For this placement please submit your professional practice goals and make clear reference to the SPR standard that you wish to address. Your choice of goals must be accompanied by justification of choice.
I feel like my first goal could be related in some sense to a number of the SPR standards however I am going to link it to the first, professional values and personal commitment. One of my goals for this placement is to build more professional relationships with pupils and to gain their trust and respect to allow them to see me as a teacher and not just a friend or helper. I found that while on work experience pupils treated me much differently than their teacher. I often found children speaking to me about things they would perhaps only speak to their friends about. I do think however this attitude could have been partially influenced by me attending in school uniform and being introduced as a high school student. I also feel that personally I held back lots within the classroom as I was often placed in the corner to watch and although I wanted to get involved I perhaps didn’t put myself out there enough. I hope that while on placement I push myself to get fully involved in all classroom activities.
My second goal is in relation to section 3.2.2 (Develop positive relationships and positive behaviour strategies). Although developing positive relationships is similar to my first goal, I feel like developing behaviour strategies to manage behaviour is something I do feel particularly anxious about as behaviour management is not something I feel like I have much experience or knowledge about. I hope to achieve this goal through further reading and applying this knowledge to my practice.
3.1.3 Employ a range of teaching strategies and resources to meet the needs and abilities of learners, I have chosen to relate my third goal to this section of the SPR. Through previous experience I understand that children learn differently and what suits one child may not suit another although I noticed this in the classroom I wasn’t particularly aware of different ways to address issues which may arrive through preferred learning styles and different abilities. I want to improve my knowledge on this area as I feel that unless I improve and understand the needs of each learner as an individual my lessons may not be as effective as they could potentially be.
