Month: November 2018

Reflections on Placement

Over the past two weeks, I have been on my very first Primary School placement as a university student. It was a very enjoyable and rewarding yet also challenging experience. […]

Over the past two weeks, I have been on my very first Primary School placement as a university student. It was a very enjoyable and rewarding yet also challenging experience. It certainly opened my eyes to the different levels of learning and also the struggles some children face in education. The placement really helped me identify my strengths and also my areas of development which will help me in the future as I can overcome them.

STRENGTH: 

A strength that I identified during my two week placement was that I am very enthusiastic. When speaking to the children from P1-P7, I made sure that I was showing interest in what they were saying to me. For example, if  a child was telling me about their work in a lesson I would ensure I would listen and ask questions etc. When a child would get an answer correct I would congratulate them and give them a little bit of praise so they could keep up the good work. When children got questions wrong, some would get upset and angry at themselves – for example, one girl said to me “I’m so stupid” just because she got a question wrong – but I ensured them its alright and explained how they would do the question to get the right answer. Once they done the question correctly they felt relived and happy. I always ensured I approached every child with a warm welcoming smile. In the playground I always encouraged children to be active and where acceptable be involved – for example, one day me and some learning support workers brought out the parachute and played games with the children using it.

AREA OF MOST PROGRESS:

The area which I identified as having the most progress over the two week placement experience was my confidence. Although I do see myself as a confident person, stepping into a new environment my confidence levels are not as high as they normally are. At the start of the two weeks I was scared incase I would say the wrong thing to staff and pupils. I was scared and nervous to ask teachers for help in the beginning but as the days went on my confidence levels began to increase and I felt more comfortable in the ‘new’ environment. My confidence levels did see a lot of progress but it is something I believe I can work on so my confidence is at its highest all the time.

AREA REQUIRING PROGRESS:

An area which I think I still need to work on is the hiding of my emotions. I am a person who finds it hard to hide their emotions which can be challenging when working with children. For example, if I was annoyed at a child it would be difficult for me to hide this or if I got on with a child more than the other I would also find it hard to hide this which could portray favouritism in the class and could affect other children’s learning. As the days went on I learnt to treat every child as equals but I think I can still work on this in the future as it does need a lot of progress still.

ACTION PLAN: 

Going forward I plan on working on my confidence levels and hiding my emotions. I believe, the only way this can be achieved is through time and experience. Putting myself in situations I normally wouldn’t put myself in to step out my comfort zone will really help build my confidence levels.

Independent Study Task – 22/10/2018

This week, our independent study task involved watching a few videos about feedback and communication skills in the classroom to help us improve upon the way we used these. Evaluation and feedback are very important aspects of teaching. They are effective tools for improving teaching practice and pupils’ classroom performance. In order to move forward …

Continue reading “Independent Study Task – 22/10/2018”

This week, our independent study task involved watching a few videos about feedback and communication skills in the classroom to help us improve upon the way we used these.

Evaluation and feedback are very important aspects of teaching. They are effective tools for improving teaching practice and pupils’ classroom performance. In order to move forward and improve we must first identify the areas which need to be developed.

Self-Evaluation and Receiving Criticism
One teacher from Iowa in the US records all of her lessons in order to reflect upon her teaching. She acknowledges that there is a difference between how teachers view their practice and the reality of it. The views of teachers themselves, students and other professionals may all differ, illustrating the importance of using recordings, collegial/peer assessment and student surveys to ensure comments are received from these various different perspectives.

Another video also highlighted that getting the opinion of more than one person can be useful as each person may see things differently. It is also helpful for two colleagues to assess one person as this can be used to ensure that each of the observers’ assessments are in line with their organisation’s policy.

Giving Criticism
According to Cottrell constructive criticism should be:
• Sensitive
• Current
• Balanced
• Honest
• Productive
• Selective
• Helpful
• Realistic
• Precise
• Kind
• Beneficial

One of the most important aspects highlighted here is the need for balance in criticism. Criticism should be neither entirely positive or entirely negative. In any task, there are always things that people have done well and always ways that things can be improved. One issue I have always had when giving peer feedback is being so conscious of not coming across as mean or nasty when discussing aspects that could be improved upon that the point is missed entirely. However, points for improvement are one of the most important parts of feedback as teachers should constantly be re-evaluating and developing their practice and feedback shows them where to focus their efforts.

There is a clear difference between feedback and judgement. Feedback, as highlighted through all of the individuals questioned in the videos, should always contain positives and should be seen as a starting point for improvement rather than a means of criticising.

Feedback is important but as is self-confidence and kindness.

