 I had this guy message me on Instagram asking me about some uni advice. He's going into in his second year of university. He's doing teaching and he wants to know how he can settle his nerves. So I read the comment that he sent to me, he goes, I'm studying ECU in WA and had a really crappy prac like it was overwhelming. What would you recommend for me to do in the second year prac to keep my nerves down and also make sure I'm doing the most beneficial classroom management so I don't get walked over. So, yeah, now we call him. Now we call him. Let's give it a go. Hey bud. How you going? How are you? I'm good man. Yeah. What's been up with him? Normal day in Perth. I feel you. I feel you. Okay, so when do you start back at uni? Yeah, 24th of Feb, yeah. And this is your second year or your third year? Second year. So you've done one prac already and that was the two or three week one? The one was 10 days. Yeah. And then the second one was a 10 day prac. Yeah. Are you doing a two year masters like DIPED or the full thing? Okay. And what are you majoring in and minoring in? Choose our majors yet. Okay. One for major special education? Yeah. Well, it's changed since I did it. I feel old. It was only a couple of years ago. Okay. Yeah, when I did it I graduated with major and PE and minor in science and I chose them like at the start of the degree. That's interesting. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, how old are you bud? PJ? 21. 21. Okay. And your first prac wasn't that great. Is that correct? They were really like walking me through it. And then the second prac when I had to do my classes, my official classes, I got really like, I couldn't control the classroom as well as I thought how, as well as I wanted, or the liver. Yeah. So it was your first time and what year group was that? Year one. Year one. Okay. So you're teaching primary school. Ah, okay. All right. All right. So it's a little bit, it's a little bit different to what I'm doing. I'm doing high school. All right. So the year ones, and so can you give me an example of how they responded to you? Most of it, sometimes they'll literally like, they'll literally just want to muck around, not really like give the full data attention. If you know what I mean, like this. Yeah. And what did you see? Sorry. What was your mentor teacher doing with them when you were observing? The teachers who were really good. Um, they were, they, as soon as I cared, like skype act up, stamp the foot down, like real quickly, like making sure they used the local responses and all those things. Yep. I did some of those, but they didn't really listen to me as well as I did to the mentor teacher. Okay. All right. So, and what term was this in? What term was this all in? Okay. Term four. So let's paint the picture here. You've got a bunch of year ones, which is what, six, seven year olds. Yeah. Yeah. And they've been used to the same teacher for probably the entire year. And it's term four. They're pretty much finished. And I don't know about year ones particularly, but most school kids. Term four is like a kind of, they start to sign off. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. So there's a lot of variables you've got to think about in terms of child behavior. And in particular, the younger kids. Um, what I found is they don't really like change and, and, and sudden change. Um, and kids are brutal. They're very honest. They're straight, straight up. Like if they don't like you, it's not really because of you specifically. There may be a few other variables like I just mentioned. Um, but to get to the way to get around that is to, um, analyze and figure out what they want. You know, give them something first. And they say you're not supposed to be, be the student's friend, but you need to play the game and give them, give them an opening, make them, make them think that they're in control. Does that make sense? Yeah. So make them think they're in control. It's, I call it positive manipulation because you're wanting, you're, you're, you're doing something for them to, you're not forcing them to do anything, but you're, you're guiding them into a behavior that's optimal for your learning environment. So, um, your pedagogy. So your, um, you want to make sure that, yeah, you give them the floor, but also start to say things like, let's say a kid starts acting up, there'll be a method and you got to follow through the biggest thing I found with teachers and this is after they finished uni is they don't follow through with their consequences. How did you go about following through? So let's say you have a behavior management system and if a student is not behaving properly, you have a consequence. What would your consequence be? Well, I just used, you know, the traffic light, the traffic light system. Yep. And did you use that? Did you use that straight away or did you give them a warning or what did you do? Us as mental teachers. So if you need to go straight to like part in the class or time out, just by all means in school, don't get a warning today because they need that authority. Okay. All right. So, and that was your one and only prac. Yeah. You haven't done your second prac yet. Have you? Okay. Okay. No problem. No problem. All right. So your first prac is always going to be the