Week 3

This week I was in a year 2 class for my two days of SBL. This was exciting as I was in new entrants the week before and can see the next year group above. There were many highlights as this was all very new. The first highlight I had was, when I arrived they had started an writing exercise and the two students that needed a hand were two Maori boys. This was a highlight because I felt very comfortable and enjoyed working with both the boys and it brought back memories of helping my younger cousins. I also enjoyed the fact that the next day the students had to draw a picture of someone special and describe them and one of those boys chose me made me feel like I had an impact on him in a small time I was there.

I had faced some challenges in this year group as well. The first challenge I faced was knowing how much to scaffold the children in their first writing activity. The first child I helped too much and basically done it for him. The next child I changed to only helping with some words to describe his dinner and he had to write the sentence on his own. The teacher was keeping an eye on me and commented that I did a great job in not completing it for him. The next challenge I face was helping with the reading groups, this is only a challenge because I have limited time taking reading with more time I will be more confident. The last challenge I had was a boy that would get off task very quickly and would refuse to do his work. I had trouble getting him to complete his worksheet I have to be a lot firmer in those situations.

I had lots of fun in this year group and learnt a lot as well. The first thing I learnt was how the teacher had set a great tone for class room culture the children had lots of respect for her and their behaviour was great. They knew their expectations as a student in this class room and that blew me away for year two students. I learnt more about different reading abilities and how patient you have to be with someone who is at a lower level. Also found it difficult at times to give formative feedback to the children that was at their level and not an adults. The last thing I learnt was that I have to be firmer as a developing teacher because some children can push the boundaries and I have to be firmer.

Second week of SBL

Week two was going to have a lot of highlights as everything is all very new. This week we were given a class and year group each that we would spend the two days in. This was good because it gave some consistency and a chance to see how a classroom operated over two days. One highlight was taking a PE lesson by myself I had the chance to watch one on Tuesday and then to perform that on the Wednesday. Another highlight was the teacher in my particular class giving me a range of tasks to help with and take which was a great experience. I also had the chance to read to class each day where I had a chance to practice my reading skills

Some of the challenges I faced over the two days were knowing my role, being put on the spot, being nervous in taking new entrants for PE and remembering I am with new entrant children. I knew I was going into the new entrants classroom but I wasn't sure in what I would be doing. I thought I would be observing and helping out where I can but I was very lucky where the teacher had put me straight into it and I was helping out from when I walked in. She had put me on the spot to help with reading groups and this was a great learning experience. The biggest challenge was to know how to communicate effectively with my students as they are the youngest class in the school. Our task was take a PE lesson I was very lucky that I could carry on with the module that they had started and the children responded well.

I had a great experience being with this age group and had learnt a lot. The class I was in had a great classroom culture and I experienced how firm with rules you have to be with this age group. I got see how you give instructions and how long you run a PE lesson for new entrants. I learnt that giving firm boundaries and giving the student their own space was a key element of the session being successful. The instructions have to be very clear and short so the student can stay focused to execute the skill or task. I found this worked really well in my lesson.