Week 4 - The vision.

Having planned and prepared my PE lesson in advance, I was still nervous about the approaching session. I think it was a combination of not having seen the children for 5 days and lack of confidence in myself. I find that a little hard to deal with as right now in the stage I am at in my life, I am very sure about where I am at. However, I took it as extra adrenaline to bring energy and excitement to my lesson. Some kind words from my MT made me remember that I am only just beginning to learn how to do this.
I was fortunate enough to be able to observe my peer take her PE lesson before mine. She was very good at "dancing in the moment" during her lesson and adapted some of her games to keep the children engaged. It was quite hot out so she encouraged them as the time went on by telling them they didn't have too long to go before they could run off for a drink and head back inside.

When I gathered my group for our lesson, I immediately felt at ease when I saw them. I have developed relationships with my group and it was a great feeling to get excited to be taking them out again.
This week I was more prepared and had set up my equipment and boundaries before we went outside. I made sure to deliver some expectations to the children before we went out and then when we arrived outside. I drew out the time we spent on each skill practising activity which allowed me more time to gather data on their skill levels. All learners had improved from last week's lesson which was neat to see. Overall the lesson went well, the learners had fun and we were back inside before the heat got too much.

I enjoyed spending some solid time in a year 3 and 4 class. It was particularly neat to be an active help during an afternoon exercise of planting some seeds in cd cases. I get immense enjoyment from speaking to the children and getting to know each unique individual. It is a privileged position we as teachers get to be in and I take pride in making sure I don't take that for granted. Watching children understand and then grow even more is just so special.

Week 3 - Organisation and management in Health and PE

This week at SBL (and EIT) has been particularly challenging for me. I was nervous about taking my first planned PE lesson and was feeling overwhelmed with worry that I wouldn't know what to do or say. I was stressing out that I wouldn't know the right things to say to the children the way I have observed the teachers at my placement school speak.
However, the lesson went okay and the learners seemed to have fun, which was what I was hoping for in the least. I made sure to repeat what we were out there to practise and achieve and then to re-cap with them when we had finished. I learnt that to begin with you cannot be over prepared. I will also make sure to have my area and equipment set up before we head out and to find a quiet space to chat to the learners about expectations and boundaries.
It was really helpful that we were able to observe Mrs X take her year 3 & 4 students out the day before. I learnt some handy tips for taking PE lessons like having the children sit in the shade so the sun isn't in their face and therefore they will be more likely to pay attention to you speaking. At the end of the lesson asking the children how they think they did is also beneficial. It keeps them engaged and gives you as a teacher a better idea of what stage they are at with that skill.

I really enjoyed spending time in a year 1 and 2 class. The teacher appreciated having the extra hands to help the children with their writing and reading and I was thrilled to be able to actually make a difference in some children's learning. The teacher had organised the class into learning levels for reading, writing and maths. This made it easier to organise the day and to know what the children will be doing, for both the teacher and them. It is a great way to manage a class.

 

 

The learning buddy system encourages the learners to foster positive relationships with one another and help each other learn. It is definately something I would like to implement in my classroom one day.

 

I appreciate the time we get to spend with our mentor teacher. She really helps to smooth out all that we are learning and need to apply. We discussed what professionalism is and how we should apply it in school and made mind maps to refer back to. I have also decided my extra curricular activity will be taking a line dancing group starting in term two. Very excited about that!

So overall I had a challenging, but again, a very rewarding and extensive learning week. I'm looking forward to next week's challenges!

 



Week 2 of SBL

What were the highlights?

I loved seeing the children again. It feels great to have already developed a relationship with some even if it has been brief. What I enjoyed most this week was experiencing a whole day in just the one class but then having different ages each day. It allowed me to see different ways teachers approach their lessons based on the age group they have. I especially enjoyed the fact that the first teacher I was observing really made me feel like a part of their class for the day and involved with helping the children learn.
My second day at SBL I saw many teaching techniques that I would like to incorporate into my own classes one day. I liked that the teachers manner was calm, sincere and his instructions were clear and concise. The learners understood what they were about to do and why. I also like that when the teacher was correcting the learners on an issue he linked it back to PRIDE. I noticed this deepened their understanding.
I especially enjoyed seeing the beginning of a Kapa Haka session.

What were the challenges?

With a class so on to it and organised as my class I was lucky enough to be in on the second day, there wasn't an awful lot to help out with. It was hard just sitting there with nothing to do for awhile but at the end of the day it wasn't for that long.
I found helping out during a Maths session a little bit challenging but actually found out I learned a lot in the end. Teaching children to actually learn how to do an equation is a lot more of a task than just showing them how it's done. If you don't make sure they understand how they got the answer you risk the chance of them not retaining the information.

What did I learn?

It is so important to understand and know what it is you want the learners to get out of a lesson.
Learning buddies is a great system.
Giving positive reinforcement to one learner, and letting them know why they are receiving it, helps the other learners in the class by giving them a guidline of the requirements.
Getting the learners to rate how well they think they are doing on a certain subject allows them responsibility for their own learning and along side that teaches them 'Integrity' by requiring them to be honest so they get the most out of their learning.