I had my one and only exam today and I think I went pretty well. I didn't manage to answer all of the questions, as they were all short response and in 2 hours, I just didn't get around to answering them all. But I tried to fill in as much as I could, so I think I passed. Now I don't have to worry about writing another assignment for the next four months! HECK YEAH!
I'm so glad it's over though. I was getting so stressed in those last couple of weeks and had days where I felt like I wanted to just give up, where I was really doubting myself in becoming a teacher. There are people out there who think 'if you can't do something, then just become a teacher'. But those people have NO IDEA how much work actually goes into becoming/being a teacher. You have to know your students as well as you possibly can, so that if there are any with any mental or physical problems, you know how to help them. You have to know the psychology behind how children learn, the strategies you can teach them so that they can learn to the best of their ability and how to talk to them about any problems they may have so that they can learn from that and not make that mistake again. You have to know the national standards of teaching and how to adhere to them throughout your teachings, but also how to develop your own way of teaching. You have to know how to plan lessons efficiently, so that the resources you use are effective and the lesson runs smoothly without much, if any, interruptions. You also have to know how to control the behaviours of the students, so that if a student plays up, you can talk to them about what they've done, or even discipline them if the need arises.
Most importantly, you have to actually like kids.
There is so much more to teaching than you actually realise.