November 2016 – Page 5

Reflections on Placement

Strength I feel like the language that I use is appropriate for the age and stage that I was working with and that in turn can make all the children feel involved as they can clearly understand the instruction or task I have issued. Anything that they ask or say, I feel that I can […]

Strength

I feel like the language that I use is appropriate for the age and stage that I was working with and that in turn can make all the children feel involved as they can clearly understand the instruction or task I have issued. Anything that they ask or say, I feel that I can efficiently get them to adapt and expand on what they know, as they very often know more than they let on, allowing them to teach each other rather than all the learning coming solely from the teacher.

Area of Most Progress

I feel like the area I have made the most progress on is my body language when working with children. Now I feel my body language is always open and positive, and I am now better at being down on their level when working with them so they don’t feel intimidated. They know that they can approach me if they have any difficulties with their work or questions they need to ask.

Area Requiring Progress

The area that I feel requires the most progress is when working with 2 groups make sure that I can see both groups. There was a point where I had my back to a few and I could not see that they had their hand up and needed help. I should have been able to see that some of the pupils were struggling and did not need to shout, which in turn made the rest of the class become a bit louder too and disrupted the learning, or sit and struggle. However, I was pleased to hear that they had all tried to help each other before coming to me.

Action Plan

A lot of the communication developments will purely take practice, getting out of your comfort zone and really focusing on different aspects of your communication when interacting with others. I need to recognise what makes good communication and bad communication and develop on my weaker areas.

Reflections on placement

During my week at placement I had a really good time and it opened me up to a wide range of new ideas which are being used in the classroom today. The teacher who I was with was a lovely woman who helped me at every moment she could. She made me feel very welcome within her class and got me engaging in activities with the children at every possible opportunity. When in the classroom, the children were engaged in lots of different practical activities in all subject areas. The most practical lessons were in literacy as the children were learning new sounds and instead of sitting around a table and writing, the children were busy doing practical activities such as working with play-dough, using an iPad to engage in the Jolly Phonics apps (allows the children to work at their own pace while it still being seen as fun), and one of the groups of children got to work at the smart board and play games on Education City.

Overall, I feel my placement was very successful. I learned a lot of new things and got to experience lots of different kinds of lessons and work practically which children which I couldn’t do while sitting in a lecture or workshop at university. I now look forward to going into second year so that I can gain more experience in classrooms, get the opportunity of taking a class on my own and planning lessons arounds the needs of that class.

Strength

Throughout my time on placement, I feel my area of strength was getting involved with the children and really getting down onto their level. I got the chance to work in small groups of children in different curricular areas such as numeracy and literacy. During a maths lesson, I took a small group of children who were working on the number four. As this was the first time of them being introduced to it we worked on activities (such as, number formation on whiteboards and physically counting objects to familiarise them with how many four is). This is to get the children familiar with the number by doing practical activities. These practical activities, I found, were very useful for the children as they were learning in a fun context. This also proves not as challenging to children who are still unable to hold a pencil properly and it still gives them the experience of learning and exposing all the children to the new concept. Through observing these practical activities, I feel like I have gained useful and relevant experiences which I can take on and apply to my next teaching practices.

Area of most progress

At the beginning of placement I feel as if I wasn’t very confident when being asked to lead/take a large group of children. However, during this placement, I had the opportunity to go on a class trip to the local Tesco for a ‘Farm to Fork, visit. This trip was very informative to both myself and the children as it was encouraging he children to try new healthy foods which they may not have had the opportunity to try before (and I got to try a few snacks too). The visit also allowed the children to see where food is made and where it comes from. We went into the bakery and watched them making pancakes (and the children even got to take one home with them). We also walked around the back of the store to see where the food was stored and kept in the fridges and freezers. During this visit, the teacher had to split the class into two groups as the class was too large to take around the store in one go. The teacher asked if I would feel comfortable with taking a group around (with the help of a parent helper) as I had got to know the children earlier on in the week and she trusted me with making sure they would behave and set a good example for the school.

