3.4 Professional Reflection and Communication – Page 6

Personal Reflection Bee-Bot – Day 2 16/01/18

Today I was learning to use a programmable toy – Bee-Bot. I have not had a lot of experience using Bee-Bot. Although I think it is straight forward and easy to use. In my group we came up with a couple of ideas to use related to a mathematical activity. The ideas we came up with were; Time, shape, times tables, counting, recognition of numbers and money. The idea we progressed on was the concept of time mixed in with a child’s daily routine. We used the Curriculum for Excellence (Education Scotland, 2004) outcomes “I am developing problem- solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills, as I play and learn with electronic games. remote control or programmable toys. [TCH 0-09a/TCH 1-09a]” and also “I can tell the time using 12-hour clocks, realising there is a link with 24-hour rotation, explain how it impacts on my daily routine and ensure that I am organised and ready for events throughout my day. [MNU 1-10a]”. With this concept we created a mat with a range of analogue clocks with a digital time at the bottom of each box so that children were seeing what 24 hour time looked like and also what an analogue clock form looks like. Although it was mainly for children at level 1 stage who may have had prior learning of time with a grasp of what O’clock, Quarter Past, Half Past and Quarter to looked like. With the mat that we created children were able to involve their daily routine for example; what time school starts/ends, what time they get dinner, brush their teeth and go to bed. This enhances children’s learning of time because using Bee-bot changes learning to become more interactive and allows children to work with their peers in groups. It also allows children to think of their own daily routine and links it to what they do on a daily basis. Bee-Bot can help children who struggle with sitting at a table writing as it gets the child out of their seat and able to interact with others.

The role of programmable toys in education dates back to the 1960’s when Seymour Papert created the programming language called logo. The learner will control the movement of a ‘turtle’ that will draw lines on a screen when instructions have been given. For example ‘fd 5’ and ‘rt90’. Students learn about lengths and angles while creating patterns and diagrams. (Transum 2018).

Janka (2008, p2) states the benefits from use of programmable toys, “the curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world”. She also states that in the field of mathematical development, children should develop the ability to describe simple journey and instruct the programmable toys in order to develop positional language and estimation”. This Benefit was useful to me because my assessment on Bee-bot was related to a mathematical activity and to make the Bee-bot maze I had to measure the length that Bee-bot moved which is 15cm (Bee-Bots body length) and estimate how the robot turned and found that he turned in right angles.

The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE, 2012, p1) explains that a benefit of floor robots is that it helps with sequencing, measuring, comparing, lengths, space orientation and expressing concepts in words. Another benefit from the National Centre for Technology in Education (2012, p1) states that floor robots encourage group interaction, conversation and collaboration. Page 1 also states that floor robots are usually appealing to young children because of the design of bright, clear buttons and are a robust design (NCTE 2012).

Personally I think that Bee-bot is useful because it allows children to follow a set of instructions, it keeps their brain active, it is an interactive and hands-on activity for children to take part in, it allows children to use their problem solving skills and follow patterns and sequences. It is beneficial for student teachers and teachers as it helps teachers when teaching children about directions along with many other curricular areas within the curriculum for excellence.

References

Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed on 16th January 2018]

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 16th January 2018]

NCTE (National centre for Technology in Education) (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online] http://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_nu

meracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 3rd January 2018]

Transum (2018) – Logo [Online] http://www.transum.org/software/Logo/ [Accessed: 16th January 2018]

Programmable Toys (16/01/2018)

Today in our second class of Digital Technology we were introduced to the concept of programmable toys, with the main focus in particular on Bee-Bot. I had prior experience of using this programmable toy as we had previously undertaken a lesson in Semester 1, which introduced us to the unit, gave us an understanding on how it works, areas in the curriculum in which we can utilise it whilst interlinking Curriculum E’s and O’s across the three early level/primary school levels – early, first and second. My first experience using Bee-Bot I thoroughly enjoyed, as it gave me my first proper experience of getting hands on with this type of programmable toy and made me feel excited at the prospect of using it in the classroom with pupils. We had created a game which focused on literacy outcomes, whereas today we focused on numeracy and chose a first level outcome in which as a group we to structured an activity around.

As suggested by Janka (2008, P.2), ‘The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world”. Being able to integrate technology into the classroom I feel is important as it provides young learners with having experiences of technologies that surround them consistently. Furthermore, the National Centre for Technology in Education (2012, p1) states that the use of floor robots impose a variety of benefits on young learners. These benefits include: Developing skills such as logical sequencing, measuring, comparing lengths, space orientation and expressing concepts in words; encouraging group interaction, collaboration and conversation swell as providing a vehicle for the introduction of key concepts to young learners in an easy and friendly way.

