November 2018 – Page 19

Reflections on Placement

Over the past two weeks I have been on my first primary school placement, which has been such an amazing and rewarding experience. Although the were many challenges I loved the experience as it has helped develop many different communication skills and has also shown me different teaching practices in a classroom setting. This placement has helped highlight and develop many of my strengths and helped show my areas for development.

Strengths

A strength that was highlighted during my placement experience was when talking to or teaching children I was quite enthusiastic. For example when a child would get something right I would congratulate them or if they get something wrong I’d still be enthusiastic and make sure they knew it was okay that the answers were not right. This would then build children’s self esteem so that they are not scared to get something wrong. Another strength I felt I had in my two week placement was that I used good eye contact when explaining information to children. I made sure that anytime I was talking to a specific pupil I had good eye contact with them and wasn’t looking elsewhere and when explaining things to the whole group I made sure to maintain eye contact with the whole group.

Area of Most Progress

During my placement experience I developed many skills but one of the skills I made the most progress on was my confidence when talking to staff and pupils and trusting my professional judgement. At the start of my placement I was quite nervous and didn’t want to step on the teachers toes but as I got more comfortable I was able to start trusting my professional judgement and begin to become more confident with the children and staff. Although I still need to work on this I feel a lot more confident with this than I did before.

Ares Requiring Progress

Throughout my placement I became aware of areas I needed to work on such as my pace, I tend to speak quick fast so I need to work on slowing down when I’m talking so that its clear and easier for children to understand what I’m explaining. I also became aware that I use words such as “like,” and “um,” which is something I need to work on not saying as this will make me sound more confident in what I’m explaining which will in turn make sure the children trust my judgement.

Action Plan

Going forward I plan on continuing to work on my confidence and trusting my professional judgement as although I progressed a lot in this area I still feel it needs to be further developed. In everyday life im going to try and speak slower and to stop using words such as “like,” because if I do this normally I will be less likely to speak fast and use these words while teaching.

Reflection on Placement

Over the last two weeks I have had one of the most rewarding experiences out on placement and it has given me tools and skills to work with as I […]

Over the last two weeks I have had one of the most rewarding experiences out on placement and it has given me tools and skills to work with as I further develop through my time in my course. The school I attended was very warm and welcoming, with teachers that were willing to help me achieve the most out of the short time I was there for. During my time in the school I got to observe a couple of different classes but was mainly based in Primary 7 and Primary 1. This was valuable as it allowed me to see the contrasting teaching methods used at different ages and levels.

Strengths

Before starting at university, I had previous experience working with children from the age of 3-16. This helped when entering the classroom as I was aware that I had to change my level of vocabulary to suit the child’s level to ensure I was not confusing them by using words they did not recognise or understand. Adding to this some children needed words enunciated more than others for example, in the infant school, so they could recognise their sounds and letters. I furthermore varied the pace I would speak at, for example Primary 1 children need some extra time to process what you are saying so I spoke slower than I usually would to allow them that time.

Area of most progress

One area I believe I progressed most in during the weeks of placement was building the confidence to speak to teachers and in front a whole class. Before starting placement I was nervous about having to speak with the Head Teacher and other teachers in the school. However, once I had settled in after the first day I surprised myself as I became more and more confident in speaking to everyone in the staff room and in front of all the children.

Area requiring progress

When reflecting back on conversations I had during my time in placement I would say I stuttered quite a bit and used words “like” and “um” a lot to fill in gaps. This is something that I must be aware of from now on as it can look unprofessional in a work setting. Also, I noticed that when I was not doing anything with my hands I did not know what to do with them so ended up fidgeting which could convey as a sign of uncertainty in what I am doing or saying.

Action Plan

To tackle my stuttering, I should try and take my time while speaking and be very aware to use other words or use silence instead of “like” and “um”. While tackling this I should also research different ways to stand while presenting or teaching to see if I can discover the most comfortable way to stand whilst not fidgeting.

Overall, I had a great experience at placement and it has allowed me to discover my strengths and weaknesses, allowing me to develop these for future placements.

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Reflections on Placement

Over the past two week I have been on placement in a primary school. It was a very challenging yet extremely rewarding experience and I feel like I progressed greatly in the short time. Something I think I did well over the course of the fortnight and I would consider a strength would be how … Continue reading Reflections on Placement →

Over the past two week I have been on placement in a primary school. It was a very challenging yet extremely rewarding experience and I feel like I progressed greatly in the short time.