Area Requiring Progress

The area I feel still requiring progress after this placement is my ability to speak up more when talking to staff. In the staffroom I talked a little bit however I feel I could have spoken more and engaged in more conversation to make me look more interested in what was going on. Sometimes when I sat in the staffroom I would keep to myself with my arms folded instead of opening up my body and look as if I wanted to talk. I was very nervous when I was in the staffroom as I had never sat in a staffroom as a student teacher before and it was full of people whom I had never met before and they had never met me.

Action Plan

I am going to build up my confidence in unfamiliar situations with adults by putting myself into situations which I do not feel comfortable in and make an effort with them. By doing this, I feel I will be more confident to speak up and engage in conversation with other staff members. This should make me look more open and confident when in an unfamiliar environment and seem more open to talking to other staff members.

Placement Reflection

I found it extremely difficult during placement to find my place in the classroom. The last thing I wanted to do was to step on the teachers toes. I wasn’t keen on disciplining pupils in her class, as it felt like I would be undermining her authority. Eventually – with the teachers help – I quickly found … Continue reading Placement Reflection →

Eventually – with the teachers help – I quickly found my voice in the classroom and found myself at ease. One of the main things I have come to realise is that teaching is most definitely my comfort zone.

One of my communication strengths is the ability to connect with the pupils and to convey my instructions effectively. Whilst on placement I was often asked to take reading groups, and one day I was asked to run a learning activity about addresses on envelopes. It was my responsibility to engage the pupils and to assist them in learning how to write an address. In order to do this, I had to make sure that my instructions and my explanations were crystal clear. During this activity, my mentor assessed me against the mentor evaluation checklist. She was very impressed and highlighted that my instructions were good.

Also highlighted in the evaluation is my good use of questioning the children, but the teacher highlighted that this could be developed further by providing more in depth questions to the children and really making them think. I feel I can develop in this area by questioning myself all the time – really understanding why things happen. Also with some practice; I’m new to teaching so of course I’m not going to be ‘the best teacher ever’.

During my time on placement, I learned more than I can say I imagined to. I was given so many ideas about how to engage learners in mathematics, literacy and how to engage them in the world around them. One of the main ideas that I was intrigued in was the use of video to engage in number songs and literacy rhymes.

Overall I would have to say that placement was an amazing and overwhelming experience. I am now telling myself more than I ever did – “This is the job for me.”

Sean

Reflections on Placement

I carried out a one week placement in a primary school which gave me great insight into the environment of a primary teacher. This definitely increased my confidence and has really inspired me and confirmed in my mind that this is what I want to do in life. I spent my week observing from primary … Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

03.11.16

General Log Literacy and Numeracy Log Interprofessional Working – Task Three

General Log

Literacy and Numeracy Log

Interprofessional Working – Task Three

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 context. I found that primary schools have changed a lot over the years as there … Continue reading “Reflection on Placement”

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

During the week beginning the 31st of October I worked with seven class teachers, a Principle Teacher, a Head Teacher, class room assistants, cleaning staff, and a janitor, as well as pupils from primary one to primary seven of a primary school. I completed eight placement tasks which were based on mathematics and literacy. These tasks allowed me to observe and analyse … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

Reflections on placement.

I attended Stanley Primary School in Ardrossan for my week placement in BA1. The school has 444 pupils and I was lucky enough to be able to work with a range of ages and pupils from various backgrounds. The school has four main aims: respect, commitment, caring and courage. This was shown to me through the … Continue reading Reflections on placement. →

Reflections on Placement

The one week placement has really gave me insight on what it is like to be a Primary school teacher. It has definitely made me feel confident that this is the occupation for me. Being in a primary 2 class for the whole week was challenging, but overall a great experience. The teachers were all … Continue reading Reflections on Placement →

Strength

I would say that my biggest strength was that I always spoke in a loud voice when speaking in front of the class. This allowed everyone to hear me when I was reading a story to the children and carrying out their morning meeting. Speaking at an adequate volume allowed the children to understand my instructions and also made me feel confident in my teaching.