The first level outcome which we used as a framework for our Bee-Bot activity was MTH 1-17a; ‘I can describe, follow and record routes and journeys using signs, words and angles associated with direction and turning’. We chose to base the theme of our activity on worldwide flags and famous landmarks, with direction and navigation being the prominent focus. We created brightly coloured images on the activity mat along with a set of questions that gave instructions to the participants. Bee-Bot required to be programmed to reach the specific destination along with a set of directions for each question tone recorded by those pupils in participation.

Overall, I felt we produced a brilliant resource which could easily be adapted to allow early and second level pupils to also use this is a learning aid. The use of the Bee-Bot today highlighted the importance of making activities intriguing and fun whilst eliminating the potential of repetition. Bee-Bot is a format of digital technology that if I am able to have access to, I will certainly endeavour to use in my future career as a rimy educator. I feel that it is an exciting and autonomous piece of equipment which brings children together in their educational journey to work as part of a team and also promotes their creativeness if they wanted to produce their own game or resource for the floor bot and also develops their problem solving and critical thinking skills. I look forward to seeing what next week brings in Digital Technology as I felt today’s lesson and activity was of great benefit to me as a prospective teacher.

Digital Technologies – 9/1/18

Taking part in the digital technology module is a great opportunity for me to build upon and enrich the ICT skills I have already developed, in both a professional and […]

Taking part in the digital technology module is a great opportunity for me to build upon and enrich the ICT skills I have already developed, in both a professional and personal setting. Looking at the many ways in which digital technology can help enhance both learning and teaching is extremely valuable because as time moves forward technology advances as well. Technology is now used in many different forms throughout classrooms including, smart boards.

Having not been able to attend the first class due to personal reasons, I viewed the PowerPoint at home and looked over the materials provided. Looking through the module handbook and the assessment criteria, I was able to gain a better understanding of what will be expected of me throughout the module. After doing this, I went on to review the introduction PowerPoint and reflected on some of the points made on the slides. To me, digital technology is a device that allows people to gain access to larger variety of knowledge. According to Education Scotland (2015), digital technology is a term used to describe those digital application, services and resources which are used to: find, analyse, create, communication and use information in a digital context.

I then went on to read through the National Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (2016) and I was able to pick out the main points throughout the article. Overall, the main outcome Education Scotland(2016) is working towards is to raise attainment levels through children gaining the highest level of literacy and numeracy skills to allow them to become successful. They are also trying to achieve equity so that each child has an equal opportunity to succeed. Education Scotland (2016) believe that digital technology can help enrich both teaching and learning, which in turn can lead to better educational outcomes including the two I have previously discussed.

The main beneficiaries of this strategy are the learners aged 3-18 who will be able to acquire ICT skills that are an essential part of life and when they start work, especially as nearly everything today is digital. The teachers as well will benefit, as they require training in order to learn the sufficient level of skills needed to then teach to the children.

My own digital skills are an area that could be developed, especially as digital technology is now playing such as important part of everyday teaching in the classroom. My skills are competent enough that I am able to use technology for writing essays and doing research. I also use devices for reading, such as a kindle. I am hoping to become more aware of other technologies and devices and understand how to use them properly and implement them into my teaching. As a parent, I get to see the vast range of digital technology used at my daughter’s school and how she as a learner uses this technology, which has been very insightful.

Being a student teacher today, having digital technology skills in my opinion is one of the most important set of skills to have. With technology playing such an important part in everyday life, these need to be taught to learners in order for them to succeed.

References

Scottish Government (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government [Online] Available at:http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf[Accessed: 14 January 2018]

Digital Technology – Week 1 – 09/01/18

Today was the first day of the Digital Technology class. The main reason why I chose this module was my own lack of knowledge and confidence when it comes to technology in general. I want to be able to more than adequately teach my future students about using digital technology, and so I want to improve my own understanding so that I can be confident about what I tell them. The Scottish Government (2016) commissioned the Children’s Parliament and Young Scot to gather children and young people’s views on the use of digital technology in classrooms. The Children’s Parliament consulted 92 children raging from 8-11 and found that while the children believed that using digital technology made learning more fun, they felt their access to it was limited by a lack of equipment and also a lack of knowledge by their class teacher. Young Scot consulted over 250 young people aged 11-25 and they had the same response. I therefore think that it is even more important that teachers feel confident with technology as it is clearly having a negative impact when they do not.

