Do you remember when you were at school and the teachers used to ask you what you wanted to do “when you grow up”? At Primary school, you were likely to have an ideal of what you wanted to be…but it probably wasn’t until you got to Secondary school that you actually started to think about it seriously. I went through phases when I was at Secondary school…but in the last few years I really wanted to be a ToD (Teacher of the Deaf). However, due to bad experiences in the last year of school with the ToD who supported me, well, she put me off wanting to be one myself. I went off the whole idea of working in schools, of how formal it is…and how, unless you’re one of those teachers that everyone loves, it would make you into a serious kind of person…and I didn’t think that would be “me”.
However, since I do actually want to work with deaf children, one way or another, I’ve changed my mind. On Friday, I had a meeting at a Primary school that has a HIU (Hearing Impaired Unit), about the possibility of me working there for a day or two every week (voluntary). Luckily, it all went well and I start tomorrow (eeeek!). However, when I was there, the lady I met with suggested that I train to become a teacher after I graduate…not through the PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) scheme but instead through the GTP (Graduate Teaching Programme)… With the PGCE route, you’d mainly be learning via University, with placements at random schools – at the discretion of the University – but with the GTP route, you’d be training on site at the school. The way it works is: it’s one year long, in the first term you’ll teach a class for 20% of the time, in the second term you’ll teach for 50% of the time and in the third term you’ll teach for 80% of the time…and at the end of it, you’ll be a qualified teacher. Obviously, you have to be a graduate, but it means that you can train to be a teacher through hands-on experience in the classroom.
I worked out the other day, that because I’m studying part time, after I’ve finished this year (in June), I’ll still have another 3 years to go until I graduate with a degree…! Normally, if you’re studying full-time, you have to get 120 credits each year for three years to make up a 360 credits Bachelors Degree – I already have the 120 credits for the one year I did last year…so hopefully I’ll be able to transfer them… The course I’m doing with the Open University is only 60 credits per year because I’m doing it part time.
Sometimes, when I look to the future, I kind of wish I was graduating next year…which would’ve happened if I had continued studying full-time…but then I think about it and the fact that I’m studying part-time has opened up more doors for me and allowed me to be free, in a way. I can now do all the things I couldn’t do whilst studying full-time…I can now take photographs to my heart’s content, I can read as many books as I like, I can do random craft projects here and there…I actually have time to blog! I guess, the course I was doing before was just too demanding, both physically and academically. During the day, we were expected to do practical work (drama…) and in the evenings, rather than relaxing, we had log-books to write, essays to do…it just didn’t seem to end. I had looked forward to joining the photography society but didn’t have the time for it…in a lot of ways, the University experience was more of a let-down than the best time of my life – if it was the best time of my life, I would’ve stayed!
So whilst I had originally rejected the idea of becoming a ToD…I am now rather looking forward to it! After doing the GTP, I’d have to do a year or two of ToD training to become a qualified Teacher of the Deaf…I’d much rather be helping deaf children to reach their potential than teaching a class full of children! I just feel that my own experiences as a deaf person will help me to relate to the deaf children’s experiences, I’ll be able to support them with the knowledge of what it’s really like…and I will NEVER, ever, stereotype a deaf child…each deaf child is an individual, with their own needs; one of the worst things is when someone casts you off into the crowd and doesn’t look at your own specific needs. This is what happened when I started A-Levels…I needed support in class, in the form of a note-taker, but the ToD who run the HIU told me: “You’re old enough now, you need to be more responsible…you can take your own notes in class.” I really don’t see how that would’ve been possible, since I can’t lipread and take notes at the same time. Honestly, some people aren’t worthy of the titles they are given!
I just feel that if I were to become a ToD…I could make a real difference. It’s not about me, it’s about changing the life of others. I want to make sure everyone has the chance to shine. I want to make the world a better place for the future generations of deaf children so that they don’t have to go through all the struggles that deaf adults of today have had to go through. It’s been changing, in baby-steps…and we need to keep that change going. I want to be a contributor to that change, I guess.