Area of most Progress

I think that I have improved my non-verbal communication the most on the placement. I always made sure that my body language was positive by sitting up straight or standing in a wide stance. Before placement, I would tend to cross my arms and legs. Now, I am always thinking about my positive body language, and it really does made you feel more confident!!

Area Requiring Progress

For me, I have to really focus on my pace when speaking. When nervous, I have the tendency to speed up my pace of speech, which leaves me stuttering and using a lot of words like ‘ehm’ and ‘ah’. I have always had a issue with this and would love to tackle this problem.

Action plan

In order to become more successful, my action plan is to read about improving verbal communication and ways to calm nerves, as I feel that this would really help me to slow down my pace of speech. Another thing that I am going to do is record myself speaking so that I can listen to my voice and point out any errors that I could be making.

Interdependence Learning Log

This week our theme was Interdependence and I found this input particularly enjoyable as we had a guest speaker from the soil association and we also visited a dairy farm. Sammi Jones was the guest speaker from the soil association. Her talk was very informative and she explained how different types of soils lend themselves … Continue reading Interdependence Learning Log →

This week our theme was Interdependence and I found this input particularly enjoyable as we had a guest speaker from the soil association and we also visited a dairy farm.

Sammi Jones was the guest speaker from the soil association. Her talk was very informative and she explained how different types of soils lend themselves to growing (or not growing) different types of plant life. In Scotland she explained that our soil is suited to growing grass which supports looking after livestock and dairy farms. I also learned the importance of soil as 95% of all our food is sourced from the soil. Furthermore, it takes 1,000 years for The Earth to produce just 1cm of top soil! I think this highlights the importance valuing our green spaces especially with our ever increasing urban population and the growth of towns and cities.

We also discussed how to incorporate interdependence into classroom lessons. One idea ,if the class were learning about a particular country as a topic, would be to discuss the soil found in that country and then explore the different plants grown and also the diet of the people who live there. You could also run an experiment planting different seeds from a variety of countries in the same sort of soil and see what plants grow best. Then afterwards discuss the results and get children to investigate what plants are suited to which soils and environments.

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The trip to Strandhead Farm really had an impact on me and I definitely learned a lot. Strandhead is a dairy farm that is run automatically by machines. It is actually the first fully automatic dairy farm in Scotland. The animals there all live indoors. Apparently this is actually quite humane as the all of the animal’s requirements are met inside and there is no risk of them getting hurt out in the muddy fields as cows are prone to getting sore and damaged feet.The barn has air-conditioning and creates an outdoor temperature and breeze that adapts to ensure the animals are comfortable. The adult animals all live in quite a large space and the calves live in a small pen up until about 8 weeks. The cows start getting milked at around 2 years old.

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There were machines that were automatically moving around the barn cleaning and ensuring the cows were able to feed. There was even a large spinning brush that the animals could go over and get a scratch from if they wanted to. The most fascinating aspect was that the milking machines were automatic as well. The cows were able to choose when they wanted to be milked (ideally 2 to 4 times a day) and the whole process ran without human involvement. It was really interesting and quite ingenious as it is fairer on the animals and less work for the farmers. However all of these autonomous machines are very expensive but I think it is a really good system.

As a future teacher I think a school trip to Strandhead farm (or any farm) would be really valuable. I feel that it is important that children know and understand exactly where their food comes from. It is important to know about how our diet impacts the environment so that children are able to make choices about what sort of food they are going to eat e.g. locally sourced, free range eggs. It is also relevant for children to respect and appreciate the amount of effort, time and cost farmers put into providing us with food and understand it does not just magically appear into a packet.