Third Year - University

Something that's now become somewhat of a tradition here on my blog, is the annual round-up post of my year at university. I've wrote about my experiences of first year and second year and so of course I'm now going to write about my third (and second last!) year of university. I feel like university has never really been something that I talk about a whole lot on my blog, other than to make passing comments within blog posts. Starting university had been one of the main reasons I had started a blog in the first place - not to write about my uni experiences, but to take my mind away from them as I had had a really tough time settling into uni life in the beginning. I used my blog as a way to express initial fears and concerns over uni; my blog post on my first year was even titled "surviving first year of university" and wasn't being overdramatic with my use of the word "surviving" because at the time that was literally what it felt like.  However, second and third year have proven to have been much better.

For anyone who is new to my blog, I'm currently at university studying to become a primary school teacher (teaching children between the ages of 4 and 11). The actual course-work itself this year hasn't been too bad/difficult on the whole. Luckily this year I have no actual sitting-in-a-hall exams, everything was submitted online.

This year my primary school placement was undertaken in an upper school classroom of p6/5's. I was there for one day a week for five weeks and then I had a block of six full weeks. I had initially found this placement more difficult than last years. I think it was because in the beginning it seemed like there was so much to constantly think about and the planning for each individual lesson took me so long because I really wanted to get it right all of the time in order to get it right for the children I had some responsibility for. However, as my time on placement went on, my confidence grew and I managed to settle into my own routine of things. One week I was teaching four days in a row which had been the most I'd ever done and I had been so worried about it the weekend before but as that week went on, I actually started to feel like a proper teacher. I was so proud of myself😄. It did take me a while to find my feet in this placement but the classroom teacher was so helpful and supportive (as were the support staff and other class teachers). I've been very lucky with my placements and the schools I've been in and I'm so grateful for that. I managed to pass my tutor observation first time - I had worried and stressed about every single detail beforehand and had been so certain I was going to forget one thing or another or that everything wasn't going to go well on the day, but it went much better than I had imagined it going. I had been sad to leave my upper school primary placement.

The week after I finished the primary school placement, I started a nursery placement (children aged 3-5) which was to allow us to gain a better understanding of children in the early years. I had never worked in a nursery before and everything there was a lot different than what I had been getting used to. I went from having partial responsibility of a class of children to being an observer. I was still looking forward to all this placement had to offer however, after having only been for two days, the coronavirus hit and that brought with it the very abrupt end to that placement as our university decided to stop it and then a few days later schools and nurseries closed. I was disappointed at not being able to complete this last part of third year (we still submitted an assignment for this but it's not really the same as actually experiencing nursery life). As that placement finished, that was pretty much the sudden end to my third year at university.

As well as getting on with the course, going to placement and finishing assignments, this uni year I did a couple more sociable things outside of regular uni time If you've read some of my previous blogs, you'll know that I often struggle socially. Dealing with social anxiety makes certain things difficult to do, but I've really tried to push myself a little more this year. The first thing I did that I normally wouldn't have done had been to take part in a quiz night. A couple of my friends and I signed up for it, went along, and had a pretty fun night (despite the fact that I'm really not the best at quizzes😄). Another thing that happened this uni year had been that my course held a Christmas Ball for the first time. If you'd have told me, when I was in first year, that I would eventually be going to a Christmas ball with some friends from uni, I honestly wouldn't have believed you. Two years ago, this would have been something that would have been so far out my comfort zone that I would have most likely made an excuse not to go. I'm so glad I went - I had a great night, lots of fun (and drinks😄) were had by all.

I'm in genuine disbelief (and borderline denial) that I'll be going into my fourth and final year in September. The time has absolutely flown in much quicker than I'd have liked. It's weird to think that back in first year I couldn't wait for uni to be over but now I'm worried about it all coming to an end. I'm not going to dwell on it too much though (yet😄). I've already started looking into my dissertation topic and doing research to create my dissertation proposal which is due June 1st. Coming to the last year is pretty scary especially as I still feel as though I've just begun.

The ending of my third year may have came to an unexpected and abrupt end, but it was still a good year overall.

Bye for now, xo