3.1 Teaching and Learning – Page 8

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.

Programmable Toys in the Classroom

Programmable Toys such as the Bee-Bot can be used in many ways to develop the Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes in the classroom. There are many benefits to using programmable toys for learning; they provide challenge and enjoyment for learners, they allow for hands-on learning while keeping learners engaged, as well as helping learners build skills such as problem solving in a fun and enjoyable way. “The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world.” (Janka, 2008, Page.2)

NCTE ICT in the Classroom suggests that the Bee-Bot can be used in classroom application for literacy, numeracy, assessment and special educational needs. However, after discussion today, I believe that the Bee-Bot can be used for lessons across the whole curriculum. For example, languages or social studies.

Today in Digital Technologies, we created a Bee-Bot map and a lesson to go along with it which will develop the Experience and Outcome MTH 1-17a; I can describe, follow and record routes and journeys using signs, words and angles associated with direction and turning. This outcome is first level and is aimed for Primary’s 2, 3 and 4. To create a lesson for this outcome we chose the theme of flags and countries. We chose this theme for our Bee-Bot map because flags are colourful and interesting and the lesson become cross-curricular.

The Bee-Bot programmable toy can be used in many class situations. It can be used to develop many skills and topic areas such a maths, numeracy and literacy. After creating our lesson, we discussed that it would be impractical as a teacher to create enough Bee-Bot maps for a whole class lesson, however, it would be possible to incorporate an initial art lesson where the class all make an individual 15x15cm flag and they all get stuck together. This would allow the class to create the map themselves.

REFERENCES:

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_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 16th January 2018]

Digital Technology in Scottish Education & Personal Reflection

Upon completion of my first class in Digital Technologies, it has opened my eyes wider and allowed me to discover the real potential and benefits that Digital Technologies have in the Scottish Education system. As a first year student, the thought of using technology in the classroom to me feels natural due to being surrounded by technology along with the ever-changing society we live in, thus keeping in line with modern technology that encompasses us naturally on a daily basis. I feel as being both a parent and a student undertaking a degree programme in primary eduction, contextualising every day situations for young learners is crucial in order to provide like for like examples of everyday living. This can be done throughout various areas of the curriculum including numeracy, literacy, health and wellbeing and science. The importance of using digital technologies throughout education will be explored and analysed along with evidence supporting the cause of using this autonomous learning tool throughout schools for children and young people.

Having accessed and read through the Scottish Government published document ‘Enhancing Learning and Teaching through the use of Digital Technology – A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland’ (2016) it allowed me to gain a greater understanding on the proposals set out by our Government alongside crucial evidence which supports the basis for their strategies. The Scottish Government intends to expand the use of Digital Technologies in educational settings in order to achieve four goals:

To develop the skills and confidence of educators in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology in order to support learning and education; to improve access to digital technology to all learners; Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery and empower leaders of change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for learning and teaching.

These strategies if met, will ultimately benefit Scotland’s children between the ages of three and eighteen. Research has been conducted in order to gain a deeper insight into what beneficiaries really think of their current educational system in regards to digital technology within their classrooms and the results of these were which intrigued and surprised me by far. A Children’s Parliament consultation which seen ninety-two children between the ages of eight and eleven take part provided researchers with an insight into how they believed technology impacted their education. It was concluded that participants stated that the use of Digital Technology makes learning more fun and they would like to see it used more (but not over-used). They also stated that their access to Digital Technology in school was constrained due to a lack of digital equipment and their teachers being limited in skills in relation to the use of Digital Technology. Similarly, a separate consultation conducted by Young Scot which saw 250 children between the ages of eleven and twenty-five participate, gave an outcome of similar stance. They stated that teachers lacked knowledge of how to use the technological equipment they already had and also noted that the resources they do have could be unreliable and misused. However, on a positive note, they also found that Digital Technology was an important learning aid in the classroom, a good tool for revision and provided and interactive learning experience.

Furthermore to the evidence given by our own young Scottish learners, the Independent Literature Review on the impact on digital technology on learning and teaching proposes that there is potential for digital technologies to support and contribute to five educational priorities:

Raising attainment; tackling inequalities and promoting inclusion; improving transitions into employment; enhancing parental engagement and improving the efficiency of the educational system.

From the resources I had access to, to allow me to base my reflection upon it has became highly evident to me that indeed Scottish education needs to crucially implement the proposed strategies in order to give our future generations the best chance to succeed in life. This can be done by meeting their proposed goals of raising attainment, improving employability and learners skillsets along with keeping young people and educators up to date with the technology that surrounds them in the society they are surrounded by. As a prospective teacher I am feeling very encouraged by the plans and strategies outlined in order to give pupils and teachers the best educational results for both parties and look forward to continuing my Digital Technology module by gaining new skills and ideologies that will support me in my own classroom one day.

