SO my first teaching prac is coming up in a few weeks and I'm mega nervous. No idea where I'm going yet or what I'll end up doing but they haven't really told us anything about our prac, like how much we actually get involved etc. And all I've heard lately are all the horror stories about teachers/student teachers going into schools and then hating it so much they never make it past the first week.

So I'm now terrified about having chairs thrown at me etc etc and I would love some reassurance from anyone who can offer it!

What uni?? If its Qut they've got a f***tonne of paper work eg prac guides, what you should be doing week by week etc... Generally speaking first prac it might only be 1 day a week, which kind of defeats the purpose.. Again i haven't been back at uni in a few years and when i went through everything was changing at qut.. but whatever the go is here are some tips.

Ideally from day one you want to be involved as much as possible in the running of the class if the teacher will let you (most will.. they get paid extra and if they do it right they can have a bludge while you stress and do all the work)..

You want to be doing things like taking the roll in the morning.. lining up all the kiddies at the door before they come in etc.. (you're doing primary right?? if not ignore this)

Absorb as much as you possibly can.. by that i don't necessarily mean wisdom from the teacher, but things like handouts, lesson plans, any type of unit planning wether it be school planning, subject planning, classroom planning whatever (it will come in meeega handy in 3rd year and 4th year when assignments are literally 'Make a plan as comprehensive as possible using Ed Qld guidelines)

Don't try to make an impression on the kids from the outset.. They fear their own teacher much much more then they fear you... Use that to your advantage, don't try to take your lecturers lead by implementing some whizzbang behaviour management program based on prizes or some other horses*** if the kids haven't had that before.. you'll get bad results.. (again if primary school, younger kids respons well to clapping exercises eg you clap they repeat the clap.. Other then that whistles, and making examples of kids are good ways to make them realise you mean business... Bonus points if you make a kid cry on your first day)

Make a plan for your prac and be prepared to not get any of it done.. at all.. Again if doing little kids be prepared to maybe get through concept 1 on your sheet of 20 throughout the whole period of your prac... You will be surprised how much time is eaten up from a day with interruptions, time it takes to get kids settled etc..

Be prepared to be a slave to the teacher, some people are jerks, they will make you suffer and you might have to do 10x more then some of your friends.. suck it up.. the teacher writes the report and thats all your uni has to go on if you're a good teacher or not..

umm...

also you're a chick, dress appropriately for your audience.. Last thing you want is a group of angry mothers !firedup! because the new student teacher is the talk of the school... Parents are a hard crowd to please, you're dealing with their future.. if you do anything to f*** that up they tend to turn nasty and thats not good...

Teacher voice, don't have one ? don't know what it is ? ... I pity you.

Seriously, from what I have seen women have it tuff as high school teachers. The most successful ones come off as as bitches to their kids, but fair ones. And if you are dealing with teenage boys no skirts or dresses that are above the knee (unless you want them spending all day trying to get cameras up them).

Don't trade myspace/facebook/livejournal details with students, they are your students not your friends. If you want to interact with them outside the classroom, get invovled in an extraciricular activity (sport/debating/club). (Not that you will have time on your first prac, or probably any prac). Infact, don't have any form of public private web thing, the kids will find it and then the parents will and anything on there can and will be used to make your life hard. Have seen a teacher get a please explain because they left a field empty on one of those sites and under "interested in" it said something inocuois like "undecided" or "don't say".

You want to be doing things like taking the roll in the morning.. lining up all the kiddies at the door before they come in etc.. (you're doing primary right?? if not ignore this)

Interestingly Boxhead this is making its way back into high schools as a behavior management tool. Just re-introduced here as a school wide policy, and it seems to work.

All good advice from boxhead here.. what uni and what years are you specialising in?

My first prac was at mabel park and that has probably the worst reputation in all of south east queensland. I was nervous to say the least but after you settle in you really dont feel like going back to uni at all.. it also makes you feel like your not learning anything at uni that actually helps you with your job. All in all im so glad i went to mabel for my first prac because it was like starting at the bottom... i surprisingly enjoyed it too.. south islander kids are so friendly :>

UQ specify that you will not do any teaching in the first or second weeks and will just observe.. so there was always that buffer there if you didnt feel comfortable.. IMO the best thing to do is ask your supervising teacher on the first day what you can do and let them know you are keen to get straight into it, you only learn from experience.