hard one, like in terms of breaking the ice, right? And in regards to your behavior management or how you get along with the kids, you'll build on it. You'll grow on it. It takes time. And the one thing I learned about uni is a lot of it is theoretical. There are some practical parts of it at uni. But when you go inside the classroom, it's not like they, it's not exactly like they told you at uni. Is that right? Yeah. But can you repeat that, sir? Whatever you get taught at uni isn't nowhere near exactly like it is in a classroom. Is that correct? No. Yeah. It's a different ball game. It's a completely different ball game. Okay. So the way to handle that is obviously you have to be aware of that. And it's good that you did your prac early. I did my first prac in the second semester of the second year. And the only one thing that I agreed with, with my mentor back then was that it was way too late in a degree to do that. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. But so you're lucky. Now, here's, here's, here's why it was the only reason I, it was the only thing I agreed with that mentor. And this is the story I want to tell you. And this will be, this will be good content. So can you hear me okay? Yeah. Okay. So my second semester of my second year, I had a mentor and it was a two week thing or 10 day thing. Eight, on my eighth day, I was failed. And I was withdrawn from the school. Yeah. Okay. So leading up to that, the, there was a few different elements. So the teacher, he called me condescending. And yeah, from the, from the very beginning, and it was so hard to recover from that because he misinterpreted me and assumed that I was a pleb. Anyway, so what happened was I tried to recover and I felt there was a lot of short man syndrome. Do you know what that means? Yeah. So I felt like he had short man syndrome, but that, that was my assumption. Anyway, when he sat me down that morning on the eighth day of my prac and I had good relationships with all the other teachers that I was involved with in that school, I had good relationships with the students. There was no behavior management issues, nothing. There was a few hiccups with preparation because it was my first prac. But I did my absolute best to make sure that I was prepared and everything. Anyway, long story short, the teacher sat me down about 10 30 in the morning on a Wednesday and said that I was a danger to kids. I was a danger to their education and that I should reconsider my career choice because he just didn't like me. Yeah. Yeah. Now my supervisor came in. Do you have a supervisor that comes in? Yeah, I did. Yeah. What did your supervisor say? She said to me that I can grab my file. That's okay. Just do it out of memory. What do you remember? She just said if they're not going to expect you to make everything. Yeah. Even if some of the feedback that you got was really like, Dan, don't give up on that. Just keep going at it because the kid's like you, but keep practicing your deliverance and you'll be cheap. I got a lot of really good feedback. Yeah. And it's like, just try work on your behaving management and all those things and you'll do really, really well. Yeah, man. That's right. Your supervisor nailed it. So you got to keep practicing. Absolutely. My supervisor passed me with flying colors. I don't mean to flex, but my supervisor passed me with flying colors. Both times that he visited, he said that I was, I had everything sorted. I was doing well. I, yeah. He gave me great marks, but my mentor still decided to fail me and withdrew me. Do you know what withdrawal, getting withdrawn from a school means? Your time won't go back into the course. Yeah, you get expelled. You get withdrawn from the university. It took me three months to fight it with appeals. Now, no disrespect to the ECU school of education, but the people that were involved during that time did not follow procedure properly. I was not represented properly. And I had a whole bunch of mess, a whole big bonfire that I was trying to put out. And luckily I had someone to help me at the time. And I was able to keep a level head and push through, get it turned around. And I graduated, graduated without even failing one unit. And then the first year out of university, I got pretty much fully booked out as a relief teacher across three schools. And then by the third term in my first year, I was contracted my first term as a full time contract. And then in the second, in the fourth term of that same year, they offered me another contract, which is unheard of because in term four, being getting relief is hard because your 11s have finished halfway through and your 12s have finished halfway through. So they do internal relief. They still offered me a contract. Does that sound like I'm a danger to kids and their education? No. It was just the one person's opinion. That was it. Do you reckon that could have completely destroyed someone's career if they were in a mindset to what I was? Yeah, of course. So in term four, long story short again, I rejected that contract because I had one interview at another school and this was for a permanent position. And I got it. So permanency. That's it. I'm not in the rat race anymore when it comes to trying to find a permanent job in a school system. So, yeah. Three year