This week in my blog I will be talking about my third week at Smithycrofy High School. As you will be able to see in my previous blog posts my work experience here has been going very well. I am enjoying myself through my placement and gaining a lot of skills from it.

This week I done my usual lessons that I have been teaching, badminton, dance, basketball and gymnastics. I ensured that all my lessons were prepared before going into the class to teach, this always settles my nerves knowing that I have a structure to my lesson and that the pupils will be gaining from my lessons.

This week there was in incident that I hadn’t anticipated happening. During my gymnastics lesson the pupils were working on equipment, one of the boys done a cartwheel over the box top and then a forward roll. However when he done the forward roll he kneed himself in the face and knocked himself out . As the class teacher was helping another group of students he hadn’t seen it, I quickly ran to the boy while shouting on the class teach to come over as well, all of the other pupils began to panic so I quickly go them out of the room and into the changing room, I also asked for one of them to go and get some help. The boy then came around he didn’t know where he was at first or what had happened however after a couple of minutes he realised what had happened and began to feel better.

This was my first experience of an incident like this when teaching and I am pour of how I handled it as I managed to stay calm and collected through it all.  Although this was stressful it has not put me off of my work experience and I am excited to go back.

On Tuesday I had my second week of placement at Smithycroft High School in Glasgow. I was excited to go back however was also nervous as I knew this was the week I was beginning to teach some of the classes that I had assisted in last week. I had planned my lessons so I was prepared for  the day ahead, however was hoping that the pupils would be engaged and interested in what I was teaching them.

My first lesson was dance  which made me feel at ease as I have taught dance for many years. This lesson was going really well until I added a move into the routine and one of the girls go upset as she felt that she couldn’t do it. I took her to the side and reassured her that she was capable of it and when through how it was done to help her be able to do it. After this two minute talk she seemed a lot more settled and joined back into class willing to give it a go and continue to learn. I was glad that she came around quickly and wanted to join back in.

My second lesson was Basketball with S4 core. Core classes can be harder to teach as it is mandatory for the students and they do not all enjoy PE. The class went well, we done a few dribbling drills and then moved onto conditioned games thinking about team work, the pupils responded very well to this and stayed engaged through the lesson.

My last teaching lesson was Gymnastics, this is again is a sport I am more familiar with, it was an S3 class I was teaching with 33 pupils so was a large class but again the class went very well. The pupils worked on routines both on the floor and on the vault and they managed to do very well. I was pleased with how this class went as there is some big characters in this class and they all worked hard.

It was overall a great day.

Hello,

I am so glad to say that I have now started my placement. I had my first day on Tuesday and it went very well, the staff working in the school were very helpful and wanted to ensure I felt comfortable and settled in on my first day.

As my mentor was previously my PE teacher we already have a good relationship, she was very helpful in any way possible, she introduced me to everyone straight and showed me around the school. I feel that I am able to go to her with and question I have or if I need any help at all, this made me feel a lot better about going into placement on my first day as I knew she would be there if I needed her.

For the first period I was in with s3 boys badminton shadowing the teacher, period two I was again shadowing a teacher in badminton but this time with s4 mixed core class. Period three I was supposed to be in a theory period with a NAT 5 class however they ended up short staffed for their Nat 5 dance class, my mentor knows that I am a dance teacher and therefor asked me to take the class while the cover teacher watched. I was excited to take the class and do some teaching on my first day however I was nervous that that dancers didn’t enjoy their lesson as I wanted them to have a positive experience in my first class. However the dancers walked out excited and asked for me again next week, I was glad they enjoyed the class. Period 4 I shadowed in an s4 core basket ball, I was off period 5 and period 6 I was in with s3 gymnastics which I really enjoyed.

Over all all I am glad I’m not started and everything is going great.

Although we are almost at reading week I still have not yet started my placement, this is due to the school I am going to also having a student in on placement meaning I am having to wait until her placement has finished for me to be able to start. I will thankfully be starting placement next week and I am excited to get in and started.

I will be doing my placement at Smithycroft high school. I found my own placement as the principle PE teacher at this school is my old high school teacher. I always had a great relationship with my mentor while at school and continued this after leaving high school, we always stayed in contact and regularly email back and forth.

When I emailed to ask my mentor is she had space to fit me in to do my work experience there she was excited and couldn’t wait to get started as well. We met up to discuss what days worked best for the both of us and to work out a time table for when I start. For my first lesson during period one I will be teaching gymnastics, period two and three I will be teaching badminton, period four I will be teaching fitness, I am off period 5 and period 6 I will be teaching basketball. I feel very comfortable teaching gymnastics and fitness but I am excited to observe basketball and badminton and learn more about teaching these activity’s for when I start my placement after Christmas.

Emailing has worked well between my mentor and myself, my mentor hasn’t been fast replying which has been great as it means if I have had any questions they have been answered quickly. My mentor has also let me know what teachers classes I will be in, this has also made me more at ease as I know exactly what I am going in to do and who with meaning I can be prepared from the start.

Over all I can’t wait to get in and started on my work experience is Smithycroft high school.

Paige