Dont be scared of getting chairs thrown at you etc... i mean it depends on the year your teaching but the children are usually pretty understanding of your position (I've taught 7/8/9's which are traditionally the worst to deal with). They also respect you if your younger and have that instant rapport with them.

My tips:

- On the first day introduce yourself to the class and tell them they are going to help you be a better teacher etc.. they will respond well to that :>

- Show your supervising teacher your keen to start straight away
- Learn student names ASAP (this makes the biggest difference)
- Everyday is a new day
- Be a teacher not your students 'friend'
- Dont threaten students with things you cant follow through with

If your a young male make sure you report any notes your handed or incidents to your supervisor straight away.. I've had it happen every prac.

Goodluck and let us know how it goes :> I'm going on my 3rd prac in a couple of weeks.

Thanks heaps guys, that's all been really great advice so far. I'm studying secondary education at QUT majoring in English as a Second Language and Japanese. However I will most likely end up teaching older primary kids but the only way I could do ESL was to choose secondary teaching. So far in all of our prac lectures we've basically just had other uni kids in groups do crappy demonstrations in front of the class and haven't actually discussed anything really in terms of our prac, what to expect, what's required etc.

I figured I would do up a few lesson plans etc and try to be as organised as possible in case I got the chance to use all my planning, but also be prepared to not be allowed to do much either. Supposedly I find out what school I'm going to this week, primary and early childhood students found out last week and the week before.

Anyways, thanks for all the advice, I feel a lot more relaxed now. And to whoever made the comment about female teachers coming off as bitches or whatever, I'd have to disagree. The majority of my favourite teachers at high school were female, and ultimately I never really saw much difference in the teaching styles between them and my male teachers.

Also, Boxhead I think it was, good point about how to dress. Having worked with middle-aged women for years I'm well aware how touchy they are about younger women and how they dress, act etc. All they've told us in regards to dress code is to overdress rather than underdress on our first day until we know what the school's dress code seems to be. I was just planning on dressing as professional as possible.

hey,

Im doing my first teaching prac in a few weeks too. Im not really scared as much at the teaching, but im scared of what supervisors i get. Ive heard lots of horror stories about your supervising teacher not liking you and failing you.
And for those who know education once that happens your pretty much screwed...

im at qut as well, i heard we find out on friday.

I remember when i was in high school, the kids didnt treat the pre-service P.E teacher very well. hopefully things have changed.

Yea, that's another issue that's got a lot of us a bit concerned. The decision on whether you pass or fail is decided by only ONE teacher, so if they don't like you or your teaching style, then that's it. I've never really had personality clashes with people before so I'm not really worried about that, but I've seen some of the students in my classes that are incredibly picky about things, so I'm just hoping I don't work with a teacher that's like that.

Nabel, I'm guessing you're doing EDB002 atm too?

We had a few student teachers in year 11/12 and the one thing they lacked was confidence, which led to the class being disrespectful.

My advice, walk in and tell the f***ers to shut the f*** up and listen, so you earn their respect. Kinda like going to prison and punching the biggest guy you can find.


Or it might backfire. Who knows?

well you know what you'll have to do if its a male assessor! D: lol

tbh the best teacher i ever had from school was a female teacher, probably because she actually had a f***ing sense of humour

all the teachers i liked actually had that in common, the ones that didn't have a sense of humour compatible with kids should gtfo.

but honestly, just don't be uber strict nazi, but don't be a push over.

I think the pass/fail (or more accurately, your suitability rating) is decided by a meeting with you, your supervising teacher and two other people from the school in conjuntion with the presentation of your professional portfolio and an interview. Then scale in your GPA and voila - S1 in the face. Or maybe you're a first year talking about observation prac in which case I'm not sure how it works at QUT, our first ones were mainly observation where you can get involved with the class as much/little as you want then write huge assignments.

It's pretty funny to look at this thread, I'm going on prac on monday through UQ... 8 week block so I thought you must have been UQ also. My strategy is to dress for success and smile/eye contact ftw.

