All Primary / Secondary Masters Courses - Post Q's Here Please

daffodil88

yeah could have sworn i saw that nuim have a sphe methodology one.would it be a lot of extra work to do cspe and sphe methodologies?i see its 2 assignments per subject for those two.would it even be worth doing?i dont want to do unnecessary classes unless they benefit my cv in the long run.thanks for the replies by the way

Bobsammy

daffodil88 wrote: »

yeah could have sworn i saw that nuim have a sphe methodology one.would it be a lot of extra work to do cspe and sphe methodologies?i see its 2 assignments per subject for those two.would it even be worth doing?i dont want to do unnecessary classes unless they benefit my cv in the long run.thanks for the replies by the way

Well I suppose it's really up to yourself - when I was doing mine I did an extra methodology and I didn't find it too taxing. I did the ICT one - I don't know if it added a great deal to my CV but I certainly learned a lot from it so I definitely think it was worthwhile.

mtoutlemonde

daffodil88 wrote: »

yeah could have sworn i saw that nuim have a sphe methodology one.would it be a lot of extra work to do cspe and sphe methodologies?i see its 2 assignments per subject for those two.would it even be worth doing?i dont want to do unnecessary classes unless they benefit my cv in the long run.thanks for the replies by the way

Yeah there probably is - I did PGDE two years ago. I would find out with the education department - I did mine in NUIG two years ago along with my two subjects - I took two 'Certificate of attendance' courses - in LCVP and TY. This involved 6/7 lectures for LCVP and three saturday lectures for TY. I don't make any reference to them in my cv unless the job is looking for LCVP along with my subject. The assignments for these were half of the full methodology - so you will pass them no problem. It's really up to you.

daffodil88

oh yeah thats another one to consider.i'll think about it sure.see what they're like when i start

mtoutlemonde

Bobsammy wrote: »

Well I suppose it's really up to yourself - when I was doing mine I did an extra methodology and I didn't find it too taxing. I did the ICT one - I don't know if it added a great deal to my CV but I certainly learned a lot from it so I definitely think it was worthwhile.

Well one of my main methodologies was ICT and that was a very easy assignment to complete as I submitted the materials I created for my teaching practice. If you were taking on another methodology that you had no experience of e.g. English, then this would be taxing as you would have to bring yourself up to the level of the English graduates to complete the assignments and you wouldn't be registered which would be a waste of time (in my opinion) so I would take on methodologies like SPHE and ICT as certificates of attendance that may come in handy.

daffodil88

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

Well one of my main methodologies was ICT and that was a very easy assignment to complete as I submitted the materials I created for my teaching practice. If you were taking on another methodology that you had no experience of e.g. English, then this would be taxing as you would have to bring yourself up to the level of the English graduates to complete the assignments and you wouldn't be registered which would be a waste of time (in my opinion) so I would take on methodologies like SPHE and ICT as certificates of attendance that may come in handy.

yeah i understand what you're saying.i'll probably just stick with sphe,cspe or ict then.as much as id love to have english or religion it would be too much work on top of everything.

just another question.i was wondering could any of you that have done the nuim course do you remember roughly the approx start time and and end time of the day with regards to lectures,tutorials and methodologies?if anyone remembers when they had geog and history specifically it would be great.just trying to figure out how im going to get up and down and all that.or if ill have to stay in campus

Bobsammy

I did mine in Maynooth two years ago - now my subjects were Maths and Science. I used to be in 10 - 5 on Tuesday and Wednesday and then a half day on a Thursday, finished at 1! Most people had two full days and then one early finish depending on their subjects. They used to have the lectures for everyone in the morning and then the methodologies in the afternoons.

daffodil88

Bobsammy wrote: »

I did mine in Maynooth two years ago - now my subjects were Maths and Science. I used to be in 10 - 5 on Tuesday and Wednesday and then a half day on a Thursday, finished at 1! Most people had two full days and then one early finish depending on their subjects. They used to have the lectures for everyone in the morning and then the methodologies in the afternoons.

so its commutable hours then?from friends of mine who have done it i thought id be in 9 until really late.all in my head i think.hopefully ill have a half day one of the days too.thanks for the info

Mardy Bum

Maynooth's introductory lectures start the 29th apparently. Is it vital to attend these as I have to finish up a contract with my current job till the start of September?

Miss Lockhart

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Maynooth's introductory lectures start the 29th apparently. Is it vital to attend these as I have to finish up a contract with my current job till the start of September?

Is your school not starting before that anyway? Most schools are back the 27th at the latest.

The introductory lectures were workshops on classroom management, using drama in the classroom, ICT, lesson planning and also meeting your tutor and your supervisor. Pretty important stuff, particularly for those with no previous experience.

Mardy Bum

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Is your school not starting before that anyway? Most schools are back the 27th at the latest.

The introductory lectures were workshops on classroom management, using drama in the classroom, ICT, lesson planning and also meeting your tutor and your supervisor. Pretty important stuff, particularly for those with no previous experience.

