This week I undertook a presentation in front of my peers and two members of staff. My presentation slot was between 9-11 am therefore, at 7.45 am I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I emerged from my house to the University of Stirling. While driving to the university, I played a rehearsed recording of me practicing my presentation. This enabled me to go over my lines and get some last-minute revision beforehand, putting my mind at ease.

As I arrived in class, all of the students were looking very formal as they were wearing smart trousers and shirts. Once everyone arrived, the module co-ordinator gave a brief summary of today’s plan. This required us to present our findings on a presentation regarding our work experience however when others were presenting, we had to fill out a feedback form. When referring to the feedback form, we had to inform the presenter of what they did well, what they should stop doing followed by a suggestion of what to keep doing or change.

After the module co-ordinator communicated today’s plan, she asked: “who would like to go first?”. My mind was playing tricks at this moment and time as I was saying to myself “no ill wait”, then I was thinking “oh no maybe I should go first and get it over and done with.” Unfortunately, I didn’t build the courage to go first, as a matter of fact, I was actually last.

When the module co-ordinator shouted “Lauren, you are up next”, I could feel the palm of my hands dripping with sweat, my heart was racing, I was terrified. All I was thinking about was the last time I attempted to speak in front of an audience and all I did was laugh due to nerves. However, I continued to think positively while saying to myself “COME ON YOU CAN DO THIS”.

At the beginning of my presentation I felt the nerves were getting the better of me as I was mispronouncing words while being reluctant to engage with my audience, however, as the presentation progressed, I started to become more confident enabling me to stand with a strong posture, speak with a loud clear voice and engage with the materials and my audience.

Overall, I believe my presentation ran smoothly. The audience seemed to enjoy my Powerpoint and stated that I shared some interesting facts while giving an effective self-reflection on my work placement experience. Due to this being my last EVER blog, I just want to share my opinion about this work experience module. This work experience module has taught me things about myself that I didn’t even know. Moreover, it has been one of the best modules that I have taken at the University of Stirling therefore, I am grateful to have been giving this opportunity.

This week I had the first event of my new work experience where I was a media officer for Stirling county. I had to post regularly using the team’s social media pages giving up to date scores and events during the game.  I received great feedback from supporters who could not attend the game and were using the updates to gain information about the game. I also have been given the role of writing the match report which will go live tomorrow. I have thoroughly enjoyed this placement thus far and hope it continues to deliver.

Bright and early start again! This week I am going to talk about the rugby session with the primary 3 class.

The warm up was a classic couple of rounds of toilet tig to get the kids on the move before recapping on what we learned the previous week. The kids were then split up into 3 teams of 5 and 1 team of 4 for relay races. This gave the kids a chance to practice running and holding the ball and scoring a try whilst encouraging team work, competitiveness and motivation. As the numbers were odd, I decided to take part with the team with the fewer participants. Like last week, this allowed  me to really connect and build on my relationship with the class that is only growing every week.

The session then progressed into a mini possession type game. This consisted of the class being split into two groups with myself and Lauren taking one half of them. The game resembled a bigger, more inclusive version of ‘piggy in the middle’. The kids had to work together and pass quickly to their team mates without the ball being intercepted by the two and sometimes three kids in the middle. This really helped the kids work on their special awareness, speed and decision making whilst keeping a large fun element to it.

Great session again – the kids really seem to be enjoying every challenge we put in front of them!

This Fridays placement was great fun as usual.  Last week Tony gave me my own coach my sport t- shirt to wear and it has made me feel really like part of the team.  I worked with Josh again in the pre school class.  However this week he was really reluctant to do anything with me and kept running away.  He is growing in confidence though and is engaging well now with the other coaches.  This is a positive progression as a couple of weeks back he wouldn’t talk to any of them hide away if they tried to talk to him.  His mum came and he was happy to take part with her.  It was good to watch him getting involved with the games and the other children.  I believe that he will eventually feel comfortable enough to participate in the sessions without additional support.  It has been very interesting working with him and watching the changes each week.

Next we had the home school group and the green group.  The games were the same for both groups and we were working on reactions today and agility.  I feel I have built up good relationships with both of these groups and am able to coach them confidently and they respond well to me.  The green group has quite a lot of big characters and therefore it can be quite a challenging session.  However myself and Alex (one of the other coaches) have become very effective at getting them in, organised and into smaller groups and started.  This has definitely made the sessions more manageable.  I feel that myself and the other coaches have a good rapport and I enjoy working with them.

