A) Identifying Skills and Abilities
Activity 1
(1=Not very well developed; 3=very well developed)
| Skills and Abilities | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Self confidence | x | ||
| Set personal goals | x | ||
| Team work | x | ||
| Make presentations | x | ||
| Take notes | x | ||
| Be creative | x | ||
| Problem solve | x |
Activity 2
| Recognition | Reflection | Action |
| Skills already developed | How I will use these | How do I know (evidence)** |
| Setting personal goals | I intend on setting reasonable goals that I aim to achieve. My plan is to push myself to work hard in order to succeed. | In the past, I’ve given myself goals, and targets to reach. With my competitive nature, I’ve always tried to be the best that I can be. I worked very hard to obtain the grades I wanted in school, high grades in piano and violin, and also dancing and sport. |
| Team work | These skills I’ve picked up from other experience will benefit me greatly when working in groups with other students, and when I’m on placement, and eventually become a teacher. | I’ve spent the past six years in various orchestras in Fife, not only learning how to perfect my violin playing, but how to work well with others, share my knowledge and learn from others. |
| Take notes | In lectures, it’s important to take notes of what the lecturer is saying, and important information that I know I’ll want to read over later and potentially use in future presentations or assignments. | In school, in Higher Modern Studies, my teacher taught the class at an extremely fast pace, leaving no time to really take in what was being said. The best way I found to learn was by taking the most important things she said, scribbling them down and then later on going back and consolidating all the information. |
| Being creative | Being creative will be invaluable in teaching children, as it’ll give me many opportunities and avenues to inspire the children. I’ll be able find different ways to engage and stimulate children of different abilities, depending on what interests them. | I have always been a very creative person. I enjoy imaginative writing, all types of art, music and drama. When thinking about what I wanted to do when I left school, I considered being an art teacher and music teacher. I couldn’t teach one and not the other and much preferred the idea of being able to teach all my skills and passions. |
| Recognition | Reflection | Action |
| Skills to be developed | How I will develop these | How do I know (evidence) ** |
| Self confidence | I’d say there’s always room for improvement when it comes to my confidence. I need to work on believing in myself a bit more. This can be achieved by participating more in lectures when asked questions or our opinions. | This was particularly highlighted when studying maths in school. I would get the right answer, but not believe it was correct until I’d be shown the answer and the working out. I’d always be convinced it was wrong, and had no faith in my own ability. |
| Make presentations | Practice. Practicing speaking in front of others, pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Making sure I know everything about the topic I’m talking about. | I have struggled in the past with speaking in public. I’ve been told I have a natural ability for it , however I would often get myself very worked up at the thought of giving a talk or presentation. |
| Problem solving | Practice thinking systematically, and start trying to think outside the box and realise not everything is black and white. | I’ve struggled with problem solving, in relation to maths and science. I’d say I’m improving in thinking rationally and that in its self is helping. |
