really really wanted to become a Civil Engineer… that’s all he ever wanted to do - but for some reason, folks in Pak thought of Civil Engineering as a trifling endeavour as compared to the likes of Electrical or Computer Engineering – so this guy gets into Electrical Engineering and graduates with flying colors, lands a couple of jobs with the best firms in the industry… just to show everyone what he’s capable of doing… and then gets back into school to complete his Civil Engineering degree. Obviously he spent about three more years in school than he should have, but in the end he managed to silence everyone who thought he was going for Civil Engineering just cuz he wasn’t capable of attaining a better degree.

I think people like my friend and people like you need to be commended cuz you dare to brazen out the social challenges in pursuit of something you believe you can do :k: :k:

50-B · February 2, 2005, 8:39pm

Re: advise please.

^ thank you Umar Talib for pointing out my profession sucks

Lucid_Chaotic · February 2, 2005, 9:12pm

Re: advise please.

50-B - abey yaar… the whole point was to elucidate that no profession should be judged on the basis of what others think about it or you.

Sheesh… you read all that and this is what you get out of it

Miss_Mohabbat · February 2, 2005, 9:37pm

Re: advise please.

umer, how did you manage to organise your time, as in when you would plan for the next lessons?

this is my main problem, i cant seem to find the time to plan.

i need to set a routine...

we have to do indiviual plans for every single lesson we teach and prepare our own resources, im teaching young kids, so this is sometimes so time consuming, making stupid games and stuff.

ashtray · February 2, 2005, 10:55pm

Re: advise please.

You are halfway across the river and you want to turn back? Others have done it so can you.

Lucid_Chaotic · February 2, 2005, 11:36pm

Re: advise please.

MM,
Since I teach at the Post-Secondary level, this may not apply to you, but the rule of thumb for us Professors is that the first time you teach a new course, the prep time is going to be close to three times the lecture time, i.e. for a 3 hour lecture, you have to prepare for 9 hours. The second time you teach the course, the prep time usually drops significantly to 1.5 times the lecture time and the third time around, the course is more or less a breeze.

However, the prep time is in addition to the time we spend preparing exams, handouts, quizzes, and the time that is spent marking exams and assignments.

That’s why they say… being a Professor is great – you work your own hours as long as you average 90 hours a week! :(

For a new course, I usually spend almost a whole term preparing for a course that I will be teaching in the following term.

insan · February 3, 2005, 4:29pm

Re: advise please.

don't give up baji. you worked so hard to achive something and because of little bit diffculty u just want to give up??? no face the diffculties and proved every one that you have talented common :) may ALLAH help u and good luck :)

Miss_Mohabbat · February 3, 2005, 5:39pm

Re: advise please.

I'v decided to defer my placement. I spoke with my uni lecturers and the school teachers, they all think its best that i try to sort myself out. they dont wnat me to add more pressure on to myself and keep on going only to realise iv made things too complicated. If i dont ask for help now, im never going to. i dont want to fail my placement, and thats the way i was going.

I know life will always throw problems my way, and no matter what i try and do i will never be able to stop them, so i should learn how to deal with them. Thats what i need to learn to do, deal with what iv got going on on right now. My personal issue is not minor. I'v set myself too many goals, in trying to cope with both uni and home life at the same time.

Thanks to everybody for the advice, im sorry if i havn't taken some of it on board.

Serendipiti · February 3, 2005, 11:35pm

Re: advise please.

Dear Missy
teaching is one of the hardest jobs anyone can ever do, no one knows exactly how difficult it is until they see it and the first time in teaching is the worst, it takes the life out of u literally. the good side is it gets better and better, it is recieved wisdom that it takes at least 5 years to make a good teacher, so dont b surprised u r finding it difficult. Also ask urself r u being harder on ur self becuase u expect it to b perfect the first time? it just doesn't work like that in teaching- its a million skills u have to master how can u know what these skills r from day 1?
Not everyone can teach, but i have read ur posts i have seen the commitment and the love for children-if u have that everything else will fall in place so DO NOT GIVE UP. take time off but do the placement, get ur qualification then if u need to reconsider,
just to add guilt- do u know the highest rate of dropouts for pgce is ethnic minority students-dont become this statistic!

Serendipiti · February 3, 2005, 11:38pm

Re: advise please.

An anecdote- i too like u wanted to teach from age 11, i had these wild ideals - i will never shout at a child, i will treat them with respect, never ever say shut up then i got my placement-a year 7 class the maddest bunch of nutters ever. on my last day the wouldnt be quiet and i lost it, i screamed shut up, i told them it was my last day and they would b the reason i would give up teaching. i felt so bad at loosing it but i jsut could not take it anymore.
Then i see this nasty kid crying and i snapped at her, totally without sypmathy, Y R U Crying?
and she said 'miss its ur last day, i never knew it was ur last day, u r leaving us!'
Teachers make a difference.
3 years laters i got the OfSTED certificate for excellent teaching. SO do NOT give up.