Looking Back At My Initial Teacher Training Year - By Zahra Ali

As we all know, training to teach during a pandemic has had its difficult moments with learning how to teach and deliver lessons virtually as well as the fun exciting moments that come with getting to know the pupils. This year has been daunting to change careers and become a teacher, but I personally think that training during a pandemic has actually allowed me process and deal with the circumstances a lot easier than if I had not been teaching.

During my training I was placed back into my old secondary school, which was a surreal experience for me, working alongside the teachers that taught me Maths and helped grow my passion for the discipline. Luckily, for me, I was able to have a lot of in-person teaching experience to help mould and create the teacher I would like to become. Growing up I did not have a lot of teachers that looked like me, being Asian and Muslim, that I could relate to - which was one of the motivating factors that made me want to become a teacher in the first place. 

One of the difficult moments I experienced within my training year is the online teaching. During my placements I observed some lessons being delivered online, and the atmosphere was not the same as what you would experience within the classroom. A lot of, if not all of the pupils had their cameras off during the online lessons, which made it harder to gage how much the pupils were interacting and engaging within the lesson. Especially as a new teacher, relying on the pupils’ reaction both verbally and facial expressions to see if your lessons are making sense to them was hard to deal with by just seeing a blank screen. 

Despite the difficulties the pandemic brought as a whole, training to teach this year has still been one of the best decisions I have made to date. Helping even one pupil has made it worthwhile, and I can only hope I can continue to grow and become a teacher to those who need it and help share my passion of the subject with as many as possible.

By Zahra Ali

 

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