End of Term Reflection (Term 1 2018)

As my first term of teaching came to an end I realised just how quickly the school year goes and how easy it is to let time get away. I always feel as though I have forgotten something important and have so much to do in terms of the way I am teaching, more in particular the delivery of my lessons.

I thought by the end of term 1 I would be well aware of where my students are at and where they need to go. I also thought I would have a much better idea of how to be an effective teacher and get the information across to my students in a way that would accomodate for each individuals learning style, however this was not realistic. Part way through the term I believe I was getting overwhelmed with everything we were trying to accomplish as a team and started to get either the wrong idea or began to drift away from the common goal. I found that I was diverting from the long term plan we made at the start of the year in order to complete core curriculum work, or even to just address topics such as empathy as this is what was needed to be taught or reiterated at the time.

From what I gathered myself I really did not feel as though my teaching was going well or that I was meeting the expectations set for me and was confused about where to go.
However, after meeting with JO my mentor and was able to be honest and pin point exactly where I was going wrong, but also remind myself of everything that was going well.
My class was producing some beautiful writing pieces, my maths groups were well up and running, class routines had been set, and management strategies were in place which allowed me to build some amazing relationships with the children in my class.
I now know how important it is as a BT not to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and remind myself that I am still learning and that everything I am doing with my class is valuable in some way. In saying that I also had to work really hard to get back on track and figure out what was important to get finished by the end of term so my class was able to move on in the following term and get down to business.

What I learnt from all of this is to go at my own pace and in my own way that works for me and my learners. This still being with a focus on the long term plan and remembering basic but important learning such as instructional reading and teacher/student consultations.
Another thing is the importance of being prepared and planning ahead including planning for fast finishers, extra tasks and or if a lesson may not turn out the way we plan, be ready to use initiative to make the change and see that it goes in the right direction.

Overall, I am confident heading into term 2 as I know where to start. I know I have a lot to learn however, I have the resources and the support to keep making positive changes for my class. My goal for term 2 is to be prepared with planning and sticking to it, organisation, working smarter not harder, and remembering to use the resources (long term plan) that have already been provided.
A focus for being an effective teacher I would like to make sure I am stimulating the curiosity of my students by giving them activities that uses relevant information and ideas. This guarantees they are interested in the content and able to ask detailed and appropriate questions about their inquiry.

Trauma Workshop