Reflections on Placement

Strengths  An area of strength for me within placement was having the ability to engage children in their work and use an appropriate level of communication and language that the children understood. I was given the opportunity to take small groups … Continue reading →

Strengths 

An area of strength for me within placement was having the ability to engage children in their work and use an appropriate level of communication and language that the children understood. I was given the opportunity to take small groups of children out and help them improve their reading, this involved focusing the children on the task ahead and ensuring that anyone who was struggling was able to get the support that they needed. This required me to be patient which is also one of my strengths which became evident throughout placement. It became clear that the children were at different levels with their reading and some took longer to read their sentences than others. This gave me the opportunity to practice being patient with the pupils and not put them under any pressure to read faster.

Area of Most Progress 

Each day within my time at placement my confidence grew, this is my area of most progress as in such a short space of time I was able to create many positive relationships with both the pupils and staff at the school. I became increasingly involved in both the classroom environment and the staffroom environment, offering any support and guidance and having everyday conversations with teachers. I became more confident within myself and my ability to help the pupils.

Area of Requiring Progress

My area of requiring progress that I recognised from placement is needing to focus more on involving non participating pupils. Although one of my strengths was engaging pupils and keeping them focused on their work, some of the pupils from the class I observed would become very distracted and often not participate in lessons. An area for me to focus on would be discovering strategies on how to focus these pupils and get them involved in the class discussions and group tasks. Another area that requires progress is learning different ways of helping children with their maths questions, it became clear to me that some children were struggling with the basic concepts and I also struggled with alternative ways of helping them.

Action Plan

I plan on continuing my strengths and working on the areas that were highlighted to me by my peer and the teacher observing me as areas for development. I will also offer support to others in my course if one of my areas of strength has been identified as one of their areas for development, in turn I will also seek advice from others in my course who may be able to share some tips on how to meet my targets.

Placement reflection

Following my two week placement within a primary school in North Ayrshire.  I am reflecting on my time spent within these two weeks and how I can develop my communications skills further.  My reflection will be focusing on my strengths when working with the children and also my areas for development especially within communication.  I […]

Following my two week placement within a primary school in North Ayrshire.  I am reflecting on my time spent within these two weeks and how I can develop my communications skills further.  My reflection will be focusing on my strengths when working with the children and also my areas for development especially within communication.  I was mainly placed within the one class throughout my placement, but I feel this gave me the chance to develop relationships with the children and be able to understand their learning abilities and also their learning needs.  The placement has given me an insight into the challenges a teacher faces when trying to plan lessons that suit all children’s needs and how they deal with all different types of behaviours.

Strengths

Having reflected on my time on placement and reviewed my feedback from my peer and mentor, a strength I have is a good mannerism when dealing with the children. Both my peer and mentor commented that I would get down the children’s level and ensure I was engaging with the children I was working with and ensuring they were all included in the tasks they where carrying out at that time. They also stated that I had good communication skills with the children when I was working with them, for instance, I would always keep eye contact and have positive body language when working with the children.

Area of most progress

The first day in class was a real eye opener for me, in terms of behaviour management. The class I was mainly based in had a lot of behaviour issues that I have never came across before. Although the class teacher had a very good control over the behaviour within the class, I found it hard at first to adjust my language and tone when talking to the children who were misbehaving. Very quickly though I found strategies, through observing the teacher and seeing how the children reacted to their wrong doings in how to deal with their behaviour and what language worked when making them realise they could do certain things. So, much so that the teacher actually commented on my feedback that I was not afraid to take a lead role in behaviour management.

Area requiring progress

An area I feel that requires more progress is my verbal communication skills. I know I conduct myself in a professional manner, but I am always trying to ensure I speak with the same professionalism. I feel sometimes the pace of my speech can be very fast and hard to understand and I find myself repeating a lot of what I have just said. So, I have to ensure I am slowing down when I am talking especially to younger children to ensure I am fully understood.

Action plan

I feel my next steps should be to develop my knowledge of more behaviour management strategies. This will help me feel more comfortable when being in classrooms and facing challenging behaviour as I hopefully have more knowledge on how to deal with behaviour more appropriately and so it can help benefit the children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections on Placement – BA1

Having just completed my 2-week school placement, there was lots of areas I was able to highlight as strengths and development needs. Due to being in the same class for the full 2 weeks I was able to identify my own strengths and weaknesses and become more confident with working with the same children and … Continue reading Reflections on Placement – BA1 →

Having just completed my 2-week school placement, there was lots of areas I was able to highlight as strengths and development needs. Due to being in the same class for the full 2 weeks I was able to identify my own strengths and weaknesses and become more confident with working with the same children and teacher. I was able to gain a good bank of knowledge about the curriculum and learn about the different learning and teaching methods used in today’s classroom.

Strengths
One strength that was highlighted for me by the class teacher was that I was always using my initiative. For example, if a pupil had their hand up or asked me for help, I would go over and help them and she felt I used my initiative quickly to assist the child as was most beneficial to their individual needs rather than always consulting the teacher. This was anything from going to get concrete materials to assist in maths, writing a word on a whiteboard for spelling or simply working one to one with the child and going back to the beginning and explaining the task from the start if they had not quite grasped it.

