Category Archives: edushare

Professional Reflection

Trying to reflect back on the whole and individual parts of semester 1 is incredibly hard. September brought about change for me, I became a university student, and moved away from home, into a flat with 12 complete strangers, and began the course that I have always dreamed of doing. However, starting university came with challenges, like making friends, going to lectures and having to understand that at university, nothing is spelled out for you, and that you have to take the time to figure it out for yourself.

My biggest challenge last semester, was trying to understand the brief for the values essay, when I first saw it, I was mind boggled, I had absolutely no idea as to how to tackle it. But eventually it became clear, after it being explained. The essay made me think about my values and how I see the world. After spending my summer working with children with additional support needs, and then getting a job in Dundee with adults with additional support needs, I knew that I wanted to write my essay about: values and disability. I felt that with my personal knowledge and understanding of how these people go about their day to day lives, I could write about it, and how things are changing for them in the world, but how teachers need to be more accepting of the ranging disabilities, and how we need to make a classroom “equal”. I wrote my essay, sent it away and waited patiently for a month and a bit for the results to arrive. But when the time came and I got my results, it was not what I was expecting, I was heartbroken, and emailed the tutor who marked it straight away to arrange a meeting.

The meeting made things very clear for me. I was informed that my academic writing was not where it should be, and that I need to work on it. This made me think, my academic writing has never been the best, although I do know I have come a long way in the past few years. This essay has made me realise that I still have a while to go, before my essay writing skills will ever be close to “perfect”. However, I know that from the comments that have been made, and the services around me, I will eventually be able to write an essay worth a high grade. Whilst also learning that it’s not about treating those within a classroom equally, it’s about treating them equitably.

reflection

The process of reflection is becoming a key aspect of my future career. In order for me to follow the standards for registration I must show continuous development within my career, and therefore the process of reflection will allow me to continually further myself as a professional. Reflecting will allow me to build on anything and everything I’ve done within my life, at university, and when the time comes on placement, it will provide me with the chance to become the best person and teacher I can be.

OLA and NOMA

Throughout my time in further education I am encouraged to further my literacy and numeracy skills by participating in the Online Literacy Assessment and the National Online Maths Assessment. These two assessments are made accessible so that I can measure my capabilities, as well as show me where I need to make improvements in my knowledge.

I first did the NOMA. Like a lot of people, I struggle with maths greatly and have never overly enjoyed it , this could be down to teachers in the past, or just struggling with it in general. Once  I sat down to do the assessment however, I realised that I knew a lot more than I give myself credit for, although there is still time for me to make improvements, I was immensely satisfied with my result.

Secondly I did the OLA a few weeks later. I felt slightly more confident about doing this assessment, but at the same time still anxious. I know that these assessments are not necessarily important, but at the same time they are important to my development and ensuring that I will be an effective teacher when the time comes. The OLA assessment was easy regarding spelling, however I struggled more with the grammar side of it, but overall I feel that the assessment went well and showed me where to make improvements in my grammar.

Overall, I found the tests very helpful and will continue to further my knowledge in order for me to become a successful teacher in the future. I will publish my results on my blog for people to access if they wish to find out how I have done, and then see development in the future.

Why I chose teaching.

Teaching to me is not just a career, it’s a chance to work with children and change their future for the better; to provide them with the essential skills they need in life to become confident individuals, successful learners, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

From a young age I was surrounded by children of all different ages, due to the fact that I was sent to a childminder. This provided me with a sense of closeness with other children, and allowed me to build friendships with a variety of people. I feel that this allowed me to become more confident in socialising with people, and as I became older helped me to realise that working with children was where I belonged.

Throughout my time at school, both primary and secondary, I was involved in Guiding. Again, this helped me make friends with people of all different ages, but also welcomed me into a community. I was involved in Brownies and Guides, and soon realised in my second or third year of being in Guides, that I wanted to go back to my old Brownie unit and help as a young leader. My old unit welcomed me back with open arms, and allowed me to be a guide helper. I stayed with this unit until I moved to Dundee, and it was some of the best years of my life. Working with the girls in the unit, further expanded my desire to work with children in a primary school environment. I know that an hour and a half a night, for one night a week is completely different to 6/7 hours in a primary school, 5 days a week. However, due to the fact I was with the unit for so long I saw a great variation of girls go through, and was able to see how they developed from seven year olds, to ten year olds, and how the slightest thing I did, could make an impact on them and the way they behaved and grew as people.

However, in the lead up to University, Guiding was not the only work experience I participated in, and throughout my time at school I completed several placements in primary schools.

The experiences I had in my primary school placements reassured me that teaching was what I wanted to do in my future, and that there was nothing more I wanted to do. Throughout each of my four separate placements I could always see minor improvements in the children I worked with. When I did see a child improving their skills, knowledge or understanding, it provided me with a certain sense of joy – a type of joy that I have never come across in my day to day life -, a feeling that I believe you cannot achieve unless you work with children. That feeling for me, is what I believe to be another key driving reason as to why I wanted to become a teacher.

The last factor that contributes to why I want to be a teacher, relates to my education. I’ve just finished my 13 years of schooling, and I’ve seen a wide range of different teaching styles, as well as a variation of quality of teaching. But, I know that to make a positive change in a person, or even in myself, a good teacher is sometimes all thats necessary; a teacher that you will never forget, a teacher that changes your life forever. I want to be that teacher for future generations, I want to inspire and create a positive future for children, and encourage them to believe that they can do anything, no matter what background they come from. I want to be the caring adult that leads children to becoming success stories, and embracing who they are as people in society and in their personal lives.screen-shot-2016-09-14-at-21-49-11

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