Yes I have secondary teaching experience and work in third level education at the minute so Im not too worried about lesson plans or ICT. Is meeting the tutor and supervisor very important?

Miss Lockhart

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Yes I have secondary teaching experience and work in third level education at the minute so Im not too worried about lesson plans or ICT. Is meeting the tutor and supervisor very important?

Well they are the ones who will be grading your teaching practice so they may not look too favourably on not bothering to show up. Your supervisor will also use this opportunity to outline exactly what they are looking for and how they do things. This is the person you need to keep happy during the year.

That said, if you can't attend then you should contact them and explain.

I'm surprised you wont already be attending your school though.

Mardy Bum

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Well they are the ones who will be grading your teaching practice so they may not look too favourably on not bothering to show up. Your supervisor will also use this opportunity to outline exactly what they are looking for and how they do things. This is the person you need to keep happy during the year.

That said, if you can't attend then you should contact them and explain.

I'm surprised you wont already be attending your school though.

I see, I see. Well you are probably right about keeping the supervisor happy.
According to the letter from Maynooth we are not to start officially in the school until Friday 31st and Im not sure if I can leave my current post before the decided time. Thanks.

Miss Lockhart

Mardy Bum wrote: »

I see, I see. Well you are probably right about keeping the supervisor happy.
According to the letter from Maynooth we are not to start officially in the school until Friday 31st and Im not sure if I can leave my current post before the decided time. Thanks.

Most schools would like dippers to attend the start of year meetings though, to get them sorted on school policies, books needed, meet their co-operating teacher etc.

If you can't finish early then there's little you can do but let them know and explain why.

I think we also got essays on our school to do the first week, so make sure you find out about any assignments. They didn't seem to really count for anything, but again, I doubt it would look good if you didn't bother handing them in.

Also, although you have experience, you will still find there is a lot to learn - especially in terms of what the college (and especially your tutor and supervisor) is looking for. As I'm sure you know teaching third level is very different from secondary, particularly in terms of classroom management and discipline. I had taught full time secondary for two years before my dip but I feel that if I had missed the intro week I would have been at a disadvantage.

Mardy Bum

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Most schools would like dippers to attend the start of year meetings though, to get them sorted on school policies, books needed, meet their co-operating teacher etc.

If you can't finish early then there's little you can do but let them know and explain why.

I think we also got essays on our school to do the first week, so make sure you find out about any assignments. They didn't seem to really count for anything, but again, I doubt it would look good if you didn't bother handing them in.

Also, although you have experience, you will still find there is a lot to learn - especially in terms of what the college (and especially your tutor and supervisor) is looking for. As I'm sure you know teaching third level is very different from secondary, particularly in terms of classroom management and discipline. I had taught full time secondary for two years before my dip but I feel that if I had missed the intro week I would have been at a disadvantage.

Ok. Thanks thats great to know. I was wondering what sort of timetable the course operates on? Does everyone end up in Maynooth for three days in the week or is it possible to only have two days of lectures and methodologies?

Miss Lockhart

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Ok. Thanks thats great to know. I was wondering what sort of timetable the course operates on? Does everyone end up in Maynooth for three days in the week or is it possible to only have two days of lectures and methodologies?

Everybody is there 3 days a week.

When I was there is was core lectures from 10 - 3 Tuesday, 9 - 3 Wednesday and 10 - 1 Thursday. Methodologies run after lectures on all three days and there was also one methodology at 9 before the 10 o'clock lecture on Thursday.

daffodil88

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Everybody is there 3 days a week.

When I was there is was core lectures from 10 - 3 Tuesday, 9 - 3 Wednesday and 10 - 1 Thursday. Methodologies run after lectures on all three days and there was also one methodology at 9 before the 10 o'clock lecture on Thursday.

ok thanks for your help

IrishEyes19

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

You do the methodologies for the subjects you will be registered to teach with the teaching council i.e. history and geography. You could take CSPE as a certificate of attendance but this will not be on your teaching council registration. As far as I know there is no SPHE methodology - you do this through in-service if you're teaching it.

Could someone explain what certificate of attendance is in the course. Im applying for it next year. my degree subjects are english and history joint honours so thats what Id like to teach. Is certificate of attendence extra subjects you can take? I did arts so I also did celtic civ and politics for the first year before I dropped them for my two main subjects

mtoutlemonde

IrishEyes19 wrote: »

Could someone explain what certificate of attendance is in the course. Im applying for it next year. my degree subjects are english and history joint honours so thats what Id like to teach. Is certificate of attendence extra subjects you can take? I did arts so I also did celtic civ and politics for the first year before I dropped them for my two main subjects

A certificate of attendance is awarded when you attend the methodologies and complete the assignments. It does not give you another subject, just the experience of how to teach it, it may or not be beneficial. I did LCVP and TY, they were both good but the TY had nothing to do with my subject - just what the programme is about and some activities you can do. I also did the LCVP one which was good but I don't think I'd be teaching it because the majority of times its given to the business teachers even though we were told that anyone can teach it not necessarily business teachers. The most common ones are LCVP, CSPE, ICT, TY Studies, LCA etc. They are there for some people who may only have one subject and will need 10 ECTS and each methodology is worth 5. I hope this answers your question.