Area of Most Progress
The area I feel that I progressed the most in was my confidence when speaking to a group of people, adults or children. Although I never had the class to myself for anytime, I did have the opportunity to work with 8 or 9 pupils on reading tasks. In the beginning I was unsure of how the children might respond to having me in their class and if they would listen and take my seriously. However, as my time in the class progressed, I felt that I built up good relationships with the pupils and I was able to take a group outside and they would focus and listen to me. I felt more confident in being able to speak to them as a group without getting nervous as I was self-assured that I knew what I was doing. In doing so I had to make sure that I spoke with a loud, clear voice so that everyone in the group could hear and understand me. I was able to closely observe a wide range of abilities and make myself available to assist everyone.

Area Requiring Progress
An area that I identified as a development need was trying to avoid the use of sentence fillers such as “em”, “um” and “like”. This is just purely a nervous thing and I always find myself very aware that I am saying them. This is something I know I will have to work on in the future however I feel as though as I progress and get more confident in myself this will slowly fade away. Another thing I am going to work on is speaking out to a large group. I need to be more confident in myself that I know what I am doing, and I feel as though this will eventually come with practice.

Action Plan
In order to develop my weaknesses, I plan to get more practice at speaking to a group in a more formal way, whether this be presenting a presentation rather than just a causal chat. I know this is an essential skill for me to develop throughout my time on the course and in working towards becoming a teacher. While working on this I will also try to reduce using sentence fillers to fill silences and instead try to be more confident in what I am talking about.

Overall my time on placement was an amazing experience and I learned so much in a short space of time that I will be able to carry with me on my journey to becoming a teacher.

Placement experience

2 weeks ago, I nervously walked into school for my first teaching placement. Little did I know this would be the quickest and most valuable 2 weeks. I got to work with a lovely primary 3 class. Who helps me … Continue reading →

2 weeks ago, I nervously walked into school for my first teaching placement. Little did I know this would be the quickest and most valuable 2 weeks. I got to work with a lovely primary 3 class. Who helps me learn and also gave me some lovely pieces of art to take home, who knew I had such a red face. Most of all through this placement I learnt areas of strength in my communication, some that I didn’t even realise and also made clear to me areas I can develop upon.

I got to work with groups closely and was able to identify key communication skills to interact with the children. But also the communication skills I could apply throughout with other teachers. This experience was valuable to me in the way I could see the teachers use their interactions to help benefit the children’s learning. As I observed and interacted I was able to realise the skills I needed to use to aid me in becoming a strong communicator within my teaching role.

Strengths

An area of strength I quickly became aware of my communication skills I used to interact with small groups, during a maths lesson. I was able to assist 2 groups at a time and have the ability to apply the appropriate amount of help to the children, looking at the different problems they required assistance with. I found I could use my initiative to go over to the groups and use effective and clear communication. I spoke at an adequate volume and used language that was appropriate for the stage of the children. Within this area, my body language was used in a positive stance and using eye contact to be able to also communicate my non-verbal communications to the children. During this maths time with the groups I found I could effectively use ‘thinking time’ to be able to help the children come to the answer themselves. I was there to support and make use of the strategies to lead them to an answer. I was able to apply this help through listening to the teachers exposition on the learning intentions for the children that day.

Areas of most progress

Areas I felt I quickly adapted to and made progress with was my interactions with individual children. I feel I learnt quickly to look at the values the children held as a school: Kind, resilient, respectful, confident and included. Through this placement, I learnt to use appropriate language and praise to effectively communicate and make the children feel valued. I used this to acknowledge the children’s efforts and also to promote positive behaviours. My positive choice of words such as ‘well done’ or giving them a simple ‘good job,’ helped them feel accomplished and respected. I also found I was strong in using enthusiasm, during free play time, to value the children’s confidence and respect their efforts. They would show me their creations and I would interact with them and making sure I was giving them the appropriate attention.

 

 

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Areas requiring progress

My confidence is always a main struggle of mine. I find I sometimes don’t have strong communication with other adults. Lacking the confidence to ask questions or speak up on my ideas. This is an area I felt I got a bit better with on placement, but still the area of my communication that needs the most work. I find it easier communicating to the children but there is always still the nagging doubt if I am communicating the strategy correctly, or if the language choice appropriate to the stage. I know this will come over time and it will improve with practice and experiences. I try to get involved as much as possible but I feel that on occasions my confidence holds me back.

Action plan

My next steps I need to look at include, communicating to the class and creating my own lessons. This will help me look at the language I need to use and making sure my body language is positive to the whole class not just small groups or individuals. I need to also build on my group work and communication to my adult peers. From teachers to parents alike. Being able to ask questions on things I am unsure of but also sharing my own ideas. I know that group work within university will help with this but also my daily life at work or on my placements over the next few years.

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