So, it has been a LONG time since my last post! The last 5
weeks have been manic with my second year placement, which has been absolutely amazing.
Having spent a week with the class before Easter, I was
really looking forward to getting back to the school. I was really lucky to
have a great class teacher. In the past my teachers have been a bit older, whereas
James was still in his mid-twenties so I was looking forward to having a
younger teacher’s advice to add to the experiences I have had with other
teachers.
The class teacher was the most enthusiastic teacher I have
ever met – he really worked well with the Year 1/2 class and I felt that I
learnt so much from him.
When he first gave me feedback on my lesson I started having
second thoughts about teaching – was it really what I wanted to do? The
planning and stress of being observed had really got to me and it had made me
question my decision. However, I took all of his advice on board and since then
I have had no doubt that this is what I want to do.
Something that he really does well is using his voice in
different ways to control how the class behaves and feels – something that I
struggled with. He uses silly voices, and really exaggerates everything and I
found this really difficult to do with other adults in the room. However,
following his advice I just completely let go and I ended up teaching some of
the best lessons I have ever taught!
My feedback has been amazing, more than I could have ever
expected, with my tutor even saying:
"Amy has achieved a standard of teaching rarely seen in a Year Two placement"
and the school was so pleased with my work that I was given the last
space on the Year Six residential trip to London in my last week. Whilst my
partner got to stay in school and observe the Year 2 SATS, which would have
been useful to me, I was able to experience a week long residential trip which
I have found completely invaluable.
I had such a great week – one of the best of my life – and made
some great relationships with the children and other teachers (special mention to David Bond, a current PGCE student!). Following the
trip, it made me realise that Exmouth is definitely where I want to teach and
so I am going to spend some of my long holidays going back to the school and
teaching and helping out in Years 1/2 and Years 5 and 6.
I feel I have developed so much more on this experience, mostly
down to the class teacher’s advice and the opportunities he gave me. Now I just
can’t wait to have my own class!
