So here I am at Stoke rail station again, waiting for a train over an hour away. Why? Because Newcastle United are playing at home.
I do so wish I had a car. I would certainly save a lot of hassle. It would definitely lead to me being less tired!
I taught today. It’s not the first time: it’s just the first time I’ve mentioned it here. It didn’t go terribly badly, there was still a lot of criticisms but I’m still learning. So despite being catastrophically tired, it’s all still good.
So great to be on a train again. Mother trying to navigate three very young children with her limited but nonetheless colourful vocabulary. I’m trying to do an assignment here!
I finished my week-long primary placement on Friday. I’ll miss those kids! They were cheeky at times but they were friendly and we had a laugh. I most likely cemented myself in lore by falling unexpectedly and acrobatically trying to play football with them. Lesson learned.
And now I’m on my way back to Keele having watched Newcastle draw again. Thinking about a nice cup of tea…
Alan Turing has been given an apology from the Prime Minister following a petition on the 10 Downing Street website. As a mathematician and being interested in cryptanalysis I am fervently aware of his work and his part in cracking the Enigma machine.
The significance of his contribution to the war makes the way he was treated all the more sad and regretful. I hope his work and achievements will be more generally appreciated.
I’ve taken respite from the world of… nothing. I’m in Lincolnshire to visit my grandparents. We went to Lincoln today, which was quite nice but it rained a lot. They say the weather is very localised around here. I’ve noticed that. It’s reminded me of that song… “Why does it always rain on me?” – Travis, is who that was.
I have received some sort of confirmation that I’ve been offered a place on the PGCE course – conditional on my satisfactory criminal record and health. They should be fine, except I’m not sure whether I’m a hypochondriac or a hyperchondriac! I live with the determination that there must be something wrong with me, but not the inclination to go and find out what that is! So I could get all-clear good news or double-whammy bad news. However, seeing as I’m in Lincs at the moment, I’m not likely to find out any time soon.
So in some regard, I can’t wait to get back and sort things out. However, that’s also something I’m very much not looking forward to!
Well, the interview went badly. It was an hour and a quarter late in coming, and despite my best efforts, all my best one-liners stayed firmly within the sanctity of my brain. I wanted to show how passionate and dedicated I was, yet neither of the words “passionate” or “dedicated” transpired to pass my lips.
I wanted to really emphasise the significance of the voluntary work I had been doing: working at one of the country’s most celebrated schools in a hugely achieving mathematics department, creating high quality resources the teachers and students can have fun using.
I wanted to demonstrate my eagerness to teach, my ability to teach, and the comfort in which I can converse and talk to children in an education environment. I stumbled over the question: “what would you do if a teacher asked you to take a lesson at ten minutes’ notice with no further input or help?”
But it worked. I’m going to be a student again!
Everything seemed fine until I got to Manchester Piccadilly. There it poured down: an omen of things to come. An announcement rang out, informing that my train was to be moved to another platform. Quite which platform was unknown to passengers because a rather loud, mouthy announcer voiced her announcement all over the top of it. In the event, it was moved to the next platform. Even so… not very good.
Without too much further frustrations I arrived at Stoke, where it was pouring even heavier. I had a look for the bus station and walked in one direction for about a minute before deciding it must have been the other way. It transpired Stoke’s bus station is actually Stoke’s train station with a bus shelter outside. So I was a little wet, and those already seeking shelter under the bus stop were curiously reluctant to allow a further lost soul camp under it. So I got even wetter.
The bus did eventually come, however where it stopped I was pretty clueless. I found that Keele University was a rather bewildering place, and being unclear on where to get off, I just stayed onboard until the driver alerted me it was the last stop.
I got my map out and tried to work out where to go. After twenty minutes of lonely wandering in the torrential rain and two phone calls later, I found out I was at the right place after all. The automatic doors weren’t automatic and I needed to pull instead of push. Anyway, I was a little wet and my map was beyond redemption. I quickly developed a stonking migraine which kept me awake (and violently moving, shaking, punching and kicking) much of the night.
At the moment, I am in the lounge of the Management Centre, using the free wireless. I am doing this because I am to be interviewed last and was invited to leave and come back later. So thus I am, watching the cricket with one wicket to fall. As for the interview, I’m not greatly confident. But oh well…
…but I have to. Another interview, miles upon miles away. Despite being in a fantastic position, with the experience I have accrued, I can’t help but feel I’m still not a teacher, qualified or otherwise.
But having spent so much time, effort and money in order to get to this point, I mustn’t let my hesitations impede the interview.
It’s quite funny really. After six months of unemployment, Jobcentre Plus will send you on a “13 week course”. Putting you on such a “training programme” gets you off their books for the time being, and they give you about £15 a week extra. While you are on there, you are no longer regarded as unemployed as such: government figures on unemployment for July will exclude me.
I have an interview next week, which requires hotel stays and long train journeys again. It’s cost me about £150 so far. JC+ are, of course, unwilling to help remunerate that cost, for it is not a job I am applying for… it’s a course. Annoying.
Talking of annoying… and of this 13 week course…
Before I started, I was volunteering at a local secondary school, getting good quality experience. I had enrolled on two short courses to get decent qualifications. I was sending up to six application forms a week and getting a rather good ratio of applications to interviews. Now I’ve started, I’m not able to carry on my volunteer work, and the placement in exactly the same place doing exactly the same thing they have meant to have organised has not materialised. I have been told I cannot attend those two courses and must do one rather pointless one instead, because they can get double-funding. I attend this course for about 30 hours a week, doing six hours of “jobsearch”: which actually prevents me from filling in application forms.
When you add communist protesters camping outside, weekly bomb scares and fire alerts, crying staff and violent outbursts, it’s not a great place to be. Having said that, I’ve been allocated to a group that’s actually quite nice. But I still feel I would have been much better placed carrying on what I was doing off my own back.
Well same old. Experience is my downfall. I’m not sure what more I could have done, or whether it’s even possible. It’s difficult to remain positive, and all the well-meaning folks that say “it just wasn’t meant to be. Don’t worry your time will come,” I apologise for seeming rude or ignoring your kind words — I appreciate your thoughts.
It looks rather unlikely I’m going to get this business off the ground, too. I think a £200,000 initial outlay is rather too outlandish. Maybe in the future…? Ha…
I haven’t really updated this recently. Not an awful lot has happened, yet a lot has. In short, I’m no nearer to achieving my goals. What’s worse is that I’m being stifled from trying to.
But some good things have happened: I’ve been in contact with my sister and one of my stepbrothers; my business is creeping slowly forward (very slowly…); and um… well they say things come in threes, so I’ll report back later with the other one!
Got two interviews this week. They tell me that’s really good, and they say I’m pessimistic when I don’t agree. I don’t count my chickens before they hatch; I approach each role with trepidation and respect. It seems interviewers appreciate that… but nothing more. Let’s see anyway.
Plenty of fish in the sea, the slippery buggers!
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