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Placement was an extremely beneficial and enlightening experience. I really enjoyed the two weeks and have managed to identify many areas of strengths and development needs. I have then had the opportunity to reflect on all areas of placement and have identified areas in which I have progressed the most in and those requiring more progress.

One strength I identified throughout my two weeks on placement was I speak at an adequate volume. I can quickly identify an appropriate volume for the situation I am in; whether this be a whole class lesson or working with a small group of children in a whole school open area. I could also successfully alter the volume I was speaking at to suit the situation. One thing however, before I spoke in a whole class situation I was nervous and had to force myself to make the initial ‘noise’ to get the attention of the class.

The area in which I feel I progressed the most was with my confidence. I was extremely nervous, yet excited, before placement. On the first day, I was quieter than I intended to be. I then decided to ‘fake’ my confidence; this strategy was successful as by the end of week 1 I had spoken to most of the teachers in the staff room and had spoken to many pupils in an authoritative way when required.

An area I need to further progress in is varying my pitch and tone. This would make my voice more interesting to listen to. I can improve this by recording my voice and analysing my pitch and tone. By identifying areas in which I could alter my pitch and tone, I will make my voice more interesting.

During placement, I interacted with colleagues in the classroom and staffroom, supported learning in classes, demonstrated effective communication and completed four numeracy and four literacy tasks as well as two self-evaluations and a peer feedback.

Overall, placement was an extremely beneficial, interesting and enjoyable experience and I am looking forward to next year.

 

The initial prospect of stepping out of my front door for the first time as ‘Miss Baxter’ seemed a daunting, yet exciting one. Having moved to Scotland in 2015 from a privatised, secondary girl’s academy near Liverpool; to a mixed, high-performing and prestigious school in East Renfrewshire, gave me a small taste of what the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) had to offer.  Having gained the vast majority of my primary school experiences within English primary schools, I felt as though it was my duty as an aspiring primary school teacher, to research and educate myself fully on what the CfE entailed within a junior school. To do this, I sought out information within the Education Scotland website and other similar government pages in order to grasp a firm understanding of the aims and features of the CfE before I set off into a school.

My first week was spent working closely with a primary 2 class, observing and shadowing the class teacher; but also, being fortunate enough to take groups of the class to either assist with tasks, reinforce a topic or support children with reading. One of my initial tasks was completing the ‘Burt’ reading test with half of the class- my placement partner would later complete the other half of the class. The reading test was especially interesting as it allowed me to see the vast range of abilities within a single classroom that the teacher must consider. Within this particular class, the mean reading age results showed as 6 years 6 months whereas the mode of the results showed a 5-year gap- the largest age being 10.11 and the youngest being 5.11. This is a large age gap of 5 years and catering for every child’s needs, whilst challenging them to the best of their individual ability can also be a challenge to teaching staff across all subject matter.

The class were studying the topic of pirates which they were extremely excited for, the teacher began the topic by inviting the pupils to write on a small black flag using a white crayon, what they already know but also what they would like to find out. I thought that this was a lovely way of encouraging children from an early age to consider taking charge of the direction of their own learning, but also promoting children to be inquisitive and ask questions within the classroom. This fortunately relates back to Hargie Owen’s literature about skilled interpersonal communication in which he states that students may only ask approximately 2 questions an hour. This therefore provides evidence that questions are something that need to be encouraged within our classrooms. This is something my assigned teacher was highlighting to her pupils in a fun, enjoyable and anxiety-free way.

One of my favourite experiences within the Pirate topic was assisting the class with their letter writing task; this was because it allowed me to see how children explored a theme using their imaginations and how enthusiastic they were doing so. In order to support the pupils with this task I would prompt them; for example, in the form of asking questions or suggesting an idea, resulting in an idea from the student- almost like a ‘lightbulb’ moment. As a teacher, seeing this for the first time is highly rewarding and satisfying- it is as though you have helped that pupil achieve and grow that little bit more. A development need for myself within the topic of writing, literacy and reading- involving the aspect of communication would be that a primary 2 student asked me if I was “speaking another language” because of my slight ‘scouse’ accent. Realising the student had a misunderstanding of the difference of language, dialect and accent; I explained where I came from, the difference of language and accent but also considered the way in which I talk- specifically my accent. I also considered how that can be a distraction to many students as they may not have heard my accent before, thus for this to not be such an issue I need to pronounce my words more clearly.

