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Continuous Assessment School Placement 1 Reflective Essay: Gmit Examinations - 2016/17

The document discusses a student's reflections from their 5 days of work experience on a school placement, noting the joys they experienced such as helping students understand lessons and seeing their smiles of achievement, as well as the challenges teachers face when lessons don't go as planned requiring extra work to rearrange. It concludes by expressing the student looks forward to experiencing more of the positives and negatives of teaching through further school placements.

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66 views

Continuous Assessment School Placement 1 Reflective Essay: Gmit Examinations - 2016/17

The document discusses a student's reflections from their 5 days of work experience on a school placement, noting the joys they experienced such as helping students understand lessons and seeing their smiles of achievement, as well as the challenges teachers face when lessons don't go as planned requiring extra work to rearrange. It concludes by expressing the student looks forward to experiencing more of the positives and negatives of teaching through further school placements.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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GMIT EXAMINATIONS 2016/17

Continuous Assessment
School Placement 1 Reflective Essay
Programme: BSc (Hons) in Education (Design Graphics and
Construction)

Year: 1

Module: School Placement 1

Module Credits: 5

CA Weighting: 50%

Internal Examiner(s): Ms. Ann Foley

External Examiner(s):

Submission
Submission Date/Time:

Post Lesson Reflection: 6/3/2017 at 10pm

Unless accompanied by a signed absence sheet, late submission will not


be marked

Instructions to Candidates:
Please read the following information carefully

Student Name: Leanne Cosgrove

Student Number: g00347244


The Joys of Teaching! Module: School Placement 1

The Joys of Teaching

As I recently completed my fifth day out on work experience for school


placement I have gotten a great insight and understanding of the teaching
industry in which I hope to join in three years time. Teaching consists of long
hours but these long hours are spent teaching a subject which you have such
great interest in and have a passion for. Being able to educate students in your
acquired subject areas and for the students to understand and want to learn
more or even grow an interest or passion for it gives the teacher a huge sense of
achievement. As we know teaching does not always work out like that, along
with the many positives is followed by some kind of negative. By combining the
experience I have gained on all of my days on school placement The Joys of
Teaching comes into play whether it be said meaningfully or with a sarcastic
tone.

While on school placement I noticed a drastic drop in numbers in the


classroom, when discussing with the class teacher she explained that there was
a spread of chicken pox around the school. Although there were fewer students
in the class which would be easier thought this wasnt the case as the class
teacher could not move on with her lessons to follow her plan. As this day didnt
go to plan this meant that the class teacher had to go home that evening and
put extra work into rearranging her lesson plans as The reality of life as a
teacher, however, is that there are many competing demands on your time
(kyriacou, 2007) to make up for the material that wasnt covered that day. That
day was spent doing revision with the few students in the class. In my opinion
the teacher was right not to move on even though it did put more pressure on
herself later, I thought she was right because if she had moved on the majority of
the class would be lost and the teacher would only have to cover the lesson
again.

My last day on work experience was the one I found most enjoyable, this
was because I got to be more involved in teaching and helping the students from
each class from third up to sixth class. On this day an art teacher came into the
class to teach the students how to make decorations which were going to be
hung up for the school disco the following day. After telling the students how to
make them the art teacher left and the original class teacher returned, as the
class teacher missed the demonstration I was able to go around the class and
help each student. When circling the class many students called my name for
The Joys of Teaching! Module: School Placement 1

help and it was in my great interest to help them and get them to understand the
steps they had to follow. As the students got to complete their decorations they
felt a sense of achievement as did I as I knew I was able to successfully help
them. As I reminisce now on that day it brings me joy and a sense of happiness
as I can now understand the joyfulness of teaching.

Later on that same day, I was recommended by one teacher to another to


carry out the same activity which was done with the fifth and sixth class with the
third and fourth class. When I was asked to do this I got a sense of excitement in
my stomach as I knew I had to stand up and teach art to the students. With this
little activity came a little bit of planning and organizing of materials such as
sheets of card, scissors, glue, ribbon and buttons which were needed. When
teaching the class I could see that the students were listening to me and were
able to understand the steps which reassured me as a knew that Vague,
meandering and uncertain teaching leads to disengagement and pupils will be
tempted to fill gaps by other means. (dolan B. w., p. 35). During this time the
class teacher carried on in the back of the class correcting homework, which
gave her a break for a little while which Im sure brought her a little bit of joy. As
the students were able to complete their decorations I could see the smiles in
their faces which were a big indicator that they were happy with the lesson or
activity. Before leaving I assigned jobs for the clean-up which the students were
more than eager to take part in and as I left the class all the students thanked
me. Most subject areas use textbooks, and many require other materials such as
lab equipment, artistic materials, computer-related equipment, and so on.
Commonly, rules and procedures apply to retrieving and replacing theses
materials (Marzano, 2003, p. 22). When leaving the classroom I was glad about
what I had done but also I felt down that it was over.

Overall, in my school placement experience I could see the good and bad
points about teaching but I look forward to the future when I get to experience
these positives and negatives personally at first hand. I am sorry that school
placement has finished for this year but I look forward to learning more and
gaining more experience next year.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
dolan, B. w. (2009). A Guide to Teaching Practice in Ireland.
The Joys of Teaching! Module: School Placement 1

kyriacou, c. (2007). essential teaching skills.

Marzano, R. J. (2003). Classroom Management That Works.

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