In today’s lecture we were focusing on what exactly Digital Technology is and what it means and also why it is so important. My current perception of what Digital Technology is that it is about interactive technologies, using programmes and apps and being literate using computers and other electronics, and I think that it is important that all young people are given the opportunity to be able to access and use these pieces of technology. The Scottish Government (2016) defines digital technology as the term used to describe those digital applications, services and resources which are used to find, analyse, create, communicate, and use information in a digital context. The Government’s strategy aims to improve access to technology for both teachers and learners. In this way there can be some attempt at closing the poverty-related attainment gap that exists in so many schools.

We also looked at the use of the Glow dashboard and how useful it can be in a classroom setting. Glow is a digital environment for learning that is available across Scotland and is funded by the Scottish Government and presents schools with a purpose built digital learning solution which supports the delivery of Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Government, 2016). I have used Glow in a previous module and I can see how it could be helpful in a classroom setting. It gives teachers easy and quick access to a multitude of different resources and I think it would also be very helpful in planning a lesson. I have not yet had the chance to have a proper look at all that Glow has to offer, but I will definitely make use of it in the future.

Today’s lecture was very informative on what Digital Technology means, and how important it can be in the classroom setting. It can be used across the curriculum to enhance learning and engage pupils (Scottish Government, 2016). It is increasingly useful as a teacher and indeed a person, to have knowledge and competence when using technology as it is an increasingly important part of everyday life. I feel that today’s session has improved my confidence when using Glow and also given me better insight into why it is so useful for teachers to have a good knowledge of using technology.

References

Scottish Government (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government [Online] Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf

Digital Technologies Week 1

I chose Digital Technologies as my optional module because it seemed clear to me that it would be a useful topic for me as I train to be a primary teacher. I already consider myself quite competent and fairly confident using technology. A large part of the first lesson of this module involved studying the … Continue reading “Digital Technologies Week 1”

I chose Digital Technologies as my optional module because it seemed clear to me that it would be a useful topic for me as I train to be a primary teacher. I already consider myself quite competent and fairly confident using technology. A large part of the first lesson of this module involved studying the Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. From this I learned that my comfort in using technology will benefit me in my teaching career.

In 2017, it is impossible to avoid technology and it is imperative that future generations are given the skills to use it responsibly, safely and to their advantage. In the Curriculum for Excellence, digital technology outcomes are addressed from the offset; even in the Early Years, such as the outcome TCH 0-01a which requires children to be able to “explore digital technologies and use what [they] learn to solve problems and share ideas and thoughts.” (Scottish Executive, 2004). The onus therefore is on teachers to equip children as young as three with this knowledge.

There is heavy emphasis in the Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland on not just using digital technologies in the classroom, but to use them in particular in a way that enhances learning. A survey carried out by the Children’s Parliament of 92 children aged between eight and eleven found that digital technology helped students to engage more with learning, with the caveat that it is not over-used (Scottish Government, 2016, p. 8). This was interesting to me as it stresses the importance of using digital technology in the classroom only where it will assist the learning, and to avoid using it for its own sake. It also interested me that the children were wary of technology being over-used in the classroom, as my own instinct would be to assume that the generation this survey concerned would be most comfortable, and even happier, using technology almost constantly in their learning. I think an awareness of this in my teaching career will serve me well.

Reading this document also made me particularly aware that I will need to participate in a career-long development of my existing skills in using digital technology. One of the four main objectives of the strategy is to “develop the skills and confidence of educators in the appropriate
and effective use of digital technology to support learning and teaching.” (Scottish Government, 2016). Another survey that was referred to in the document highlighted that a number of students aged between eleven and twenty five felt that many teachers lacked the skills to use digital technology properly. In my opinion this could not only hinder learning but also foster a lack of confidence in teachers in other areas. It is therefore essential that teachers are actively seeking to improve their skills to ensure that digital technology is used appropriately in the classroom.

To a certain extent, I consider myself a digital immigrant. I am confident utilising technology in my every day life but I do carry with me what some may refer to as a “digital immigrant accent” (Prensky, 2001, p. 2). For instance, I am far more comfortable printing something out and reading it on paper than I am reading off of a screen, which I tend to find uncomfortable and distracting.

To be an effective teacher and to integrate technology into the classroom in a way that enhances learning – in line with the Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland – it is my responsibility to be aware of these behaviours in order to ensure that they have a minimal impact on the learning that takes place under my guidance. I look forward to learning how to do this in the Digital Technologies module.

