My first two days of School Based Learning

What were the highlights?

Meeting the children in each class was my biggest and favourite highlight. As soon as we walked into the first class room on our tour I felt at ease and knew in my heart that I am on the right path.
There are a lot of classes in our school so it was great to see so many different ways of structuring and operating a class room.
I really enjoyed reading a story to a small group of year twos. They were attentive and curious and also enjoyed telling us random facts about themselves when something in the story triggered a memory. The children seemed to enjoy the story.
I was pleased when on the second day I got to take a group for reading, assist a group writing a story and then go through marking it with them and also got the chance to help a young boy one on one with some maths he wasn't quite getting the hang of. I noticed when I praised him on what he was doing well he became more open to trying the more difficult questions. He responded well to me after a little bit of chat about his new baby brother and started to engage and actually understand how we got to the answers.

What were the challenges?

Taking a small group for a game was a brand new challenge for me. I had prepared a game to play with them and made sure I knew the rules and expectations but translating that into reality was definitely different. I learnt that right from the start, before the game has even begun, you need to communicate the boundaries, the rules and what the purpose is. I will also be making sure I get a whistle and if I forget to take that I need to decide on a signal that will bring the game back in control. It is so helpful if you know the kids names too. It will be great when we know them better.

What did I learn?

You are reflecting on the spot 24/7. You need to be engaged with those children and aware of what is going for them so you can step back and change the way you are approaching a lesson if necessary. You need a lot of common sense and listening to what your gut instinct says is important.
It is BUSY. It is tiring. It is challenging and never the same. Most of all it is immensely rewarding and there is no other work I would rather do!