At present, I hold a degree in English Language and Linguistics (Honours) at a 2:1. I have had some teacher training, including teaching English to full 30 student classes at a secondary level (11-18 year olds).
I’m a passionate individual looking at going into the teaching profession; I began but did not complete an ITT course, but fully intend to apply for another. Between now and then, I am keen to engage with young people and children, and to further build up my experience working in a classroom and with pupils. My first placement in an ITT setting meant that I was teaching 10 hours of planned lessons per week, and successfully passed that placement. My placement was with a secondary school with a variety of challenges, and required a variety of different approaches depending on each student.
I hold the belief that the well-being of each child is of the utmost priority, where they should be challenged constructively, but should also always feel safe. Part of the work I did involved observing the behavioural processes at Littlehampton Academy, and in doing so, at times that meant sitting down with students to try and figure out what we could best do to support them. Sometimes they were students in my class that had been removed from another lesson, and I felt that by taking the time to speak with them I could better learn what motivates them or detracts from their learning. At other times, they were students that just needed to talk about something. I feel that taking this highly empathetic approach to learning enables them to feel safe; it shows the adults around them care about what is happening in their lives, and what drives them.
In planning lessons, I had to adjust quickly; in some classes my students had a reading age gap of as large as seven years. I had to accommodate the needs of those students, and figure out ways to make my lessons accessible to them. In that respect, I have begun to garner the necessary experience to support students in their learning through pedagogical approaches that will scaffold them into the tasks at hand. The gradual Vygotskyan model of building from ‘I do you watch’ to ‘You do I watch’ is something I’ve gradually learned to integrate into the learning process, and I feel that I can begin to translate this process for other activities too. This fosters the type of independence in learning by gradually giving the reins to the student.
Having been in a teaching environment, I understand that the role the teacher holds is not an easy one, and therefore I try to do my best to support teaching staff in any possible capacity. In doing so, I find myself keen to support extra-curricular activities as well as learning; the engagement with young people is rewarding, and it affords them extra opportunities. I believe that these types of contributions support an ethos of caring and learning, whilst also alleviating additional pressures off of teaching staff.
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