Organising Learning Essay

Furthermore, another area of concern for me is managing behaviour in the classroom. In my opinion, managing behaviour is a partnership between the teacher and the children. The teacher must be the authority figure in the classroom. I feel this is achieved once trust and respect is formed. Once routine is learned and the children know what is expected from them, a lot of pressure is taken off the teacher. In school, the children were constantly encouraged to put their hands up. If they called out the teacher would respond quickly and ask them to put their hand up. Therefore, I have found that unwanted behaviour should either be ignored or dealt with rapidly to reduce further problems. It is they teachers responsibility to decide how to handle a situation. The school has a behaviour policy which the whole school follows. I feel this is a valuable document and offers guidelines to handling challenging behaviour. The teacher uses smiley or sad faces on the board as a management strategy. In my whole school experience only saw three sad faces which was amazing. The Overall behaviour of the children was very good as the teacher used praise, smiley faces, well done points and stickers on a regular basis to encourage good behaviour. The children thought very highly of the teacher and tried hard to please her. I tried to use the teachers classroom management strategies as the children were familiar with them and the children responded to the in a positive wing the very lucky teaching the class as they showed a genuine interest in my lesson and behaved extremely well for me. I feel this was because I tried to make it interesting. I tried to pitch the lesson to their level so they could relate it to their experiences. Meeting the needs of individual children is a constant challenge. Some children may need individual help all the time and there are some children who have special educational needs. Therefore, there needs must be planned for and a lot of praise and encouragement is needed to reward their progress, so they don’t feel excluded from the rest of the class. I believe this is extremely important; an effective teacher must be able to meet the individual needs of every child in the classroom. At university I particularly enjoy science and English lectures. The tutors are friendly and approachable which I feel is because they make sure we all understand the lesson. They quickly recognise if any students are struggling with their work and offer different methods of learning. I feel comfortable participating in these lessons as I feel quite confident in the subject. These tutors also give us the opportunity to discuss our thoughts and ideas with each other which I also think is an effective method of learning. I have also found that assessment is a vital part of teaching and this is an area of concern for me. It is especially vital to assess children at the end of each key stage to provide an individual report they can take with them, which highlight their strengths and possible growth points. Although a teacher will know what level their pupils are at, it is now important to have evidence to support their judgmentsDuring my school placement I observed the teacher assessing the children on a regular basis. Questioning the children is an effective method to establish what level the children are at, this is accomplished in an informal manner and the children are not pressured. The teacher built on the results of the assessment during teaching and addressed any misconceptions which the children may have. Another method of testing was seen at the end of each topic, the children answered questions on a worksheet which provided physical evidence to support the teachers judgment. Sometimes check-lists can be used for smaller groups during some activities which have been planned for assessment. I observed year one and year three and upper key stage two. I saw the same behaviour management in all the classes. Year six children were given more responsibility over their time management and behaviour as the expectations were shared with them from the beginning. Year six did not sit on the carpet, all teaching took place at their tables. It helped to see how the children progress and the NNS and NLS is a valuable document which tells teachers how to develop the children’s learning. I am concerned about becoming an effective teacher, and it is vital that all teachers should recognize their strengths and weaknesses. They should reflect on previous lessons and be able to set targets. I feel that teaching is an occupation where the teachers are also learning alongside the children. Sometimes lessons may not go as well as we anticipate or sometimes they may be better than previously thought. All this should be recorded by evaluating our progress after each day and building on our professional development. It is crucial to act upon areas which need improvement. In conclusion, I have highlighted my concerns of becoming an effective teacher. I have included possible ways to improve areas such as classroom management and behaviour. I have also included my school observations for examples of the teacher giving and receiving respect from the children. I have also included forms of assessment and self reflection which are crucial aspects of teaching. In my opinion, teaching is not simply a career, it becomes part of your life. A creative and stimulating teacher would gain great personal satisfaction from this profession and my school placement has confirmed my desires of becoming an effective classroom teacher. It is important for a teacher to be happy, organised and enthusiastic in school, knowing that they are making a difference to a child’s future. Bibliography Collis, M. Lacey, P. (1996), Interactive Approaches To Teaching, London, David Fulton.  Dean, J. (2001), Organising Learning in the Primary Classroom, Third Edition, London, RoutledgeFalmer.  Edwards, D. Mercer, N. (1987), Common Knowledge, London, Methuen