During the last two weeks of school placement I have learned a lot about myself and the school enviroment. I was able to experience every level of the curriculum and allowed myself lots of time to reflect. This experience allowed me to gain new skills and experiences that will help me on my path to be coming the teacher that I want to be. I feel my confidence has grown in many ways from being able to talk infront of groups of children to being able to make conversation in the staff room. However, this experience allowed me to identify certain aspects of communication I need to work on. Overall, this experience has allowed me to reflect on all of my strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

Over my time on placement I identified many strengths I have. One of my strengths was having good use of eye contact. From this I felt like I was able to ensure the pupils were listening and engaged in the conversation I was having with them. By engaging them I was able to make sure they were gaining the best quality of learning and that any “straglers” to the class were pulled right back in to the conversation. Another strength I identified was my use of body language. From day one in the school I made sure that my body languae showed that I was willing to learn and help further the education of the children. As I was so open this made it easy for children to come to me and ask me any questions they were stuck on. They saw me as a teacher figure when they’re own teacher was out the class.

Area of Most Progress

I personal felt like I most progressed on my confidence. Before going on placement I was very shy and always reluctent to answer questions during classes or offer my opinion. On placement I was able to communication and take the role as a leader in many group situations. I feel that this has helped me improve my confidence and I will no longer be as afraid to speak out infront of others.

Area Requiring Progress

One major area that I require progress in is making sure I use less filler words. Through out my placement i found myself stutter with my words and filling it in with “um” or “like”. I found in many cases this confused children and made it harder for them to understand my explanations. I also dicovered that I found it very difficult to stop certain children “taking over” group lessons. It would always be the same children leading and the same children sitting quietly. This would overall have an effect on the quieter childrens learning.

Action Plan

My action plan is to continue to work and focus on improving my weaknesses. I can continue to grow my confidence by practising speaking infront of large groups even if this is my friends or family. Also, I will try my best to make sure I am confident in what I am saying so I do not feel the need to add in filler words to support me. I aim to also use eye contact and good body language consistenly to ensure children that I get to teach are always engage in the lesson.