Teaching practice is so expensive. I chose Hibernia for a number of reasons, but primarily due to it’s elasticity in letting me stretch myself a little and continue working my 9 to 5 on the side. But then TP rolls in and all of a sudden you are jolted into the reality of being a student again – no income. My parents kindly housed, fed, watered and even chauffeured me from time to time during my TP, it’s hardly surprising that I went home to the wilds of Kerry again for TP part two. I hauled reams of paper, folders, clear plastic pockets, books and a wealth of resource materials down with me. Not to mention the laptop and printer. But it was the shopping for resources before the whole thing kicked off that was the heaviest burden to carry.

You can’t have enough resources for TP and everyone knows that at this stage. It can’t be all just chalk and talk, you need stimulants and they cost money. Thankfully I have a great sister who is not only a primary teacher, but has the art of bargain hunting, shopping and buying nailed. She knew exactly where to pick up essentials at reasonable prices and over a couple of spare Saturdays we had my materials in the bag. It’s when I went home to Kerry and these materials had dried up by the end of week two that panic set in.

Why were we not told that this would be an expensive, unpaid 5 weeks? For some reason this was omitted from our welcome pack back in Maynooth.

The folders, which are your bible for TP, bleed your ink dry – literally. I went through three cartridges and must have killed 2 very fine native trees with the amount of paper I went through. Then there are the plastic pockets that I had to consider – it transpires 400 of them were not enough after all. And you can’t really go OTT with the class teacher’s art supply, so sugar paper, PVA glue, match sticks, pipe cleaners, poster paper had to be enlisted as well. Thankfully the wearisome aspect of writing lesson plans, evaluations every evening doesn’t exactly give you a desire to go on a social rampage at the weekend – its that lie in on Saturday morning and a lesson plan free afternoon that gives you more of a light headed buzz than anything you’ve ever tasted in your life.

TP doesn’t just drain your wallet, it also drains you physically. With Hibernia it is essential to have your next day’s lesson plans written and loaded onto the nerve centre that is Helms every evening for your inspector to check. Many other colleges sometimes have the luxury of cramming their paper work and producing on the day of the visit, with Hibernia we are monitored daily. Perhaps that’s a good thing for a last-minute-dot-com such as myself. Oh we’re all guilty of it for goodness sake! It’s funny the things you enjoy when you have no energy – I acquired quite a liking for trash TV and Hells Kitchen was my “treat” – because it was the only show on late enough after everything was done.

But back to what it’s all about – the primary children whose minds are like sponge putty – they soak up lots and can be shaped in all sorts of ways. I loved teaching 6th class boys. They are so quick witted and eager to learn as much as they can. They have a competitive streak but this only drives each other to work harder. The toughest part of teaching them was refraining from laughing at their hilarious remarks. I need to work on that!

If you are ever wondering what theme might captivate a class of 12 year old boys the answer is war. That may seem macabre, politically incorrect and a little off centre for some – but if you are looking for an interesting way for students to understand some geography, history, different cultures and a little drama then war is what you’re after in the academic sense. I covered world war one and two with these boys and they could not get enough. My father collects an array of seemingly futile artefacts, but on one of my many rummages through our house for resources, the boys got to hold a shell casing from the Battle of the Somme and other super items from both wars, as well as see incredible footage of Hitler, Mussolini et al on video. It was fantastic and I just hope that some of what I taught them will stick with them when they move on into secondary school. It’s an overwhelming feeling hoping you have made some sort an impression with these youngsters – that was all I wanted to achieve at the end of the day.

For my inspection I gave the boys a poetry lesson followed by a music lesson. I decided to go all adventurous and teach them Dilín O’Deamhas. They had never heard it before and were like mice when I was teaching it. So when they all knew the chorus and could sing it together they were very proud of themselves and asked if I could teach them the next section. So off I go singing – “Is buachaill aniar…” and as soon as those words were uttered one boy looked at me in horror – “you mean to tell me this is an Irish song?” Well the inspector was weak laughing, I was in fits of giggles and as though it was completely rehearsed another boy stood up and said “I want to learn it anyway – it sounds cool”. So I think I may have had the “oh captain my captain moment” that I will never forget.