The Later Year's Placement Reflection
There
was no moment during this placement that I was not learning something new.
Through observing many different lessons and watching different teachers teach I
was able to watch and learn so many diverse teaching and classroom management
styles and techniques. During my preparation lessons I was taught how to write
and mark assignments and tests, as well as develop my lesson planning skills.
Every conversation I had with the various teachers at school taught me so much
about what it means to be a teacher and the importance of learning to be
confident in myself and my own pedagogical stance. Each lesson that I taught
allowed me to experiment with different teaching techniques and strategies to
see which ones worked best for me and what I can improve on in the future. Before
I commenced this placement I felt as though I had studied the theory behind
teaching however was not quite sure how to put it all in to practice. As a
result of all of these experiences, I feel as though I have left this placement
with a much bigger toolkit along with a new found confidence that will benefit
me greatly in continuing my path to becoming a teacher.
The main challenge that I experienced during this placement was putting into practice classroom management strategies and being confident in asserting myself when necessary. Therefore this became one of the focuses of my placement and I made it a goal of mine to practice and develop these skills as much as possible. I took the opportunity to talk to as many teachers as I could about their classroom management techniques and how they first learnt to develop these skills when they themselves were student teachers. There were two things I took away from my observations and conversations about classroom management. The first was that before you can even attempt to put any strategies in place, you need to be confident in yourself and not be afraid to be assertive, otherwise any sort of classroom management approaches will ultimately be ineffective. The second lesson that I learnt was that every teacher has their own different strategies and techniques that they use that took time to develop and perfect, and most even find themselves continually working on these skills.
Upon reflection of all of this, along with my studies of the EDU5MTL unit content, what I have taken away from this first trimester is that teaching is not something that will be perfected after one placement, or even at the end of a degree. There are so many skills that an individual is required to develop to be a teacher, whether it be having a toolkit of different teaching strategies, having confidence in implementing classroom management techniques that work best for yourself, or planning lessons that follow the curriculum and cater towards the various learning needs and styles of your students. Although some of these skills may come more naturally than others, there are always certain skills that have room for improvement or can be further developed to enhance teaching and learning, and therefore, the journey to becoming a successful teacher is always an ongoing one.
The main challenge that I experienced during this placement was putting into practice classroom management strategies and being confident in asserting myself when necessary. Therefore this became one of the focuses of my placement and I made it a goal of mine to practice and develop these skills as much as possible. I took the opportunity to talk to as many teachers as I could about their classroom management techniques and how they first learnt to develop these skills when they themselves were student teachers. There were two things I took away from my observations and conversations about classroom management. The first was that before you can even attempt to put any strategies in place, you need to be confident in yourself and not be afraid to be assertive, otherwise any sort of classroom management approaches will ultimately be ineffective. The second lesson that I learnt was that every teacher has their own different strategies and techniques that they use that took time to develop and perfect, and most even find themselves continually working on these skills.
Upon reflection of all of this, along with my studies of the EDU5MTL unit content, what I have taken away from this first trimester is that teaching is not something that will be perfected after one placement, or even at the end of a degree. There are so many skills that an individual is required to develop to be a teacher, whether it be having a toolkit of different teaching strategies, having confidence in implementing classroom management techniques that work best for yourself, or planning lessons that follow the curriculum and cater towards the various learning needs and styles of your students. Although some of these skills may come more naturally than others, there are always certain skills that have room for improvement or can be further developed to enhance teaching and learning, and therefore, the journey to becoming a successful teacher is always an ongoing one.