“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.

(Gibbs, 1988)

As a student who has always had a passion for teaching and education, I thought I had a clear understanding of what it meant to be a teacher in a classroom full of students simply from my experience in a classroom as a pupil. I would sit comfortably in my drama class and watch as my passionate, charismatic, and incredibly bubbly Drama teacher taught me the intricacies of movement and gesture in a Shakespearean play and imagine myself doing just that. In my English class, I would think ‘how could it be that difficult’ to teach creative writing or the analyse a poem to eager students who want to learn. My fault lay in believing that every young adolescent had a passion for learning, and I was naïve to think that every class would be full of students who cared as much as my teachers did. I understood this, eventually, when I walked into my placement school and was met with the reality of what it truly means to be a teacher.

Using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (Gibbs 1988, summarised in Jasper 2013) I will be reflecting on my experience in Belfast High School and how my views on what a teacher truly is have changed from the beginning of my time there.

With my bag in hand and the most ‘teacher-like’ outfit, that I had been preparing the night before, I was nervous but excited to begin this adventure. I got in my car, demisted the windows, and drove alongside the early-morning corporate crew. I felt part of the serious adult fleet, an imposter amongst the hundreds of cars. It was such a new experience for me, one that I had hoped for and anticipated for a very long time. But when I arrived outside the school, there was a strange feeling that overwhelmed me. I felt different from when I was last there as a student. This time I was encouraged to be an authority figure to the younger pupils and a fellow colleague to the staff. I liked it but it took some time to become familiar with. Many of the staff recognised me and we would chat in the staff room over cups of coffee, delving into old stories from when they taught me, and stories of other students in my year that were infamous around the school. Many of the female teachers whom I adored and thought very fondly of embraced me and asked how my life had been since our last teary conversations together, and other male teachers whom I had only walked past in the corridors or talked to in a formal sense seemed a little taken aback by my presence, as – I’m assuming – I reminded them of just how quickly time had passed. There were a few new shiny faces that had joined since my departure, and in a way, this was a breath of fresh air for me as it gave me a chance to be viewed through a lens that differed from the one my previous teachers were viewing me through. It gave me the chance to prove myself on my own terms and not struggle to live up to any preconceived expectations that other teachers might have had. I was filled with an abundance of hope and positivity on my first day and couldn’t wait to meet the students in class.

Walking into class for the first time in my new role was scary. As someone who has a background in Film Studies and not teaching, I knew there would be things that were very unfamiliar to me, phrases, and practices that I would have to learn ‘on the job’. It helped that the staff were so accommodating and cared about me getting everything that I could out of my time there. I felt lucky to have my role models around me, guiding me through.

When the class came in, half of them gawked at me and the other half ran over to say hello. I was a new face and a new person they could talk to. They were Year 8 which meant they were the babies of the entire school. Every so often I was reminded that a few months before now, they were finishing primary school and leaping out of a small pond as large, outgrown fish. For many of the children, ‘big’ school was a daunting land of mystery where a school map was one of their most prized possessions during the first few weeks. In some ways, I related to them as I, too, was navigating a new daunting environment. As the teacher began the lesson and asked the students to find a space on the drama stage, the noise began to rise, and the children began to chatter and scream with excitement. For a few small few of them, this was a task that would be too challenging to remain calm throughout. Something that I hadn’t anticipated was the needs of certain students in the classroom. The teacher, whom I now was on a first-name basis with, had acknowledged beforehand that some of the pupils in the classroom had specific learning needs such as ADHD or Autism, and it was now our job to try to accommodate everyone to the best of our abilities. Years ago, children with specific learning needs were thought to be boisterous or mischievous if they couldn’t sit still or if their attention spans weren’t adequately aligned with the expectations of a teacher. However, now there is a huge amount of importance placed on teachers and classroom assistants in understanding the ways in which certain children can reach their potential. A little boy comes to mind when writing this – we’ll call him Peter. Peter was intelligent beyond his years and his brain worked a hundred miles a minute. The task was for the students to understand body language and movement, so when the teacher shouted ‘PIANO’, the children had to work in groups to become a piano physically and mimic the sounds. This was particularly challenging for Peter as he couldn’t grasp the idea of the exercise and would progressively become more frustrated at his lack of understanding. He had a teaching assistant with him but rejected the idea that he needed one, so would create chaos and problems simply because he didn’t want the attention that came with the help. As a teacher, it was imperative that his actions did not disrupt the rest of the class, but learning how to do this in a way that worked for every party involved was tough. From my own experience as a student in a classroom, when pupils were ‘bold’ or would want additional attention that lay outside of academic needs, the teacher’s easiest option would be to send them elsewhere – often to sit at a desk outside the principal’s office. However, this was counterproductive and taught the misbehaving student that their needs were not as important as the needs of everybody else. I would love to write that I now confidently understand how to adapt my teaching style to fit the needs of every child in the classroom, but that is something that I am learning more about every day. The main thing I have learned from my experience in school has been acknowledging that as teachers, you are a role model to hundreds of children, and how treat and respond to them will have an impact whether it be positive or negative. It is so important to rememer that words can be very heavy for the students, and how to react to situations can remain on them for a very long time. Students need to know that they are cared for and that they matter, even if this is shown through acknowledging them in the corridors or humouring them when they want to talk about what they got up to over the weekend. Children are so easily moldable and a teachers influence can make or break them in a certain class. 

I have gained valuable knowledge from my placement and will take many of these life lessons with me as I delve deeper into my own teachinbg career. I want to be a positive influence on my pupils, and a role model that encourages a fun and exciting learning environment for my students.

As children, when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, most children would reply with doctors, firefighters, princesses, or footballers. But my answer never changed – teacher, teacher, and teacher again. When we were asked in our A-level classes what we saw for our futures, my answer again was teacher. My decision to become a teacher stemmed from my very first teacher in P1. Mrs Watson, and I will remember her name forever, taught me that reading and writing can be enjoyable. Similarly, when I was in high school, my drama teacher – Mrs Burch – taught me that being a teacher didn’t have to mean I would be moody, or have older, more traditional views. She taught me that I could be an energetic and inspiring voice to the pupils and make work fun and exciting.

Bibliography

Jasper, M. (2013)Beginning reflective practice. Andover: Cengage Learning EMEA.Medical library
RT73 JASPhttps://www.vlebooks.com/Vleweb/Product/Index/496302?page=