I have not been very good at updating my blog as much as I said I would. I could give a string of excuses to do with work load or writers block, but really it's just down to laziness.
As I haven't mentioned very much about my placement I might as well start by saying that I'm with a year 1 class which is one of two in the school. Every year group is split in two in this way. My initial thoughts were that a school this size would be quite scary as I'm not used to such numbers but actually I've not found it too bad. One reason for this is the way the school is set out. Each key stage is in separate building and each classroom is behind closed doors, although it is possible to open a partition to link two adjacent rooms. This layout, coupled with staggered break times and lunch times means that I can spend all day without seeing anyone but those I work with and the children in my class. In fact I often forget about most of the other student teachers in the school and it comes as a surprise when I see them in a whole school assembly.
The area that the school is in is not the most affluent of areas so subsequently there is an above average number of pupils on free school meals and on the SEN register. Many of the children within the school and within my class have various behaviour difficulties but this makes it a very interesting and exciting place to work. As stressful as lessons can be sometimes the children are all a joy to work with and incredibly resilient when you consider what some of their home lives are like. I have not been told in much detail about some of the things these children have to go through at home but I have already been involved in one safeguarding incident and have had a few talks on what provisions the school have concerning the welfare of pupils. On the first day our class teacher said they were there not just to teach the curriculum but to also provide welfare support for both pupils and parents.
From day one of being in class we have been heavily involved with the class. I do not blame the teachers for taking advantage of having an extra two people in the class as I have heard stories from times when they would often have to work without a TA. So far it has only been group work but by the end of this week we should have already taken a few planned sessions. One of the good things about being working in year one is how the group activities work. As there are four groups each one needs to the each activity. This means I can do the same activity several times. This might appear tedious at first but really its a perfect chance to improve on teaching skills and reflective practice. As we found on the first day being thrown straight into an activity you've never seen with children you don't know can be very difficult but when it comes to repeating it again the next day you already have a good idea of what can go wrong and what the children will do to try and mess up.
Hopefully this will be enough to keep you going until I find time to write my next insightful piece.
Sneak preview: I'm currently writing about all the fun ways year one have to spell a words.
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