During my week at placement I had a really good time and it opened me up to a wide range of new ideas which are being used in the classroom today. The teacher who I was with was a lovely woman who helped me at every moment she could. She made me feel very welcome within her class and got me engaging in activities with the children at every possible opportunity. When in the classroom, the children were engaged in lots of different practical activities in all subject areas. The most practical lessons were in literacy as the children were learning new sounds and instead of sitting around a table and writing, the children were busy doing practical activities such as working with play-dough, using an iPad to engage in the Jolly Phonics apps (allows the children to work at their own pace while it still being seen as fun), and one of the groups of children got to work at the smart board and play games on Education City.

Overall, I feel my placement was very successful. I learned a lot of new things and got to experience lots of different kinds of lessons and work practically which children which I couldn’t do while sitting in a lecture or workshop at university. I now look forward to going into second year so that I can gain more experience in classrooms, get the opportunity of taking a class on my own and planning lessons arounds the needs of that class.

Strength

Throughout my time on placement, I feel my area of strength was getting involved with the children and really getting down onto their level. I got the chance to work in small groups of children in different curricular areas such as numeracy and literacy. During a maths lesson, I took a small group of children who were working on the number four. As this was the first time of them being introduced to it we worked on activities (such as, number formation on whiteboards and physically counting objects to familiarise them with how many four is). This is to get the children familiar with the number by doing practical activities. These practical activities, I found, were very useful for the children as they were learning in a fun context. This also proves not as challenging to children who are still unable to hold a pencil properly and it still gives them the experience of learning and exposing all the children to the new concept. Through observing these practical activities, I feel like I have gained useful and relevant experiences which I can take on and apply to my next teaching practices.

Area of most progress

At the beginning of placement I feel as if I wasn’t very confident when being asked to lead/take a large group of children. However, during this placement, I had the opportunity to go on a class trip to the local Tesco for a ‘Farm to Fork, visit. This trip was very informative to both myself and the children as it was encouraging he children to try new healthy foods which they may not have had the opportunity to try before (and I got to try a few snacks too). The visit also allowed the children to see where food is made and where it comes from. We went into the bakery and watched them making pancakes (and the children even got to take one home with them). We also walked around the back of the store to see where the food was stored and kept in the fridges and freezers. During this visit, the teacher had to split the class into two groups as the class was too large to take around the store in one go. The teacher asked if I would feel comfortable with taking a group around (with the help of a parent helper) as I had got to know the children earlier on in the week and she trusted me with making sure they would behave and set a good example for the school.

Area Requiring Progress

The area I feel still requiring progress after this placement is my ability to speak up more when talking to staff. In the staffroom I talked a little bit however I feel I could have spoken more and engaged in more conversation to make me look more interested in what was going on.  Sometimes when I sat in the staffroom I would keep to myself with my arms folded instead of opening up my body and look as if I wanted to talk. I was very nervous when I was in the staffroom as I had never sat in a staffroom as a student teacher before and it was full of people whom I had never met before and they had never met me.

Action Plan

I am going to build up my confidence in unfamiliar situations with adults by putting myself into situations which I do not feel comfortable in and make an effort with them. By doing this, I feel I will be more confident to speak up and engage in conversation with other staff members. This should make me look more open and confident when in an unfamiliar environment and seem more open to talking to other staff members.