Placement was a time for me to get a real insight into every small step that goes into teaching a child. It clarified to me that this is something that I am very passionate about pursuing. Although not all aspects of my placement were positive I learned a lot and it was a great experience. While on placement for the short week many aspects of the ongoings in the school shocked me, this made the experience more realistic and beneficial to me.
Strength
A strength that became apparent to me whilst on placement is my enthusiasm in the classroom. When I was telling a story or explaining a question it was noted that I was enthusiastic, I used facial expressions and tone. I think this made the children feel involved and more interested in the story. Once I was made aware that the class teacher had picked up on this it made me feel more confident and it encouraged me to continue doing this.
Area of Most Progress
During my first few days on placement I identified that I was not leaving enough time for the children to answer a question or recognise a word. After I noticed that the pupils were able to give an answer, whether it be right or wrong, when I paused for longer after asking a question I was pleasantly surprised. I felt that previously I had waited too long for a response, therefore once this was apparent I adapted and made a conscious effort to give them all the time they needed. This made a huge difference and more of the children were able to put their hands up and participate making the question time more beneficial for both them and me.
Area Requiring Progress
One area in particular that I (and my mentoring teacher) feel requires the most work is my pace when talking to the children. It was noticed that while I was interacting with the pupils I often spoke to fast for them to process and understanding the information. This lead to confusion at times amongst the children, and it meant that I had to repeat myself on occasion.
Another area that I need to work on is my word choice when explaining questions or stating information to children. After trial and error I noted that some statements, such as ‘subtraction’, caused confusion between the pupils and so I had to simplify it for the them.
Action Plan
In the future I aim to slow down my pace when talking to children purely through practice. By videoing myself speaking, I will be able to watch it back and point out where I need to slow down. By making this conscious effort hopefully it will become habit and I will constantly start to speak slower so that the children understand.
Also through practice I will start to use more ‘child friendly’ terms in the classroom. This in turn will mean that the lesson will be more effective and the children all get more out of it. I understand that the stage the class are at will depend on the language that I could use, however in future I will aim to identify this and plan ahead the appropriate terms to use before entering the classroom.