References

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. [Online] Vol. 9(5), pp.1-6. Available: https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816 [Accessed 12/01/2018].

Scottish Executive (2004) Curriculum for Excellence. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Teaching and Learning through the use of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. [Online] Available: https://beta.gov.scot/publications/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technology/ [Accessed: 8 January 2017].

Reflections on Placement

When I was on placement I learned alot more about my own communication skills and I had lots of opportunities to put what I had learned in the Situated Communications module into practice. I really enjoyed communicating and engaging with the children in the class. While on placement I took small groups for literacy and … Continue reading Reflections on Placement →

When I was on placement I learned alot more about my own communication skills and I had lots of opportunities to put what I had learned in the Situated Communications module into practice.

I really enjoyed communicating and engaging with the children in the class. While on placement I took small groups for literacy and numeracy tasks, worked with children who were struggling with their work, supported children with ASN and took groups of children for art activites. All of these expereinces helped me to develop my communication skills and gave me an understand of how to communicate effectively with a variety of children. From my self and peer evaluations I am able to see what some of communication strengths and weaknesses are. Some of my strengths when working with the children were active listening, speaking clearly and at a good volume, varying my pitch and tone, demonstrating positive body language and showing an interest in the children.

While on placement I had 4 literacy tasks and 4 numeracy tasks to complete. I found it hard to complete all the tasks as I was in a Primary 1 class for the 2 weeks. The Primary 1’s were just starting simple addition and were just starting to learn how to blend sounds together to create words so I found for some of the tasks that the children were not at the acquired level that I needed to observe. My placement tutor sat down with me and we went through the tasks I had to complete. She tried her best to add these elements into lessons and activities for me to observe. For the “Making Maths Relevant” task I planned and carried out my own activity with the chidren.

My two main weaknesses that were highlighted during my placement were behaviour management and communicating effectively with staff and other proffessionals. I found behaviour management difficult as some of the children didn’t see me as an authoritative figure at first. Also 2 children in the class had ASN and often displayed challeging behaviour which some other children in the class joined in with. I could see that I was getting better at behaviour management as my placement progressed as the children were listening to me and showing me respect. I think that behaviour management is a skill that I need to keep working on so that I can become an effective teacher.

My main area requiring progress is communicating effectively with staff and other proffesionals. I have always struggled with talking to people that I don’t know very well. I think this is because I overthink about what to say and how to join in with a conversation. I don’t have much confidence when communicating with people. I was able to communicate well with my placement tutor and with other staff if it was on a one to one basis or only with a few other people. What I really struggled with was communicating in the staff room. When the staff room was full of people I stayed mainly quiet and didn’t really join in with conversations. I felt quite nervous and this was shown through my body language e.g. wringing hands. I know that communicating with staff and other proffesionals is an essential skill that teachers need so I need to really build up my confidence in this area.

To help myself become a more confident and effective communicator I am going to read “Acting lessons for Primary Teachers,” by Tauber, R and Mester C, as this book will hopefully help me to gain the skills to be able to act confident in situations that normally I wouldn’t feel confident in. I will also put myself in more situations that require me to talk to different people and this will help me to gain more confidence with my verbal communication skills.

BA1 Reflections on Placement

So after two quick weeks in my first school placement I’ve found myself back at uni with an overwhelming sense of dread and fear for what the next hectic 4 weeks of my life is going to bring. Endless assignments, studying, research, academic reading, getting to grips with referencing and just in general managing to survive till […]

However, looking back on a successful and eye opening two weeks in my first school experience I can only feel excited for what my future career holds! (The good, the bad and the ugly of course!)

Strengths

In the lead up to starting my time in the school I felt excited yet slightly nervous just by being the ‘new student’ going into a busy school environment where relationships and friendships had already been formed. However, I found throughout the duration of my placement that I communicated and worked well with all members of staff that I dealt with and most importantly the pupils in classes that I worked in. I felt that having previous experience working in schools and being a youth group leader I already had the confidence and ability to assert myself when appropriate and become an authoritative figure to the pupils I worked with. By using my initiative and confidence this allowed me to successfully become part of an effective team for my short stay and build a rapport with both staff and pupils in the classrooms, staff room and playground.

