Placement

Recently I had fulfilled a placement at Medlock primary school for the duration of 1 week, commencing 24th march. I was to shadow and assist Jen Brown who teaches a year one group.

My aim during the week was to understand the different ways of teachings, and being able to understand what it will be like in a different working environment from the one I am currently at. During this course, I hope to gain new skills, which will aid me and further boost my confidence for this particular career. Being able to take part as a teaching assistant will hopefully enable me to understand the difficulties I may face and how I will deal with them. I hope this placement will allow me to make a decision on whether this an ambition I wish to further pursue after university. Through this process, I wish to fulfil an experience that exposes the reality of a primary school teacher.

On my first day, I soon realised the many difficulties I would be facing, from speaking to the children in a way that would be understandable to them, to keeping them engaged and not distracting me from acting professional. However, I was well respected and treated by both children and staff like a teacher by them referring to me as Miss Lamia, which made me feel like a member of staff. The level of learning that the children were at was different to the stage I was based at, and so I had to understand how the children work, interact and think differently.

I was involved in many of the activities and work she had set up. I aided them in reading, writing, maths and English. I did one to one reading and maths test, which gave me an insight of how I should act during these moments and not do the work for the children, which was very tempting. I was made to do marking and was able to identify the different abilities that were present within my year ones. Having different tasks to do, kept me engaged and challenged me in many different ways. It gave me an insight into how it will be if I decide to teach.

I had the opportunity to work within a year 6 class, whose ages were between 10-11 years. I experienced a dramatic change in their ability to work, communicate and their attitude. The class group were very independent and didn’t need much attention. It made me understand the different levels I could possibly teach at. The older class was not challenging as I would have liked it and so during this placement I felt working with the younger year group was best suitable for me. However, as I was only able to work with them for a day, I didn’t give me a full insight and so when I gain further experience I hope to be given a longer experience to fully aid me into deciding which year group I would help achieve best in.

On reflection, I enjoyed my placement at medlock primary school, I feel my ambition to pursue a career in teaching has become stronger, whilst also making me see the difficulties I may face. Coming from a textiles background and working in very different ways, I have realised certain skills for an environment like teaching I haven’t gained during my course and so, doing a PGCE or teaching Assistant course will further help me gain these set of skills which will be beneficial to both me and the school. Continuing with more experience will further boost my confidence in the classroom and help me overcome my challenges.