Month: November 2016
Reflections on Placement
Introduction Starting on the 31st of October I completed my one week placement at Newmilns Primary School. One hundred and seven pupils attend Newmilns Primary and all classes, apart from primary seven consist of composite classes. I was placed in several classes throughout the week which allowed me to experience different levels of learning within different […]
Introduction Starting on the 31st of October I completed my one week placement at Newmilns Primary School. One hundred and seven pupils attend Newmilns Primary and all classes, apart from primary seven consist of composite classes. I was placed in several classes throughout the week which allowed me to experience different levels of learning within different […]
Reflections on Placement
My placement was an incredibly positive experience. Being in an area I was unfamiliar with allowed me to meet many new teachers and pupils which allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and make the most of my school experience. Strength Throughout my placement I felt my language was appropriate for … Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”
My placement was an incredibly positive experience. Being in an area I was unfamiliar with allowed me to meet many new teachers and pupils which allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and make the most of my school experience.
Strength
Throughout my placement I felt my language was appropriate for the age of those I was speaking to. When speaking to younger pupils I would use more basic language and vary my tone of voice much more than I would when communicating with older pupils. In addition to this, when speaking to teachers my language would vary from the classroom to the staffroom or playground. For example, in the classroom calling the teacher by their surname and in the staffroom calling them by their first name.
Area of Most Progress
The area I feel I made most progress in was in my confidence when working with groups of children. In previous work experience I have been rather intimidated at the thought of taking small reading groups and helping a child when they are confused. Prior to my placement I felt I was in no position to help a pupil as I am not a qualified professional. However, I now realise that I do not need to have this mentality as any help, no matter how big or small, is benefiting the child. This is the mentality I will always have from now on as it is important to remember to always put the pupils first.
Area Requiring Progress
An area requiring progress is the speed at which I speak. Although I try to speak slowly I often find this difficult, particularly when nervous. I will make this an aim of mine in future placements to speak slower in order for the pupils to clearly understand what I am saying.
Action Plan
I think that having more school experience will help me to develop the areas of communication I am weaker in, such as pace. I aim to be more mindful about the pace at which I am speaking and the audience I am speaking to. I also hope to step out of my comfort zone more often and develop areas of my communication.
Reflections on Placement
As part of the BA1 Situated Communication module I took part in a whole school placement. During placement I was able to observe a number of different lessons and the techniques how they were carried out. By observing all primary classes … Continue reading →
As part of the BA1 Situated Communication module I took part in a whole school placement. During placement I was able to observe a number of different lessons and the techniques how they were carried out. By observing all primary classes … Continue reading →
Reflections on Placement
I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and being in the classroom environment. I was told before I went out into placement, that this will allow me to determine if this is the career I want to pursue. And this experience definitely allowed me to realise that this is what I want to do. A strength I … Continue reading Reflections on Placement →
I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and being in the classroom environment. I was told before I went out into placement, that this will allow me to determine if this is the career I want to pursue. And this experience definitely allowed me to realise that this is what I want to do. A strength I … Continue reading Reflections on Placement →
Reflection on Placement
I found that placement was very worthwhile and beneficial for myself. I found it very useful to see the different variations of methods that teachers use and how the theory of our lectures and workshops are put into practice and … Continue reading →
I found that placement was very worthwhile and beneficial for myself. I found it very useful to see the different variations of methods that teachers use and how the theory of our lectures and workshops are put into practice and context.
I found that primary schools have changed a lot over the years as there is far more interactive learning an pupil involvement rather than copying and listening. It was great to see the way that children of different ages and abilities engaged with learning.
Overall, I enjoyed my placement, however I felt that one week was not enough to gain a lot of benefit from what we have been learning at university. I felt that this may have impacted on the ability to complete the eight placement tasks to a high standard as we had such a short time to gain and condense specific information relevant to the tasks. It was challenging as classes may not have been doing any lessons on what the literacy and mathematics tasks were referring to. It was also challenging, personally for me as teachers were asking me to work with groups within classes so it was difficult to observe a wider range of pupils.