Area of Most Progress

Being in the classroom with the children is where I felt most comfortable. Whether it was working with a child one to one or in group tasks with 6 or 8 pupils I felt I was in my comfort zone and in control of the environment I was in. Working in the classroom alongside the class teacher and being involved in the daily routines and pupil’s learning allowed me to develop skills and abilities I thought I already had confidence in. With assurance and praise from the class teacher that I was conducting myself in a professional yet nurturing manner allowed me to delve more into the children’s educational experiences and use my initiative to assist the class teacher in her planning and teaching. Using my creative abilities I was able to complete making props for the school nativity alongside using new ideas for the children to make at their annual Christmas fayre. Along with developing good rapport with the children and getting to know their names and learning styles this certainly made me feel like I was progressing successfully and developing my interpersonal skills throughout.

Area Requiring Progress

Looking through my self reflections and peer observations the one thing that appeared was my pace when delivering an input to children in a small group. Talking quickly is something I have felt I’ve always done and am aware of but find it difficult to overcome and fix. However, this is something I am aware I need to focus on and need to implement strategies to overcome this in order to make my pace slower and easier for children to understand and take in what I am saying.

Action Plan

Receiving my school assessment report form was a great confidence boost and assured me that my two weeks in the school were valuable to not only myself but those who I worked with. On advice from the class teacher I will continue to conduct myself in a friendly and professional manner whilst maintaining a nurturing and caring attitude towards the pupils. I will continue to use my initiative and offer my assistance to class teachers, pupils and other staff in the school for if and when they require it. Strategies to improve my pace of speech such as breathing techniques and looking back at recordings of myself presenting will allow me to improve and record areas in which I find I talk too quickly and implement strategies such as pausing or breathing to ensure I talk slower for those around me to understand me more concisely. Continuing to engage positively with all staff and children as well as maintaining calm and capable characteristics that will serve me well in my upcoming career.

1st year placement experience

I have just finished my first two week placement block during my time in the BA programme at UWS. Having spent most of last year in a Primary 1 class it was amazing to get back into the classroom and working with children again. This year I was in a small multi-composite school with 2 […]

Prior to placement I was unsure how I would feel about teaching in a multi-compsite class as I imagined this would be a lot more difficult than having a class all of the same ages however I absolutely loved it. There were varying abilities within the classroom however with there only being 9 children in Class 2 the different abilities in the classroom were able to be so well catered to. In an average class of 20-30 children, they would all be in the same year group, however the range of abilities would be just as vast with a higher pupil to teacher ratio.

Having experienced a small window of time within this village school, the range of activities the children can partake in is incredible and the sense of community and family in the school is amazing. Every member of staff worked so well together and really cared for each child, their wellbeing and their successes. The school had a community kitchen which the children cooked a new recipe in each week, this was so great to see the school introducing a love of cooking to the children and providing them with a life skill.

I have learned so much from my time in placement and it has given me so many great ideas that I hope one day I can carry out in my own classroom. As well as ideas for the future it has also given me an insight into particular areas of strength and areas for improvement in my own practice.

I believe a strength I have is quickly building up a rapport with each child. This is so vital as if children have a good relationship with you the will learn so much more from you and enjoy working and learning alongside you. I really enjoy getting to know each child, their strengths, areas for developments, likes and dislikes and using this to alter my own practice. Some people often forget that children at Primary are still so young an need to be nurtured and form positive relationships with staff within the school.

Although I really enjoyed working with the older children this did make me aware of an area of personal development. As some of the mathematics was at a much higher level I first had to understand this before I could explain it to the children. A few times I found myself getting stuck when trying to explain different maths aspects to the children as I didn’t have a good enough understanding in the first place in order to then simplify this and explain in necessary depth to the children to ensure they understood. I spoke with the class teacher about this and in mathematics at university we spend time each week going through various maths concepts and so I am confident that with putting extra work into my mathematics by the time I am next working with older children I will ensure I have the relevant knowledge to be confident helping every group of children with their mathematics.

Reflections on Placement

Placement was an inspiring experience and enhanced my understanding of how a classroom environment works daily. Before starting placement, I was really excited and looking forward to new experiences as I love being in the school setting. Having seen the school’s website before starting my placement, gave me an idea of what the school ethic …

Continue reading “Reflections on Placement”

I was based in a Primary 2 class with my peer for the two weeks of placement, this was beneficial as I got to know the teacher and the children really well. I have had previous experience in a Primary 1 class and found it very interesting seeing the next stage up.

I quickly got into the daily routine of the class. The class teacher was in school around 8.15am every morning to prepare for the day ahead. Every Monday morning the teachers had a meeting with the headteacher for 15 minutes before the school day started at 9am.