turnaround from someone telling me that I was not meant to be a teacher. I should reconsider my choices to being permanent at a school to being picked up by someone who thinks the complete opposite. So think about that, man. Think about that. If things are getting tough, I want you to use that story and say well, damn, at least I don't have it as bad as Sev does or Sev did. Okay. Sorry about the ECU thing. Yeah. Obviously because my camera is on and it's recording. I understand where you're coming from with them. I'm not recording your screen, by the way. I'm just recording the audio. I understand they can be a bit hard to deal with. Yeah, and it's like I'm not blaming anyone and it's the thing is, I went all the way up to the dean of the ECU, and we had a meeting and an interview and everything. That's how serious it got. But the thing is, man, don't give up. I didn't give up. I know it sounds cliche, but it's the perfect story and I love telling it. Had I followed then and there, I would be doing something completely different. Now here's one more thing I want to give to you. You're 21. Are you turning 20 this year or have you already turned 20? Okay, so you finished school when you were 18, yeah? Yeah. What did you do between you finishing school and starting uni? Did you have a gap year? I actually went to America for three months. Excellent, you travelled. That's the best thing ever. That's awesome. And how did you find that? I special need summer camp in Iowa. Nice. That's so cool. Did you learn something about yourself? Yeah. And what did you learn about yourself? More than just, wait, I can influence a person like no other. There you go. Take that motivation and take it into the classroom next time you go. Okay? There you go. Use that confidence, man. And there will be kids in the future that will hate you. That will say they hate you and that will try to do that they will be mean to you. I've had kids try to fight me. And I'm 6 foot 10. And yeah. But man, don't don't take it to heart. They're kids. They don't know that much. They're still learning. You can't take offense ever because here's another quick story for you. The kids that were calling me mean saying to me that they hated me, that I was the worst teacher ever. Those kids ended up graduating school and those are the same kids that are messaging me now asking me for advice because they realize that I care a lot. Yeah. And I asked them and it's not for an ego boost, but it's just like curious to see where I'm at in the world of education. I'm curious to them saying have you messaged any other teacher? Have you emailed them? Have you contacted them in any way? And they said no. You're the only one that I want to talk to. Does that sound like someone that's a danger to students' education? And I should know. So nobody knows you 100% as much as you do. And even you don't know yourself 100%. Especially at 21 slash 22. There's so many things that you're still yet to figure out. I'm so stoked to hear that you took a gap year and you went traveling for three months in America. I was a little bit worried not going to lie because a lot of kids who finish school who want to become teachers they go straight into uni without actually experiencing life properly. They haven't experienced traveling by themselves. They haven't experienced stress without any help from their parents and they haven't experienced life skills like they teach you at school but it's just like going to school being a teacher. You don't know what it's like until you actually do it. And when you're a kid you don't know what life is like as an adult until you actually do it. Now here's the problem and this is a big problem that I'm seeing. A lot of students who become student teachers they go straight from high school into university and they go through the system and then they graduate university as teachers and then they go straight into school. They're pretty much at school their whole life. They have no big gap. I know there's holidays and stuff but they haven't had that break and I feel like it's important. There's somewhere that I read that teachers should not apply for university until they're 25. Have at least 5 to 7 years gap of actual living, trying you know. How many teachers can give advice on full time retail work? None. The ones that go straight from high school into uni and straight into a job none of them can actually tell you what retail is like. None of them can tell you what hospitality is like at full time way like full time job. Yes sure you can work as a retailer or a hospitality person while you're at school part time but full time and being a manager being a labourer they need to taste that and also travelling by yourself is one of the best things you can do. So good on you man and I really wish that you can travel a bit more before you finish your degree and because what the kids get from me is they don't just get my education which is apparently is a danger to them they also get my life stories. Do you think those kids that come out of school into uni and then straight back into school have pretty interesting life stories? Not really, not many. There will be some outliers there will be some exceptions not going to lie but most of the time they're robots, they sound like robots and that's