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Reflections on Placement

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Over the past two weeks, I have been on my very first Primary School placement as a university student. It was a very enjoyable and rewarding yet also challenging experience. It certainly opened my eyes to the different levels of learning and also the struggles some children face in education. The placement really helped me identify my strengths and also my areas of development which will help me in the future as I can overcome them.

STRENGTH: 

A strength that I identified during my two week placement was that I am very enthusiastic. When speaking to the children from P1-P7, I made sure that I was showing interest in what they were saying to me. For example, if  a child was telling me about their work in a lesson I would ensure I would listen and ask questions etc. When a child would get an answer correct I would congratulate them and give them a little bit of praise so they could keep up the good work. When children got questions wrong, some would get upset and angry at themselves – for example, one girl said to me “I’m so stupid” just because she got a question wrong – but I ensured them its alright and explained how they would do the question to get the right answer. Once they done the question correctly they felt relived and happy. I always ensured I approached every child with a warm welcoming smile. In the playground I always encouraged children to be active and where acceptable be involved – for example, one day me and some learning support workers brought out the parachute and played games with the children using it.

AREA OF MOST PROGRESS:

The area which I identified as having the most progress over the two week placement experience was my confidence. Although I do see myself as a confident person, stepping into a new environment my confidence levels are not as high as they normally are. At the start of the two weeks I was scared incase I would say the wrong thing to staff and pupils. I was scared and nervous to ask teachers for help in the beginning but as the days went on my confidence levels began to increase and I felt more comfortable in the ‘new’ environment. My confidence levels did see a lot of progress but it is something I believe I can work on so my confidence is at its highest all the time.

AREA REQUIRING PROGRESS:

An area which I think I still need to work on is the hiding of my emotions. I am a person who finds it hard to hide their emotions which can be challenging when working with children. For example, if I was annoyed at a child it would be difficult for me to hide this or if I got on with a child more than the other I would also find it hard to hide this which could portray favouritism in the class and could affect other children’s learning. As the days went on I learnt to treat every child as equals but I think I can still work on this in the future as it does need a lot of progress still.

ACTION PLAN: 

Going forward I plan on working on my confidence levels and hiding my emotions. I believe, the only way this can be achieved is through time and experience. Putting myself in situations I normally wouldn’t put myself in to step out my comfort zone will really help build my confidence levels.

Reflection on Communication in Other Environments

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GROUP AND LEADERSHIP: 

Was there a group leader?

Within my group I believe there was no individual that was the group leader as we were all equals in this task and there was no one who was ‘superior’ to the others.

How was this chosen?

A group leader wasn’t chosen because we felt that we all worked and contributed equally.

How did this impact on the rest of the group e.g. was there some underlying resentment/did anyone feel excluded?

Not having a designated group leader helped people feel more at ease and more comfortable with sharing their ideas. I felt like if we did have a group leader some people may have felt a little constrained and felt like they weren’t able to have their say. I also feel like we wouldn’t have made such a successful den if we had a group leader that could have potentially only voiced their opinion. In our group everyone really got along and made sure everyones ideas were heard and that no one was excluded. Everyone was always doing something to contribute to the task set which made our team work really effective.

What was most challenging for you working in this group?

To be truly honest, i didn’t have any challenges working in the group I was a part of. I really felt we all worked really well together and used our time together wisely and effectively. All in all I believe we were a group that worked well together and had a laugh but made sure the task at hand was completed which made it much more enjoyable!

 

EXPLAINING: 

How clearly did you think the group explained to you? 

I thought my group explained to me what they were doing very clearly. There was always a reason behind ideas and why they would be suitable to what we were doing. If it didn’t work out we found a way to resolve it and it was always backed with an explanation. For example, we had boxes but some of the group members had the idea that if we flattened out the boxes they could be used more effectively. Overall, myself and the group explained things to one another very clearly which helped eliminate any miscommunication between the group.

What made this clear or unclear? 

Our group were really good at communicating with one another. We were able to stop and listen when someone was speaking and not interrupting them so we could clearly understand their explanation behind their meaning.

What stages of the 5Ps might have been missed out?

My group and I were really effective and I feel like none of the 5Ps were missed out in this task.

ENVIRONMENT:

What was the impact of the environment on your communication? 

The day we carried out the task it was quite windy, so this impacted our communication to one another as sometimes we weren’t able to hear one another clearly because of the rustling of the trees etc. Also when a person was in the den it was sometimes harder to hear what they were saying when someone was standing outside of the den.

What changes did you make when explaining to others that you might not have considered in a typical classroom? 

When explaining to others my ideas, i made sure we were all standing in a circle so we were all listening to one another and one thing that Louise mentioned that she would do when teaching outdoors was that she would find an area that didn’t have a lot of distractions. When explaining to others in this situation it was more informal. However, in a classroom I feel like I would have had to make the classroom come to a complete stop to ensure everyone was listening but in the outdoor situation if we didn’t gather in a circle we were all still carrying out our roles and really making sure we listened to one another and asked questions where necessary.

How challenging was it so speak above the sounds in the environment?  How can we make this communication easier on both speaker and listener?

The wind was a challenge, so was the trees rustling and also the birds making sounds. We could make communication easier on both the speaker and the listener by ensuring that when we are talking maybe come closer in a circle like I mentioned before and make sure everyone can hear one another.

When listening, did the environment distract you? How can we overcome this?

Sometimes when listening the environment did sometimes distract me. For example, when we were talking we saw a squirrel run by and then also we were in the woods so we a lot of sticks that we could step on or trip on etc. We could overcome this by really focussing in on what our peers are saying. Even if I was the speaker I could politely ask my peers, “do you understand what I was saying?” or “did you hear that?”.

NEGOTIATIONS: 

Were your negotiations successful? Why/Why not?

Our negotiations were not as successful as we wanted them to be. We first sent 2 of our group members to go and negotiate a piece of our equipment that we felt was not very vital for building our den. The 2 came back and were not successful. We then decided (after we felt we were happy with the den and it was complete) to go and negotiate as a full team as maybe we could be more stronger if we stood together. Our attempt again was unsuccessful. People believe that every piece of equipment they had was really vital to the building of their den. A lot of the groups were struggling which I think came down to the fact that they chose to build their den in the open and we decided to go deeper into the woods and really utilise the surroundings!

What was most challenging about these?  

Nothing about the negotiations were challenging as we didn’t really need anything as we used the equipment that we had to its potential. Doing this made our den building successful and we built something together as a team that was actually really good!

 

BA1 Education Week 1

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Before my first week at UWS, I was quite nervous and anxious to start my course. I was worried about meeting new people and being in a different environment as I had been so comfortable for 6 years with people I had gotten to know very well so changing to this new environment was quite scary. I then began to come to the realisation that everyone was in the exact same position as me so it made the first week a little less scary and put me at ease (just a little bit though, I was still very very nervous).

From my first week, I will always remember the ‘Getting to Know You’ Workshop with Angela. Going into the Performance Studio was very nerve wracking due to the fact that there were seats set out in a big circle which was very intimidating because you were so exposed to everyone else which was uncomfortable and awkward. As the workshop went on it became less and less awkward as we played ice breakers and really got to know one another and found some interesting facts about each other. Angela really made the whole process easier as she is such a bubbly and lovely person and really wants you to be more confident in yourself! I really enjoyed this workshop and think that in the future my confidence levels and self esteem will definitely increase due to Angela’s workshop which will really help me for placement.

Overall my first week at UWS was very enjoyable but it will certainly take a while to get used to the new environment because it is so different to my time in high school but I can’t wait for my time on the course!