Category Archives: 3.1 Teaching & Learning

My 1st Placement Experience!

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!

Reflection on Drama TDT

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I found this video explaining a Drama lesson very helpful. It gave me a real insight into how to structure a drama lesson and made me feel more confident in planning a lesson based around drama. It starts off explaining that you should have a “Drama Contract” with the pupils as it helps with behaviour management. This helps to keep the children on task and provides a stimulus of reflection for the teacher. If the lesson gets out of control or something goes wrong the teacher can look back at what went wrong and what part of the “Drama Contract” the pupils did not stick to, equally so if something goes right.

In the video it then explains the importance of a warm-up in drama and how beneficial it is. The leaders of the lesson explain that it helps to ready the mind and the body for the activities that are planned for the lesson. Later in the video the participants in the class start to make like between drama and other subjects such as literacy. This really helped to open my eyes to the fact that you don’t just have to have a lesson only based on drama, you can relate other subjects into your drama lesson. An example of this could be if the pupils were learning about World War 2 you could structure drama lesson around this. This could be done by getting the children to act out children getting taken away from their mothers or getting them to act out a scene where everyone has just found out the war is over. By doing this is allows the pupils to understand the emotions and events that occurred throughout the war.

By structuring the lesson in this way it helps to give the teacher a step by step guide as to how the lesson will go. In saying that a practitioner also need to be flexible as the lesson may not always go to plan as there may some pupils leaving class to go on a trip. By having a well-planned lesson it also helps the teacher keep focus which therefore also helps to keep the pupils focus. This is because if the teacher is seen to be focused and on task this sets an appropriate example to the children which in turn keeps them on task.

Dance Workshop

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Going into the dance workshop today I was pretty apprehensive into what it was going to entail as I am not the best dancer and have hardly any rhythm! Despite this I had a great time and had a real laugh throughout. It was not only a learning experience but also allowed me to get to know others in my class.

The workshop really gave me an insight into what dance in primary school is like and how it can be adapted to relate to many other subjects within the curriculum. It helped to show me that it doesn’t have to be overly complicated and the teachers don’t have to always do a lot of demonstrating. In fact it is sometimes better to allow the children to come up with their own moves as it allows them to use their imagination. As someone who is not at all into dancing and never has been it was quite worrying for me that I potentially might have to teach children how to dance/routines. However Eilidh reassured me that there is many different and creative ways of teaching it and that it doesn’t always have to be a set routine.

A key message I took from today’s workshop is that dance does not always have to entail a set routine that you have to teach the kids. Dance can be taught in a variety of creative ways and can be linked into many different topics and subjects. I also learnt from Eilidh that dance can be understood by everyone whether you are deaf or speak another language as all you need to do is show someone an action for them to get involved and understand. I will definitely take this into placement as I don’t know what challenges I may face or what different types of children may be in my class. I also learned throughout this workshop to be a bit more relaxed and confident as it doesn’t matter if I look a bit ridiculous as long as I have fun, look confident and make sure the kids have fun and learn something that’s all that’s important.