Placement definitely allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of how a school is run and what goes into a teachers daily routine.

Starting on the Monday I was nervous about the new experience I was going to participate in. I had prepared all my placement tasks and any questions that I wanted to ask the teacher. Walking into the massive school reception was overwhelming at first however by remaining calm and reminding myself of good communication strategies and tips I was able to make a positive first impression.

In the class I was based in the children were aged between 7 and 8 years old. This was an age range that I had little experience working with. Providing me with an exciting challenge for the week ahead. throughout the week I had many opportunities to take part in class activities, speak to and observe the pupils, interact with my peer partner and other staff members as well as working with small groups of children covering different areas of the Curriculum for Excellence. By doing this I was able to identify communication strengths and areas that I needed to develop.

Strength

A communication strength that I identified was being able to effectively and positively interact with children. I used an appropriate pace, pitch and tone of voice when speaking to individual children or groups of children. I used an appropriate volume when talking to the children about the tasks they were about to participate in. One of the times I interacted with children during my weeks placement was when taking a small group of children and helping them to develop their knowledge on three-dimensional shapes. I feel that my HNC Early Education and Childcare course really helped me when discussing with the children the worksheet they were about to do. It helped me change my ways of communicating with individual children to suit their learning needs. I received positive feedback from my mentor and she observed that I was able to recognise individual childrens learning needs.

Area of Most Progress

Before going to placement I realised that I lacked confidence in speaking to other adults. I wanted to develop this skill. I done this by engaging with various members of staff during my placement. I avoided the temptation of using my mobile phone in the staff room and if I had any questions I asked someone, even if I thought the question was a bit silly. I have now realised that I do not need to shy away from social interactions with other adults and that everyone feels shy or lacks confidence at some point in their practice.

Area Requiring Progress

A communication area that I need to work on is trying not to use colloquialisms or missing “t’s” from my words during speech. I had never realised that I do this and was quite shocked when it was pointed out by the teacher and my peer partner. I especially had an issue pronouncing the word “Literacy” as I would miss out the “t”. throughout the week I tried my hardest to correct this issue and as the week went on it started to feel more natural to put emphasis on the “t” in words.

Action Plan

My action plan is to keep up to date with new polices and changes to the curriculum as this will help me in my teaching practice. I will also do more reading on different learning theories, personally I think it is very important to understand the various ways that children can learn and the influences that affect childrens learning.

I want to develop my confidence further and I can do this by answering out in class and taking part in various class activities were I need to present my ideas.

I also aim to speak better English. I can do this by asking my friendship group to observe the way I speak and give me constructive criticism on my pronunciation.

Placement

I know that teaching is what I want to do and placement reinforced this. This profession can be so rewarding and knowing you have helped a child learn a new concept not only develops that childs knowledge but develops us as people. Education is one of the keys to success in life and I want to help children on their journey to success.