just what I've seen. There have been some amazing academic teachers straight out of school into uni back into school and who are amazing but they're gifted, they're born for it but there's some that just they just don't feel that rapport they just can't get the message across and they're more academic they're not actually, they don't have that behaviour management skill. To sum it all up man make sure that you're practicing and know that it will get better with the more you practice volunteering at schools is probably one of the best things you can do right now because at the end of your degree, you may have already made friends with your uni people but at the end of your degree they become your enemies and not literally enemies, they become enemies because they're all looking for the same job, they become your competition. So the best way to get an advantage of that is to volunteer at schools. Every person that I've ever talked to have a degree right now in teaching or any degree really should be going and volunteering at the profession they're part of or they're wanting to do because at the end of your degree you'll have two to three years experience at that school and if they look, once they open up the flood gates for jobs, you'll already know the kids, you'll already know the staff you'll already know the system and where everything is at that school you're going to be the best candidate as a graduate. That's awesome. Do it. No man, do it, do that more and more and more and try to do a few different schools and yeah, keep your head up make sure you volunteer and yeah, all the best day. Like yeah, do you have any more questions? That's right man, there's always another time but that's a pretty solid phone call I reckon. I don't know if you agree there's some pretty good solid content right there. Thank you thank you so much. It's just a matter of experience. Just a matter of experience and being confident. The kids don't mess around in my class sometimes I give them a little bit but they know and it's all about the follow through. When the kids act up a little bit more it's because they don't believe that you're going to follow through and when you follow through they'll end up being like you know what, this guy's not going to stop when you may as well stop and it's always the kids that stop first because hey, they're at school you can make their lives a little bit harder if they don't comply with what you want but remember, always be suggestive don't be an enforcer be suggestive and give them options have you learnt about that yet? The options method? Yeah Give them options and both options that are suitable to you whichever one they pick, they benefit you first and foremost and they get on with whatever they need to do Let me know how you go Yeah man, let me know how you go Alright, I've got a head off No worries man, you can message me anytime and ask for more advice if you want to come into the uni to talk about this as well I need to get a hold of a professor because we've got something and I want to bring it in Sound good? Alright Alright buddy, thank you sir Alright mate, catch you later PJ Bye PJ, ladies and gentlemen Straight half an hour of my story, my advice for anyone that's at uni studying teaching for anyone studying any degree really all you just need to remember is it's hard when you first get out there and it gets easier the more you practice as cliche as that may sound volunteering at an establishment like Sabine, she volunteers at a mental institution because she's studying psychology she loves it, one case tester of what it's like before you finish your degree, what if you finish your degree and you absolutely hate it? There are so many teachers out there, qualified teachers that aren't even teachers anymore because they realise that the classroom is not for them and that's fine, the thing is you can save a lot of time if you learn the magic of volunteering volunteer at the schools because it gives you two amazing things one, it gives you experience two, it gives you experience to know that you're going to like it or not and three, it gives you a better chance of getting a job as soon as you graduate 100,000% better chance than for someone who's got their degree, even master's degree and hasn't really actually stepped in the classroom apart from prac you have such a better chance of getting a job because it's showing your face and on that note, when you do apply for a job don't email them your resume, don't do it walk in there, show your face, book an appointment if they just want to send, if they just want an email because they're full, go in, book an appointment what can you do? worst case scenarios say, I'm sorry please just come back, just drop in there as an email you show your face, you've got that extra chance for the principal to walk past that's what happened to me that's what happened to me I came into a school and I was talking to the Relief Coordinator the principal walked past my story is that they noticed my height so that was an advantage, but yeah, that was it sweet, that's it done, thanks for listening guys and I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think any questions, if you want to be part of a phone call, this has been on Instagram at Seth Speaks, love to hear from you good thanks