Placement Proposal

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I would love the opportunity to take an international route for the learning from life placement. I am very interested in going to Orleans in France to teach English in French schools. Having researched the city and the university, I believe this would be a great way to broaden my horizons and experience a completely different school setting. Teaching classes as well as one on one will not only help me evolve as a student but will also allow me to see how teaching in another country differs from the UK.

I studied French in school to higher level and will be continuing this throughout the languages module this semester. Having a sound understanding of the French language is something that I believe will be valuable when teaching in a French school setting. I believe that being able to speak to the children in their mother tongue will allow me to form good relationships. I also plan to further develop my French stills in the coming months at home to ensure that I am keeping up with the language whilst further developing my pronunciation and grammar skills.

The learning from life placement is one of the reasons Dundee stood out when applying to various Education courses. I believe that having the chance to do an international placement allows students to experience a different culture whilst gaining invaluable life skills. I think one of the benefits of this placement will be, experiencing how educations systems work in another country. Throughout the placement I will be able to compare and evaluate the similarities and differences between France and Scotland. I also believe that it will allow me to develop and build upon skills such as organisation and management. I will be able to take with me everything I have learned from my previous placement experience and further develop and alter these skills to fit the French education system. The challenging nature of the placement is another reason I believe I would thrive throughout this experience. I would love to have the opportunity to use the French I have learned throughout school and university and further develop this.

If given the opportunity to spend my placement in Orleans I would be able to bring my love of language and culture. I believe it is important to have a genuine interest in the country and the language. This will allow me to connect with both staff and pupils when working in the schools. Knowing some of their language shows interest and commitment to the placement and will help to build trust and integrity with colleagues and pupils. I would take full advantage of this incredible opportunity and work hard to make the most of my time there.

Skills to Develop

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  • Communication – Although I consider myself to have good communication skills, I am going into an environment where English is not the native language. Therefore, I will need to ensure that I am always trying my best to communicate with the teachers I am working with in French. I will be able to do this by continuously studying the language and submerging myself in the language.
  • Teaching strategies – Since I have never had experience of teaching English as a foreign language and have only had a broad primary school experience I may have to alter and enhance my teaching strategies in order to be successful in teaching English. Through reading I will be able to gain knowledge regarding the approach to take when teaching English as a foreign language.

Reflection on Experiences

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Prior to the learning from life placement I have had one professional practice placement. This took place in a Scottish primary school. I was in my first year of the MA (Hons) Education course and it was my first experience of teaching in a Scottish primary school. I had the best experience on my first professional placement. It was this that confirmed I was in the correct field and teaching was my passion.

Over the six weeks that I was in the primary school I became more confident in my teaching ability as well as in my organisation and behaviour management skills. I was at a challenging school in a deprived area ad I couldn’t believe how rewarding it was working with the children in primary 5/6. I taught various lessons in all subject areas during my time in school and worked up to having three full days of responsibility. This was a great achievement as it proved that I was capable of taking control of a classroom. I built great relationships with both my host teacher and the pupils and I believe that this was one of the reasons I had such a successful placement. In the class there were some children that had additional support needs as well as behaviour problems. This was something I had never experienced before, and I learned a lot about both autism and ADHD. I had to ensure that I researched these conditions and altered my teaching strategies to ensure that all of the children were learning in the way that was best for them.

I believe that since I had such a good experience during my first placement I will go into my placement in France both prepared and enthusiastic. I have had experience working with challenging children, pupils with additional support needs as well as a large classroom. I believe I can take this experience and progress further during the learning from life placement as I will still be in a school environment. I will be able to reflect upon the differences between the Scottish and French education system as well as the difference between the very different classrooms.

Skills Audit

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  • Leadership skills – I believe throughout my experience to date I have shown good leadership skills. I believe I have the ability to take charge and control of a situation in order to bring about the best possible outcome.
  • Team working – This is an essential skill to have when entering into the teaching profession. I believe that I am a friendly approachable person that can get along with anyone. I enjoy working as part of a team. This is important entering into a foreign school environment as you have to work with the other teacher in order to understand how their school runs.
  • Communication – I am able to speak to people as well as communicate through things such as email. Communication is key in becoming a successful teaching professional as you have to be able to converse with other teachers as well as pupils to ensure you are always progressing. This is essential in a foreign school due to the language barrier. I believe that I will have to use my communication skills to form relationships with both teachers and pupils.
  • Organisation – Having sound organisational skills is important in a classroom environment. I believe that I have shown in previous placements that I am very organised and take initiative. I am always prepared for lessons and ensure that I keep my files and documents organised.

