Teaching Reflections
First Year Prac
Initially I emailed the supervisors and they promptly replied with sufficient and useful information which helped me feel at ease. When I arrived at the school a supervisor showed me and a few others where to locate our designated classrooms. My mentor teacher gave me tips and direction on improvements I can make and areas that I am competent in. I was also given useful information in regards the school day – timetable & playground set up, programs used, evacuation plan etc.
I have found it beneficial to observe and experience learning in the classroom context and being able to put my learning at university into practice. Having the opportunity to teach in the small group and classroom settings was great too. It has made me experience/realise that there is a lot of work involved. This experience reassured me that I want to pursue teaching and that I love working with children.
My learning has been enhanced by acting on my knowledge and learning and also through observing and learning from my mentor teacher and other educational staff. The importance of being prepared and organised has been reinforced by this experience. Also, catering to different levels within the classroom and ensuring that all students are and are able to participate and engage were important aspects that I realised I need to keep in mind
A Collection of Experiences during Early Childhood Prac at ------------ Primary School
YouTube songs with actions: Good morning, Jolly Phonics alphabet (name & sound), counting to 100 with exercise (every 10 the exercise changes), days of the week rap, Wonky Donkey & Funky Town dance. It was a delight to watch the children enjoying themselves and being actively involved.
I was on a 3 letter word station which involved the children picking a word then finding the matching picture and the right letters to make up their particular word. Most children were proficient at this activity. A few children seemed to not know some letters they came across. After I went through the first word, picture and letters with a group, to review I asked what the word was and one child said ‘a’. This surprised me a little as we had gone through the activity showing where the words and letters go and are. After going through a few words she improved.
I received verbal feedback on this learning experience from the teacher. She was impressed with how I positioned myself and how I structured the activity by ensuring each child went through every part of the activity thoroughly and how I did not move any child on until they understood everything. She said my use of questioning was effective as well.
Lunch – Duty. I had the opportunity to instigate a role play: A student came across a roll up near the backpacks and told me about it, wondering whose it was. I told her that it is a mystery and maybe she could go investigate. Together we discussed whose it could be i.e. whose backpacks it was near etc. She decided that she wanted others to help her investigate so we rounded up some detectives to search for the owner of the roll up. Interviewing followed until the owner was discovered.
Rotation of small group activities – short and tall worksheet, play dough- certain number of eggs, Easter bunnies- small medium and large, my family – tallest to smallest. I facilitated the short and long worksheet and was able to see the range of abilities within the class through this exercise. One of the students needed constant reminders of how to complete the sheet whereas another particular student raced ahead because she was a very competent reader. Another girl is very rushed and some of the students needed redirecting at times.
Easter book – I assisted students when needed with some reading of simple sentences, modelled some spelling, drawing by instructions using positional language. One of my focus students particularly struggled with the concepts presentation with positional language. (So the next day I implemented an activity to address this)
I read a book called Aussie Easter Egg Hunt and accommodated it with discussion and interactive parts – Australian places and animals e.g. asking questions like who has been to the Sydney Harbour Bridge or has anyone seen a kangaroo before? I was also able to share my experiences of travelling around Australia. Throughout the book there was a page which had a phrase with ‘high and low’ in it. At the first page like this I asked the students what movement/action we could use when we came to these parts in the book and we decided on pointing our hands up for ‘high’ and hands down for ‘low’. The children also spoke out ‘high and low’ along with me when I read it.
Finishing off yesterday’s rotation activities – a few children had not done their Easter bunny craft yesterday plus there were other activities to finish off so that they could take them home. The teacher asked me how I think I went with the Easter bunny craft. I mentioned that some of the materials made it hard for the students to complete the craft. She then asked me what I could have done to make it better. I replied that I changed some of the materials that were more effective. She later told me that it was good to see that I could see what did not go so well and how I was able to overcome that. Even experienced teachers are constantly asking themselves, ‘How can I improve?’.
In between recess and lunch the children watched an Easter movie. Towards the end of the movie children were given the option to finish some activities such as the Easter book. I was surprised to see that most children decided to do the Easter book activities. During this time I took down more items for the children to take home from the wall and assisted children with their Easter book activities.
I enjoyed my time at ---------- Primary and appreciate the educators I worked with. The children were well behaved, responsive and friendly.
