Reflections on Placement

Placement was a very worthwhile experience for myself. It was great to see how another school worked, how it was ran and the moral of the teachers in the school. I felt as though one week was far too short. When I first saw all the placement tasks that we had to complete I really […]

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Placement was a very worthwhile experience for myself. It was great to see how another school worked, how it was ran and the moral of the teachers in the school.

I felt as though one week was far too short. When I first saw all the placement tasks that we had to complete I really did panic and wonder how I was going to get them finished on time and give them all as much attention as the next. I felt as though, especially task 5, was a huge challenge. It was only on Thursday I felt I had enough information to start observing certain children’s language differences – strengths and weaknesses – which then didn’t really give me loads of time to really observe them properly and understand why they may have these differences.

The overall experience of the school was great. I felt comfortable and appreciated which really boosted my confidence and allowed me find out information I wanted to know by asking questions and not feel silly about anything I said as I was there to learn. The school was very supportive of me, giving me loads of opportunities to develop my skills within the classroom and school setting.

Strength

I feel my main strength would be my presence in the classroom and how to engage and interact with the children. A couple of years ago I started a 12 week block placement with college and felt as though my first impression in front of the children was not the strongest. I ended up being more of a friend than a teacher because I wanted the children to like me which I feel is normal although this was changed when I worked in an after school care. I learned the I had to develop a ‘teacher-aura’ rather than a friendly relationship and I feel this really showed throughout my week in placement.

The evidence I have to support this would be through my verbal and non-verbal communication. I spoke confidently to the children and groups of children and constantly reflected on volume, pitch, tone and speed. The children would listen to my instructions and follow them giving me a good demonstration of how effective my communication skills were throughout the week.

Area of Most Progress

The area I progressed in the most, I would say was learning to change the way I speak to benefit my audience. I was with Primary 1 and learned that slower, clearer instructions were needed to enhance the children’s learning. I also found that enthusiasm was the key to keeping the children engaged and on task.

I also used this when talking to other members of staff around the school. I got a great understanding of the conversations that go on between teachers and how they help each other out, its not just everyone for themselves which was positive and reassuring to see.

Area Requiring Progress

From peer and self observation I would say the area that requires progress would be allowing children more of a chance to answer/writing/speak before offering help or support. I noticed that the combination of  becoming mildly impatient when someone doesn’t know an answer and wanting to help everyone isn’t great. I felt I was too quick to do things for them without letting the children use their own initiative.

Action Plan

My action plan is to take a step back and allow children to be more independent, especially the young children. That is the one of the ways that children learn the difference between right and wrong. I feel like I need to work on my patience and self control, encouraging children when answering instead of answering for them.

Reflections on Placement

  B00303588 I thoroughly enjoyed my BA1 placement as it gave me an insight on how a school works from the prospective of a teacher. I feel my experience was made even more rewarding and interesting  by the fact I was placed in a P4 class where ability and development varied extremely between the pupils and … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

  B00303588 I thoroughly enjoyed my BA1 placement as it gave me an insight on how a school works from the prospective of a teacher. I feel my experience was made even more rewarding and interesting  by the fact I was placed in a P4 class where ability and development varied extremely between the pupils and … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

Reflections on Placement

Placement definitely allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of how a school is run and what goes into a teachers daily routine. Starting on the Monday I was nervous about the new experience I was going to participate in. … Continue reading

Placement definitely allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of how a school is run and what goes into a teachers daily routine. Starting on the Monday I was nervous about the new experience I was going to participate in. … Continue reading

Reflections on Placement

Reflecting back on my  university placement, the week went by extremely quick.  From the first day of university finding out the date that placement would begin, did not seem to long ago either. Fast forward seven weeks  I had discovered my placement school and was fretting over printing out the required eight placement task and … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

Reflecting back on my  university placement, the week went by extremely quick.  From the first day of university finding out the date that placement would begin, did not seem to long ago either.

Fast forward seven weeks  I had discovered my placement school and was fretting over printing out the required eight placement task and hoping I had printed  enough placement handbooks for staff who required it at the school.

Monday morning came I was immensely apprehensive as my placement school was dissimilar to the primary school that I attended and also where I  gained my work experience at. But I was eager to get started and to embrace this new challenge… and the placement tasks.