There has also been a young lad working with us as part of an employability academy that Tony does as well as Coach my Sport.  He has been pretty closed off and not really engaging with the kids much but this week he was getting more involved with the games and helping the kids.  This was great to see, that he is getting more comfortable and confident.  I think it’s a great things that Tony is doing, belong these young people and giving them coaching experience.  It is also nice to be able to see him developing in the role as well.

Looking forward to next week.

Christina

Work experience – week 7

 

During week seven I have assisted at the third out of four archery classes at Fallin primary in Stirling.

Last week when during this class there was three of us taking the class so we each watched one of the three groups. My group last week was hard work, so I spent most of the time reiterating the health and safety standards and having to control them. This week was totally different because I was watching a different group who were more relaxed so instead of the focus just being on controlling them, I was able to help them with coaching points and try and help them improve.

It was quite interesting to see how different and more constructive I could be coaching wise as a result of having a less disruptive group. Last week it felt like all my focus was purely on controlling the group which was much more stressful and tiring whereas this week was much easier, and I was able to help with their technique.

I feel like I have probably done just over half of my thirty hours of placement so I am going to have to work hard to catch up on more hours before the end of the semester which will be hard to do because I’m juggling uni, work and rugby training. So look forward to the busy finish to the semester.

My last day of placement today was once again a great experience. It started with the same morning routine of my train being delayed and having to walk to the school but I didn’t let that ruin my day as I was determined to make a difference again.

The day was similar to the days I have had previously as I have already created those relationships with the pupils. I was most looking forward to Hayleys double Sport and Rec class and working with the disengaged group of boys again, the scene was similar from the first time i had walked in the previous week, there were two boys banging there heads of tables, another throwing a rubber in the air continuously whilst about 5 others had earphones in, all ignored our arrival into the class. It is important to not take interactions like this personally, I have noticed especially within Armadale that there are deep rooted cultural issues within the community, that flow into the school and cause issues like this. I acted the same as I normally would in a class, I facilitated group discussions around there session plans and encouraged them to think of ideas. Getting information out of these boys is a massive task, one which can not be done by just one teacher in one class, you have to approach them on all individually and discuss with them for at least 10 minutes for them to write one thing down – which isnt practical in a class of 17.

At the end of the session one group of boys at the back flung a pencil which hit the head of a pupil in the class with ASN, Hayley and I did not see who exactly threw it but warned them not to and that it was unacceptable, as soon as our backs were turned it happened again and the pupil who was hit was very upset. The head of PE got called in and the whole class were spoken to about there behaviour, warned about the consequences etc. They continued the class without any further issues and delivered there coaching sessions during the second class. One boy stormed out the class as he was getting frustrated with his peers not taking the session seriously, i could feel his frustration and anger. Hayley put in a health and well-being concern into senior management after that class, hopefully the boys can get the support they need before they get themselves into serious trouble.

I enjoyed my placement so much and learned so much during my time there, i plan to keep going back for a few more weeks to keep building relationships and learning,

After a panicky start of whether I will manage to do 30 hours in time, I have managed to do 32.5 hours over the space of two week.  I am so relieved I have managed to get in done on time as it had worried me for while, especially as mostly everyone had started weeks ago.  I have managed to get so many hours done so quick due to what my placement provides for Broomhouse Primary School.

Placement this week began on Monday, I was on placement all day from 9am till 4pm.  At 9am Eamon and I were meant to have a boy called Tj and whoever he picked for half an hour but that morning he wasn’t  behaving. Tj has been having emotional issues as he is in a wheelchair at the moment waiting on a operation, which he not coping with all the time in school. We went to get him but he had hopped out his wheelchair to try and get his mum after being dropped off, he then hopped out of his class then outside school onto the wet grass and just sat, As he had done this one of assistant teachers and the principal went to deal with it. So me and Eamon took Scott and whoever he picked instead as he was meant to be later and was going to change him with Tj, so he could come later if all was ok.  At 9.30 on a Monday Eamon has the chance to plan his after school session of athletics, there is two different session he has to plan one for mini athletics p1-p3 and the other athletics that week p4-p7. In that time Eamon planned this session and discussed with me about it. He was telling me how the differ due to the age group he’s working with and how the older group can be more skilled based, due to them understanding a bit more. That led us to school break where we and all other assistants head outside to keep an eye on the children while there were outside, that led to us having a short break after. As Tj didn’t come earlier we went to get him but as we did he was shouting at his teacher, Eamon went to calm him down but he got aggressive towards then came out class sat under a table still be aggressive , that’s when the deputy head stepped in and said we were to take someone else. We took another group and done some basketball with them which went well, that led us to lunch.  After our lunch had the lunch club which we done badminton, no issues there. Once that was done the whole school went to church for remembrance  day.  The deputy asked Eamon to go with the p5 class and myself with the p5/6 class to keep on eye the children so they behaved and to support the class teacher, as she asked me to go with a different class from Eamon it made me feel part as one of the staff at school which was nice considering the short time I have been there. The service was nice, some of the pupils written poems and read them out at the service.  That led us to the end of the day.