Reflection TDT

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After starting the University of Dundee in September I was anxious but excited to find out what our first semester would entail. Having two modules for Education as well as an elective to study for proved very challenging as the semester progressed. I soon realised that university was a much bigger jump from high school than I had originally anticipated. Throughout school I was always very hard on myself when I didn’t achieve the grades I was aiming for. In my eyes getting a bad grade meant that I hadn’t put enough work in, even when that wasn’t the case.

When we were first given the brief for our values assignment I was very enthusiastic and believed that I had a good grasp of the concept. I spent a lot of time in the library researching and studying in order to try and make sure it was completed to best of my ability. Studying with groups of friends and discussing the differing areas we had chosen to focus on seemed to be a great idea. After drafting and redrafting I allowed someone to proof read my assignment in order to ensure that it was free from grammatical errors. It was my first proper piece of writing completed at university and I wanted it to be ‘perfect’.

By the time January arrived I was eager to find out my grade. When I eventually found out my final result  I couldn’t have been more disappointed. I felt as though all the hard work, hours and research I had put in was for nothing. However, the truth in the matter was that I just didn’t have the knowledge regarding academic writing, critical reflection and analytical perspective that I thought I possessed in the first place. I obviously hadn’t fully understood the concept of the task which has allowed me to realise the importance of talking to others who may be more experienced or have a better insight. I took the initiative to contact both the tutor who marked my paper and my advisor of studies to discuss what I needed to do in order to ensure my future assignments are up to the standards of both the university and my personal goals.

Reflecting back on the Values assignment I believe that I should have made the effort to include further reading outwith the reading list in order to back up everything said throughout the paper. I believe that for future assignments I will ensure that I have a sound understanding of the task in hand, speaking to my tutors and advisors before hand so that I know I am definitely on the right track to success. Reflection is an essential part of everything we do as perspective teachers and it is only in recent months that I have realised it’s true importance. I will try to evaluate and reflect upon every assignment, task or professional practice I complete from now on.

Values Workshop

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This week we had our very first Values workshop. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it as we had never had the experience of a workshop prior to this. When I went in I surrounded myself with familiar faces and assumed that we would be allowed to sit with who we wanted creating a comfortable environment. However we were soon made to step out of our comfort zones and were put into groups with others from the course that we may not know so well. This allowed me to talk to new people and get to know some new faces within the course.

Our group was told that we were to be group one, at this time I didn’t think to much into what number our group had been given. It wasn’t until each group were given a large envelope of resources that I began to notice something strange. Our group had been given countless items including stationary such as pens, pencils, post it notes ect. As I looked around I seen that the other three groups had’t been given nearly as many items. As we sat on pondered over why this might be, we were told that we had to make something out of our materials that would be helpful to a student starting out at university. I soon forgot after my group began to plan and create, how little the other groups had been given t work with. It wasn’t until each group had to present their creation that I noticed the true inequality between groups. Group 4 had a mere post-it note and pen, what could you even make out of that?

When we began presenting I noticed the different ways each group were treated. My group (group1) were given the the highest amount of praise. Encouraging, positive and emotive language was used to describe what we had come up with, however, this wasn’t the case for every group. I noticed especially within group 4 very little eye contact was made during the presentation and Carrie was constantly checking her watch. It was very awkward and uncomfortable to watch. I soon came to the realisation of the meaning behind our first values workshop.

I thought it was a great way to portray inequality within society showing that not only do some people have less but how people can treat them differently because of this. This task allowed me to gain a greater understanding of this concept. Inequality can be seen through something as small as school uniform. There will always be the children who have visibly less than others but that shouldn’t mean they are treated any differently from those who seemingly have a lot. This workshop was extremely effective in addressing this issue within society and allowed me to gain the necessary knowledge needed to confront similar situations in the future.

Why teaching?

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Working with children has always been a passion of mine and the dedication shown by my teachers throughout my school life inspired me to follow in their footsteps.

I first realised I wanted to be a teacher when I was seven years old. That may sound very young, but, it was in fact my primary three teacher who was and always will be my biggest inspiration. She was a role model who played a significant part in shaping me into the person I am today. Throughout the process of applying to study Education she was always in the back of my mind. I hope that one day I will have a similar affect on my pupils.

I believe that the importance of teachers can, at times be understated. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than helping to shape a child’s future. Primary school children are of an age where the people they associate with are extremely influential in both their personal and academic life.

I truly understood the importance of the role of a teacher when I helped out in my local primary school. I was able to witness how each child is an individual and how the teacher would tackle challenging situations. This allowed me to see that although teaching is a rewarding profession it doesn’t come with out hard work, perseverance and most importantly patience.

I knew after my year of work experience that I definitely wanted to become a teacher. I was ready for the challenges university would bring and excited to face them head on. I believe that through my experience as both a pupil and a student helper I have gained the attributes needed to succeed and hopefully one day become the teacher and role model my students look up to.