Aaron's Placement Reflection

Placement Reflection or, how I intend on making the next one even better!

9th March, 2016

Aaron reflects on his placement and makes some suggestions on how to approach the next one

I started out writing this blog post as a reflection on the teaching placement I undertook in Term 4 of 2015, and then, like usual with these things, I deleted half of it…However this time it wasn’t for lack of confidence with what I had written, more that I noticed I wasn’t actually reflecting, I was planning different things for how to approach my next placement.

I’m not too sure what my peers’ experiences on placement were like as yet, however I have to say this most recent one has been my most enjoyable and rewarding round to date. Not only was it a more relaxed environment, that I felt very comfortable in, it was just a great working community that actually made the PSTs feel comfortable and I really felt like I was a part of the teaching team at the school. I was paired up with another PST during my time, as we were both in Prep classrooms, and it was great working together on lesson plans, team teaching and bouncing ideas off one another while out at the school. Which leads me into my planning for the next round, so here’s a list that I’m going to try and keep for myself this year, and one that I hope to stick to while I’m out in my final placement school.

1. Don’t be scared of sharing your opinions on, and ideas for lessons – I found with a teacher that was very welcoming to my thoughts I had a lot more confidence about what I planned when it came from an amalgamation of my ideas, the teachers plans and the school curriculum. This confidence was clear in more successful delivery of lessons than I have ever experienced before.
2. Plan using your strengths – with my background in Out of School Hours Care, this most recent round I tried to ensure I used as much of the skills learned in this field in the classroom as possible, and it really paid off. Behaviour Management strategies, Activities, Outdoor games and planning tools all came in to play here and helped me confidently conduct my lessons and time with full control in the class.
3. Ask as many questions as you can, no matter how stupid they may seem – in the past I have been quite reserved in talks with the teaching team, and perhaps was afraid to look like I didn’t know what I was doing. This isn’t the way to go, remember we are still there to learn, so ask questions, try and make sense of the answers and ask again if you need clarity, this will make for a better understanding of everything when you’re faced with 28 children waiting for your instruction!
4. Find a way that works for you and the Classroom Teacher, and use that method – at University we are inundated with different paperwork we need to use and templates that we are encouraged to work off, and I’m not suggesting to abandon these or the systems we are taught, but use your own judgment. I found far more success working with my AT on shared documents in the format she was comfortable working with, that the school used and working within the guidelines and teaching styles that have been established in the school, and the classroom, than those we are instructed to base our teaching off, at University.
5. HAVE FUN, DON’T WORRY ABOUT WORK AND OTHER STUFF, ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE, C’MON, YOU NEARLY HAVE TO GO BE A REAL ADULT! – Self explanatory, just relax, it’s 8 weeks in a year, learn something, have fun, then go back to the daily grind and bummer that is having to work for a living.

Now I don’t know if these points will be useful to everyone, but from my experience in the last round, these are some things that I’m going to try hard to remember and stick to my plan to try and make my last placement the best one yet. I’m not sure where my future career path will take me, and whether I’ll even end up as a classroom teacher in a Primary School setting. But while I’m paying for an education and a hugely important part of that is spending time in schools on placement, I intend on having my final round be as successful and enjoyable as possible – and hopefully I teach the children a thing or two in the process.

- Aaron