Ellie's teaching eportfolio

January 24, 2020
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Importance of reflection

Although I passed my values and working together modules in semester one, I did struggle with my elective module; Politics and Public Policy. From the beginning I knew this wasn’t going to be a strong point of mines however, did not realize to what extent I would struggle with the Political essays. I failed my first essay, mainly due to the referencing, however, my content was not the strongest either. To develop my understanding of where I went wrong I met with my marker to get constructive feedback in more depth. In reflection, the mistakes I made were very small issues and could have been avoided if I had took more time to read up on Harvard referencing. However, the content was lacking due to my confusion on the topic in general. For my second political essay and my first essay for teaching, the values module in particular, I made it a goal of mine to completely understand Harvard referencing. This was done through Cite them right and mainly discussions with other students on how they understood and got to grips with the concept. For the content, I made sure to pick a question that I had a clear plan for, one which I had some background knowledge on.

In my values essay I felt a lot more comfortable with the content and reading as it was a genuine interest of mine. I also have my mum who is an Early Years Practioner who helped me develop the appropriate language I wanted to use. Although she works in a nursery and not a school, the same concepts can be used, for example GIRFEC and the SHANARRI wheel. Therefore, I did have more confidence in constructing and writing my values essay and in reflection I am very happy with my result.

January 21, 2020
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My experience of maths throughout school

In Primary School I never really struggled with maths, however I was never the best at it. I simply just worked my way through it by working hard. In Secondary School from first to third year I was moved between the top set and the second top set. Again I just slowly got through it by working hard. However, I began to struggle when I got to fourth year doing my national five maths. Between my teacher and my own confidence, I struggled to get to grips with it. My teacher was nice but did not explain things in the way I understood. I had to resit my national five maths in fifth year and finally passed with a grade B. My teacher this time round was totally different from my fourth year one, she was a lot more hands on which is what I needed. It still wasn’t easy for me to pass but I pushed through as I know I needed it for Primary Teaching. Although I always struggled with maths, I hope to be confident in teaching it.

October 4, 2019
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My Inspiration

Three main things that inspired me to become a teacher are the teachers I had throughout my education in primary, my mum and her career and lastly the reaction I received when I mentioned my interest in becoming a primary teacher. All five teachers I had throughout primary inspired me in a different way. From showing me the type of person a teacher needed to be to the type of teacher I wanted to be. When I applied to university for education, I remember thinking back to my primary six teacher, I realized she is what inspired me as she was the type of teacher I aimed to be. Approachable, understanding and almost like a second mum.

Secondly, my mum and her career as she has worked with children most of her life and always shares the experiences she has with them as an early years educator. Not only helping them progress academically but with confidence at Christmas plays or getting them to engage in a different area. This is what I hoped to do.

Lastly, whenever I told anyone, from teachers, family or friends that I wanted to be a primary teacher, their reaction confirmed it for me. It was 100% what I wanted to do. Everyone instantly said they could imagine me in a classroom teaching young children. Of course, after saying all that, I have always wanted to work with children and shape their futures. Personally, receiving that email on results day saying ‘there has been an update to your UCAS account’, quickly logging into see the “congratulations you have been accepted into Education” message, was the best feeling, knowing that in four years time ill be doing the job I always wanted.