The Pre-Service Teacher

It's definitely been a bittersweet couple of weeks at school. While the stresses of exams, reporting and marking have been significant, being in a really great faculty has made all the difference. I'm lucky to work with a great bunch of really smart, friendly, energetic people. I've also been lucky to have a great prac student on board. I've been really lucky all round really.

I remember being in Uni and ringing around schools asking if they would take me for a prac. God I remember. It was a hard thing to do, and I am so grateful to the wonderful teachers who took me on. It's why I always try to say yes to having a prac student. My first prac student has become my best friend and my closest colleague. I love telling the kids how I went to her wedding. Another prac student regularly emails me to let me know how she is going. She always tells me how much she enjoyed being at our school. My current prac student has kept me sane in the last two weeks. She's as new as can be and only 19 but very enthusiastic and very good. She will be a great teacher. She has helped me no end - not by doing my work for me but by doing what I do with me. That includes co-marking, playground duty, team teaching. She even joined us for end of term faculty dinner tonight. It never crossed my mind that this time of year might be too busy to have a prac student and thank goodness it didn't. I have enjoyed every minute of it.

Having a prac student helps me as much as I think it helps them. I gain a realisation of how far I have come in my own teaching - I guide them with confidence (mostly) and I become a mentor and a friend. I gain an awareness that I have actually come a long way as a teacher.

I also learn from the prac student. I gain new ideas -I take more risks, I implement new content and teaching approaches.

And I always have more to learn.

Images: my own photos from the Lego forest in Martin Place, Sydney as part of the 2012 Lego Festival of Play http://www.legofestival.com.au/m/#/news/article.php?id=135

Learning Curve

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities of technology in education? Me too. But...

I feel very lucky - my digital literacy is really very good. I have a good knowledge of computers and a range of programs.

I have, however, feel like I have been living under a rock. I didn't hear about Edmodo, Yammer, Education Blogs, etc until a few weeks ago.

But then, how lucky am I??? - My ignorance has pushed on a very very steep self-guided learning curve. And even luckier, because I have discovered all these amazing teachers and educators using these tools in so many ways.

So what have I done to solve my ignorance problem?

Here is a list.

In the last few weeks I have:

- Re-started my art teaching blog. A project that was abandoned after only a couple of posts has now had new life breathed into it!
- Re-started my Twitter account. Before I realised other teachers were using it, I had NO idea how Twitter was a useful tool!
- Started a group on Edmodo. Even if though only one of my year 10s is regularly using it at the moment, it is going to be an amazing tool in my classroom.
- Stayed in touch and made contact with other like-minded educators on Twitter, etc.
- Watched many powerpoint presentations and articles on the use of technology in education. This I hope to keep doing!
- Thought about the many possibilities, and tried not to get too overwhelmed by these possibilities by becoming more knowledgeable.

Do you have any other suggestions?