#dtlls

Yay!

Finally done!

I think I can officially tick everything off the list and hand in my year 2 DTLLS folder tomorrow! So happy it's all done though I don't quite believe it yet. Until Lesley my tutor takes it off my hands at my tutorial tomorrow and I can leave college knowing it's all done, I don't think I can fully call it a day yet. 

I don't think I know quite what to say yet about the whole course. We have a celebration evening in July at which we all need to give a short presentation about the high points and challenges of taking part in the course.

I think my overwhelming feeling at the moment is pride in myself! I think having studied for two years and taught a class independently for this last year, alongside having a demanding, full time job (!), I'm really proud that I've managed the workload and done well and also enjoyed it along the way!

I am relieved that next year I can just concentrate on teaching my class and not have to write assignments, reflections, prepare for observations, keep writing lists of things to do or check my portfolio is up to date. I'll also have more free time as I won't need to use holidays to spend time in class. So, overall, I'm looking forward to a simpler year ahead next time around.

I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching this year. Despite their challenges, my class have been fantastic and I've so proud of them and the steps and achievements they've made for themselves. Getting a qualification in English for some learners actually does help them move on in life in a very practical way, some are now employed or have a clear sense of what they want to go next to progress. Others just enjoy being with supportive people, having a group to offload to first thing on a Monday morning and making smaller steps in their English skills. I hope to see some familiar faces when we come to re-enrolement and initial assessment in September.

So nearly there now! Only just getting round to posting on the blog as until a few weeks ago, I was getting to the end of my tether with the studying and teaching. The mammoth Action Research project, the then additional essay on evaluation, the prep for my third observation as well as planning and running my class… oh yeah… and having a full time job (!) was starting to get to me a little. I just had no weekend for about a month and it felt like I had to be doing something with my time towards my teaching all, the, time! 

However, I've now had a few weeks of distance and some positive feedback on the work I submitted and I'm in a better frame of mind to reflect with some perspective! I was really pleased to get a 'first' on my AR project which I'm really proud of. All the time spent on drafting, making graphs and referencing really paid off! Just really glad to get that one out of the way as it's definitely the most significant piece of work we have to do in this second year of DTLLS.

I've also had 3 weeks off from teaching (bless the Easter break and my class falling on a Monday morning) which is a very welcome! We've had a venue change for my class as the centre I teach at is being renovated. So we're now at a junior school about 10 minutes walk from the original site which causes some disruption with learners arriving at different times. As we're also at a junior school, everything is mini! Smaller chairs, tables, and a board that I have to sit next to write on! So it's changing how I plan sessions and the activities we can run. Makes me very grateful for the well equipped space in the children's centre and the flexibility it gives me.

So we're into the final term next week and it's all about the build up to the writing exam! Most of my learners passed their reading at the end of the spring term so the writing is the final piece of the puzzle for them to pass their level! I really am getting nervous for them as I really hope they are successful and can see their progress and have confidence to approach their final exams. We're going to do some intensive writing skills sessions during the early weeks of the summer term and then we'll be quite quickly into the exam dates. This is to try and give enough time for a re-sit if they need them. 

In terms of my own course, I have a final taught week in mid-May which should tie up some of the final assessments. I have to have one final observation and a few more hours to go till I reach the overall total of 150 teaching hours. Then I want to have everything handed in by early July then I'll be free! Free for the summer holiday!

My action research project is due in 2 weeks and I've done… nothing!

Well it's been 6 weeks since my last post and a jam-packed 6 weeks it has been.

Thankfully, the promise that DTLLS year 2 would be less demanding academically is true, it's all focussed on teaching practice. Either it is less demanding or I'm simply blocking out all the work I have to do! (could be that...) 

The main piece of work is our Action Research project which was the main focus of the last block week in September. I had no time to write a de-brief of that week as after our block week, teaching started, and as I have my own class this year as a paid tutor, my every spare minute has since been spent on planning, marking and making sure I'm doing all the paperwork correctly!

So back to block week 1. It was great to have a full week to dedicate to learning and covering all the action research topics within a few days helped to cement what's required for that element. Initially it was challenging to think of what to research as I wanted to choose something relevant to my classes and try and tackle something that does cause confusion, stress, or doesn't quite fit easily into my current practice. That, and choose something relatively simple to conduct in amongst teaching my group!

So I have decided to tackle ILPs which are the individual learning plans that each learner (and tutor) should complete to keep track of their goals, progress, thoughts and feelings on the course. Currently they are quite a tokenistic document, often completed in a rush at the end of a session resulting in brief, superficial comments that lack depth and links to what has been studied. 

Next week I have my assessed, professional discussion with Michele to outline my plan for the intervention. I am pleased with my plan so far, though it needs tightening and relevant theory adding. I do need to be careful that I make the intervention small-scale and not try and revolutionise the ILP which would need lots and lots of thought. Will most likely find a balance between the number of versions that currently exist.

Then it's on with the teaching! I've taken a bit of a risk this term and have employed a 'project' approach with my learners who are going to organise a charity cake sale. The idea with this is that rather than teaching different topics week by week, the learners will cover a variety of curriculum areas 'subtly' and engage the learners' enthusiasm!

So far this is working really well and I'm so proud (and thankful) to my learners for getting on board and really being creative with the idea. In the last class before half term we used a discussion about which charity to fundraise for as an assessed informal/unfamiliar discussion. It was brilliant! After feedback from my first observation  of the year (grade 2 - happy with that) I said nothing and just let them get on with it, only noting down reminders for when I'm writing up the reports. The learners were fantastic, sharing ideas, encouraging one another, higher level learners directing others to conduct research within the discussion and making a decision independently that they're all happy with. So, so proud of them!

Moments like that are making all the thinking, planning, making resources, planning, researching, planning, painstakingly completing schemes, sessions plans, tracker documents, my course file, planning, marking work and compiling useful feedback worth it though. The first year of teaching is tough but I am getting used to it now and relaxing about the amount of detail I need to go into and giving myself a break that everything needs to be perfect all the time (it doesn't, you can just be honest with learners and it's fine).