Determining My Drama Teacher Dreams!

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Becoming a teacher has been a lifelong ambition of mine, a career in education provides me with the chance to positively influence future generations lives every day. Gaining hands-on classroom experience is an essential stage of a teacher’s development that prepares them for the lifelong learning of a teacher, therefore, it became my goal to secure a placement within a post-primary school setting. Finding this experience did not come without its challenges due to the current Covid-19 restrictions that have been placed upon schools across Northern Ireland. This is evident in the finding from a recent report carried out by The Royal Society of Chemistry highlighting that, “78% of trainee and first-year teachers responded that the impact of Covid-19 had a negative impact on their school placement experience.”[1] I too felt like this after many failed attempts and feelings of disappointment due to the current restrictions, Laurelhill Community College came to my rescue, securing my placement within the Drama Department.

Throughout this blog I will be applying ‘Gibbs’ Reflective Learning Cycle’ as a tool of reflection to effectively evaluate my work placement at a post-primary school, striving to deliver a clear description, personal feelings, an evaluation, critical analysis, a conclusion, and an action plan. Employing these six steps into my reflection will illustrate how I successfully acquired and completed a work placement at Laurelhill Community College.

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[1] Royal Society of Chemistry, The Future of Practical Science Lessons: Teacher Training During the Pandemic and the Long-term Impact on Practical Work in Schools (2021) Available at: <https://www.rsc.org/globalassets/22-news-perspectives/talent/covid-and-teacher-training/rsc-report-on-the-effects-of-covid-on-chemistry-teacher-training.pdf> [accessed 25 October 2021].

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Communication is Key

Communicating virtually with the Head of Department became our main form of connecting due to the pandemic. Although communicating online has been a convenient form of communication throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, I believe that this has been a personal challenge for myself as I thrive of real, in-person conversation. Nonetheless, this has taught me that “spending extra time to read and re-read written messages before they are sent can help avoid miscommunication,”[2] which is a vital aspect of teaching in itself. After confirming my placement at Laurelhill via email I then had to complete the necessary documentation, such as an AccessNI check, indemnity forms and health and safety checks to enable me to work hands-on in the classroom. We agreed that I would shadow the Head of Drama and take a few warmup activities and lessons with the year 11 GCSE class on their set text ‘Blood Brother’ that I have previous experience learning. These introductory sessions assisted in building my confidence in front of the pupils and made me feel like I had gained a greater understanding of essential skills that come with teaching in the classroom.

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[2]Alicia Whittlesey, Communication During a Pandemic (2021) Available at: <https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/4/communication-during-a-pandemic> [accessed 25 October 2021].

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Everyday is Different

Upon entering the College, I discovered that not one day in teaching is the same, although you have set timetable and the school bell is the director of time “what went before may not repeat itself.”[3] Laurelhill prides itself in following a pupil centric teaching approach that “caters for pupils of all abilities and follows the Northern Ireland Curriculum in Key Stage 3.”[4] I was able to experience this first hand when working with two different year ten classes. Both classes were to produce a monologue based on a character that they had created and became involved in an antisocial behaviour scenario for their mid-term tracking assessment. The two year ten classes could not have been any different. The first class were enthusiastic about drama and motivated to work, while the other class were disruptive and troublesome, this initial experience and the drastic difference between the two year ten classes left me shocked. At first, this was a shock to me, however, I believe that I handled this well and through time I recognised that the sense of shock brought around feelings of excitement within the workplace because of the unpredictability of every day, ultimately reaffirming my aim to become a teacher.

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[3] Lucy Waide, So You Want to Be a Teacher? How to Launch your Teaching Career (London: Continuum, 2008), p.1-11, (p.5).

[4] Laurelhill Community College, Laurelhill Community College: Learning and Achieving Together (2021) Available at: <https://www.laurelhillcollege.org> [accessed 28 October 2021].

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Fear Vs Excitement

I was extremely excited to be given this classroom experience, however, I could not hide the nerves that I felt on the morning of my first teaching experience. Stepping into the role of Miss Stevenson in front of twenty Year Eight pupils was a daunting experience, nonetheless, I did not want these nerves to interfere with my ability to teach – ultimately this is what I signed up for and this practical learning within the classroom has benefited me greatly. Tom Bennet discusses the importance of confidence as “courage is the root and the soil of authority,”[5] thus, correlating exactly how I initially approached stepping into the classroom as an educator. To establish this authority, I created a lesson plan prior to each session I had with this class “the advantage of working with predetermined structures is that it is easier to identify significant content, learning outcomes, appropriate dramatic forms and assessment opportunities.”[6] This preparation for teaching helped me to overcome the initial fears that I experienced before entering the classroom, while also feeding into the clique saying ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’

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[5] Tom Bennet, Teacher: Mastering the Art and Craft of Teaching (London: Continuum, 2012), p.79-95, (p.79)

[6] Michael Fleming, Teaching Drama in Primary and Secondary Schools: An Integrated Approach (London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd, 2001), p.26-42, (p.27).

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Future Career Action Plan

This invaluable work experience has solidified my ambitions of becoming a post-primary school Drama teacher. Gaining this experience has kick-started my career planning and researching the most suitable Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course for me. Conversing with qualified teachers within Laurelhill I was advised to research a PGCE in Drama with English and Media Studies that the University of Ulster has to offer. Although I am set on becoming a teacher, I believe that I must further prepare myself for this step, thus, as of the upcoming summer, I will be searching and applying for classroom assisting jobs within Northern Ireland before applying for a PGCE at the University of Ulster in January 2023. Ultimately, in “aiming for experiences that will change us”[7] will provide me with opportunities to assist in making my dream of becoming a Drama teacher come true.

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[7] Tom Bennet, Teacher: Mastering the Art and Craft of Teaching (London: Continuum, 2012), p.139-147, (p.143).

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Bibliography

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Bennet, Tom, Teacher: Mastering the Art and Craft of Teaching (London: Continuum, 2012)

Dreamstime, Communication Themed Street Sign (2021) Available at: <https://dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-communication-themed-street-sign-image114178> [accessed 28 October 2021]

Expert Program Management, Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (2018) Available at: <https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2019/05/gibbs-reflective-cycle/> [accessed 27 October 2021]

Fleming, Michael, Teaching Drama in Primary and Secondary Schools: An Integrated Approach (London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd, 2001)

How To Make Partner, How to Make your Dreams & Career Ambitions Real (2014) Available at: <https: www.howtomakepartner.com/how-to-make-your-dreams-career-ambitions-real/> [accessed 28 October 2021]

Laurelhill Community College, Laurelhill Community College: Learning and Achieving Together (2021) Available at: <https://www.laurelhillcollege.org> [accessed 28 October 2021]

Rainham Mark Grammar School, Uniform (2021) Available at: <https://Rainhammark.com/page/?title=uniform&pid=389> [accessed 27 October 2021]

Royal Society of Chemistry, The Future of Practical Science Lessons: Teacher Training During the Pandemic and the Long-term Impact on Practical Work in Schools (2021) Available at: <https://www.rsc.org/globalassets/22-news-perspectives/talent/covid-and-teacher-training/rsc-report-on-the-effects-of-covid-on-chemistry-teacher-training.pdf> [accessed 25 October 2021]

Waide, Lucy, So You Want to Be a Teacher? How to Launch your Teaching Career (London: Continuum, 2008)

Whittlesey, Alicia, Communication During a Pandemic (2021) Available at: <https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/4/communication-during-a-pandemic> [accessed 25 October 2021]

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