I had a very positive experience as the school I was placed in made me feel extremely welcome and relaxed. I felt that the teachers wanted me there and so this boosted my confidence which impacted on my interaction with the children and staff. I also felt extremely comfortable asking questions in the school which was beneficial and useful on placement.
Strength –
I found that my main communication strength within the classroom was the way in engaged and interacted with children and teachers and the way that I was able to vary my vocabulary and different ways of engagement when speaking to different ages and different abilities of children. An example of this is when I was working with a reading group in P1 that were not as advanced with their phonic sounds and so I still included the action after saying the word that goes with the phonic in order to show them it physically written down in a word but did not need to with another group who were more advanced. I feel comfortable in engagement as I did previous work experience in a primary school. I also found that I took a bit of a back seat in my work experience and I was more of a peer to children rather than a teacher or authority figure. Evidence of this is that I was able to speak to children easily and confidently. I also found that children knew that I was a student teacher or an authority figure as they spoke to me respectfully and appropriately whilst still being able to talk about things outside of classwork. I feel that I have established the appropriate teacher-friend balance with children in the classroom setting.
Weakness –
I found that an area of development needing to be worked on is my tone and pitch. I found that teachers pointed out that I should vary my tone a bit more and be more dramatic when working with children to keep them more engaged and enthusiastic about their work. I also found that I need to avoid using ‘yip’ and ‘a’ instead of yes and I. I was not even aware that I overuse these errors in my language.
Area of most improvement-
The area I feel that I improved most upon was not using slang words when in the classroom. This was a huge challenge for me as I have been bought up using slang words my whole life. I also found that I was able to give more clear instructions to classes by avoiding using slang, especially in the infant classes. I slowed my pace down for the infants and seen a huge improvement of their interaction with me as they had a clearer understanding of what I was asking them to do.
Strategies-
I will form an actions plan to put in place from now onwards which will also help with my next placemen. As part of my action plan I will practice giving clear, paced instructions further and not use slang words to certain audiences and not as often in general. I will also practice varying my tone and dramatizing my actions in certain situations when working with children. I will also practice saying yes and I instead of ‘yip’ and ‘a’ when working with children. I could also ask my peers and teachers for advice of how to improve my weaknesses. Another way to improve my weaknesses is trying to imitate teachers tone of voice, expressions and reactions in certain situations.
Reflections On Placement
Throughout my first placement I observed a range of literacy and mathematical class lessons so I could gather information to complete the eight observation tasks. I interacted with pupils in the classroom, and with teachers in both the classroom and the staffroom. I supported learning within a variety of different classes throughout the school and demonstrated effective communication … Continue reading Reflections On Placement →
Throughout my first placement I observed a range of literacy and mathematical class lessons so I could gather information to complete the eight observation tasks. I interacted with pupils in the classroom, and with teachers in both the classroom and the staffroom. I supported learning within a variety of different classes throughout the school and demonstrated effective communication … Continue reading Reflections On Placement →
Reflections on Placement
Initial thoughts If I’m being perfectly honest, I was not particularly anxious embarking on the BA1 placement. I was aware that our role would primarily be centered around working with small groups of children and not any actual teaching as … Continue reading →
Initial thoughts If I’m being perfectly honest, I was not particularly anxious embarking on the BA1 placement. I was aware that our role would primarily be centered around working with small groups of children and not any actual teaching as … Continue reading →
Reflection on Placement
In a profession, such as teaching it is important that we continually self-assess ourselves. I began my first school placement with the intent of identifying my strengths and areas for development with regards to my overall communication skills. I was matched with a school in a relatively socially deprived area which I found quite challenging … Continue reading Reflection on Placement →
In a profession, such as teaching it is important that we continually self-assess ourselves. I began my first school placement with the intent of identifying my strengths and areas for development with regards to my overall communication skills. I was matched with a school in a relatively socially deprived area which I found quite challenging … Continue reading Reflection on Placement →
Reflection on Placement
The school I visited for my 1st year week long placement was a small rural primary school with an incorporated nursery that had approximately two dozen pupils split into two classes; P1-3 and P4-7. I worked alongside both teachers and a fellow student throughout the week, interacting with all the pupils of the school and … Continue reading Reflection on Placement →
The school I visited for my 1st year week long placement was a small rural primary school with an incorporated nursery that had approximately two dozen pupils split into two classes; P1-3 and P4-7. I worked alongside both teachers and a fellow student throughout the week, interacting with all the pupils of the school and of the nursery as well as interacting with the teachers in the classroom and staffroom.