During my second week of placement, we were transferred to a P6 class. I was nervous and had some anxiety about having to adapt so quickly to an older age group, especially because myself and many of the students are apart of the same generation I was afraid of establishing the same level of respect generated by the primary 2 class. I was also afraid of not being able to adapt my language and behaviour to suit the new audience. Once in the class I found that adapting to suit the older age group was not as big as an issue as I originally anticipated however, I found establishing respect with the older students was difficult. For example one student discovered my first name and continually called me it despite being asked not to, another student called me a derogatory word during a maths activity which acted as an almost setback for me as it really effected my confidence and caused a lot of anxiety for the remaining duration of the placement. This was an almost test of my resilience, I learnt that by showing the smallest bit of nervousness or anxiety in front of students in some cases can lead children to notice this and act on that in a negative way. This is where the importance of body language comes in, positive body language may lead people and students to believe that confidence is there even when it is not.

Although there was a minor setback in maths, it was also something I thoroughly enjoyed as I was able to see the clear link between theory and practice. For example, in university studying mental methods to then enter the school and see it actually happening really reinforces everything experienced. In primary 2 they labelled the partitioning strategy “Hulk breaks apart” and there is an image of Hulk- however, the P6’s know this strategy as the partitioning strategy. I also found it interesting to see how children chose and found their own strategies and helping them find one that suits them.

Reading and literature- particularly children’s literature- has always interested me and therefore I enjoyed organising and leading a reading lesson. The book we were studying was ‘the twits’ by Roald Dahl in which the children appeared to be deeply involved, laughing along when reading and showing a great understanding of the novel. I primarily established this by asking one child to explain what they can remember happening in the novel so far, every child asked appeared to be very enthusiastically explaining when being asked. Whilst reading I would pause every couple of pages and ask another child to recap what has happened so far so that they can show that they understand the novel, putting it into their own words. Roald Dahl tends to use different sized fonts in his books, capital letters where they are not supposed to be and made up words. Each time one would appear I would pause and ask the group if they had spotted anything unusual, and I found it so interesting to hear the student’s responses on why they think Roald Dahl has given a word a particular trait and what that may represent- for example; “HUGTIGHT glue”- I would ask the group questions such as; what images does this word conjure up in your head? Why do you think Roald Dahl chose this word? Why has he put the word in capital letters? Each child would have a different response and interpretation of the text which they found exciting to analyse; the children also began to bounce ideas off each other coming up with new theories and suggestions.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my first school placement; being made to feel welcome by staff and students in a fantastic school with a lovely atmosphere and environment. I have learnt so much from not only the staff but the pupils, not just teaching-wise but also about myself; my strengths and weaknesses. These past two weeks have really been an eyeopener for what is to come over the next 4 years and beyond; I could not be more excited about developing and growing into the teacher that I aspire to be.

My two week placement of first year has quickly come to an end. During my first week I worked within a composite class of primary 3/4. It was very interesting to see how a composite class of 32 pupils worked with two primary teachers and 2 additional support staff.

Every morning at 9 o’clock the pupils went out to their local park to do their daily mile. Having volunteered previously in a school which did not do the daily mile, I could see the positive effects it had on the pupils as they were ready to learn and could focus on their work.

I realised during my placement that having two teachers and support staff in and out of the room can be disruptive. However, the teachers were able to split up and focus on each primary, whilst the support staff were able to take away the pupils with additional support needs to give them the help and support they need which is vital to their learning.

Support staff also worked closely with several pupils with A.S.D, which were more pupils than I originally anticipated. After school, I took part in an A.S.D session with the staff which was led by a psychologist who specialises in A.S.D. After working closely with pupils that have A.S.D and attending this session I learned about the triads of impairment which was something I found really useful and interesting. This gave me an interesting insight into how their minds work and how we can support them more.

After peer observations I realised that I was not very good at giving constructive criticisms but after discussing feedback with my partner I found it easier and learned that it is crucial to receive feedback for us continue to learn new skills and improve. I also noticed that I have a tendency to slouch when sitting down so this is something that I will keep working on. However, my peers noticed that I was clear, spoke at an appropriate place when giving help and showed a genuine interest in what the pupils had to say. This is something I will continue to maintain, It was also really useful to have the handbook as a guide to refer to throughout placement and kept me on track.

During my second week of placement, I worked in a multi composite class with primary 5/6/7. They also started their day with the daily mile and some toast which set them up for the day. I joined in with the daily mile, which was something I struggled with at first but got used to it throughout the two weeks. I felt a massive difference within myself as I was motivated and less tired. I can now see how this would improve the work that the pupils produce.

