Starting off this week I had my final return to the school in Groningen to re-teach my BREXIT lesson to another class. This time I was flying solo as Nadja was unwell which admittedly made it a bit more daunting however I have found in the past I prefer to teach by myself so I can do things my way. I was teaching in the 3VA class which is the same age as the previous class except the other set. I was informed before going into the lesson that this class was of a slightly higher standard than the first and a lot more opinionated so I had high expectations. In my opinion this lesson ran much better than the first. Before the lesson began I felt a lot more comfortable and prepared as I had taught it once before and I knew what responses to expect from the students. Teaching by myself I felt more confident and authoritative as I didn't feel the need to check or talk things through with Nadja, I was able to just do what I thought was best throughout the lesson. Again the students responded very positively to all the resources and activities and during the feedback at the end they were very positive towards me. Many thought I was well organised for the lesson and that they liked the manner and approach I took towards them. This was nice to hear as it was probably the main thing I was nervous about as the only experience I have teaching students of post primary age took place in the previous lesson.
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| Students using their phones to search for information |
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| Students watching video clips about the Brexit |
On the Thursday of this week I also had my final day in my regular placement school. Nadja had recovered from illness and so we both went for the final day. This was a relatively easy day as the students were just giving their informal presentations. This was interestingly done. As the 3 classes we taught in are all next to each other the teachers simply opened the interconnecting doors and 1 class would circulate while the other 2 gave their presentations to small groups. This made it very informal and the students appeared very comfortable doing their presentations. Nadja and I simply circulated with the other students and got round most of the presentations. They were all a lot better than we had expected as in the previous week very few were anywhere close to finishing but thankfully the class teachers had spent a little time on them during the week.
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| Students presenting their work |
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| One of the Year 8 groups |
Upon completion of my placements I was required to reflect on my lessons, much like we do at home. Although I spent less time in the school in Groningen where I taught my BREXIT lesson I oddly feel I gained more from that experience than I did my regular placement school. In my regular school I felt very out of place and at times almost useless and I think this is due to the large language barrier I had with the majority of the students. I feel I can now partly empathise with a newcomer child now when they are placed in an environment where they struggle to communicate. However in the school in Groningen due to their high levels of English I feel I was able to achieve more and develop more professionally. I feel that over the course of this placement and the "Active Learning" module I was able to address many of the competences outlined by the GTCNI, for example competences 8, 14, 16, 18 and 20.
References:
GTCNI (2007) Teaching: the Reflective Profession. Incorporating the Northern Ireland Teacher Competences. [accessed at: www.gtcni.org.uk]
(I have permission from both the class teacher and the students to use their image)
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