Strengths
I would say that my main strength is that I am an effective communicator, I can effectively explain to children what their tasks are and what is expected of them throughout these tasks. I can also successfully describe to a child the steps for getting to the correct answer of a question using creative and interactive methods. For example, there was one child; let’s call her Jane. Now jane was stuck on the following mental question 5 – ? = 0, she was struggling to mentally subtract to get to zero. I came up with the idea to use concrete material (pencils) to physically show the calculation needed, the situation went as follows.
Jane – I’m stuck on this question (5 – ? = 0)
Myself – alright, well if I have 5 pencils (holding 5 pencils in my hand) but I don’t want any, how many do you have to take away from me so that I have no pencils.
Jane – I’m not sure
Myself – ok well you take them from me, physically take the pencils out my hand and count as you do so.
Jane – one (takes away 1 pencil), two (takes away another pencil), three (takes away another), four (takes away another), five (takes away the last pencil, looks up and smiles). Five, the answers five.
Myself – well done that was good.
I used this process repeatedly when Jane became stuck on similar questions and also when other students in the class became confused as well.
Area of Most Progress
I would say that my confidence in working with the children, using behavioural management techniques and also interacting with the teachers on a professional level as I had never experienced anything like that before progressed as the week went on. At first I struggled with interacting with the children as I didn’t know them, as in the school I previously did work experience in I knew 90% of the students which made connecting with them particularly easy, but in this case I had no prior knowledge of any of the children which made me less confident in interacting with them. This lack of confidence did however decrease over the course of the placement as I spent more and more time with the children every day and built up trust. I also became more confident in using behavioural management techniques as the week progressed as in the beginning I was reluctant and unsure whether to use them as I am only a student and I am not yet qualified so don’t have the authority to punish bad behaviour. I was however reassured by the teacher that if I saw any bad behaviour I was to deal with it in a manner I saw fit, this usually consisted of me having a quiet word with the misbehaving pupil. Interacting with the teachers on a professional level was quite difficult to get my head around at first because I had never experienced anything like it before, but after a few days I realised that I was viewed as an equal to the teachers and was trusted with personal and sensitive information about the students and was also asked for my opinion on situations and how to handle them.
Area Requiring Progress
I would say that the area that needs the most improvement is my ability to self-reflect on my experiences. At the moment I can reflect and find all the negatives of what do but I really struggle with identifying the positive aspects, this is probably due to a lack of self-confidence and self-worth. This lack of confidence also affects my ability to present in front of my peers. Children that are younger than me and my elders don’t make me nervous at all but when it comes to presenting to a group of people my own age that I don’t know or aren’t comfortable around I get really nervous and sometimes I’m even ill from the stress. So this is one area that I would really like to improve on as it will be relevant to my future career and experiences.
Action Plan
My plan of action is to film myself presenting to groups and watch it back and note down what I did well and what I didn’t do so well, I’ll also do this when I’m in everyday situations such as paying for shopping. This practise in everyday and formal settings will give me the chance to review everything I do right and wrong and should hopefully help me get better at giving myself positive feedback. For the confidence side of presenting I’m going to practise talking in front of a mirror and also build myself up to presenting to groups I am uncomfortable rather than jumping in at the deep in.
