I have been asked to set myself 3 goals to achieve throughout my upcoming placement which relate to the Standards for Registration. I consider myself quite experienced as a student in a classroom seeing as I have been attending a placement twice a week for two years prior to university. Thinking back to these placements however, I wouldn’t say I set myself particular goals to track and keep up on. I have considered my previous practice in schools and have come up with 3 areas which I would like to specifically focus on improving and developing through the next few weeks in my new placement. These are:

Behaviour Management

Behaviour management is something that many of my peers and myself have been somewhat worried about. It is very difficult to go into a placement and know how to handle a group of children you have never interacted with before. I am also not very experienced working with children who have tested me with negative behaviour. I have been very lucky in this way. I know that in my career I will at some point have to handle behaviour that makes me feel out of my comfort zone. The SPR has the following standards relating to behaviour management:

Show awareness of educational research and local and national advice, and demonstrate the ability to use a variety of strategies to build relationships with learners, promote positive behaviour and celebrate success.

Apply the school’s positive behaviour policy, including strategies for understanding and preventing bullying.

Know how and when to seek the advice of colleagues in managing behaviour.

Demonstrate the ability to justify the approach taken in managing behaviour.

Ways which I will over come this worry of going into placement and managing different behaviours in my class will be to discuss with the classroom teacher her ways of controlling children and helping them be at their best behaviour in school. I will also look into different strategies of behaviour management through the schools policies,  online and in books. I can then test these methods in class with the permission of my teacher and find the most beneficial one.

Classroom Presence

Something I have had a little bit of trouble with in the past is having a significant presence in the classroom. I have a very soft voice which can at times sounds timid and in a way wobbly! I know this will not work in a classroom of up to 30 kids! I think it is important that teachers show confidence and authority, and having a wishy washy voice does not give this vibe at all. The SPR say student teachers should:

Reflect on the impact of their personal method of communication on learners and others in the classroom.

I think that my normal tone of communication is not effective in providing a motivational experience for children at times, especially if I am trying to gain the attention of a noisy classroom. To combat this, I have learned some great tips from our Use of Voice input. I will use my diaphragm to project my voice and I will practice before placement a tone that is easy to hear and is loud enough to carry over a room. This will also help me not to strain my throat!

Effective Planning

For a teacher, planning is everything. Without planning a teacher may not provide the best possible learning experience for their pupils. Although I think I am good at completing work on time, I would like to make an extra effort to really understand what each child in my placement needs as far as support and level of work goes. This will help me plan tasks effectively, allowing a child to perform their best in return. The SPR says it is important for student teachers to:

Plan appropriately for effective teaching and in order to meet the needs of all learners, including learning in literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and skills for learning, life and work.

Effective planning will mean I will need to put a lot of work in to finding out what level a child is on, and then finding and making work that they will enjoy but also benefit from. My goal is to effectively plan level-based, appropriate activities for every child in my class.