I’m sure we can all agree that by February or March this year we were entirely fed up of lectures, tutorials and essays. In fact, I felt so fed up that I began to question why I was doing all of it in the first place. And then, placement came along…

Being back in the classroom, doing the job I love is just the reminder that I needed to keep me focused on my end goal and remind me why I sat through all of those lectures this year. I did it all because I love teaching, I always have. The great buzz of energy you feel when you stand in front of your class and they are looking back at you totally engrossed in what you are telling or teaching them. The ‘eureka’ moment that you see spread across a child’s face when they finally understand something they have been working on for weeks. These moments are why I love being a teacher.

Being back in the classroom this time was greatly different to before. Previously I had just been in the classroom for work experience for around a week with very little responsibility. This time around I was there for much longer with much greater responsibility and this contributed to the experience being far more rewarding. During my 6 weeks at my school I was able to see the children progress and grow. This is something which I had previously not encountered but it brought me great joy to be able to see this.

The behaviour issues in my class, and generally within the school, were extremely challenging. I felt my own skill set was really put to the test, and I had to expand my knowledge using reading. I feel my behaviour management strategies have improved greatly and I look forward to using them again and seeing how they work in different settings.

Planning lessons was a very enjoyable task for myself. I loved trying to make them exciting and engaging and used my memories of school, both good and bad, to help me to do this. It was good to look deeper into lessons which I remember and understand why I was taught in a certain way.

I now understand my own school teachers so much more. Situating myself in their role I was able to see that everything that they did was for me and my fellow peers. Every time they raised their voices slightly, wouldn’t let us chat or gave us some sort of a sanction they were doing it all to help us. To help us achieve, learn and do well in life. I could not see that as a child, but now I can, and because of this I have such great respect for them all and everything that they did for me which allowed me to be in the position I am now.

My highlight from my placement was the day of my Summative Visit. The children had been warned to be on their best behaviour as we had a visitor coming into the class. Many of the children knew that it was “Miss Burnetts boss” coming back again. They did themselves and myself proud, their behaviour was great and they engaged in the lesson and the task. I was so pleased that they had did this for me so that I could do well. And whilst I was showing my tutor out of the school my class teacher had shared with them that I was being assessed and that I had passed my placement. Earlier in the day the children and teacher had made me a card and they presented it to me when I returned to the class. As they were giving me a card they decided to sing ‘happy birthday’ which really took me by surprise. The children were so happy for me, hugging me and saying ‘well done’, giving me a cheer. They were happy that I had succeeded and wanted success for me, the same way in which I wanted success for them in their school endeavour. This was the best part of my placement, knowing that I had made such a positive impact on these children that they wanted me to succeed.

I can’t say that I am happy to have finished with placement, although I am going to enjoy some long lies. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and feel I have gained and learned so much from the experience. Ahead of me is another year of lectures and I suspect I will have the same feeling again of questioning. I will remind myself to look back at this placement and the joy I felt during it, using this as motivation to keep going. It will be another two years before I will be back in the classroom and I hope that they fly in, until then I will continue with my studies all the while keeping in mind my goal, of being back in the classroom doing the job that I love and hope to be doing for years to come.