As the week evolved I observed in many classes and also introduced to interesting teaching  methods that contributed to completing the placement task. I was engaged in self/peer evaluations and school assessment that helped me to discover strengths and areas for improvement in my communication.

Strength

My most notable strength was the way in which I used voice to speak loudly, clearly and variation of tone when carrying out group work activities. This allowed the pupils’ to understand the task and also show my enthusiasm when explaining the task.

Area of Most Progress

My area of most progress during the placement was my engagement with staff.  Initially during the first couple of days while in the staffroom I was rather quite, but as the week progressed I felt more comfortable in this setting and began to interact with staff more while in the staffroom.

Area Requiring Progress

It was evident after evaluations that my area that I need to improve is my overall non-verbal communication. When explaining tasks to groups I would use limited amount of body language and often would hide my hands.

Action Plan

This placement highlight to me that I need to become more confident with teaching staff and to improve my non-verbal communication. My next steps for next placement is get more involved with staffroom discussion. In terms of my non-verbal communication my next steps is to use more hand gesture when speaking to friends and family so I become more adjusted to this method of communication.

 

Reflections on Placement

Strengths During my placement, I came to realise that I am very good at positioning myself so that everyone in the group can clearly hear me and can see me most of the time. As well as this, I ensure that when I am talking to the group, I talk loud enough and clear enough … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

Strengths

During my placement, I came to realise that I am very good at positioning myself so that everyone in the group can clearly hear me and can see me most of the time. As well as this, I ensure that when I am talking to the group, I talk loud enough and clear enough for everyone to hear me and understand me.

When working with a small group of children, my body language was very positive and I stood with an open posture at all times to ensure that the children knew that they could talk to me if they had any problems or if they needed help with their work. When helping the children work out an answer during a maths lesson, I used hand gestures to represent the numbers on a number line moving from one number to another. This helped the children to further understand what I was talking about and picture the number line in their heads.

Area of Most Progress

At the start of my placement, I used the words “like” and “ah”  very often however by the end I had managed to completely avoid using it when talking to the children. I feel that this was my area of most progress as I use the word “like” all the time so being able to avoid using it made me feel as though I was making some progress towards being a proper primary teacher.

Area Requiring Progress

When taking a small group of children, I need to encourage everyone to take part and not allow certain individuals in the group to dominate the discussion. I must ensure that every child has a chance to speak and that when the children do give me responses, I encourage them to extend them.

I must also build the confidence to give children into trouble when they are misbehaving and not paying attention to the class teacher. When I was on placement, I felt as though I could not do this as I felt that it was not my place. Even though I was a student teacher, I felt that it was the actual class teacher to give the children into trouble for disrupting them. However, this is not the case and when I am in a classroom it is just as much my responsibility as the class teacher’s.

Action Plan

I must start to think positively about my experience on placement and learn from the criticisms that I picked up both from my self evaluations and from my peer observation feedback. By doing so, I will begin to build confidence in myself both as a teacher and as a student. This will help for the next time I go on placement and I will know what to do differently this time.

As well as this, I plan to do research on way that I can build my confidence and put these into action. Through this, I hope to become more confident in front of small or large groups of adults or children.

 

 

Reflections on Placement

As part of my first year placement at university, I undertook one week placement at a primary school. This experience has made me certain that teaching children is what I would definitely like to do in future. Throughout the week, I have … Continue reading

As part of my first year placement at university, I undertook one week placement at a primary school. This experience has made me certain that teaching children is what I would definitely like to do in future. Throughout the week, I have … Continue reading

Reflections on Placement

As part of the situated communication module in BA1, I undertook a one week, whole school placement in a designated primary school. The school I was allocated to is of Roman Catholic denomination, located in an area of high deprivation, with a current roll of 137 pupils across a mix of single year and composite …

Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

As part of the situated communication module in BA1, I undertook a one week, whole school placement in a designated primary school. The school I was allocated to is of Roman Catholic denomination, located in an area of high deprivation, with a current roll of 137 pupils across a mix of single year and composite …

Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

Reflections on Placement

Strength I believe that one of my strengths on placement was my communication skills, in particular, my listening skills.  I was able to listen well to the instructions from class teachers as well as any queries by the children in the class which allowed me to adapt quickly to any situation.  I used positive body … Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

Strength I believe that one of my strengths on placement was my communication skills, in particular, my listening skills.  I was able to listen well to the instructions from class teachers as well as any queries by the children in the class which allowed me to adapt quickly to any situation.  I used positive body … Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

