Professional Reflection and Communication – Page 3

Primary Placement Experience: Reflection

The last two weeks I spent at an amazing Primary school for my placement. Before going into the school I was really nervous about whether or not I would enjoy the experience, if the staff would be welcoming and if I’d even be able to do well. Honestly speaking I have never had a previous primary school experience and realising that this could be the placement that shows me whether or not I would enjoy this profession was quite daunting. However, I can happily say that I absolutely loved my experience and this is something I wish to pursue.

My partner and I were paired together to assist P2 where we witnessed a lot of different tasks. Being still in the infant stage a lot of Numeracy and Mathematics was based through songs such as Counting to 100, Counting Robot or 3D shapes I know. These songs not only got all the children involved but allowed the teacher to ask related mathematical questions afterwards. The children then chose which activity to be a part of, for example, playing numeracy games on a chrome book, completing maths question jigsaws, making sums on a white board or with play dough. Since the pupils were still young a “fun factor” was very important in the activities to keep the children engaged.

The subject of Literacy was much more varied as each week the pupils had a list of new words to learn. These words would not only be put into their homework jotters but also sound out loud as a class regularly in preparation for their weekly spelling test on Friday. Activities such as rainbow writing (writing the words three times in three different colours), diamond poems, singing songs, writing words on white boards and using play dough were regularly used. I believe the teacher truly made an enjoyable atmosphere for the pupils while ensuring the learning content was covered and revised.

As I mainly assisted in a P2 class the subject of French was orally done through YouTube songs and recitation of, for example, the months, days of the week and numbers up to 10. Being able to participate and sing a long to encourage all the pupils to participate was something I enjoyed and regularly did.

The class I was primarily in was very well behaved and were lovely to be with. The class consisted of a child with mild autism, a pupil from a different country who was behind in the language and a child with learning difficulties all of whom sometimes did not participate in all tasks as the other pupils. I found that during, for example the spelling test one pupil would instead read a book and the other two would complete a different word sheet. And if the class was using calculators to complete calculation from the white board the pupils would complete another work book with different sums. The children were also regularly taken out of class with different teachers to help their additional needs. Being a part of this environment where I witnessed support for every pupil was very encouraging and something I enjoyed being a part of.

Although I was mainly in P2 I did a assist a P7 trip where they had planned and organised a debate against one another about the importance of bringing in personal devices (I.e. mobile phones, ipads). The trip and watching the pupils present each of their cases was enjoyable to watch but made me realise how different my communication and interaction with P7 is in comparison to P2. When talking to P7 you have to speak to them like adults and give them respect as such, whereas with p2 they are still very much young children where they sometimes still need help to zip up their jackets. I found it interesting how different years require you to change how you act and talk while still maintaining a professional attitude. I won’t lie, I found it hard at first to adjust speaking differently to older children and felt like I had lost my equilibrium. But through time I definitely found my way and realised I could do both well. Although I do personally feel I prefer the infant environment more, it was a good experience none the less.

Finally the staff at the school and in particular the teacher we assisted for the two weeks truly helped make this an enjoyable experience. You hear about students experiencing a bad placement due to unkind staff and that initially made me quite worried before starting. However, the fact that they were all kind and friendly enough to chat to my and my partner and share their own experiences and tell us what the job really entails made us not only very welcomes and comfortable but gave us an idea of how a teachers life really is.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my primary experience and it truly did make me analyse and reflect on my own communication skills and participation, for example in situations when helping individual pupils spell words or singing along with songs or even just having a conversation with staff. I was also very pleased to be surrounded by such kind and supportive staff who made this primary school experience even better and gave me an insight of what it would be like as a teacher.

Reflection on Placement

I thoroughly enjoyed my two week placement experience; I gained a lot of insight into the teaching profession and learned all different aspects of the job. I was placed in Primary 1, where i spent the duration of the two weeks. The class was filled with twenty pupils; each different in terms of skill and personality. The pupils were a joy to work with; they made me laugh and surprised me with their abilities. Everyday was a learning day, not only for the pupils but for me too! I enjoyed asking the classroom teacher questions about things I was interested in or wanted to clarify. The teacher was a great inspiration to me; she was kind and approachable and all of the children in her class looked up to her. The classroom teacher was extremely understanding and patient; children with oral language problems and behavioural problems were treated fairly and were always offered extra assistance.

I was warned from the beginning that Primary 1 involved a lot of arts and crafts – this definitely was the case! I helped the children create a carriage out of paper mache; I painted a castle made out of cardboard; I even had to squish my hands into the smallest of scissors to cut out various different activities. These may seem like easy jobs, however it became apparent just how heavy the workload is. I witnessed the endless planning for weeks in advance – often my classroom teacher was stressed at the idea of being slightly unprepared. The teachers regularly had staff meetings after school hours which meant a lot of their marking and preparing had to be done at home. I realised that organisation is truly a key skill to become a successful teacher. On the other hand, the positives definitely outweighed the negatives. From only observing a snippet of classroom life, I seen how rewarding the job is. There seems like no greater feeling than knowing what you have taught has made sense to classroom full of five year olds.

