Being first year at university, the first semester was split in half between my academic responsibilities of attending classes and completing assignments and my social life, whether that be with the rugby team or forming new friendship groups. The cycle of trying to balance both of these aspects continued until mid November when assessments for both my Values and Working Together Modules began to loom. Like my A-Level Examinations, I applied more effort to my Academic responsibilities whilst saving my social life for the weekends. When these assessments came about however the Values: Self, Society and the Professions took up most of my time. This assessment made me realize how valuable a broad range of literature is in helping develop arguments cohesively whilst also providing depth. This has made me reflect on how I might better conduct myself during the second semester, with me now beginning to read outside of just the required reading in order to inform my viewpoints and practice in an academic and school setting. This has occurred as a result of me receiving a C1 for this assessment as one of the main critiques of my essay was whilst making my viewpoints and statements clear, I did not provide enough insight into these points which a wider array of reading surely would have benefited. The process of reflection isn’t merely an afterthought of wishing you had done something better, but is something that should be pondered and analysed in order to influence future elements in our academic lives and put into practice these changes. Reflection should be carried out after most tasks as nothing we ever do will be truly perfect, and reflection upon this will lead to a betterment of all aspects that are reflected upon, be it essays, professional practice or even everyday life, which leads to us benefiting not only ourselves but also the societies we live in.
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Why I strive to become a Primary School Teacher
Many children grow up without the distinct privileges that I had as a child; a stable home environment, stable friendship groups, good schooling and many more. I have always strived to help and touch people’s lives throughout my own life and I see becoming a Primary School Teacher as the perfect way of being able to have a real and lasting impact upon people’s lives. I was impacted by my Primary 7 level teachers (namely Mr Thompson and Mr Philips) who were an absolute inspiration both in their attitudes towards the pupils and their teaching abilities. They showed fairness, authoritativeness, calmness and good composure, whilst also never deviating from total and unconditional positive regard towards their pupils. Throughout the lectures or the telling offs, I never once felt like they were no longer on my side. I hope to imbue these same qualities into my teaching career in order to help improve and support the academic lives of my pupils.