Reflection on Placement

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2 weeks ago, I started placement in a school in Wishaw and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had to date. Working within a Primary 3/4 class was both exciting and challenging, however, I would not change this opportunity at all. This placement allowed me to pick up some new teaching strategies which I will use in my future career and also allowed me to work on my own communication skills. From taking a small reading group outside for some comprehension to teaching an Art lesson to the full class, my confidence has grown and I was able to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses which I will work on in the coming years of the course.

Strengths

A strength that I identified when I was on placement was my eye contact. This was a surprise to me as throughout high school and college, it was something I really struggled with however when in the classroom setting I ensured that I was giving eye contact to all individuals when I was talking and explaining specific information. I also was able to use my eye contact to engage individuals who would get distracted and pull them back into the class discussion or activity. I would also say a strength that was highlighted while on placement was my use of pitch and tone. I was able to easily adapt the pitch of my voice depending on the situation as well as my tone. When enthusiastic and promoting positive energy, I was able to make my pitch higher and my tone more optimistic. An example would be when I was rewarding a reader in my group who usually struggles to make it through paragraphs. He was able to complete the page and I showed the praise he deserved. I can also deepen the pitch and lower the tone when giving out verbal warnings as instructed by the class teacher. This allowed children to identify the mistakes that they had made and promoted that they should try harder.

Area of Most Progress

The area in which I would say I had the most progress while on placement was my confidence with speaking in front of a large group and also making decisions where I felt confident within my own abilities. As mentioned in the introduction, I was able to teach one afternoon for the curricular area of Expressive Arts. This allowed me to talk in front of a class of 25 pupils which is a skill I never thought I would be able to achieve quickly. I was able to talk with a good volume and also a good pace allowing children to understand all the information I was giving them. In terms of making decisions, I quickly realised that I would have to make my own decisions and try to stick with my judgement. This was an experience which allowed me to make many decisions such as when to note a concern, give out verbal warnings and also ensuring I was praising when all children had achieved something that they were individually capable of. I was also able to make decisions for my reading group and during my lesson. This was rewarding.

Area requiring progress

A skill I still need to master in my enunciation and not using words like ‘aye’, ‘like’ and ’em’. I quickly learned while in placement that I don’t always pronounce my ‘d’, ‘t’, ‘ing’ and ‘en’. This sometimes confused the children as they were used to hearing fully enunciated words within the classroom which enabled them to understand instructions. I also noticed my use of ‘like’ and ‘aye’ within the first few days of placement. This was mostly when explaining tasks to children or answering questions. I will be able to work on these skills within the next few years of the course.

Action Plan

My action plan for these communications skills are to continue working on my confidence as I know I will be different in front of a group of adults and different in front of a group of children. This comes through practice, so I am going to try speak up more in group situations. I also need to start pronouncing my letters and will practice this with daily conversations and when doing some presentations over the course. Finally, I will try to increase my vocabulary by reading more books and trying to get rid of terms such as ‘like’ and ’em’ when explaining answers or information. These are all achievable and I will try my best so that when I am next out on placement, I can provide the best practice.

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.

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.