IrishEyes19

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

A certificate of attendance is awarded when you attend the methodologies and complete the assignments. It does not give you another subject, just the experience of how to teach it, it may or not be beneficial. I did LCVP and TY, they were both good but the TY had nothing to do with my subject - just what the programme is about and some activities you can do. I also did the LCVP one which was good but I don't think I'd be teaching it because the majority of times its given to the business teachers even though we were told that anyone can teach it not necessarily business teachers. The most common ones are LCVP, CSPE, ICT, TY Studies, LCA etc. They are there for some people who may only have one subject and will need 10 ECTS and each methodology is worth 5. I hope this answers your question.

thats great thanks. one more question, would lets say doing lcvp and ty one's give you the option to teach it however. Even if you had two subjects already like english and history.

mtoutlemonde

IrishEyes19 wrote: »

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

A certificate of attendance is awarded when you attend the methodologies and complete the assignments. It does not give you another subject, just the experience of how to teach it, it may or not be beneficial. I did LCVP and TY, they were both good but the TY had nothing to do with my subject - just what the programme is about and some activities you can do. I also did the LCVP one which was good but I don't think I'd be teaching it because the majority of times its given to the business teachers even though we were told that anyone can teach it not necessarily business teachers. The most common ones are LCVP, CSPE, ICT, TY Studies, LCA etc. They are there for some people who may only have one subject and will need 10 ECTS and each methodology is worth 5. I hope this answers your question.

thats great thanks. one more question, would lets say doing lcvp and ty one's give you the option to teach it however. Even if you had two subjects already like english and history.

That would up to the principal. Those methodologies are to give you a background to those courses it doesn't necessarily mean you'll teach them it may be of benefit to you in an interview.

mtoutlemonde

IrishEyes19 wrote: »

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

A certificate of attendance is awarded when you attend the methodologies and complete the assignments. It does not give you another subject, just the experience of how to teach it, it may or not be beneficial. I did LCVP and TY, they were both good but the TY had nothing to do with my subject - just what the programme is about and some activities you can do. I also did the LCVP one which was good but I don't think I'd be teaching it because the majority of times its given to the business teachers even though we were told that anyone can teach it not necessarily business teachers. The most common ones are LCVP, CSPE, ICT, TY Studies, LCA etc. They are there for some people who may only have one subject and will need 10 ECTS and each methodology is worth 5. I hope this answers your question.

thats great thanks. one more question, would lets say doing lcvp and ty one's give you the option to teach it however. Even if you had two subjects already like english and history.

That would up to the principal. Those methodologies are to give you a background to those courses it doesn't necessarily mean you'll teach them it may be of benefit to you in an interview.

slampop

Hey guys just wondering has anybody got their school books yet and how did you go about getting them? As in did you just buy them or e-mail the publishers? Thanks

mtoutlemonde

slampop wrote: »

Hey guys just wondering has anybody got their school books yet and how did you go about getting them? As in did you just buy them or e-mail the publishers? Thanks

When I did mine I bought them! I was looking at the education departments website and saw that the book companies have given student teachers full access to their online books so I would just use them. The library in the education department would have a good supply of textbooks and your co-operating teacher may be able to help you. Where are you doing the dip? The book companies don't send books to pde students only schools that have their book on their school book list.

Bobsammy

slampop wrote: »

Hey guys just wondering has anybody got their school books yet and how did you go about getting them? As in did you just buy them or e-mail the publishers? Thanks

If you ring or email the publishers they'll send them out. Generally they look for the school roll number and will only send them to the school. Don't say you're doing your dip, just tell that what school you're working in.

slampop

Yeah I didn't think they did but had just read posts from previous years and saw others had emailed the publishers and had them sent out! Figured I'd ask before spending a small fortune I'm doing it in UCD. Thanks for the online tip

Lillyman

Hi,
Just wondering is anyone still waiting to hear back from their school re book lists and timetables ?

caz12

Lillyman wrote: »

Hi,
Just wondering is anyone still waiting to hear back from their school re book lists and timetables ?

Hey, i still haven't heard anything back from my school, was getting kinda worried but said id give them until the end of this week, going to contact them next week to see what story is.

123abcm

caz12 wrote: »

Lillyman wrote: »

Hi,
Just wondering is anyone still waiting to hear back from their school re book lists and timetables ?

Hey, i still haven't heard anything back from my school, was getting kinda worried but said id give them until the end of this week, going to contact them next week to see what story is.

I haven't heard anything either. I'm gonna ring at the end of the week if I don't hear, I'd like to have some idea soon what my timetable is like.

caz12

123abcm wrote: »

I haven't heard anything either. I'm gonna ring at the end of the week if I don't hear, I'd like to have some idea soon what my timetable is like.

the vice principal of my school told me during my interview that they'd contact me in august and not to worry but like yourself would really like to have some idea at this stage. wish they would hurry on!