Week 8 – Professional

After finishing my School Based Work and having a week to reflect upon my placement, I feel that it is important to reflect upon my time teaching and the ‘Group Work’ Strategy I implemented for my project.

Having experienced six weeks of teaching practice in Northern Ireland, I had mentally prepared myself of the lack of sleep, stress of lesson planning and resource making, along with the satisfaction of witnessing the children learn, which encountered last year on placement. However, the stress did not arrive, but the satisfaction of witnessing children learning came in abundance, with many of the children understanding simple concepts – such as adding on a number line- for the first time. Having said this, the satisfaction was ‘bitter sweet’ on a professional level as the time spent in school was extremely short when looked at in perspective and I am unsure that my small influence will have any long term impact on the class teacher methods or attitudes. Nevertheless, I am holding a single bead of hope, as on my last day the teacher commented that: “The behavioural strategies have really worked! I have suggested to the principal that each classroom should implement at least one and she agrees”.  If this were to take place, I would feel I have achieved a huge step both personally and professionally as with the strategies in place, there is a small chance that the Zambian teachers may refrain from using their traditional methods of punishment and engage in competence 7 of the GTCNI’s professional competencies (GTCNI, 2010).

Over the six weeks of teaching I have been implementing ‘Group work’ strategies into the Grade Six classroom as the bases of a research report. The rationale for this arose from the lack of ‘active’ teaching methods, the Zambian attitude towards ‘Group work’ and the social interactions of the pupils in the classroom. The project got of the a shaky start as the children had very little experience in the use of ‘Group Work’ and resorted to physical violence when it came to taking turns or sharing. However, as time passed and the children gained experience of working with others the above issue disappeared completely – which I feel is one of the project’s success stories – and the children were able to engage in ‘scaffolding’ of each others’ learning (Gray and MacBlain, 2012)  and Piaget’s concept of ‘Cognitive Conflict’ (Baines and Blatchford, 2009) to improve their learning opportunities.

Having never engaged in a research project before, I felt professionally unprepared entering into it. However, I ‘jumped in with both feet’ beginning with a series of observations which provided me with a detailed insight into the African education system. From the observations, it is safe to say that I now have a clear “understanding of the factors that promote and hinder effective learning” and I have experienced firsthand the need of providing “for the holistic development of the [children]” (GTCNI, 2010, p. 12). This has enabled me to gain a better understanding of the Northern Ireland Curriculum’s methods, which I hope will develop my teaching and reflecting skills for the future. After the implementation of the strategy came the construction of the research report, which for me proved a difficult task professionally due to the spectacular environment in which I was expected to concentrate in. However, after a long battle of uncertainty and distractions the research report has finalised and I am already eagerly awaiting the results.

 On leaving school, the principal presented Jenna and I with traditional African materials and a letter of recommendation as a token of their thanks, I was very overwhelmed by this gift as I was not expecting a present from the school. Jenna and I decided to put the material to good use and headed off the local tailor to be fitted for traditional Zambian dresses.

 

References

Baines. E and Blatchford. P. (2009) Promoting Effective Group Work in the Primary Classroom, Oxon, Routledge.

Gray, C and MacBlain, S. (2012) Learning Theories in Childhood, London, SAGE Publication Ltd.

General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (2010) Teaching: The Reflective Profession, GTCNI, Belfast.