I am a dedicated, organised and friendly individual with good interpersonal skills, as well as being reliable and dependable, I like to plan ahead in order to manage my time well. I am happy being a team player or working individually and usually set myself goals in order to set out what I can achieve in any allotted time. Apart from being good listener I have good communication skills, speaking both Spanish and English fluently. I have a creative mind and am always up to new challenges to develop my variety of experiences, coupled with academic knowledge.
I have a BSc degree in Clinical Psychology, graduating with First-class honours, achieving an award for the highest academic achievement in the Psychology class of 2010. Throughout my time at University, I was introduced to a variety of modules, where I particularly enjoyed Child Development, Childhood Psychopathology, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Family Therapy, Therapeutic strategies in Child Psychology and School Psychology. My degree has enabled me to acquire knowledge about child development, understanding the way they learn and explore the world around them since they are born, where what happens during their infancy and their relationship with their family, affects the way they are in the future. I also learned how to understand and identify different childhood disorders and to use different strategies to improve the child’s life.
I worked for two years as an Early years teaching assistant at a British school in the Dominican Republic with children from different nationalities and cultures, where most of them were learning English as a second language. This experience provided me with skills to work with EAL students. I learned how to work in small group instruction and working on a one on one basis with particular students to assess each child’s strengths and areas where they might need help. I managed the discipline of the classroom, assisted the teacher in planning and implementing creative and learning activities, and created a well-organised, safe and attractive classroom environment. During my time at the school, I achieved an award for Best Effort and another for Teaching Assistant of the year.
I also worked as a Teaching assistant at a Bilingual Summer Camp, where I assisted the teacher with the planning of educational and recreational activities and teaching the English language. In my classroom, I had a boy with "Asperger Syndrome," where I helped him improve his social skills and behaviour, gaining experience in inclusive education. I learned how to manage the class effectively, using songs, hand gestures and different tones of voice to keep children focused and engaged. At the end of the Summer Camp, the teacher and I achieved an award for Best Group Management.
In the UK, I worked at a Primary School in the Early Years setting in Nursery and Reception, being the key worker of a group of children. I gained knowledge of the Early years outcomes and the characteristics of effective learning, allowing me to be accountable for the pupils’ attainment and progress by assessing the children through observations and writing their next steps in learning. I gained experience with inclusive education by also having SEN children in the classroom and working directly with speech therapists to improve their communication skills, guiding me to implement small group sessions with children who have speech difficulties. I taught mathematics in small groups, using different strategies according to the children’s needs. Furthermore, I went to the ‘Ruth Miskin Phonics Training’ course, giving me the knowledge to be able to teach phonics at this school; and the ‘Write Dance’ training, where I was able to learn how to help improve children's handwriting using dance movements, being in charge of implementing it in my class. I also was present at an ‘Excellence in Early Years’ conference, where I learned about the role of the adult in the classroom and about the Continuous Provision in the Early Years Practice.
I enrolled in the PGCE Primary course with an Early Years specialism, since I have a great passion towards the Early Years Foundation Stage. During this course, I learned about the National Curriculum and have looked at teaching the core and foundation subjects, developing my confidence in planning and carrying out assessments. Also, I have been equipped with the essential knowledge every teacher needs to know, such as safeguarding young people and how to work successfully with parents. My course focus is Early Years, provided me with a secure knowledge of the EYFS Curriculum and an understanding of how children learn.
During my first two placements, I had the opportunity of working in a Nursery class. This allowed me to gain experience in planning and to further develop each of the Teaching Standards. I established a stimulated environment in the classroom through a variety of activities that are based on the children’s interests. This was done by planning, engaging, well-resourced activities, appropriate to the Nursery children and their specific needs, making sure that each activity not only promoted intellectual curiosity and a love of learning, but also are interactive and practical, using a range of strategies to support all pupils, such as visual prompts, questioning and modeling. My planning is always written based on the children’s previous learning and by communicating with all the members of staff and valuing their opinion, since I believe that working as a team allows a continuance of educational standard in the event of sickness or other unavailability. Also, after each lesson or planned activity, I reflected upon its effectiveness and how the children responded in order to improve further planning.
Additionally, I have contributed to the wider life of the school by attending staff meetings, supporting
trips in Reception and being involved in the Christmas Nativity. This allowed me to have a clear understanding of the Safeguarding policies in the school and become aware of the risk assessment procedures. I maintain good relationships with all pupils, demonstrating positive attitudes towards their learning by using my enthusiasm to engage all of them, motivating them through singing, using different tones of voice, questioning and modeling my expectations. On my second placement, I’m currently assessing the children and planning for small intervention groups, focusing on language, mathematics and phonics. On my third placement, I worked at a mixed Year 1/Year 2 class. I developed in my knowledge of the Primary Curriculum, being able to plan and teach lessons, such as Literacy, Science and Maths, and gain experience with those age groups.
I am currently an NQT in a Reception class, where I am developing more into how to lead a classroom of my own, using all the skills I learned during my experience in University as well as a Teaching assistant in the Early Years.
I continuously reflect upon my practice and act upon advice and feedback from my colleagues and tutors, understanding that learning never stops and that I need to continue developing myself in order to enhance new techniques that often appear. Overall, I believe that my experience and knowledge enables me to be a successful teacher in the future, one who can inspire children to learn, to feel confident to express and be themselves, to explore the world around them and to develop different skills that they will use in their future lives.
Lauren Bone
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