In my school, the infant area had recently adopted a new teaching method. The Primary 1s would come in sharp at 8.50AM for a ‘soft start’ – this meant that the children would play for the first twenty minutes of the day. After this, the children would be split into their zones where they would learn through play. This approach seemed very odd to me – the children had no writing books and rarely ever sat on their seats to do work. Most of the time they were playing games which did involve the use of some literacy and numeracy skills, but not many. Due to this, I found it increasingly difficult to complete a few of the placement tasks as the levels of literacy and maths were quite limited and basic.

Overall, i thought that placement was fantastic. Each day was exciting and enjoyable. It has made me feel driven to be successful in this course. It was devastating to leave on Friday, the experience was amazing and I cannot wait to do it again!

Sustainable Development – Disasters

Middleton (2013, p.467) says “natural hazards should be defined and studied both in terms of the physical processes involved and the human factors affecting the vulnerability of certain groups of people to disasters.” Therefore, natural disasters can be defined as uncontrollable events which have devastating impacts on the lives and environment of the area in … Continue reading Sustainable Development – Disasters

Sustainable Development – Interdependence

Interdependence refers to the reliance of different organisms and species on each other for their survival. It impacts the world environmentally, socially, and economically. The food web is an example of interdependence as humans, for example, eat fish which eat smaller fish which eat insects and plants in the ocean. A concerning impact of this … Continue reading Sustainable Development – Interdependence

Self Evaluation Study Task

After watching the videos, I feel I am more aware of the importance of self-evaluation. I understand that the only way to improve and move forward is to take time to reflect on how well you did something and what you could improve for future. Without taking the time to look back and evaluate, you … Continue reading Self Evaluation Study Task

After watching the videos, I feel I am more aware of the importance of self-evaluation. I understand that the only way to improve and move forward is to take time to reflect on how well you did something and what you could improve for future. Without taking the time to look back and evaluate, you may stunt your professional progression. It is hard to get into the habit of self-evaluating. It can seem a little unnatural and uncomfortable, but the rewards definitely make it worthwhile and it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it.

With placement fast approaching, it will be useful for me to take time to reflect on how I perform when I am there, and what aspects could do with some improving. I know that it is okay to make mistakes (which is very likely in your first placement), as long as we learn from them. Hopefully this will mean I get the most out of my time at placement. Placement is an exciting but nerve-racking time, so it is important to use time efficiently and make sure we benefit from our time at school.

From watching the videos, I understand not only that self-evalutaion is important but also that peer evaluation is also key. A lot of the time, someone else can pick up on things you don’t notice. A second pair of eyes can catch things that may have slipped through the net. It is important for a peer or mentor to be encouraging, by giving praise as well as areas to improve. The videos talked about how vital it is for a trainee and mentor to have a good relationship of respect and understanding, in order to give effective feedback. I think it is also important that we, as teachers, are comfortable receiving feedback and don’t take it personally – we all want to be the best we can be professionally, and the only way to achieve this is through evaluation and reflection. We should make sure when we are reporting back to a trainee or peer, that we give constructive criticism and feedback, rather than judgement.

Feedback Evaluation Task

Ciaran and I generated mostly the same answers. We both thought that the teacher in the first video had the tendency to ramble which could result in unfocused children. However, we agreed that all members of the classroom could see and hear him. We both agreed that sometimes his body language was closed off by … Continue reading Feedback Evaluation Task →

I was not majorly surprised by the videos. However, I found it interesting that the teacher in the last video recorded her lessons. From my point of view, this is a very useful technique – you would be able to take note of certain areas for improvement and identify strengths within yourself.

I did not find the evaluating tasks too hard. This is because I could pause the videos and have time to prepare answers to evaluation points. I will probably find it more difficult to undertake this task on placement as it will be difficult to be observing all that is going on. Also, I would not want to offend the person I’m working with.

If I could take one thing from the videos and use it in my placement, it would be the way the Year 3 teacher demonstrated his engagement with pupils by crouching down to their eyelevel. This demonstrates positive communication and is an effective way of getting a student to focus.

I am looking forward to going out on placement and gaining more experience as a student teacher. I’m excited to test the waters and observe real classroom scenarios. It all does seem a bit daunting at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll settle in nicely after a couple of nerve-racking days. I’m looking forward to viewing different teaching techniques and getting to know the pupils in the classroom.

Sustainable Development – Climate Change

Climate change refers to a significant change in the climate over a long period of time. Scientists believe that the climate change which we are currently baring witness to is due to global warming which is being caused by excess greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere and creating a ‘greenhouse’ … Continue reading Sustainable Development – Climate Change

Sustainable Development – The Environment

Over the past 2 sessions in our Sustainable Development lectures and workshops, we have been learning about the environment. In the first week we looked at the natural environment and in the second we looked at urban environments. I have found this theme very interesting as it has allowed me to consider my surroundings in … Continue reading Sustainable Development – The Environment

Ideology and Prejudice

Before today’s lecture I was not confident with my understanding of the definitions of ideology and prejudice. However, I feel that I now have a clearer understanding of the concepts and I can desrcibe different theories about the reasons for prejudice and ideologies. Prejudice is an attitude towards a group or its individual members. It … Continue reading Ideology and Prejudice

Stress Hardiness

Stress is something which everyone experiences at some point in their lives and it is often experienced due to certain triggers. Stress and its many triggers can have negative impacts on people’s health. In the Pengilly and Dowd (2000) article on Stress Hardiness, the concept of different categories of triggers is discussed. There are events … Continue reading Stress Hardiness