Summer Courses
There are so many options with Summer Courses for teachers it can be difficult to decide where to begin. I opted to do Hibernia's NAutism course because it is an area I know very little about but is so important. As part of Hibernia I was required to spend 10 days in a special education placement which I completed in a Special School. I loved working with the different children and learning how each had different needs and would love now to be able to learn more about this and the best ways to teach ASD students.
The Sean nós Summer course I kept saying I'd love to do but wouldn't get the time off work so I didn't register for it. Rota came out from work and I was off the days of it. I was delighted but still thought it was too late to register for it. As it was an open course with EPV hours online after I decided to head along and give it a go, even if I didn't get the cert from the Education Centre for it. I was delighted however when I was told by the co-ordinator that I could still register if I went up to the Education Centre after the workshop that day and once I had signed the roll for that day. The two days were very enjoyable and I got tuition from one of the top Sean nós dancing teachers in the country, Irene Cunningham. The online section was very vague and didn't link how it could be used in the classroom. I was disappointed with this and will think twice before doing an online course with the Education Centre again.
Youth Ministry
Nearly 2 years ago I got the opportunity to apply for a course in Catholic Youth Ministry. I was intrigued, applied and 18 months ago I began training as a Youth Minister for my local parish. I won't complete this course until November but in order to help with assignments I need to be running some youth ministry events in my parish. In September I will be starting a programme with students from 5th and 6th class who will be making their Confirmation this year. Our parish only has Confirmation every other year. During the week I got the go ahead to convert a storage room into a youth space. I am beginning to understand how a teacher feels when given an empty classroom - I have this space, a blank canvas to turn into an amazing, peaceful, prayerful space that will inspire but I have to do it on a budget and get all the supplies I need for the year. With a lot of art and craft activities planned I need to get supplies of everything. But I have no doubt this will be exciting and will give me loads of ideas if I ever get a Confirmation class in school.
The rest of the Summer
The applications are still going out, at a slower rate than when I started but I think now I am being more selective and focusing more on schools closer to home. I think I will be subbing in September and I am quite happy with this. I have even ordered all the Relief Teacher Toolkit books from Prim-Ed which I was able to haggle down to €80 for the 4 instead of €22.95 each, saving over €10 - delighted :D I think I will focus more time on preparing lessons for subbing and gathering resources for that.
Enjoy what's left of Summer everyone :)