So on starting my placement at Harlesden Primary school we began with inset days which allowed us to have what I would call general training. We had a long session on Schools Fire Warden training with Ian Roberts who is a Health and Safety Advisior in Brent on Fire safety including things we can do to prevent fires and procedures in the case of one. He emphasised how in a school, especially one like Harlesden which has recently expanded to have two buildings instead of one how it would be important to sync the systems and for here to be a good level of communication. Also with a situation which can make adults react out of the ordinary, children just as much or possibly more so due to immaturity so it would be crucial in making sure they understand that in the case of a fire there is a system in place. Within this first month we have had a chance to have a fire drill in the school which the staff were aware would happen sometime in the day, but the children were not. The class teacher in the class I am working in spoke about fire's generally in relation to'why it was important for the class to know how to line up quickly, quietly and sensibly' and it just so happened that after we moved on from that to our Grammar lesson that the alarm went off. You can imagine the shock that ran across their faces in the first few seconds of that alarm sound at the event which seemed like a mysterious coincidence. However having just had a talk about fire's they were spot on for their routine of lining up, and evacuating the building to the assembly point in the playground.
Unfortunately their behaviour isn't always as perfect. Working as a TA in a year 5 class for the past month has been quite a humbling experience as to how far you have come. Up until now on your educational journey, you have always been the main student, you have been focussing on your grades, and your own personal development. However it is interesting that although you are focussing on the educating the children, you develop yourself so much more. Within this month I already feel confidence in leading the children, I remember in earlier days when I would shake within myself just to raise my voice enough for them to hear me telling them to quiet down, but now I have the confidence to do that and so much more. One of the biggest challenges I've faced so far was working with a particular group in English who were rather difficult.Some were off task, some disruptive and some didn't even understand the task! Trying to apply what we were doing to a group of students at different places was a struggle, however that first time with them was the worst, and since then I have worked with them twice and it has gone in my eyes exceptionally well! I cannot take all the credit. One thing that helped me was observing a 'Guided Write' session lead by the Assistant headteacher, Hannah Woolf, with a group of year 6's. I was able to see how much better their work could be working together in a structured way. I was able to ask her questions about how much time she would spend on constructing one paragraph, and how quality of writing was more important than quantity. Yet in any session where you didn't get as much done with them as you would have liked, it is important to evaluate and see what you can change for the better next time. So over the coming months I will have plenty of opportunities and hopefully improve.
0 comments:
Post a Comment