Challenges on the Way!

The last year of my graduation in the university gave me the opportunity to take steps towards fulfilling my goal of becoming a teacher. I started my work placement in the Rosetta Primary School, Belfast as a part of my Work-Based Module and worked there as a Teaching Assistant. Initially, during the first few weeks it all seemed very easy but after a few weeks I began to face the real work environment challenges of a primary school but overcoming and conquering them made me feel like a person who is very close to achieve his dreams. In this blog, I will reflect on my work challenges that I faced during my experience by using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle.

Graham Gibbs created the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle in 1988 to systematise learning from events.  It provides a structure for analysing events, and because it is cyclical, it fits very well to recurrent encounters, enabling one to reflect and prepare from events that went well or poorly. “It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience, it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or concepts can be generated, and it is generalisations that allow new situations to be tackled effectively” (Gibbs 1988: 14). This six-step strategy can assist one in identifying one’s areas of competence, areas for improvement, and steps one may take to improve one’s professional abilities.

Description

The main part of my job is to assist teachers in the classroom by helping the foreign students to understand English language. I assist three students in two different classes. The incident occurred in P5 with my student, Lev. A trainee teacher was teaching fractions that day in the class, but Lev was not used to her teaching methods. I believe he decided to take out his frustration of not being able to understand anything, on me. When I tried to explain him what was going on in the class, he totally refused to listen and told me to “go away”. I was not able to understand that how should I deal with it and was left perplexed.

Another challenge that I had to face occurred during the last few weeks of my work placement. I used to assist two students from P6 together, Evandro and Mohammed. I found out on my third last week that both of them have been withdrawn from school and flown back to their home countries. After that, I was asked to assist a new student from P3, who was much younger from my previous students, and he was a selective mute. He only spoke to me or tried to communicate with me when he felt like. Hence, dealing with a new student and trying to make him feel comfortable with me during my last three weeks was the biggest challenge.

Feelings

During the Lev’s incident, I felt dejected when it occurred. I was upset by his response and started questioning my abilities. On the other hand, I was trying to blame it on trainee teacher however, that made me feel a bit selfish because Lev was my responsibility and trying to make him understand things was my duty. As Waring and Evans (2015: 5) mentions that, “teachers need to know how best to use their pedagogical skills to effectively support the development of their students, to be able to keep up with changing networks”. Therefore, not being able to achieve this and help Lev, made me feel miserable.

Furthermore, in the case of Evandro and Mohammed, I was extremely disheartened because as their teacher, I got attached to my students and was not even able to say goodbye and wish them luck for their futures. On the other hand, I was totally clueless about the new student on how and where to start with him when I had just two weeks left in my placement.

Evaluation

This section will bring forward the things which were good and bad about the experience.

POSITIVES:

In the case of Lev, I found out what Lev found difficult to cope with and realised that any change in the ongoing teaching method is challenging for Lev’s understanding.

I had the opportunity to experience the feeling of a real teacher student bond with Evandro and Mohammed.

NEGATIVES:

My inability to deal with Lev’s situation and make him understand things. My inability to deal with the new student from P3.

Analysis

I decided to discuss Lev’s situation with the main teacher and the trainee teacher to figure out the steps which I should take to make it better. I was suggested that I should try explaining to Lev in my own way about what was being taught in the class. I should tell him to not concentrate on the trainee teacher but teach him the concepts myself and in between try to give him examples that the trainee teacher would give in the class.

In the case of the new student, I decided to discuss it with the principal of the school. She understood my problem and suggested me that I should not pressurise myself with the new student and not force him to communicate. I should just sit and spend time with him and be patient, and moreover, try to indulge with his fellow students which could motivate him to take initiative in the classroom as well as with me.

Conclusion

While reconsidering the situations now, I believe that I could have worked a little bit differently towards them. I should not have tried to make Lev concentrate on the classroom’s teaching and I should not have forced the new student to try and communicate with me. I should have been patient and kept my calm.

Overall, this experience gave me a new insight to face any challenges that come in my way while teaching. The challenges taught me how to deal with different situations while remaining calm and thinking positive.

Action Plan

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

Robert F. Kennedy

I will ensure in future that I communicate with my senior colleagues about all the challenges that I had faced during my work placement in past, and take their advice on how to tackle them. Even if I fail to overcome the challenges during the first time; rather than feeling defeated, I would think and work towards conquering it. As Robert F. Kennedy has said, “only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly”. I now recognise that I need to develop greater self-assurance while presenting myself as a teacher, and I believe that working on my teaching abilities will assist me to achieve this.

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Bibliography

Gibbs, Graham. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 14

Kennedy, Robert F. “10 Quotes on Overcoming Obstacles That Will Motivate You”. Teamphoria. Web. Accessed April 8, 2023. https://www.teamphoria.com/10-quotes-on-overcoming-obstacles-that-will-motivate-you/

Waring M. and Evans C. (2015). Understanding Pedagogy. Routledge: New York, 2015. pp. 5