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I thoroughly enjoyed my BA1 placement as it gave me an insight on how a school works from the prospective of a teacher. I feel my experience was made even more rewarding and interesting  by the fact I was placed in a P4 class where ability and development varied extremely between the pupils and I was able to observe how the teacher dealt with this.

I have identified that when working in the primary school that my biggest strength was my ability to engage and interact with the pupils in the class. I felt at ease when doing this as I already have previous experience working with children in my job as a sports coach and dance teacher. I felt this was especially profound when I was in the playground as I was able to talk to them about subjects that then related to and had interest in, whilst still keeping a professionalism about it.

Reflecting back on my placement the area I have seen the most progress in is my confidence when addressing a large group of people; be it the pupils or staff. I feel this way as on my first day at the school I was very nervous when entering the staff room and kept myself to myself. However, as the week went on I spoke more to staff and felt comfortable asking them questions about the school and lessons.

I feel my ability to explain things in a way children comprehend is an area that I still need to develop and work on. I identified this after I was left with a group to introduce fractions to them and in particular halves and quarters. The group was of a low ability with three out of the four being dyslexic. I think the first day when I taught them I was possibly using words they didn’t understand and as a result they didn’t quite grasp the concept. As a result on the second day I came prepared with sheet with shapes on them for the children so they could physically half and quarter them. I believe this made it easier for the children as some of the group then grasped the basics of fractions.

 In order to improve my weakness, I will put a plan in place so that next time I am on a placement I am able to use better word choices and ways of teaching that are suitable to the individual pupil/group/class. As part of my action plan I have decided to read into maths terminology and how it progresses throughout the stages. I will also ask my fellow peers and teachers if they have any advice.  Finally, I will research the variety of resources that can be used for teaching different subjects to keep the pupil engaged.