First Few Weeks at University

My first few weeks at University starting my PGCE were a lot of fun and a place where I met so many amazing new friends! Just before starting at Cambridge, I had to go in and get my student card - a very exciting day! I am part of Homerton College which is where the Faculty of Education is based, so this was ideal because everything I needed was on one site.

One of the first tasks we were set in the first week, was to write about our teaching qualities now and what we have learned from experiences so far in our lives, as well as where we hope to be by the end of the year. We had to try and be creative and relate it to ourselves, so as a Geography and travel lover, I made my 'journey' like going on holiday - from passport, to plane to destination!

The first group task we were set, was to find an object that stood out to us, and use it to teach the group and talk about how people learn... pretty abstract! So the cushion was my group's object (we borrowed it from the library's lounge area!) We chose it because we thought it represented that to learn, we all need to rest and relax too. We also explained how we resembled Alice, in that we were embarking on a journey that would take us to our very own 'Wonderland' of unknown but exciting territory! We would face and overcome challenges and meet lots of new people along the way! We also made everyone including our tutors do a circle time activity and pass the cushion around and say what it meant to them. This was a great challenge to be set and encouraged us to make new friends and be creative!

Our Geography sessions were great and got us thinking about ways to bring Geography alive! We were set the task in groups to create a map. That was the only instruction we had, so we needed to be creative... My group created a map of our college grounds - Homerton! We created different textures with paper, layering and collage. We represented grass areas, paths, buildings, sculptures, the Orchard, the science department, car park and a helicopter showing it's a bird's eye view! Such a fun activity and something I'd love to try with children.

Another fun Geography activity that we did was to go on a journey around the college grounds and create a 'journey stick'. We were given a strip of paper each that had double sided tape on it that allowed us to stick everything we found onto it! We all really enjoyed doing it, so I'm sure children would love it. It also convinced people in my group that Geography is fun, yay!

One Friday we had the 'English Bake Off' competition! There are four groups on my course and each group had to bring in some cakes for a competition. My group took it very seriously and based it on The Hungry Caterpillar, with all of its food included too! The English team loved it and so we won! We ate our cakes whilst listening to a poet who came in to talk to us about inspiring children to love reading and writing poetry! She shared some of her favourite poems and poets with us, which was lovely.

All of our science sessions were pretty creative too! This is great and exactly how I want the science lessons I teach to be like. Here is our interactive digestive system!

We had a great Design Technology session which was taught by my old Year 6 teacher! He did his teaching degree with a focus on DT and when he taught be in Year 6, I remember doing lots of fun DT projects throughout the year! Here is my group's attempt at making a chariot...

One of the definite highlights of my first few weeks at University, was the Matriculation Dinner at Homerton! It was such a lovely event where my new friends and I all got dressed up for a formal dinner in the dining hall by candle light! It was amazing. I will be doing another post to show pictures from all of the Formal Dinners I have been to throughout my PGCE year! Overall, the first few weeks of my PGCE were amazing!