Workload Info + Tips
This page last updated March 30, 2008 11:19 a.m.
The Bachelor of Education program is rigorous and will require extreme dedication and very hard work. It is much busier and much more time consuming to complete assignments, as well as be successful in practice teaching. It is a hard, yet extremely rewarding experience.
Most teacher candidates find it very hard to work at a part-time job during their time in the program. You must maintain an overall average of a B- (70% or 2.70 GPA) and must have a B- in each course to be admitted to go out on practicum each time (see Field Experience policies in your handbook), along with exhibiting high professional qualities and excellent attendance.
Please take this year seriously and plan ahead with making arrangements for travel, child care, finances and practicum time.
Here are some stats on the year in terms of work and courses:
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All courses have a WebCT Vista (online course) component to them which involves everything from accessing material to participating in discussion boards. For some people this is a learning convenience in that they can read and post responses at home when they have time; others find it a little hard to adjust to accessing all material online. If you have had any prior online learning experience, you will find this helpful.
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All teacher candidates have a laptop and learning to use it takes time. A lot of assignments require the use of software and programs on the laptop. Technological learning always takes time, especially if you are not completely comfortable with it. It would be wise to brush up on your computer skills prior to entry in the program (see Laptop Learning section).
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You WILL be in class every day from as early as 9:00 a.m. until 6:30 each night (one night you will be here until 10 p.m. for 1 required elective). While you will have hours during the day when you are not in class, the days are long and filled with lots of group work times. This is an adjustment for many who are used to working alone and coming to class for short periods of time during the day.
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Those teacher candidates commuting from outside of Durham region (and even those within the region) need to anticipate traffic and travel time to get to class on time each day. Durham is a region of huge growth and being so close to Toronto experiences heavy traffic at times. Teacher candidates who leave before rush hour and/or take the GO buses and GO train find this helpful with commuting.
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You will be in class 10 weeks in Semester 1 and 10 weeks in Semester 2. Ten weeks goes by quickly! You have very short time periods at UOIT in the classroom. 13 weeks are spent in the classroom and this is an experience so valuable you will want to be well prepared for all of the work this year.
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Assignments are not just papers. In fact many assignments include group and individual projects designing lessons and unit plans, planning resources, building web pages, video taping and making digital movies, creatively working with digital photos and images, teaching mini-lessons to your class and doing research on articles and issues with respect to education. These assignments take a long time to consider, plan and prepare. There are no mid-term or final exams.
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Practice teaching is very exhausting and demanding as you'll be on your feet every day and planning lessons every night. Lesson planning can take anywhere from 3-7 hours a night to plan for the next day. It is imperative to do well on practice teaching and pass these components of the program. Success depends on how well you manage your time and take care of yourself.
Here are some tips (actual quotes) offered by BEd graduates:
- Don't procrastinate.
- Remember to take some time for yourself to ease the stress. Exercise worked for me.
- Pace yourself.
- Stay on top of assignments.
- Force yourself to access WebCT every day.
- Keep up - leave it to the last minute and you'll be swamped.
- Devote your entire year of studies to the B.Ed. program, because there will be no time for jobs outside of your job as a teacher candidate.
- You will need to focus on time management skills. Set short-term and long-term goals. Keep track of progress (do not fall behind) and stick to deadlines.
- Organize work constantly, don't leave things to the last minute.
- One of my favourite sayings: " improvise, adapt, overcome". I think that this summarizes the thought process for managing the work. Complaining about the workload is not a sign of a good future teacher.
- Don't stress.
- Time management and organization are the keys to success.
- It's a personal path - learn to manage stress.
- Forget your first degree - and be prepared to work harder than you ever have.
