As part of my first year placement at university, I undertook one week placement at a primary school. This experience has made me certain that teaching children is what I would definitely like to do in future. Throughout the week, I have been involved in supporting learning in classes, evaluating myself and my peer, communicating effectively with staff member and pupils and carrying out observation tasks.

Strengths

During my time in placement, I was involved in working with children in small groups. This experience has provided me with a chance to interact and get to know the children well. One of my strengths would be supporting the children and listening carefully to the responses they make.

Area of Most Progress

I worked in a primary 4 class which had children with mixed abilities. Interacting with these children during my one week placement has enabled me to understand that all children develop differently and have their own strengths and weaknesses. By understanding that every table within the classroom was working at a different level, I was able to use language which was suitable for each group. Interacting with the children and staff within the primary school has helped to build up my confidence at communicating. I feel that I have made the most progress in building up my confidence to communicate well with staff members and pupils.

Area Requiring Progress

An area which I need to work on is the pace of my voice while speaking to a large group; I tend to speak quicker when I am nervous.

Action Plan

I feel I need more experience in speaking in front of a large group to help me develop into a confident presenter. Presenting in front of my friends and family would be a good starting point to allow me to slow down the pace of my voice whilst speaking to a large group of audience.