References

Scottish Government (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government (Online) Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/0050 [Accessed: 09 January 2018]

Digital Literacies Induction Reflection

Prior to beginning the “Digital Technologies” module, I believed that digital technologies were about solely enhancing learning through the use of applications such as powerpoint and educational apps. However, after reading up on the module and through directed reading, I now understand that digital technologies can be any application on a wide range of devices; […]

To gain this deeper understanding of digital technologies, and what they include, I made use of directed reading. “A DIGITAL LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND 2016”, written by the Scottish Government, helped me understand that digital technologies are all about finding, analysing, creating and communicating information in a digital context.

There are four key objectives with digital technologies:

Develop the skills of our educators
Improve access
Enhance the curriculum and assessment delivery
Empower our leaders of change

Digital technologies are not only for the benefit of our pupils but can be and should be used to benefit teachers, parents and many others; including the future economy. We benefit from digital technologies in many ways: they are engaging for children and foster creativity, digital technologies help close the attainment gap and can benefit children with additional support needs, as well as providing children with skills for life, learning and future work.

I analysed my own knowledge of digital technologies and I am hopeful that this module will benefit me in teaching children on both placement and in my future career. I am confident in using iPads, game based learning devices and Glow however, easi-speak microphones, coding and some aspects of programmable toys are a development need of mine. I am hopeful that these development needs of mine will be address in this module.

REFERENCE: Scottish Government (2016), A DIGITAL LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND, [Online] Pages 3-18. Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/391375/mod_resource/content/2/Digital%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Strategy%20.pdf [Accessed: 9 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

Personal Reflection of Digital Technology – Day 1 – 9/1/18

Today I attended my first session of Digital Technology. Walking into the classroom I was not sure what to expect because throughout school I took administration as a subject and had a range of activities to create that would be marked and within this project I created; posters, word documents, power points, excel all related to one area. For example; the opening of a cake shop or to advertise a local sports event. While doing this I used a range of programmes on a computer so I have a background with a handful of computer programmes that I had used many times before so I felt fairly confident. I have a range of skills of being able to type without looking at the keyboard and able to use a range of effects, fonts, spell check, grammar check and animations throughout Microsoft apps.

In the class I learned about what digital technology is within the National Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016, Annex A) Digital technology is a term used to describe those digital applications services and resources which are used to find, create, communicate and to use information in a digital context. I think that the use of digital technology within schools helps children develop understandings of what technology is and how they use it in a range of ways.

I also read the National Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016, pg 3) and found it interesting that not only learners are gaining skills and learning throughout their time at school it is also educators for example; childcare practitioners and teachers as they are attending training courses to assist them in their digital technology skills. I think this helps as the teachers and childcare practitioners taking on the opportunity of digital technology training courses are positive because it means that children are getting up to date lessons on digital technology through a range of subjects and it allows the teacher to learn new skills that they may not already have known.

The digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016, Pg 11) contributes towards 5 main educational priorities; raising attainment, tackling inequalities and promoting inclusion, improving transitions into employment, enhancing parental engagement and improving the efficiency of the education system. I think that this is important because some children may not like using a pencil and paper to create a story as they may feel anxious that they can not draw and they may like to create pictures on computers using different apps and this could help their engagement within a classroom environment. I think that raising attainment and tackling inequality is important because some children who don’t perform as well as they should having a laptop. iPad or another use of technology beside them they may perform better than expected.

Within the class I also had an opportunity to search around Glow. Previously in trimester one I had some experience of the use of Glow but not as much as I would have liked to. Being able to look at Glow in a bit more depth today felt better as I was able to look around the apps that I had added to my launch pad in more depth and see what was on them. I think this is useful because more schools are becoming more and more digital every day and most schools use Glow as a means to communicate with other teachers in the country and also able to keep communication between teachers and parents so that they are able to see what their children are doing within school.

By attending this session I feel that I have become a bit more confident with the use of Glow and also some knowledge of the use of technology within the education system. It is also useful to know that digital technology contributes towards 5 main educational priorities and that children are benefiting from the use of technology in the world as technology is improving every day.

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.

Placement Reflection

I very much enjoyed my two weeks on placement. It felt very natural to be within a school in a teaching role and I could very much see myself doing this job one day. My school was quite small- 150 pupils approx. and had quite a mixed catchment. Due to this I saw a range of behaviours, which I think is actually beneficial as I saw many different techniques to manage this behaviour throughout the school.

The whole experience really allowed me to see exactly what a large amount of work is done by teachers both before children arrive and also after they leave at the end of the day.

My feedback was all very positive which made me feel much more confident within the classroom setting. The experience also allowed me to see different styles of teaching, and I feel I will take away the ones I liked the best and use them myself.

The teachers and support staff were all very kind and welcoming and made me feel like I was a help by being there rather than an additional bit of work for them. It gave me a real opportunity to interact with a wide age range of children as the Deputy Head Teacher had made us up a timetable so that we had a whole school experience. Despite the fact that I was not in one class for the whole 2 weeks, I feel that I still managed to create some good bonds with the children, and managed to remember most names- an achievement for me! Being in different classes was an advantage because I feel I had a lot of opportunities to be able to fill out my placement tasks. The teachers in the school also seemed more than happy to answer any questions I might have, and shared their lesson plans and general experience with me. Due to this, I feel that this experience really has been invaluable.

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.