Throughout my years in Primary School I looked up to teachers that introduced new ideas, taking risks to engage and inspire the class. I remember my primary seven teacher would often take us outside for outdoor learning, we would take part in drama and act out news reports and use technology to make short videos, etc. These were the types of lessons I enjoyed and still remember to this day.

During High School I got involved in Paired Reading, P7 transition days, mentoring children struggling in their first year classes and visited my local Primary School helping children with maths and literacy tasks. These opportunities reignited my interests in teaching as well as developing them.

I applied for College as I thought this would give me professional experience working with young children as well as a good understanding of issues, topics and laws/guidance related to children and young people. Through placement I was able to have responsibility over tasks I carried out which were beneficial to my own development as well as the childrens. I was able to make different types of observations, lead the class as well as smaller groups, build good relationships with the children as well as my mentor and carry out evaluative practice.

I also worked with children who needed more assistance when doing lessons and enjoyed seeing them grow in confidence and take pride in their work. There was one child who had English as an additional language and spoke very little of it at the start of the year. It was arguably easier to see her develop because of this and by the end of the year she was much more confident and well prepared to move onto the next phase of school. It took patience and different communication techniques but it was very rewarding seeing the progress she had made. I understood through the year the importance of my role in their learning and development and with my mentors guidance realised I had to apply again.