Initially I emailed the supervisors and they promptly replied with sufficient and useful information which helped me feel at ease. When I arrived at the school a supervisor showed me and a few others where to locate our designated classrooms. My mentor teacher gave me tips and direction on improvements I can make and areas that I am competent in. I was also given useful information in regards the school day – timetable & playground set up, programs used, evacuation plan etc.
I have found it beneficial to observe and experience learning in the classroom context and being able to put my learning at university into practice. Having the opportunity to teach in the small group and classroom settings was great too. It has made me experience/realise that there is a lot of work involved. This experience reassured me that I want to pursue teaching and that I love working with children.
My learning has been enhanced by acting on my knowledge and learning and also through observing and learning from my mentor teacher and other educational staff. The importance of being prepared and organised has been reinforced by this experience. Also, catering to different levels within the classroom and ensuring that all students are and are able to participate and engage were important aspects that I realised I need to keep in mind
A Collection of Experiences during Early Childhood Prac at ------------ Primary School
YouTube songs with actions: Good morning, Jolly Phonics alphabet (name & sound), counting to 100 with exercise (every 10 the exercise changes), days of the week rap, Wonky Donkey & Funky Town dance. It was a delight to watch the children enjoying themselves and being actively involved.
I was on a 3 letter word station which involved the children picking a word then finding the matching picture and the right letters to make up their particular word. Most children were proficient at this activity. A few children seemed to not know some letters they came across. After I went through the first word, picture and letters with a group, to review I asked what the word was and one child said ‘a’. This surprised me a little as we had gone through the activity showing where the words and letters go and are. After going through a few words she improved.
I received verbal feedback on this learning experience from the teacher. She was impressed with how I positioned myself and how I structured the activity by ensuring each child went through every part of the activity thoroughly and how I did not move any child on until they understood everything. She said my use of questioning was effective as well.
Lunch – Duty. I had the opportunity to instigate a role play: A student came across a roll up near the backpacks and told me about it, wondering whose it was. I told her that it is a mystery and maybe she could go investigate. Together we discussed whose it could be i.e. whose backpacks it was near etc. She decided that she wanted others to help her investigate so we rounded up some detectives to search for the owner of the roll up. Interviewing followed until the owner was discovered.
Rotation of small group activities – short and tall worksheet, play dough- certain number of eggs, Easter bunnies- small medium and large, my family – tallest to smallest. I facilitated the short and long worksheet and was able to see the range of abilities within the class through this exercise. One of the students needed constant reminders of how to complete the sheet whereas another particular student raced ahead because she was a very competent reader. Another girl is very rushed and some of the students needed redirecting at times.
Easter book – I assisted students when needed with some reading of simple sentences, modelled some spelling, drawing by instructions using positional language. One of my focus students particularly struggled with the concepts presentation with positional language. (So the next day I implemented an activity to address this)
I read a book called Aussie Easter Egg Hunt and accommodated it with discussion and interactive parts – Australian places and animals e.g. asking questions like who has been to the Sydney Harbour Bridge or has anyone seen a kangaroo before? I was also able to share my experiences of travelling around Australia. Throughout the book there was a page which had a phrase with ‘high and low’ in it. At the first page like this I asked the students what movement/action we could use when we came to these parts in the book and we decided on pointing our hands up for ‘high’ and hands down for ‘low’. The children also spoke out ‘high and low’ along with me when I read it.
Finishing off yesterday’s rotation activities – a few children had not done their Easter bunny craft yesterday plus there were other activities to finish off so that they could take them home. The teacher asked me how I think I went with the Easter bunny craft. I mentioned that some of the materials made it hard for the students to complete the craft. She then asked me what I could have done to make it better. I replied that I changed some of the materials that were more effective. She later told me that it was good to see that I could see what did not go so well and how I was able to overcome that. Even experienced teachers are constantly asking themselves, ‘How can I improve?’.
In between recess and lunch the children watched an Easter movie. Towards the end of the movie children were given the option to finish some activities such as the Easter book. I was surprised to see that most children decided to do the Easter book activities. During this time I took down more items for the children to take home from the wall and assisted children with their Easter book activities.
I enjoyed my time at ---------- Primary and appreciate the educators I worked with. The children were well behaved, responsive and friendly.