I've been told that at QUT it's only our supervising teacher that fills out a sheet in our booklet or something like that, so I'm not sure how accurate that is, or whether our system runs more along the lines of what you mentioned. I'm second year and this is my first prac and supposedly we teach in one of our teaching areas and observe in the other.

How long do your pracs go for? Ours are 20 consecutive days, so mine's from 6 May - 2nd June. Annoying though is that I still have Japanese classes two nights a week, the rest of my units all stop after week 9 because they run along with the Education Department's program whereas LOTE doesn't

yeah this prac isn't really "high stakes" then. i'm talking about final prac where you get suitability rating (=how deep EQ will suck your cock to hire you). i think we do 20 days in undergrad then it's 16 weeks in professional year. our first 3 years are studying with normal uni students in courses to get first degree (in my case b. arts (math/spanish) using hte electives to take education classes then final year is strictly teaching these two areas.

i'll bump this thread in a few weeks when i drop out of teaching after knocking out some kid

omg
you people are teaching our children....the future....
wheres my passport

You'd have to be an idiot to be a school teacher I reckon.

Does anyone fail and not become a teacher? (not quit, but failed by the uni)

I've been told of a couple of instances where people have been failed by their supervising teacher. I'm not sure what happens after that though, whether they repeat the entire unit or whether that's it for them?

I'm not sure if it has changed due to the teacher shortage but in the past it was possible to get 7s at uni and not become a teacher if EQ (or I guess the supervising teacher) didn't approve. There used to be a score (perhaps, there still is) and if you scored poorly that was it for you, you weren't becoming a teacher any time soon.

You'd have to be an idiot to be a school teacher I reckon.

Agreed.. hence why i taught for 6mths then left... Found out it just wasn't for me that point.. 23.. only real option of career advancement was doing a couple of years stint in the bush to possibly get a city posting after that in a s***e area.. Stupid Ed Qld...

Anyway..
Other top tips..

Just because you don't agree with a certain way another teacher goes about something doesn't mean you speak up about it or question them on it.. You tread a very thin tightrope as a student 'critiquing' what a teacher does in a classroom.. all your lecture experience and tutorial readings do not make you qualified to pass judgement...

Having said that you would be an expert in all things ED QLD.. so by all means offer your advice on whats happing politically with the system.. new changes to guidelines etc..

Pracs are there to skill you up on the practical side of things (duh) but put it in perspective.. (when i went through) You only did 80 days of classroom teaching spread out over a 4 year degree.. that isn't much interms comparing the amount of teaching craft you will have learnt in year 1 compared to year 3 lets say... You really have to hit the ground running..

Get amongst it all and use it benefit your career, after the 80 days are up and you've got your bit of paper to say you're excellent (LOL S1 LOL) then you're on your own for the most part.. There is a great deal of support in your first year and from then on out when you get into a school but its still you who has to deal with the kiddies on a daily basis etc etc..

If you're able to get a hold of student works.. get the teachers permission to scan, photocopy or whatever anything a kiddie does during the day, wether you're teaching them or not.. (another very handy 4th year assignment resource, oh and good for your portfolio)

umm anything else pm me or something.. im always happy to pass on other bits and pieces to ppl.. Seems im better at getting people through the degree and training them how to be a teacher then teaching myself! hahah

you might learn a thing or two you could apply to your teaching style by adopting some of the antics displayed in Summer Heights High

cbf reading all of that. PM me if you want to ask any questions. I'm second year education primary at ACU. I'll probley reread over the thread later in the day. Just finished been at prac all day and then a 9 and a half hour shift.

One tip I have for you.

Don't work full time while studying full time

My mum is a teacher.

Get out while you still can.

Lol Nitro. My mum's a teacher too, does ESL which is what I'm studying to do and she absolutely loves it. And most of my mates in high school had one parent or the other who was a teacher and they'd been doing it for 20+ years and still enjoying it. So while there are a few people who say it really sucks, I know plenty of people who still love it so it's not enough to put me off.

I'm aiming to get substitute teaching down to a science.. $300 a day and no planning ftw.

imagine yourself in jail for the first time...

u gotta go for the biggest bully and smash him on the first day

so we apply this too teaching, attack the wanker of the class, then u win the crowd. win the crowd and you win your freedom.

