Week 1 of Summer Institute

I spent very little time packing for Summer Institute. Everything I thought would be remotely useful went into my suitcase. I should have realised that this would be a very BAD IDEA. However, I stuck to my guns and proceeded to just pack my whole life.

After a very hot and sweaty hour drive to Sheffield, I said goodbye to my boyfriend and proceeded to struggle into Sheffield Hallam with my enormous suitcase (just to put it into context- the other day a taxi driver asked if I had a dead body in there). I was extremely nervous, and just a little scared. After meeting a few of my cohort we were given a quick tour of the university building and escorted onto the coach to our accommodation. 

Being in student halls was new for me as I’d never lived away from home whilst doing my degree. As I sat in my room in the empty flat, eagerly awaiting the arrival of ANYONE, I began to wonder what the hell I’d let myself in for.  When they did start to arrive I felt rather like a new Big Brother housemate. Everyone was talking fast, loud, and a lot. I hardly knew what to do with myself.

After a few short hours, we were ushered off to the Hilton in the city centre for a BBQ, which was lovely even though I was almost too nervous to eat. Everyone quickly slipped into the introductory routine of: name, subject, school which, looking back seemed almost pointless. I don’t think I remembered anything anyone said to me on that first evening.

Week one of Summer Institute was a total blur. Although it was only two weeks ago (and somewhat like everyone’s name, subject, school) I remember very little! Day one was excruciatingly long, and having being a ‘lazy student’ for so long, the inability to sleep and 5:45 am wake up did me no favours! By the end of the day all I could muster was, ‘Abbey. ICT. Bradford’.

The lectures that followed for the next 2 days were filled with words such as: pedagogy, lesson objectives, planning, SEAL, EAL, SEN, SLT, G&T, WA1, REFLECTION, journal and blah blah blah... I felt entirely out of my own depth. In fact, by the end of Tuesday I felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown.

And then came Wednesday...

You will be glad to hear that Wednesday (and Friday for that matter) was the highlight of my week. We were placed into our ‘subject studies’ groups and luckily for The IT Crowd there was a very cosy 7 bodies: contributing to a much more relaxed and comfortable environment than the huge professional studies and leading learning groups. I felt much more at ease and gladly voiced my opinions, thoughts and feelings- unlike the other groups where I am yet to volunteer an answer (shhhhhhh)! 

Our group are all very down to earth and lovely, and our subject tutor is an absolute genius. He managed to put everything into perspective and suddenly I found the whole experience slightly less daunting.

On Friday, another successful subject studies day ensued and I left Sheffield for home feeling (almost) positive about the whole experience.