Throughout the placement I observed many numeracy lessons. The teacher used a variety of songs that children sung along to, this helped portray the lesson content. The teacher constructed the end of the numeracy lesson with activity based learning, there were directed tasks that children could carry out through play to consolidate learning. The directed tasks included; using fake money and adding it together to make up a certain sum of money; shoe laces that numbers could be threaded on to make a calculation or number pattern (odd/even); numeracy jigsaw; and laptops with ‘sumdog’ and ‘education city’. The children all participated in the directed tasks and were engrossed throughout the activities.

In Primary 2, I perceived numerous, assorted literacy lessons throughout the two weeks. At the start of every week children would get a new list of spelling words. The first week was ‘ff’ words and the second week was ‘ll’ words. As a class the children sound out the word phonetically and then say it 3 times fully – this assists the children’s understanding of how the word forms. The children copy 3 of the spelling words directed by the teacher in their homework jotter and writes them again at home – this is done Monday to Wednesday. The children have a spelling test every Friday and peer assess each other after the test is complete. Children were introduced to a dictionary for the first time, this was a very interesting lesson to observe and the children understood how the dictionary worked, they demonstrated this through tasks directed by the teacher.

The Primary 2 pupils had PE once a week. It was a fantastic opportunity to observe how another teacher dealt with the same class. The children loved being active and releasing energy.

The subject of French is covered orally in Primary 1 to Primary 3. Primary 2 have covered days of the week, and numbers 1 to 10. They have just started to learn the months of the year. The subject French was presented by using songs. The teacher regularly used ‘très bien’ and other French phrases throughout the French lesson and other lessons therefore carrying French across the curriculum.

Overall, the teacher of Primary 2 was very helpful and assisted myself and my partner in anything possible. I feel I supported the learning taking place in class to my best ability and demonstrated effective communication skills. My experience in the staffroom was lovely and interactive, the staff are all very welcoming and interested to hear about our course at UWS. I feel I adapted to the school and smooth running of it and became very comfortable with my surroundings after the first day. I have extremely enjoyed my placement at the school, and will take all my experiences and observations into my future practice. The primary school, staff and my partner have all been very reassuring and supportive. Having more experience in a Primary School has made me realise that I truly want to pursue a career as as Primary Teacher.

Placement Reflection

Overall throughout my experience on placement I really enjoyed it. It was a different experience from what I have had in schools before as before I would have been taken as a spare pair of hands in the role of a classroom assistant and I felt that the children respected me more knowing that I was training to be a teacher. It felt as if I was more responsible being a student teacher than when I was a practitioner during my HNC in college. On my first week of placement I was in a primary seven class and on my second week I was in a primary two class. Working from the two ends of the school gave me an experience working within two extremely different environments were there are two different teaching techniques and reward systems.

During my first year placement I felt that it was mostly having to sit at the side of the class and watch teachers and how they teach I think it would be a better idea if the “observing” was more interactive and as a student in first year you are able to plan activities for the children. I planned activities during my HNC at college and I felt that the children really enjoyed being able to work with a new person. Throughout placement I asked if I was able to plan an activity as I felt I was sitting at the side to often and I wanted to become more involved and practice teaching in front of a small group. I took an activity for time and also a listening/concentration activity on my last day. This was effective for me personally because I was able to plan an activity for a small group similar to what the teacher was doing with the rest of the children in the class. The children seemed to enjoy the activities because they were telling me that it was fun and they were excited when they had another activity in the afternoon.

Generally I think overall placement was a fun experience that I was learning everyday. I was learning what I need to improve on and I was learning about the different ways that teachers from two different sides of the school teach. I learned that I should always ask teachers about different things so that I keep myself right and not go by others words. I also learned that maths can be interactive through song and also some games that other teachers may not play with children in a classroom environment. I also learned a little bit more on activities to use for listening and talking through literacy. Finally I learned that teaching and strategies have to be different and you have to be adaptable to the environment that you are in because one year you could be in a primary 1 class then the next in a primary 7 class and the way you approach teaching to 4-5 year old’s is different to the way you approach teaching to 10-11 year old’s. To have a trial at this was beneficial to me as I had to adapt as quick as a week to the different environments. This will be a big learning curve for me to take on within the next 3 years during my placement time.

Working in a school on placement for two weeks has shown me that Primary Teaching is definitely what I want to do as a career. I wish that my placement lasted longer. I am excited to see what future placements bring and what else I will learn from them.