At the end of my second year I was able to do a Work Based Learning module, or WBL as most of the students call it. Right at the start of the year I thought this module would be the most boring thing ever - turns out I was as wrong as I could be!
Everyone was given a choice of where they wanted to do their five weeks of the module. Some people on my course chose to work shadowing in a lab, some at the police; I chose to do it in a college near to home. Going into it I thought I’d be sitting at the back of the class, not able to interact with the students or teacher because I wouldn’t know enough. But I quickly realised this wouldn’t be the case!
The first class I was in I made a point of walking around the room as the students were revising, just to have to a look at what they were doing. After a while I realised that what the students were learning I knew quite well - I even ended up helping a student when he was having problem with one part of his work. And after the teacher went to look at the work, he said it was ‘very good’ and I felt so proud of myself in that moment.
Not just for the fact that the student had got all of the work I had helped with correct, but that I had stepped outside of my comfort zone to help this student - teaching not only him but myself a lot in that moment. That wasn’t the last of my self-discovery over those five weeks. Yeah there were low points too - but great highs, both of them and everything in between taught me more about myself than any other five weeks ever had. But it wasn’t just the self-discovery I found. It was the confidence I found in myself, as well as a job part time at the college, a few people I’d like to think of as friends and much more of an insight into the teacher side of the education system then I thought I’d get to see.
This five-week trip into a single college as made me realise a lot about the college system and made me push myself to become not just a teacher but a good teacher - one that can help their students to go as far as possible.
Emma is one of our online student ambassadors, so you can ask her any questions you may have, or chat to one of our other students: chester.ac.uk/ask
