I have finished my first semester of University. I love it. It is definitely the right course for me. The knowledge that I am lucky enough to have the chance to be a Primary School teacher is rather incredible. I think it's the best job anyone can ever do. I would contribute to all these children's lives. They may even remember me in years and years to come - hopefully for the right reasons! I get so much joy from teaching children of all ages. I had my placement a few weeks ago and the teacher I was working with definitely pushed me. I am glad of that. I got as much as I could from the week. It was only a week but when I look back the amount of things that I learnt and the experiences seem like it went on for much longer. I worked in the nursery for the majority of the time. That was wonderful. It was immensely interesting to get to know the children and how they learn. I could write for years about my experience in the nursery but I want focus on one particular experience I had.
One of the days, I had the opportunity to go on a school trip with the Primary 4 children (aged 8/9 years old) to the museum which was one of the highlights of my week. I was given the responsibility of 6 children. I had only met them briefly the day before so I had to learn their names and learn them FAST. I was constantly doing a head-count: "1..2..3..4..5..6, 1..2..3..4..5..6" all day. Most of the children were from different countries so I found remembering their names a challenge. However, I managed it. One of the most magical things about the trip was that I helped a boy with his writing. He had very low self-efficacy due to his mother telling him that he was, "a bad writer" and that he was "worse that his little sister in Primary 2". This is not what a parent should tell their children. This has a profound affect on the child's confidence and their learning in all areas of the curriculum. It can affect them their whole life. One of the activities at the museum was that the children got to be archaeologists - a very exciting thought for the children. They were presented with genuine museum artefacts that they could pick up, touch and even wear! Each group were given a large sheet of paper with coloured pens to write what they saw, what they thought and what they wondered about the artefacts. This was excellent to witness as it related to idea of Bloom's Taxonomy questions which allows children to discover different ways of thinking.
Due to the fact that this activity involved writing, the boy who was fantastically excited about being in the museum had sunk down in his seat and looked down at the floor. "K?(which I shall call him) Are you alright?" I asked him quietly. "No. I hate writing." he said sadly. I asked him why and he explained what his mother told him. I showed him my sympathy but I did not say anything more about his mother as it would be unprofessional to do so. He said, "I am the worst writer in the world." I told him that the more you write, the better you get at it. He looked up at me with a pained expression. I told him that there were children in the world who could not even hold a pencil properly or know how to write at all. I then asked him about an artefact on the table. He replied with an excellent answer. "What a fantastic idea K!" I then asked him quietly, "Why don't you write it down, show me." He took the pen and wrote his idea down. His writing was not bad in the slightest. There was not much difference from his peers in the class. I told him, "What beautiful writing, K! You are a great writer." I smiled at him brightly. He looked at me with his face brightening up with a smile of his own. "Really?" he asked. "Of course!" This led him to become more confident as the activity progressed. He was happily taking part in the activity and his ideas about the artefacts were astounding. I was genuinely impressed with the ideas that the children had. As the day went on, I had built up a strong enough student-teacher rapport which had allowed my group to have a better, more effective learning experience. By the end of the activity K was saying, "I LOVE WRITING!" and he got increasingly confident with his ideas. When the activity had run out of time, he said, "aaaawwww but but but I have so many ideas to write down!" I looked at him proudly and said that they are all in his clever brain and that he could tell the museum helper when she asks questions. The children were so eager to answer the lady's questions and looked at my face for approval/a reaction. I was so proud of my group. It was a wonderful experience and I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to go on the trip and meet the children and their teacher.
Being a Primary school teacher really is the most rewarding, heart-warming and exciting job there is. Recently, there has been the Sandy Hook shootings in America. I am utterly devastated. My heart sunk painfully when I read the articles. I can't explain how angry and frustrated I am about it. My heart goes out to all the families of the children who were lost and to the teachers who tried everything they could to prevent the children being taken. Some of those teachers' lives were taken to protect their classes. I know that this is what I would have done. Without a doubt.
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