Overall the day was quick with everything that was going on, but opened my eyes to how some children can behave I never thought that kind of behaviour would happen.

 

 

On my seventh week on placement I was coaching the Girls Football Team at Mount Vernon Primary School. I was very excited about this opportunity as Football is one of my favourite sports to coach and have an in-depth knowledge in. I coached the girls for an hour session on Tuesday before then taking them to a tournament on the Thursday.

The aim of the session was to increase the team’s knowledge of formations and positional roles and responsibilities. I wanted to help the girls gain a further understanding of Football, as well as providing technical assistance. I knew this would be a challenge as the girls were at a foundation level of performance and ability, however, the team was full of individuals with a willingness to learn and improve so I knew it would be possible with perseverance and patience. This tournament was 7 a side meaning I had the responsibility of choosing 10 out of 20 girls to attend and play. I found this very difficult as the majority of girls showed excellent behaviour, effort and attitude. Nonetheless, I completed the task of choosing the team whilst getting across the message that not only did everyone deserve to play but also reminding the girls of my philosophy of working hard, staying positive and the journey of continuous learning.

During the tournament the girl’s player 4 games in which they won 2, drew 1 and lost 1 – in my opinion a fantastic spell of performances, considering the team had not played together frequently. I was so proud of the girls and was so pleased with not only the actual performance in the games but also the team cohesion shown to support each other even when an individual’s makes a mistake – a message I continuously put across.

During the post-match team talk I focused my discussion on positivity and again my coaching philosophy. I echoed to the girls my feelings of pride towards them. I also mentioned my feelings of surprise, not because they performed so well – I knew this was well within their capabilities – but the continuous support for each other, how well they worked as a team and of course the amazing attitudes they displayed.

When returning to the school, I was greeted by the head teacher who asked to speak with me. She explained that the feedback she had received from the members of staff and parents about my coaching abilities and methods was exceptional. I was so pleased with myself when hearing this great feedback. It made me reflect on my 6 years of coaching and how much I have improved and grown, not only as a coach but as an individual. I am very excited to see what my last week of placement offers!

-Stephanie.

This week at placement I was busy again making up hours since we are nearly coming to the end of the semester.I took part in a few different activities this week.

On Wednesday I attended Castleview Primary at the Raploch Community Campus for a lunch time play unified session. This week Craig couldn’t make it so I had to collect the basketballs from him and head to the primary school. Me and Zoe took the lunchtime club. Craig had asked if I could do a similar session to last week. The kids came in and got a basketball and just had a play around to start with. Then I set out some cones for them to do some dribbling. Some of the children done this but others didn’t seem as keen. I then had to quickly improvise to try get everyone involved. One girl wanted to talk instead of playing so I came up with an idea which kept her involved. I got the children in a circle and they had to bounce the ball to each other and whoever got the ball had to tell everyone their name and a fun fact. This seemed to keep them interested. Then they just went back to some free time for the last 5 minutes.

Then on Wednesday after school I attended Fallin Primary School for an archery club. The children at this session are quite hyper and loud. The children got split into 3 groups. They started of having 2 arrows each and then this increased to 3. Then they had team games and they all become very competitive. Craig added in a cone to hit as a target and this gave them 15 points. Many of them tried to aim for this and a few did hit it and the room exploded with noise when they did. I also got another shot this week to try win it all for my team. But I drew with another team.

Finally on Thursday I attended the Peak for curling with a group of children who had ASN. I started off with the group of wheelchair users. It was interesting to see how curling can be adapted. The individuals get a stick and can play whilst sitting in their wheelchair. It does require some arm strength so it can be hard. One individual struggled as they didn’t have the full use of their arms and they then became disengaged because they couldn’t do it. So he then got a curling brush to sweep the ice so that he was still doing something related to the sport. I then moved up to the larger group and watched them take part in a team game.

I have had another busy week and look forward to next week!

-Chloe