Survival Guide for Primary Ed Placement

Placement can be a stressful time, especially if you’re not organised throughout. I’ve put together a few useful tips on how to keep stress levels to a minimum and increase productivity levels.

Pack your lunch the night before- it might not take long but you’ll really appreciate being able to spend an extra 10 minutes in bed in the morning.
Make sure you’re in bed at a reasonable time- there’s nothing worse than feeling as though you might nod off at 11am whilst you’re trying to teach a maths lesson.
You need to be focused all day and in order to do that, you need a good night’s sleep so don’t be tempted to stay up too late planning lessons and making resources. Stay on top of things and organise your time well so that you can go to bed at a reasonable time.
Set an alarm in the morning leaving plenty of time to get ready- nobody likes to rush around in the morning, scrambling to get everything together as well as making yourself look presentable. It’s really not fun, so set your alarm early enough to ensure you have time to get ready.
Keep your folders up to date as you go- it’s critical that you are able to find everything you need in your folders. Therefore, make sure you complete all of your critical reflections and observations asap and get them into the right section of your folder.
Lesson plans and evaluations need to be kept up to date and put into your SE folder to ensure you can locate them when you need them. It’ll also reassure your teacher a lot; if you can’t keep your own folders organised, how can they trust you to keep their class in order?
Get your work done as soon as you can- I like to get mine done as soon as I get home so that by 9pm I can be in bed watching Gilmore Girls for an hour in order to take my mind off of work and help me sleep better.
Plan your meals in advance- plan what you need to buy so that you just have to go shopping once a week rather than most nights. You’ll need those evenings free to be productive. I find it helps to write what meals I want to eat and when, so that I can write an accurate shopping list; which stops me spending money on things I’ll only throw away.
Try and give yourself some well-deserved chill out time – go shopping, visit the Malvern hills, grab a coffee with your mates and catch up. work life balance is key.