1.4 Prof. Commitment | Emma Dempster's ePortfolio

I decided I would write a small reflection of how I felt about my 1st year placement and what I learned from it. I decided to do this so I could refer back to it at a later date and see how I have developed over the years. I was teaching a Primary 7 class that was quite challenging but thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Even though I enjoyed my placement, my time teaching and getting to know the pupils and the staff I felt very challenged during my placement. The school I was placed in was in a very deprived area in Dundee where the children had a number of home issues that would very often be brought into the classroom. My teacher informed me on what was going on in a lot of the pupils lives so I was prepared for any situation and so I was aware what pupils may be of a greater concern. My teacher informed me also of pupils who often struggled in the playground and may need a ‘quiet time’ after playtime or lunchtime to calm themselves down and refocus on the work they would have to complete. Pupils would take this ‘quiet time’ sitting at a desk outside the classroom door either colouring or just simply sitting with their head on the desk. I noticed that this benefited a lot of pupils as it allowed them to calm down and relax after what could have been a stressful time in the playground. My mentor and myself would always offer if the pupils wanted to discuss what happened in the playground that led to them needing to sit outside for ‘quiet time’. This allowed pupils to talk with us in a quiet and safe space without the fear of classmates overhearing how they felt or what had happened.

During my time on placement I learned very quickly that I had to build a solid and strong relationship with the pupils I was teaching as there were quite a few behavioural problems within the class. My teacher advised me that by building these strong and positive relationships with the pupils that they are more likely to respect me as an authority figure and listen to the instructions I give. Throughout my placement I feel I continued to develop a positive relationship with every pupil as many opened up to me about serious issues that they needed help with such as mental health issues that I then passed onto my teacher. I felt it was integral when having serious conversations with pupils that I informed them that I was going to have to tell my mentor so they did not feel I was betraying their trust or going behind their back in anyway. I faced many behavioural issues whilst teaching such as pencils being thrown violently during class time, physical and verbal fights and swearing directed at myself during class time. My mentor was a great help during all this as she prepared me previously about what to do in these situations and how to handle them with the most positive outcome. I definitely did struggle with behaviour management at first but I quickly developed these skills with the assistance of my class mentor, other members of staff and through research and academic reading.

I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from my placement. I saw how the topics we had discussed and learnt about in lectures applied to how I taught and dealt with particular situations within the school environment. It definitely improved my confidence in the sense of talking to the class and teaching as a whole. I am definitely nervous for my upcoming placement but having a great experience on placement the first time around eases my nerves more and gives me the confidence to do it all again!

On Tuesday I had my first workshop which I was really excited about as I didn’t quite know what to expect. We were told to split into different groups and each group was to sit at a separate table. Each group was then given an envelope each which had various different resources in it such as paper, pens and pencils. We were then informed that we were to come up with something that would make our first week on campus easier. We were then given 10 minutes to come up with an idea and present it to the rest of the workshop group. When we opened our envelope it contained two post-it notes, a sheet of white A4 paper, a strip of blu-tack, a pen, a pencil and a few paper clips.

In that time my group came up with a leaflet that contained a weekly planner for your first week on campus, important phone numbers, a mini campus map, a section on fun things to do and a notes section. We came up with this idea as we all felt that it would of been useful to have as we often felt like we were bombarded with too much information that it was a bit overwhelming at points.

We were then given two minutes to express our ideas to the rest of the groups. After we presented our ideas we didn’t really get any feedback from our lecturer which made us feel like our idea was not as good as the others. We then noticed a couple of the other groups were getting positive feedback on there idea and how they could maybe improve it.

We then had another ten minutes to use the resources we were given to come up with a prototype of our idea. After the ten minutes we then had two minutes to present our prototype. My group did not use the full two minutes and this is when we really noticed that we were being treated differently as our lecturer said to my group “is that it?”. We thought this was really rude and started to question why we were being treated differently to others. As time progressed we saw that other groups had a vast range of resources and materials when compared to us. Other groups had better materials such as coloured paper, plenty of pens and sellotape. When we were presenting our ideas we noticed our lecturer was more engaged and focused on groups with a better range of resources, this made us feel like our idea was not good enough and that we were a bit stupid. At the end of the task my group was given a score of 3/10 whereas other groups got 8/10. This is when we questioned our lecturer on why we scored a lot lower than other groups. We were then informed on what the task was really about and then we realised that the lecturer was making rude comments etc on purpose.

On reflection of this task I feel as if I am now more aware that these behaviours are sometimes displayed when they shouldn’t be. It definitely highlighted the fact that some children and schools are discriminated against due to their background. Our lecturer showed us behaviours that as a teacher but also as a good person that we should never display towards anyone. For myself it really made me think about how some schools do not receive as much resources as others and how it can be difficult it could be to come up with new and creative ideas for classes with only little amounts of resources. I also found that the groups with more resources did not notice that other groups had a smaller range of materials available to them. This displays how often people can be oblivious to others having less than them or to people who are struggling. As teachers we need to work to make sure this does not happen in the classroom as often teachers are put in a situation where some children do not have as much as others and they have to make sure that each child still has the same opportunities no matter their background. I believe it is important as teachers that we provide every child with an equal opportunities as some children may come from a more poverty stricken area than others so may not be able to afford as much as others. I think that as teacher we need to be especially aware of this as it can have a negative impact on a child’s learning as they may not want to come to school as they do not have as much resources and learning materials as others. If we become more aware of this it will then result in a more positive learning environment for children therefore improving their overall education.

My 1st Placement Experience!

Inequalities Task