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You can find previous Brain Dumps here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21. Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27.

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So, I have reached the end of my first year of studying the Masters of Secondary Teaching with topics in Mathematics and Physics. In the end, I finished the year as a part time student by missing out on the prac placements due to the fact that the load was too much to study fulltime, be part of a family and work as a freelancer at the same time as moving to the other side of the planet! That said, even with the arrival back into Australia completed and a family support network around again... I'm not really sure that I would want to go full time with the study either.

I've learnt lots about teaching, education and just learning about learning in general. It is crazy interesting... and much of what I have learnt has been putting my hunches and intuitions about learning into some sort of formal framework... and of course, there are the occasional things that are completely new to me, and will cause me to rethink a few things about how I teacher music and academic stuff in one on one situations as well.

Now... as I consider what I'm going to do with myself over the coming year. I have to really start to think about whether or not teaching in a classroom is actually something that I want to do. As far as jobs go... it is definitely one of the more meaningful and useful professions, something that I would be proud to be doing. However, when I first started studying, it was also meant as a Plan B (or C or D or E.....) in case the music performance and teaching was too thin on the ground. As it turns out, things have started fairly promisingly in the music performing sphere, and the private teaching stuff will just take time to build. This coming weeks will be a larger push on that front...

In some ways, I want to finish the course and the prac placements... I don't like leaving things unfinished. But in other ways, after learning about the crappy parts of teaching (the administrative and bureaucratic parts that are imposed and inflicted by parents/funding/politicians), I'm less keen to pursue it as a full time profession. Perhaps it is the sort of thing where I would be happier as a part time or relief teacher, or perhaps as a teacher's aide or something like that.

However, the other larger problem lies in the conflict between a freelancer's lifestyle and the 9-5 work life of the rest of the world. I do like the freelance thing... even if it is a bit risky at times. The work-life balance is much much better than what you have with a salaried job. On the other hand, the income is best described as variable!

Anyway... things to think about. I think I will be at least progressing as a part-time student on the academic subjects. On the prac side of things, I will have to start looking at how that can fit with the musician part of things. Mostly, I will just have to see if I can find a placement where there is a gap in my playing work... or to check if they mind having the placement a bit split up. At this point, the performing side of things is still the main part of my job balance... however, once the practical is locked in, I would be refusing other work during that period unless it fits. I will also need to see if it is possible to do the pracs in Canberra instead of the regional area near the University!

I should also probably start checking out when the next teaching/study period begins! Phew... so many thing things to try and juggle...

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

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