I didn't know, what I didn't know

The joys of finding a new job - starting again, being the new person in the work place, learning about all the changes in the field, such a daunting, challenging and exciting time. 

Last month, after applying for numerous jobs all over the country, I was selected for an interview. I was pretty nervous about this interview as it had been a while since I had completed my Bachelor of Education and developments in Education happen at a rate of knots!

The first challenge of my interview was finding the school.  A rural school.  Thanks to google maps and my trusty driver (Jeremy) we found the school in plenty of time. 

As we were early and someone else was being interviewed we were invited to wander around the school.  We found an idle ball, so passed the time by shooting hoops in the playground. Soon my number was up.  The cheerful Principal treated me to a guided tour of the school before I sat down in front of 3 teachers, and the BOT chairperson.  The panel did their best to make me feel relaxed, and it worked, perhaps I was a little too relaxed.  At this point I really didn't know what I didn't know.....

Such as just how much the field of Education had grown since I completed my Bachelor of Ed in 2004. One thing that had grown since 2004 was my ability to teach.  Fresh out of Massey University College of Ed, I was unsure if I wanted to be a teacher and even worse I was terrified of standing in front of a group of children, let alone preparing them for the future.  

Working in the Real Estate industry developed my own personal confidence, teaching Physical Education in NZ and teaching English in China made me realise that not only could I stand in front of a group of students, I could teach them and even better, I loved it! 

With this realisation set to work to find out what was happening in Education in New Zealand in 2010, I knew the curriculum had been revamped so I started with that, I read the new New Zealand Curriculum from cover to cover, but I needed more.  Reading about the changes from the previous NZC and compared with what I had been teaching in China, I was even more eager to get back to New Zealand to teach. 

Through teaching the Western Australian Curriculum I had to learn how to teach it and about how the children I was teaching would best learn it. By researching learning techniques and trying things out, reflecting on what worked and how things can be tweaked to improve learning.  

I was excited to realise that when I am teaching in the same classroom every day, surrounded by teaching experts, I will pick up an understanding of what is and has been happening in Education. Every day I will be finding out what I don't know and I will be able to go and turn that into an 'I now know'.

I didn't get this job, but learning from this half hour interview was invaluable.  When you don't know what you don't know, it's pretty tricky trying to find out all you need to know.  But now I know a little bit more about what I didn't know, and I am working towards knowing what I need to know.