Over the course of the last two weeks i completed my first university placement. My placement was in South Lanarkshire and therefore was local to me. As my placement was a fairly small school i had the opportunity to work in every class throughout the school from primary 1 to primary 7. This allowed me to see a variety of teaching strategies and get to know all of the children.  During my time at placement i had the chance to reflect on my strengths and areas of weakness.

Strength 

A strength I feel I possess is the ability to change my register in different situations. For example I have the ability to change my register in social life to a different register for placement and from my register in younger years to another in older years.

Area For Development 

I feel pace is a skill which i would like to work on.  I feel a lot of the time I speak very fast and as such some children may struggle to understand me. I would like to getting my pace to an appropriate speed.

Action plan

I will work on my pace by reading things out loud, such as my presentation to ensure that i do not sound like I am rushing.

On Monday,  I took part in an outdoor workshop which developed our ability to communicate within a team! For this workshop we had to create a den using a variety of random materials and things from the natural environment. My group and I decided to use poles and a cover to create a tent like den.

Group and leadership:

I feel like my group worked well together and we all shared an equal part. I don’t feel like anyone took the lead as such rather we all shared our ideas and decided between us which we would decide to go with. I feel this was positive as it meant that everyone felt included and valued. The most challenging aspect of working as a group for me was overcoming the barrier of not knowing everyone in my group well, however I feel the group was great as a whole.

Explaining-

Another part of my workshop on Monday was explaining the process my group had taken to create our den.  The group who explained to me were clear and concise and I feel they completed all 5P’s of explaining.

Enviroment-

This workshop took place in the woods outside of the Ayr campus. I feel this environment was relaxed which led to me feeling relaxed, this allowed me to communicate effectively and confidently. One difficultly this environment had was speaking over the surrounding noises (eg ; the wind, birds and passers by), this led to  each and every one of us having to speak much louder and clearer to ensure everyone could hear us. However, I don’t feel like this affected our group much as we all stood close together and spoke loud and clear.

Negotiation-

Another aspect of this workshop was having to negotiate materials with other groups. My group needed another large pole in order to complete our den however another team had it. At first the other team was not open to trading however when we offered our two small poles they were happy to trade.

I found this workshop extremely beneficial. It helped to develop not only my communication skills but acted as a team building opportunity. I am looking forward to taking part in more!

The lead up to starting university was daunting to say the least. The fear of not knowing what was ahead was the worst part, would I make new friends? Would I be able to navigate my way around the university? Would I have made the right choice of modules?, I can happily say every single one of these questions have been answered within my first two weeks on campus.

The induction week was a great opportunity to not only gain an insight into the modules i would soon be undertaking but also to form friendships with the people i will be spending the next 4 years alongside. The induction week also allowed me to get to know the lecturers i would be engaging with during my time at university.

I am looking forward to my next four years at university, to get to know my peers better and to grow as a professional.

Welcome to blogs.glowscotland.org.uk – Glow Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!