MmmmmPolweni

Today was the day of First contact so, like a child before Christmas, I hardly slept and had so many thoughts running through my mind.

Excitement gripped me from the start masking the inner fear of the reality.

Here I am about to embark on a journey which will either have a positive or negative effect on a group of disadvantaged learners depending on how prepared I am. I find that so daunting.

I feel insufficiently prepared with regards to content and although I realise that textbooks are there to aid us (provided they are available) and that we cant know everything, I still feel as though I should know everything.

It has been sooooo long since I last did the content. I have been out in the working world for a while, hardly using any of the knowledge I acquired, and that saying really is true.... "If you don't use it, You loose it."

So saying that, it looks like I will be spending this vacation studying the relevant content so i am Au fait enough with it to teach and feel comfortable doing it.

I spoke with the Physical Science teachers and they should be covering Chemical change & Wave, sound and light during the time I am there. Not too daunting, I think??
In Life Science I will be doing Life Processes in plants and animals, not sure what I will be covering in the Mathematics syllabus though as we ran out of time.

It will be interesting to see if the other PGCE students are covering the same work at the different schools or if there will be a big difference in the sequence of the curriculum.

It seems rather ironic that the subject I am least confident in is the one where there is the most need in this school and the one which I am most confident in the need is not as great. I suppose it is meant to be so in order for me to gain confidence in those ares in which I need it.




So begins the journey.... watch this space.....