I am not going to be so nieve to say that I was completely competent in all areas of the subject content I was teaching. Of course, there is always room for gathering new information and developing as a teacher. I do however feel that I achieved a high level of competence in the classes I was teaching through effort and research. In some areas, specifically Geography, I do feel that perhaps more attention is needed in some areas, such as geography skills, to ensure I am teaching to the best of my ability. I do however feel confident in the analysis of my students and discovering how they learn. Each of my classes was vastly different – from a senior geography class, to a special needs geography class and then to the top Year 8 History class – the range I had to deal with was extremely broad. I believe that it was these vast differences that made my prac so enjoyable as no two classes were ever the same! Each class allowed me the opportunity to try different teaching methods and the 10 weeks allowed me the time to realise what teaching methods worked best with what class. I feel that my achievement in this goal is summed up in one sentence extracted from my final prac report in which my mentor teacher stated, “Sarah’s lessons display a thorough understanding of the subject content and she has the ability to adapt her teaching to the students needs.”
Goal 2: To apply the skills that I have learnt at uni and through hands on experience to run an effective classroom – maintaining safe and challenging learning environments through the use of classroom management. (Element 5)
While classroom management was certainly no ‘walk in the park’ , I do feel quite lucky with the classes I was allocated as there was no major behavioural issues within them. I do feel overall within my classes there was a safe and challenging environment established. However I do acknowledge that next time I have a class I will go in with a harder more serious stance and gradually ease off. The reason for this being that although I feel I had control over my classes, in some circumstances I saw myself as being too easy a target when the boys decided they wanted to misbehave. In terms of classroom management this 10 week internship has been most helpful in allowing me a taste of what it is like to run an actual classroom.
Goal 3: To become an active and engaged member of the school/community environment – getting involved in as many school activities as possible and immersing myself in the schools culture. (Element 7)
To be honest, I was most nervous about this aspect of my internship. 10 weeks was a long time and I did not want to be cast aside as the ‘prac student’ for the whole 10 weeks. As a result of this I made a conscious effort to interact with the all of the staff at the college. My efforts payed off as I feel I was accepted and incorporated into the school community in all totality. I formed some great relationships with a number of the staff which really made my internship a great deal more enjoyable. This internship has really given me a real taste of what it is like to be a member of a school community as a teacher. I also involved myself in helping and organising certain school events and made an effort to attend the art, music and drama exhibitions that were organised by the school. Overall, I do believe that I can confidently say that I achieved this final goal for the internship which is reinforced by a comment made by my mentor teacher in my final report “…She has developed an excellent rapport with staff and students and involved herself in all aspects of College life.”
I am extremely happy with how my internship turned out. After experiencing these 10 weeks of prac, I really feel, with reference to the picture below, that I am heading in the ‘right’ direction!
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