Amongst the fun of seeing my friends again came the realisation I would actually be teaching a class of up to 30 children in a few weeks!
Dance Workshop – Eilidh Slattery
I was really looking forward to this workshop, particularly because the expressive arts weren’t a huge part of my personal primary curriculum in Northern Ireland. The thought of having to teach dance sat well with me as it is something I really enjoyed, however I didn’t realise how connected it was to the other areas of the curriculum! A particular point that stood out to me was when Eilidh made us think of various ways to travel across the room. Some ways were very basic like walking and running, while some were more advanced like rolling across the floor or cartwheeling. Although this was a funny task seeing what everyone decided to do, I didn’t really see the connection until Eilidh pointed it out. Everybody has their own ways and methods of solving problems and approaching tasks; some may be easy, and some may be more complicated, however we all have our own preferences. Some things may work and some things may not work, but the best approach is to keep trying until you find the best one for you – just like our travelling across the room.
Professional Practice
Placement is likely the most exciting, yet nerve wracking thing for student teachers, and it really hit home how much responsibility I’ll be having in the classroom. I really need to make the most of every opportunity and really get involved with my pupils on my first placement. I need to allow myself to be nervous as this will be the first time I am teaching full lessons so I have to remember I will never be perfect at it and I will make mistakes, the important thing is learning from them for my future pupils.
