New Beginnings

Last Friday I had an interview. Horrid things, interviews. I arrived half an hour early and was asked to wait in a busy reception. Sitting on a plastic chair, I could almost hear the sound of my heart beating faster. After a long and painful thirty minutes, a lovely lady led me into a small room furnished with nothing more than (another) plastic chair, desk and clock.

"You can do the paperwork here", she smiled, handing me a pen and pointing to the clock. "The maths test should take 30 minutes, as should the literacy test. We'll come and get you in an hour. Good luck".

Brilliant. That's just what you want before an interview - exams. I sweated through both papers with my heart in my mouth until a knock at the door broke my concentration.

"Finished? Good. Ready for your interview? Let's go".

The interview was supposed to take half an hour. I managed to waffle on for about 90 minutes.

"We'll let you know by the end of next week", they said. Excruciating... another wait. I hate waiting. But the good news? I got in. Success.

So this is what I'm going to do be doing; after working as a teacher in the adult education sector for the past 3 years I've decided to retrain in order to work with younger people. I'm rather excited about the new Creative and Media Diploma, and as it has only been running since September 2008, I thought it would be good to get involved now.

The acceptance letter I received from the college included an 'initial target-setting sheet'. These are the targets I must meet before I begin training in September:

• Acquire some secondary school observation experience before July
• Observe KS3 English and GCSE Media and observe diploma teaching at school or college
• Send in a report (max 2 sides A4) when complete
• Log on to some teaching websites for ideas on schemes of work. eg. www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19 www.diploma-support.com www.qca.org.uk www.skillset.org www.lluk.org www.learningandthinking.com
• Look at functional skills in English, Maths and ICT
• Learn more about GCSE Media
• Look at Every Child Matters agenda and SEAL at www.teachernet.gov.uk and Creative and Media Diploma links
• Practise the numeracy, literacy, and ICT skills tests at www.tda.gov.uk

So I have my work cut out. I'd best get started.

Learning

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning.
And company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts,
And presents aren't promises -
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and eyes open
And with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for your plans.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul -
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you will learn that you really can endure,
That you really do have worth.
So live to learn and know yourself.
In doing so, you will learn to live.


This poem was passed on to me from a very good friend - we aren't sure who the words belong to - but the sentiment is for everybody.