Overall, I had a great time at placement and not only learned a lot about the way a classroom works but also learned about the various ways of communication that I need to maintain and develop. I will take on board the skills and feedback I have and use them throughout my time as a student and as a teacher.

Throughout the last two weeks, being on placement has been a great experience to my teaching degree that I am currently studying. I believe that putting everything I had learned to practise made me feel proud and very well achieved. My knowledge and understand has widened throughout my time there and I believe that just by observing made me sit back and see what to do and what not to do. During the placement, the school had different events on so on the first week of me arriving it was the beginning of science week and then the second week was financial education week where we learned and took an insight into saving and spending money. It also showed the children the difference between we what we want and what we need. My class was lovely and I had a good professional relationship with my teacher and she shared that she was happy with my progress over the two weeks and think I would make a great teacher, and she wished me luck over the near future. Overall, I loved it and it made me want to just get out there and just begin my journey of growing into a teacher and becoming a role model to children’s education.

During my two week placement I was placed in the Primary 7 class where there was 23 pupils. The experience was very enjoyable and educational for me. At the start of the week I was nervous to go into the school and meet the teacher and the class. After the first day I felt better and more comfortable in the school, and in the class.

The school I was in was a catholic school which was a great experience for me to see how these types of schools differ from non catholic school and see how there daily routines are different from the primary school I went to. I found out that the classes pray at the start of the day, before lunch and at the end of the day. I also got the opportunity to go to mass with the school for all saints day, where I got to see all the traditions they do when they are there, including receiving communion

While I was in the class I got to observe the many different lessons and teaching styles the teacher I was working with used. I also got to experience how she dealt with pupils with behaviour problems and other problems that cause them to loose concentration easily. I also got to see how she deals with and separates the less able children and the more able children. Also how she prepares different level of difficulty but same topic of tasks.

The pupils in my class were very welcoming and helped me a lot in developing my confidence over the two weeks. I made some strong connections with some of the pupils in the class mainly a few of the less able children who I was working with to help them develop further but also a lot of the other children who liked to talk to me and bond a relationship.

The children responded well to me teaching them when they were in the group I was taking. They automatically seen me as a professional and as a person they had to listen to and behave for. I enjoyed being the teacher in the classroom and being helpful to the children. I really liked when the children were asking me for help and when I was able to give advice to the pupils about their work.

I also got to work with other professionals such as the other teachers in the staff room. I also got to work with other classroom assistants in the class and got to see what their role is in the school on a daily basis. One of the days I went  along with Primary 7 and the teacher to Queen Margaret Academy for a transition day, getting the children ready to move to secondary. On this day I got to meet and talk to loads of teachers from different primaries and the secondary school. I also got to talk to some of the pupils from different schools. I was put with one of the groups as the teacher leader to go around and supervise the group along with the 6th years that were running the day.

Overall my placement experience was very enjoyable and memorable. I also feel I have learnt a lot and everything I have done over the last two weeks is going to help me in my time at University.

My two week placement was a thoroughly enjoyable and exciting experience. For the entirety of the fortnight I was placed in a Primary 2 class of 19 pupils. I gained a great amount of knowledge from overseeing the teacher at work, but also from helping the children while they worked. I achieved a great deal of insight into life as a teacher through shadowing, where I saw the real stress of the job and how the workload never really stops. However the positives that come with the job were constant as it was clear to see the pride and pleasure the teacher took from the success of the pupils in her classroom.

The teacher I was placed with for my observation was extremely kind and helped to ensure I was getting the most out of the two weeks as possible. She bestowed great trust and responsibility on me from day one which seriously boosted my confidence to confide and ask her questions as I, understandably, was very nervous about the placement on that first Monday. She set out time after school to look over my placement tasks with me so she could see where she could further assist me. She also then consistently asked me over the course of the rest of the placement how I was managing and if she could help in any way. She always kept me busy with either tasks to do for her or activities to carry out with the pupils.

The pupils of the class I was placed with were an absolute delight to be around. They took me in straight away and treated me with the utmost respect which was incredible for my confidence. They really helped me to feel like part of the Primary 2 family when they listened, talked, read etc to me. The interaction with pupils was where I found the most enjoyment from, however it did also give me an insight into the challenges of understanding some pupils whose oral language is a struggle. For example there was one pupil who got his letter sounds mixed up such as f and s, as well as r and w, which I found difficult to translate sometimes.

Overall the experience was fantastic and very worthwhile. I feel like I’ve taken a lot from it which I can apply to my future learning. It was truly devastating to leave the school on Friday and I now can’t wait until the next placement.