Something I think I did well over the course of the fortnight and I would consider a strength would be how well I was able to adjust my register. Being aware of who you are speaking to is vital when needing to change your tone and language. When speaking to Primary 2’s you wouldn’t use the same formal language you would speak to the head teacher with or the tone you would speak to the Primary 7’s with. Adjusting your register is very important as you would seem condescending speaking to another teacher in the tone and pitch you speak to the youngest children in. This is something i think I managed to do well over the time in school.

The area I think I made the most progress with over my time spent in the school would be my confidence with taking groups of children and leading activities. In the beginning I found this quite difficult as I was unsure how to approach it but as the weeks went on I became much more confident with this sort of task and enjoyed taking the groups out.

An area I think I still need to work on is ensuring I always show open body language. Often I found myself crossing my arms or holding my fists which displays closed body language. This is something that I definitely need to work on as it is something I will be marked down on in the future.

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Reflections on Placement

Strength As I had previous work experience with children at different schools and clubs, I had some knowledge of how children respond when they are being spoken to rather fast; they can often get confused or not listen to what is being said. Therefore, I ensured that I was enunciating words clearly when talking to …

Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

Strength

As I had previous work experience with children at different schools and clubs, I had some knowledge of how children respond when they are being spoken to rather fast; they can often get confused or not listen to what is being said. Therefore, I ensured that I was enunciating words clearly when talking to the children individually, in groups or as a whole class. This helped them understand what is being said and if they had any tasks they had to complete and that they knew exactly what was expected of them.

Additionally, I also ensured that I faced the children when I was speaking to them, no matter how many of them there were. I feel that if I am talking to the children that I have to look at them as a sign of respect. As if I want them to respect me by looking at me and listening to me then I have to return that by looking at them when talking to them.

Area of most progress

At the beginning of my placement I recognised numerous areas that I felt I had to improve as quickly as possible to allow me to gain the most from my placement. I found myself using fillers such as:“um,” “ah,” “like,” etc.and speaking at an adequate volume. Sometimes I felt that I wasn’t being listened to as I was speaking loud enough. Throughout my two weeks I ensured that I worked on these two areas and by the second week I had reduced the level of filler words I was using and speaking at an adequate volume, so I had some authority over the children.

Area of requiring progress

One of the biggest areas I feel I still need to improve is the use of language appropriate to the age and stage of children in the group. I often found myself using more advance language for the junior years than they could understand. I feel this is something that I can definitely improve currently as well as over the next four years and corresponding future placements.

Action plan

To improve the use of language appropriate to the age and stage of children in the group, I would ask teachers of the junior school as well as research what words and phrases are appropriate. For example, “take-away” instead of “subtraction”. This will help the children I am working with get the most out of their learning and gain a sound understanding of what they are learning. It would also help me feel more confident when addressing different topics and lessons and how I can ensure my class get the most out of my lesson.

Overall, I highly enjoyed placement as it put into practice everything I have learned over the past few months and also helped me identify my strengths, areas of most progress, and areas requiring progress. I feel that I met my expectations well as I: interacted with colleagues in the classroom and staffroom, supported learning in classes (including taking groups), demonstrated effective communication, gathered information to complete the eight observation tasks and evaluated my peer and myself. As all the teachers I worked with were all so supportive and helpful with anything including questions, this really enhanced my ability to achieve these expectations and were met without any obstacles. Overall, placement helped motivate me as it showed me what I was working towards.

Communication in other environments

On Monday the 24th September, we had our situated communication workshop outside! We were put into groups and had to build a den which required everyone to have good communication skills. Group and leadership Our group didn’t have a set leader, we all had an opportunity to show some leadership skills. This meant that everyone […]

On Monday the 24th September, we had our situated communication workshop outside! We were put into groups and had to build a den which required everyone to have good communication skills.

Group and leadership

Our group didn’t have a set leader, we all had an opportunity to show some leadership skills. This meant that everyone felt included as we all contributed and expressed our ideas with the group. I really enjoy working with other people so i found this task very fun, but a challenging aspect of the task was that sometimes we weren’t taking the time to listen to each other, as they were so many different thoughts and ideas.

Explaining

I think that our group was good at explaining because of our effective communication. We all had very good verbal and non verbal communication and this was shown through everyone speaking clearly and using open body language so that we all felt comfortable with each other when speaking out in the group. We were all aware of our role within the group. One improvement would be to plan more effectively who was explaining what for our presentation so that everyone could explain a part.

