Strengths

Throughout my placement it was evident I had some different communication strengths. My strengths were mainly found within verbal communication as I was able to very my pitch and tone when reading a book. This ensured the children were engaged and it brought some enthusiasm into the reading. When reading what different characters were saying I was able to use tone and pitch to show what character was talking. The children loved this and it kept them follow on with the reading. I also had good use of facial expressions, not just within reading but during different lessons and even just when speaking to children and lunch or break times. I ensured I smiled as much as possible which encouraged the children to like me which also helped them to respect me more as a teacher.

Area of most progress

Over the two weeks my confidence grew a lot. At the start of my first week in was quite shy and struggled to participate in conversations within the staff room and with the children. As the time went on and I got to know the school, pupils and teachers better I was able to interact more with teachers and pupils. I also had the opportunity to take a short lesson which got me really involved with the children and they were relying on me therefore I had to be confident to show I knew what I was talking about. By the end of my placement I had no worries getting interacting with conversation within the staffroom. I was also confident in speaking to all the children and offering support to the pupils, class teacher, classroom assistant and the overall school.

Area of requiring progress

From my feedback I can see that I need to work on adding in more hand gestures. I found that I would usually just have my hands by my side or behind my back. This may have been caused due to nerves and during tasks such as reading it was hard to incorporate hand gestures. At the beginning of my placement I tried using hand gestures when talking to the children however I felt like it distracted them so I struggled to continue using gestures throughout my placement. Thinking back my hand gestures may have been overpowering therefore this is why the children were focusing on the gestures more than what I was saying therefore I need to find out different strategies to improve this.

Action plan

I will continue my strengths and plan to work on my development needs by seeking help and advice from my peers, tutors, academic sources and real life experiences.