The #Blogging28 prompt for today is update an old post or page, but I thought I would elaborate on my post yesterday because a few people I know mentioned that it may look unflattering for my college and it sounds a little disappointing for me (aww, you guys!).

Firstly, I value my mentor and work experience placement because it opened my eyes to how different teaching is from what I expected. I knew teaching would be challenging but I had no idea how I would manage. In an ideal world, my college would support me from the moment I stepped into the office. And I have no doubt in my mind that they would offer me that support if they had the resource. I feel very cared for in my college. That being said, my college is dealing with day-to-day life and – rightly so – our learners are the priority. The staff available are busy and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that they are giving everything they have to the running of the department. So I don’t expect them to hold the hand of a highly anxious and indecisive work experience student.

However, I undertook the work experience placement so I could see what life would be like. I had researched, studied and worked/volunteered in an educational support role (admittedly in a museum) before. I felt like I knew the terrain. This work experience placement has shown me that I didn’t know the terrain at all, and I probably shouldn’t even be walking on it as it’s too far away from where I want to be.

I am a bad fit for the role.

But I am a good fit elsewhere. My work experience placement has shown me that I have the potential to be a good educator but probably not in a classroom setting (or rather, this type of classroom). I am just as passionate as ever about pastoral care and museum-based learning, so I know I want to focus my efforts there. I also love e-learning; virtual learning environments, e-portfolios and blogs! And, if I’m honest, that’s where people who know me know I thrive.

The #Blogging28 prompt today is Start a List of Blog Post ideas. I found writing this list helpful because, as you know, I am submitting to a lot of creative writing journals at the moment – and – I have noticed a lot of my energy seems to go into my paid writing work. I don’t want to say selling my words makes writing less fun but it definitely has monopolised my time. Hopefully, this list will help me reinvigorate my writing here.

Topics I would like to expand on in future blog posts:

• Reflections on my completed work experience placement
• I had a CBD oil massage
• Returning to college and meeting my new tutor
• My favourite sock purchases in January sales
• How self-help books and blogs/vlogs have become a big part of my life
• I love my new bicycle
• I have annual leave in February and my favourite themed hotel has redesigned a room so I’m itching to go there
• I designed a logo for my team at work and, despite lack of success, it was pretty fun
• I now spend every other weekend painting
• An upcoming visit to a convention in Camden
• I am one memento away from completing Neko Atsume and I’m amazed I stuck with it
• How difficult I find writing fiction
• My blog being three years old in March

I returned to work today and it’s great to be back in the routine. Speaking of which, I’m planning to get back into my blogging routine. I saw The Edublogger are doing a 28 Day Blogging Challenge:

So I’ll be taking part.

Tomorrow I will be doing some student union officer training, so it will give me a chance to think about what I want to put in my About page.

Screenshot of Outlook

One of the additional #EdublogsClub prompts is writing about preferred methods of communication. Mine is the Outlook and Skype for Business double combo!

I’m more of an emailer than any other form of communication. I just like having time to reread and think about my reply. I also like having Skype for Business because I can instant message my classmates, lecturers and ex-colleagues with ease. I like that people can see if I am online, in a meeting or away from my computer.

One of the additional #EdublogsClub prompts is sharing a statistic and writing about it. I want to share a few screenshots with you after having a discussion with a member of staff on Grand Parade campus last spring. He said that Grand Parade students vote in an equal percentage to other campuses. I did not agree so I tried to obtain some statistics from the student union. Unfortunately, due to limited server space they were not able to access statistics from previous years.

In my post about the by-election 2016, I noted that 369 students voted and in the most recent by-election I noted that there were 321 votes in total (NB/ the term votes is used not voters, so it is possible that less than 321 people voted). Since my post, the student union found some more statistics for me.
Continue reading