Environment

Presenting and working outdoors had an impact on all of our communication as we had to block out the surrounding noises such as nature, cars, other groups, in order to be focused and listen to each other. To ensure we were heard by all, we had to project our voices more so than we would in a classroom and show that we were listening by using eye contact with everyone.

Negotiation

Our group was fairly successful at negotiating with the other group. Both groups made compromises and came to a decision we were all happy with.

Placement observation

During my time in placement and having reflected afterwards, I have been able to identify areas of my communication which are a strength and areas which need development. I felt that my time in the school (in classes P2-P6) was extremely valuable and the experience has taught me many things about myself, and the profession. […]

I feel that my body language in the class setting was welcoming, I made a conscience effort to make the pupils feel at ease by engaging in eye contact and ensuring my stance was warm and approachable. When speaking to individual pupils I came down to their level to ensure that they did not feel intimidated, particularly because I was a new and unfamiliar presence in their classroom. I made the effort to introduce myself to 2 pupils who had been absent the previous day, to make them aware of who I was and allow them to feel comfortable with me.

An area in which I feel I need to develop is my pronunciation. I am very aware that I speak with a broad accent and have developed habits which are difficult to eradicate. I did make a conscious effort to pronounce my “ings” “ens” and “ts” efficiency but it was difficult to keep it up constantly, without making slip ups! In particular, when I spoke with a small group of children, I felt that I relaxed more, so therefore may have been prone to speak more broad. I also found myself saying “emm” and “ehh” at times, which is more of a habit rather than lack of confidence, which I feel will be hard to stop completely.

Having read my school placement and peer feedback, I am extremely happy with the way that I have came across, as a person and a student teacher. The ways in which I hope to be envisioned has came across in my feedback which gives me confidence as I progress in my course.

Reflections On Placement

Having completed a two week placement at a primary school, I have reflected and highlighted areas i have made the most progress and areas that require development. I was fortunate enough to observe each year group in the primary school and was given informal feedback from the teachers, which has allowed me to really highlight areas requirng development. It has also given me more knowledge and insight into the different stages throughout the primary school i attended. In return this has afforded me with the luxury of experiencing the different problems and struggles for children at different stages of the curriculum.

Strength

Throughout the two weeks it was highlight by many of the teachers and my peer observation that i was confident working with the children on a one to one basis and it groups. An example of this was taking a group of children for a reading task in which i had to get the children individually to read to the group. After this i asked the children questions about the book to ensure they had a good understanding of what they were reading, I did this with ease, in which the kids felt relaxed, open and trusted me to talk openly. Ensuring all children were involved, engaged and learning successfully.

Area of most progress

It was highlighted at the beginning of the placement that i should show more confidence in utilising behaviour management strategies. I felt at the beginning of the two weeks placement i was worried about stepping on the teachers toes, so i tried to take a step back approach to work out how the teachers used their behaviour management strategies throughout the day in the class. However the children soon picked up on the fact that their misbehaviour was going unnoticed and ended up misbehaving even more. I would say this has been my area of most progress as i effectively by the end of week one was dealing with varying misbehaviour from children such as aggressive, verbally abusive and even physical abuse behaviour. An example of this was when two children were physically fighting in the classroom and i managed to calm the situation down and spoke to the two individuals seperately and then had the two children apologising to each other and getting them focused back on their work again. The children in this particular class were known for continually fighting with each other and it was a massive eye opener on how to deal with this sort of behaviour calmly and effectively. Im not sure i would have handled this situation the way i did at the beginning of the placement so i was very pleased with my progress on behaviour management strategies.

Area Requiring Progress

I require progress on my positioning when talking individually or as a group to children. This was highlighted on more that one occasion and it was a suggestion for improvement on my peer observation. I need to “ensure that you are facing all of the children as often as possible”. As soon as my back was turned from the class to talk to children the rest of the children weren’t doing their work and started to act up. I found this difficult as i tried to give the pupil or pupils i was talking too my undivided attention but then i faltered on my class control as i didn’t have visual on what the rest of the children were doing. I need to learn to multi task a little better in the classroom.

Action Plan

On reflection of my placement, i plan on researching more into behaviour management strategies. I plan on working on my positioning when talking to people and to get into a continuous habit of making sure i have a visual view of all surrounding people. This will ensure when i am back on placement that i a view of everyone in the classroom when talking to individuals or groups of children.