• Time Management
• Teaching Skills
• Confidence

The three items listed above are the 3 main things that I feel I have gained from my degree studies.

I have had to be really efficient with my time in order to complete the work I need to do for my job and for the degree.  I have found it really hard at times and  had to work long hours in to the night in order to complete the work.  I had a mad week prior to a deadline this year and to the detriment of the degree I put my job first - I lost 10 precious marks due to exceeding the word count. I intend to take a course in Project Management as I believe that it would be useful for me in my current job and in any career I may take on in the future.

Due to the nature of the studies I have undertaken during the degree I have improved my teaching skills.  I believe that this would have happened anyway simply because I do it every day and "Practice makes perfect" however I think that I have analysed and evaluated my practice in a far deeper way during the degree and as such this has probably made me a better teacher than I would have been had I not taken the course

My confidence has increased generally during the degree. I feel more confident about my work and I feel more confident as a person.  I think that graduating will boost that confidence even further.

When I have completed this module I hope to have identified the skills that I have developed during my studies at Anglia Ruskin University.

Once I have identified these skills I should be able to see emerging patterns and where these skills fit in to my career plan.

I aim to look more deeply in to learning styles and theory and will draw on my knowledge of psychology to help me with this.

I hope to understand how my "Graduateness" will help me to progress in my career by the end of the module.

Unbelievably stressed! So much to do and so little time to do it in!

AAGGGGGHHHHHHHH

Just got a really nice email from my head teacher:

I did my pilot exhibition on Wednesday!

I decided to invite just the SMT to this one and I'm glad I did - I was really nervous. I'd just completed hour 15 of 20 of Y11 practical ICT exams and to be honest I felt a little flustered.  I used a powerpoint presentation and just spoke to them about what I have done so far. I printed out copies of my data capture form that I use whilst being coached for them to look at and also gave them a questionnaire to fill out.  One person just ticked "yes" to all of my questions and said it was brilliant and didn't se how I could have done it any better! The other two have taken theirs away and will complete it over the weekend.  I suspect there will be some constructive criticism which is excellent!

One really good thing to happen though was that they asked me to repeat the presentation to the whole staff at a Teaching and Learning INSET day!  That was nice I thought!

The second coaching session was really useful.

We both felt more comfortable this time and the atmosphere was relaxed.  We discussed points from the last session and identified new action points.

I used my data capture form and this was helpful - I was able to tick boxes instead of make notes and as such I was able to concentrate more on the discussion.

Pilot exhibition on Wednesday - then more coaching.

I have uploaded my AE to the tool and I am finally finished for Year 2.

I have had a few problems with accessing the work of others in my learning set.  This has made peer review tricky and I feel bad that I wasn't able to be more helpful during the last week of the year.  I have communicated with the group regularly though and I feel closer to the other girls in the group which is really nice. 

I am really looking forward to the final year. The exhibition sounds fascinating and that could well be my favourite module of the course....

Anyway, off 'till March now.  I'll try to write in here more often in Y3!!

Thinking about Y3.  I want to research the impact of coaching in schools.  This is a relatively new initiative although coaching in business has been around for a while.  There doesn't seem to be a huge uptake as yet in schools but I believe that if implemented in the right way it could be hugely successful - however if it is not done right, it could be very detrimental in that coachees could end up feeling worse than when they started!

I was coached today for the first time.  I found it interesting in lots of ways.  I have read quite a lot of literature about coaching and now have a good understanding of how it all works.  I chose my coach because I felt that I would be more successful if I was to work with a coach that I felt completely comfortable with.  I have known the coach for several years and have a good working relationship with him.

We met for an hour after college and discussed my leadership skills.  During the session I identified that I was very happy with all aspects of my work as a leader with the exception of my working relationship with one member of the group.  I found that I have not been assertive enough, being more concerned with maintaining a a good working relationship than being authoritative and risking damaging the relationship. Although I have never gone to work to make friends, I strongly feel that good working relationships are essential for productivity. This is clearly not the case in this situation.

I identified what steps I have already taken to try to be a better leader with this member of staff and identified action points for the future.  I sent an "assertive" email directly after the session and I intend to discuss further action points with my line manager tomorrow.

My coach was very easy to talk to however he is relatively new to coaching and at times suggested ways forward and gave opinions which coaches are not supposed to do. When this happened he immediately corrected himself. 

I enjoyed the session and felt that I gained something from it.  It was nice to talk through a problem with someone who was not judging me in any way. I felt able to be honest about my weaknesses with out fear of repercussions.  I also feel stronger about the situation with my colleague and inspired to make changes in my approach.

I will be having a follow up session with my coach in the near future. 

I haven't written in this blog for ages.  As I am not a diary keeper I feel really awkward putting thoughts and feelings down on paper.  I guess because I have have the type of memory that keeps information compartmentalised I can recall what I need to at any time and use my brain as a calendar, shopping list etc.

In Year 3 I really must start using this tool more often.