26/05/2016 - Day Thirty-Two - Professional Placement - Berserker Street State

School
I have so many aspects of my day to reflect on today. My mentor teacher was away
doing professional development and she wasnt replaced by a relief teacher. I took
the class for the whole day by myself. Upon entering the classroom in the morning I
was excited and nervous. I set up the classroom like we usually do, checked share
point for any messages and set up on the screen resources for the first lesson of the
day, English. I went to the staff room and checked the pigeon hole and then went
back to where the students line up to take them up to the classroom for the day.
Once the students were settled on the carpet and had completed their morning jobs
thats when I told them that their teacher would be away for the day and that it would
just be myself and them learning in the classroom today. The children at first seemed
a bit hesitant at the abnormality of the situation but warmed to it after a few spot ons
and hole punchs in their reward systems card were handed out for participation and
excellent behaviour.
I found that the students worked very hard in the first session of the day and I only
had some behavioural issues with a few of the students that are usually off task. The
events were not abnormal to me and I dealt with them the same way we usually do in
the classroom accordingly to the classrooms behavioural system. I was glad at how
excited the students were to be revising poetic devices and how well they adapted to
writing acrostic poems. From the success that was produced from the first session I
was so pleased with the efforts of the class and how hard they worked that I dont
think I would have changed anything.
In the middle session one of the students continued to show disregard for the rules
and when I asked the students to line up for music decided to draw on the corridor
wall with his lead pencil. I told the student that I knew about the drawing and that we
would have a chat about it when we got back from lunch and decide how we were
going to proceed. (after music the children go to second lunch) Whilst the children
were at music I saw one of the staff members that my mentor teacher said that I
could go to if I needed any assistance during the day.
When I saw this staff member I mentioned to her what had happened and the actions
that I took. She said that this was the correct way to go about this incident with this
child as he didnt have a very good home life and that she would come down and
have a chat with him when lunch was over. She also mentioned that because his
home life was not so good at the moment it was important how we went about

addressing the behaviour to the child as the smallest thing might set him off. I also
mentioned to her that the children that day (before school and after first lunch)
werent lining up like I expected and were sitting on the seats near their line and
walking around and that I was going to try the spot on strategy to bring some order to
the lining up process.
The bell shortly rang to announce the last session of the day and I quickly dismissed
myself and went to the ladies before the second bell rang to pick up the children to
go back up to the classroom. When I arrived at our designated lining up area the staff
member that I had just been talking to was already there to see how the students
were lining up. She said that they were doing exactly what I had described and that
upon her arrival they quickly lined up as expected. This brought the classroom
management strategy; make expectations clear pop into my mind and I now knew
what I had to do. I just assumed that the students would line up how my mentor
teacher expected them to but in fact I had never set my own expectations to the
students on their lining up behaviour. (Which is exactly the same as my mentor
teacher).
The staff member came up and addressed the students behaviour who had drawn on
the wall and she just had a friendly chat with him on why he did it and asked him to
clean it off with a wet cloth. This student after giving him positive praise in the last
session on his behaviour I found tried to work harder than what he had been and
started to participate with the class discussions. I then moved his desk back to his
group on the provision that he kept up his excellent behaviour and didnt distract
those around him again.
After I had dismissed the students for the day I had a large sense of satisfaction on
how the day progressed and the outcomes that I had achieved. I learnt how
important it is to make sure my expectations of the students are clear and how
important it is to take into consideration the background of the student when trying to
decide behavioural strategies. I realized how important it is to create a positive
learning environment with offering spot ons, hole punches to reward system cards,
stamps and stickers.
I stayed back and marked the spelling assessment from the week before ready for
the next day and created the spelling assessment lists. Upon leaving the classroom
for the day I felt a lot more confident in my own ability at teaching and think today
was just what I needed to build upon my own experiences and extend my teaching
strategies.