Teaching can be awesome pay. My mum works as an ESL teacher a few weeks at a time and she gets $57 an hour so I'd be happy with that!

ace, are you so desperate to fight criminals that you lock yourself in with them?

All those children better watch out when I start teaching!

I got 1.5 years of education but I'm doing applied science (2nd year) at the moment, stupid QUT can't find a way to cram all my academic credit together into a usable degree.

I've been told of a couple of instances where people have been failed by their supervising teacher.

My sister has failed a student under her. I'll have to ask her what happens.

If someone were to do a 3 year degree then do Graduate Diploma in Education, would it be the same if they had done bachelor of education dual degree? In other words, would they have the same chances of getting a job?

Also, I was told by a friend (yeah I know) that while teachers are in demand, its only in the outback/small towns where they're really in demand. Is this true or is he just talking s***? I'm positive he is talking s***.

If someone were to do a 3 year degree then do Graduate Diploma in Education, would it be the same if they had done bachelor of education dual degree? In other words, would they have the same chances of getting a job?

The education co-ordinator at QUT says yep, doesn't disadvatage you in any way.

Unfortunately that's probably where I'm heading if the noobs can't integrate the 1.5 years of education I've already done into some dual education/science degree.

I just got an email saying Fips will be open tommorow, so we find out tommorow i guess..

Also, I was told by a friend (yeah I know) that while teachers are in demand, its only in the outback/small towns where they're really in demand. Is this true or is he just talking s***? I'm positive he is talking s***.


Talking s*** :)

I'm not too sure... i have friends who graduated last year and they have jobs. One female friend though is at goomeri (sp) which is a fair way out... there are chances you could not be offered a job though, depends what your willing to teach.

If nothing popped up here for me next year i'd do relief teaching then probably head overseas. Travelling friendly degree ftw.

The good thing about my area of teaching is that I'll never have trouble getting a job. There will always be places that need people qualified to teach English as a second language.

who is in 4th yr??
i am currently in my last yr and its crazy. i feel like the last 3 yrs were just wasting time and that everything u are meant to know they tell u in this yr.

Are you sure you're a teacher?

Well... not yet. I just feel that I have learnt more this yr than any of the others and it has only been 6wks!!

I think its like that in any degree. I know in science every postgrad says that undergrads have no idea what they're doing.

It's being we do everything the old school way.

Yeah it is a bit overwhelming. My prac is pretty challenging too I have never worked at a high school before.

The 1st and 2nd year of a Life Science degree is about getting a good foundation, I'd bet it is similar for most other degree's. 3rd year is where you put it all together.

Of course postgrads say that, otherwise they wouldn't be all that much different.

i didn't realise that there were such a high proportion of teachers in qgl
i'm sure someone can analyse that.....

MISSery, if this is your last prac why are you going to a High School all of a sudden??? You do your last prac at the same place you go to for your internship, right??

I am doing a specialisation. I will be employed in either a primary, high or special school when I am done. It means that I don't do the internship. I know that I do not wanna work in a high school but I need to experience it.

The 1st and 2nd year of a Life Science degree is about getting a good foundation, I'd bet it is similar for most other degree's. 3rd year is where you put it all together.

I actually meant working in a laboratory. I know that everything else is for teaching us the fundamentals but we seriously do everything the old school way.

I am doing a specialisation. I will be employed in either a primary, high or special school when I am done. It means that I don't do the internship. I know that I do not wanna work in a high school but I need to experience it.


Ahh k yea, fair enough. I'd prefer to teach primary kids, so I'm hoping that at some stage I'll be able to request to go on prac in a primary school instead. (Can't get ESL qualifications unless I study secondary)

Yeah. Its difficult if it isn't the grades that you are comfortable with. I have been employed in primary and special schools for years so I feel that I talk to the high school kids like they belong there and make their work to easy.

You might have to do some of your pracs in high schools just to show you can do it.

just found out my prac is at a sweet little prep-7 school with a max of 72 kids over 3 classes. Should be a great experience. shame it wont represent normal class situation

oooop i just found out too. Health and PE @ Holland Park High school

Ahhh.. I went to HP (represent).

dammit mine hasn't been done yet :(

Ahhh.. I went to HP (represent).

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7999/nelsonmuntzwl0.gif