Everybody! I’m Becoming a Teacher and Doing a Blog!

Despite being a lady who generally prides herself on her mystique, nonchalance and all round subtlety, I can’t help but fear that this post’s title may have somewhat given away my intentions here. In case however my above proclamation has not sufficed in silencing your inquisitiveness, I will delve a little further.

My name is Laura. I am 27 years old. I enjoy singing, watching children’s television, eating birthday cake, wearing brightly coloured clothing, making craft projects of dubious quality, dancing badly, performing plays on the landing and constructing small models of household objects out of Play Dough. I have a talent for mimicking Disney princesses, a strong aptitude for remembering names and I can quickly pick up popular songs on the piano providing their composition does not exceed 4 chords. Several years of working in the social care sector has ignited in me a love of working with young people and this, teamed with my previously mentioned interests, has led me to conclude that teaching is the career for me. … I am set to begin a PGCE in primary education in two weeks time. Hurrah!

Now, with the “becoming a teacher” bit of my post covered, I shall proceed to the “doing a blog” part.

Other than this blog being a way to share experiences, gather thoughts and reflect on my practice during my course, there is one huge factor which played a part in it’s creation. At the risk of doing a “big reveal!” or appearing to lack sensitivity, I feel the best way to tackle this next piece of information is to just say it. I am blind. I won’t go into much detail about this here as I plan to do a specific post on this. Suffice to say that when researching teaching as a career I found it difficult to identify any blind teachers. It was even more tricky to access any support resources designed for visually impaired educationalists. Whilst voicing these frustrations in an exceedingly good pizzeria, Anna, Jo and Lucy, suggested that it might be a good idea for me to start my own support tool by way of this blog. I agreed.

SO, in short, I wish for this blog to examine the experiences, challenges, practicalities and amusements undoubtedly faced by all students studying a PGCE but perhaps with a different slant. I would love it to be useful to other visually impaired prospective teachers. I would also love it if it can begin to address a few stereotypes / misconceptions people may have regarding blindness. Overall though, I don’t wish for this blog to solely be about visual impairment. I hope it to primarily be an honest, informative and holistic account of the life of a PGCE student. Any feedback, comments or questions would be gratefully received.

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