#primary teaching

16.03.23 - Day 72/103

Honestly, I'm just so ready for this to be over. I would love to be able to say that I'm this well adjusted person who prepared all the things with plenty of time to spare, getting a good night's sleep and just sailing through this exam when in reality it's me sitting on the floor way too late cutting out material that I probably won't even need but will take just in case the digital blackboard decides to go on strike. It's me cursing because I forgot to make a part of the material I will definitely need. And it's me having a queasy feeling in my stomach because I didn't look at my flashcards properly even once so now I'm doing some last minute cramming into my already overly stuffed brain. To cut myself some slack though, I've been getting through this whole phase with minimal amounts of mental breakdowns and I am feeling reasonably prepared for the actual lesson. And the most important part is, I can rely on my kiddos to give their absolute best because they're the most supportive sweethearts ♥️

prepped the classroom as well as possible

tested the digital slides for the blackboard

copied and printed my worksheets and the lesson draft and all the other stuff I need for the formalities part

prepared back-up material

wrote up the wording for the explanations and the vocabulary introduction

crammed revised the didactics theories and bits I need to know for the oral exam portion

I recently spoke with a PGCE student about how they have to write an essay demonstrating their “teaching philosophy” and how they incoporate their beliefs about teaching into every day practise.

It’s got me thinking about my own personal teaching philosophy and the things I really feel strongly about in teaching. So here’s a list of all the teaching things I’m particularly passionate about doing/having in my own classroom/teaching:

If I’m having fun, then the kids are learning - If I’m having a fun time teaching, then you can bet that the kids are enjoying the lesson too - enthusiasm is infectious! Everyone learns better when they’re having fun so I feel it’s important to plan and create lessons I enjoy teaching, so that kids can enjoy learning.

Children need to write every day - Children will read and use numbers in their everyday life without even noticing, which is all good practise that adds up! However, they may not write every day so I ensure that my all children in my class write something every day. Whether it’s a sentence, on a post it note, on a whiteboard or a full piece of writing, they will have written at least 1 sentence independently every day with me (which adds up over the course of a year!)

Praise the effort, not the attainment - The amount of effort a chld puts into their work is far more important than the outcome/attainment. If they’re praised for just the outcome, then that will be their sole focus, rather than trying and developing resilience to new challenges. I ensure that I praise the perseverance and effort children put into doing tasks, so it will encourage them to do so more in the future!

Be specific with praise - Following on from praising effort, I believe that being specific with your praise helps children more and teaches them exactly what is so good about what they are doing e.g. “You have put lots of effort into your colouring, well done” vs “I can see how much effort you have put into blending the green pencils so it is the same colour as the trees outside, well done!” Precise praise also feels more personal and helps to develop a stronger teacher/pupil working relationship.