Monday marks the day I begin my final placement of BA (Hons) Primary Studies with QTS.  Currently I am filled with a mix of emotions mainly excitement and nervousness. In a build up to the beginning of Year 3 students final placement, the lecturers at the University of South Wales have used the last week to prepare us and advice us on how to make the very best of the next 8 weeks. So before the busiest 8 week of my life begin I thought I would take some time and reflect on the information provided to me and thought what better way to do this than to write it up in my blog so that not only I can look back and remind myself but other trainee teachers or even practicing teachers can also read and it may help them as it has helped me.

I will reflect and share what I have been informed of over the last week and also write a pledge to myself in order to get the very best out of the next 8 weeks.

Learning and Teaching Plans

Learning and Teaching plans are an essential part of teaching and the quality of that plan can have a positive or negative affect on the quality of that lesson. Each school has their own way of planning and so do student teachers. Currently as trainee teachers we are required to go into more depth on our lesson plans in order to evidence that we are meeting the QTS standards, but what I have realised this week is invaluable in order to get the best out of my learners.

Learning and Teaching plans should focus on moving learners learning forward and although, if your anything like me, it is important to have those plans completed days in advance typed up and perfected in order to familiarise myswelf with them and give the best lesson, when in fact learning and teaching plans may be changed and altered in the days leading up to the lesson and this is okay. By altering them in the days before it allows you to take into account where learners are working at the time and plan to move their learning on from that point.

This may also mean that they do not look perfect and may not all be typed up using the preferred font and size, it may mean that you are annotating in the days preceding that lesson to ensure that it is as up to date for the learners needs as possible. This is how plans should be. There is no need to waste time re typing and re printing every time something happens that means an aspect has to be changed; just hand write and annotate over the top when and if need be.

My pledge: I will still ensure that I prepare my lessons a few days in advance but they may only consist of the “Skelton” of the lesson. Each day in the run up to the lesson if I feel that even a single learner will benefit from changing something I have already planned I will annotate the current lesson plan I have by hand-writing over the top.

Evaluations

Evaluations are a crucial step in ensuring that learning is moving forward in each lesson. It is important for us student teachers and for practising teachers to be evaluating each lesson after it has been taught and although it is important to evaluate our personal teaching skills, evaluations should focus on the learners attainment.

For an evaluation to be most effective it should be completed as soon as possible after the lesson while it is fresh in the mind. Evaluations can be added too later possibly after marking the learners work. These evaluations are then used to inform future planning and tailor those plans to the need of the individual learners.

My pledge: When possible I will complete my lesson evaluations straight after the lesson while my memory is fresh. During my lessons I will also be making notes of what may need to be included in that evaluation such as “Learner A needed support from peers to understand task.” Once my evaluation is completed I will then look at the lesson that continues from the previous and make amendments based on my evaluation.

Reflections and Personal development

Teaching is a profession that is constantly changing and in order to provide students with the best education student teachers and practising teachers should be reflecting constantly and working on their professional development.

During School Experience student teachers are required to complete Professional Development Journals. These are completed by the Student Teacher on a key learning moment. They allow the student teacher to think about that key learning moment and what effect that had on learners and their attainment before making an action plan based on research to have a positive affect on future lessons and learners attainment.

My pledge: Though we are only expected to complete two Professional Development Journals whilst on School Experience I will reflect on my own development weekly with my Mentor and discuss ways of developing my pedagogy through research and observations. I will continue to reflect on my practice throughout my professional career as I believe it is essential to provide my learners with the best education. 

Home Life Balance

Getting the right home life balance is something that teachers every where struggle to get right, especially student teachers. As teachers we are passionate about our job and passionate about our learners and often go above what is expected of us to ensure our learners are getting the best out of us.

What many teachers and student teachers don’t realise is for us to be able to give our students the best of us we must put our well being first. This includes ensuring we get enough sleep each day and spend time focusing on ourselves.  As teachers, especially in our first few years of teaching are possibly more prone to illness such as cold and flu’s due to being around children 5 days a week. Should we come down with an illness it is important that we take the time to recover rather than doing more damage continuing to go into school and teaching.

We must also be sure to not lose a sense of our social and family lives because of the job. I know that personally my family is a huge part of my life and for me to function at my best I need to be happy at home. So it is okay to take evenings and weekends off of marking and planning etc. to dedicate time to those that we love and to ourselves.

My pledge: I will get as much of my marking and planning done during school hours but I am aware that as a student teacher I will often be bringing my work home with me, but during week nights I will only work up until 9pm in order to have an hour to myself before I go to sleep at 10pm. I will also only work until 3pm on weekends so that I can spend quality time with my friends and family.

 

With a huge thanks to the lecturers at the University of South Wales, these things I have learnt over the past week will stick with me throughout my career and by following my pledges I truly believe will make me a better and more effective teacher.

I hope this may be of help to my fellow student teachers and even practicing teachers. If you have any other advice I would love you to get in contact, remember I am always available on Twitter : @misscollinsUSW.