SCHOOL PLACEMENT 1

2016/2017

Student: Luke Sweeney

Class Observed: 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th

Date: 25/11/16

Topic:

OBSERVATION
Soon after arriving into
the school the children
took their normal
procedures which began
with all the kids sitting
around playing games.
There were two separate
small groups and the
children interacted with
each other in board
games. Each child gets to
interact in these groups
and each child has an
input. Soon after they all
stood up and went
through their prayers. As
each child spoke about
something/prayed for
someone the rest stood
there and listened
patiently.
They went through the
usual Friday routine
starting with a spelling
test. As one group were
doing the spellings the
others were working on
their maths. I was lucky
enough to fill in for a SN
woman who was absent
and help a boy with his
spellings and his maths.
After the spellings and
Maths questions the
children sat around the
interactive whiteboard
and worked together to
fill in Cities and countries
as a part of their

Learning in Groups

CRITICAL REFLECTION ON THE

OBSERVATION
(Race, 2007, p. 133) states that The teams marks
will be better if the former choice is made, but there
may be more learning gain if the novice undertakes
the task with quidance from the specialist. Students
learn from other students. Even though the board
games are not a learning as such I feel that the
working together can help to influence the students
to better learning and to also see what other
students may have to say or input into the game. If
one student were to make a wrong decision another
student may know the right one. This can improve
the childrens decision making and also help
students that are lower achievers.
I am aware that the prayers in the morning is also
not a learning exercise but can influence a childs
learning in some way. The children learn to respect
and listen to what other children have to say. I feel
that the children will have more respect for people
and also tend to listen to other people before they
jump to conclusions and/or not think before
beginning an exercise.
(George M. Jacobs, 2002, p. 15) also states that
More helping may occur as higher achievers assist
lower achievers. This statement applies to my next
two points. As said already, I was lucky enough to
help a student who has special needs within the
classroom. He consistently rushed ahead without
thinking but my job was to slow him down and make
him engage in what he was being asked before he
worked ahead. I thought that this was a good
learning for him as a student and me as a teacher. I
feel that if this method continues to be processed
through his mind he will eventually get a slight
understanding of thing before jumping to
conclusions. When the children were asked to match
cities to countries they all sat in front of the
interactive whiteboard and interacted with each
other. If one child was to get the wrong answer
another would confront their partner and correct

SCHOOL PLACEMENT 1
2016/2017
geography work.

each other. I felt that this is an important way of

learning as the children are not learning from the
teacher but in fact learning from each other. I think
that learning in groups can also be an entertaining
way of learning as it is less formal. I feel that the
students will respect their peers after listening and
helping each other in order to get a correct answer. I
feel that this could certainly be a method that I will
incorporate into the classroom and that I will use in
future lessons.

Bibliography
George N. Jacobs, M. A. P. L. W. I., 2002. The
Teachers Sourcebook for Cooperative Learning. 1st
ed. California: Corwin Press Inc..
Race, P., 2007. The Lecturer's Toolkit. 3rd ed. New
York: Routledge.