Reflections on Placement

I took part in a whole school placement as part of the BA1 Situated Communication module. I was placed in a rather small school of about 180 pupils with around 9 teaching staff as well as 5 teaching assistants. During the course of my week I was able to observe a number of different lessons … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

I took part in a whole school placement as part of the BA1 Situated Communication module. I was placed in a rather small school of about 180 pupils with around 9 teaching staff as well as 5 teaching assistants. During the course of my week I was able to observe a number of different lessons and the techniques in how they were carried out. Although this placement was meant to be whole school, I spent my full week in a primary three class with a great teacher who I have learned so much from. I was met with several different challenges regarding myself and the pupils during this placement. Due to me lacking in confidence I had to overcome a number of obstacles in terms of my communication skills but I was given nothing but praise from my teacher and the teaching staff on the way that I conducted myself, despite me being terrified to start. I was able to witness the lectures at UWS come into play, with active lessons/learning and numeracy and literacy throughout the curriculum being explored in every lesson.

Strength

I found that my main strength was how I interacted with the students, staff and parent helpers. I spend my whole week in primary three, where I witnessed a number of different lessons/teaching techniques, as well as accompanying the class on a trip to the local hospital. During class time, it was primarily just myself and the class teacher (my mentor for the week) as well as the children. I was lucky enough to be given so many opportunities to improve my communication skills with not only the children, but with professionals as well. My teacher allowed me to take small reading groups, where I felt my ability to ask relevant questions and give adequate thinking time was increased. On the hospital trip, it was the class teacher, myself and two parent helpers. We each had a group of six children that we were put in charge of. It was my duty to ensure that each of the pupils were paying attention to what was going on, that their behaviour was good and that they treated the staff with respect. I got good feedback on how I conducted myself during this experience, especially on how I interacted with not only my little group, but also the parent helpers and the nursing staff. Due to me remaining in the one class all week, I believe that I developed a bond with the class teacher and the students. Each of the pupils treated me with the respect they gave their teacher, asking me for help and allowing me to explore and develop my skills in communication, literacy and mathematics.

Area of most progress

I feel that I made the most progress in my non-verbal communication. I am well aware that I am not the most confident individual but upon taking part in the situated communication module I have found myself evaluating and analysing my body language. I received excellent feedback on my ability to hold eye contact with the children and the use of my facial expressions and hand gestures to enhance the children’s engagement. In terms of body language, I used the theory, fake it till you make it. If I were ever in doubt I would stand with my hands on my hips or cross my hands together with my feet apart. This allowed me to re-evaluate my emotions and calm down before proceeding with the activity. However, towards the end of the week I no longer had to do that and found myself relaxed in the classroom environment. I also noticed that I began mimicking the teachers body language. This must have been a sub-conscious thing as I looked up to the teacher so much.

Area requiring progress

In terms of feedback, I was never given any solid evidence or anything that I needed to work on but I am well aware that I need to vary my tone more when speaking. To begin with I didn’t vary tone and kept my voice at an upbeat pitch but never having any change. I feel this made me look unenthusiastic toward the class or lesson although I could not be more involved than I was. This will come down my confidence again and the way in which I always feel judged but again, I found that towards the end of the week I was really going for it in regards to tone, I was changing my voice regularly and witnessed that the children were a lot more willing to engage with me.

Action plan

The majority of my developments stem from my lack of confidence however I am aware that is something that I am going to need to overcome. To ensure my enthusiasm is recognised I need to work on my tone. Though there is nothing in paper that I can do to help improve my tone, I can start interacting with people more. Having and holding conversations is one of the best things I can do. I could also read an extract from something a couple of times a week and film myself whilst doing so. That way I will be able to observe and record my progress and maybe even highlight other problems that I didn’t know existed.

Reflections on Placement

Strength An area of strength I felt I demonstrated during my placement week was interacting with teachers and pupils and showing initiative. It was highlighted in my mentors report that I communicated very confidently with all staff and pupils. I believe that I took instruction well and displayed a high-level of initiative when taking groups in a … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

Strength An area of strength I felt I demonstrated during my placement week was interacting with teachers and pupils and showing initiative. It was highlighted in my mentors report that I communicated very confidently with all staff and pupils. I believe that I took instruction well and displayed a high-level of initiative when taking groups in a … Continue reading Reflections on Placement

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