Work experience in Primary schools

As part of my continued development, with the intention to go on do a PGCE course, I have recently done four placements in different primary schools in my area to gain some classroom experience and further develop my understanding of childrens education.

It has been interesting to see how dance and movement is integrated into education in schools to aid children’s learning.

In one school dance was used in the foundation phase to assist learning in maths. Children were given flash cards with different amounts of stars on them. Dotted around the room were hand held whiteboards (enough for one between two). The children engaged in a game of musical statues, so when the music played they danced creatively around the space, when the music stopped they had to run to a whiteboard and with a partner and write the sum that their two flash cards made, e.g. 4stars + 5starts = 9stars.

The children thoroughly enjoyed it, were engaged in what they were doing, wanted to achieve, and were having fun exercising their bodies and minds at the same time.

It just made me think, that’s what learning should be about!

Other teachers under took some other ways of bringing movement into the classroom:

• Body wake up to music at the start of the day, to get students focused, aware of their bodies and their coordination.

•  There was evidence in a number of the schools of linking dance into themed work and when learning about different cultures. One school was working on a project about India and had a specialised Indian dance teacher come into work with the students

•   Especially in the foundation phase of the schools, movement, rhymes and songs were integrated throughout the day into the children’s learning experience

• One school had devised a movement ‘game’, where instead of a teacher having to raise their voice they would begin certain movements and the class would gradually stop what they were doing and being to copy and focus on what the teacher was doing and wanted to say.

• A programme called 'Write Dance' was used at a couple of schools which introduces handwriting and shapes to movement and music using a variety of different sensory experiences:

 http://www.rainbowriverstone.com/e/writedance.htm

Throughout my work experience I was with a number of different teachers and it was interesting being an observer (rather than my usual teaching role) to see the different impact teachers had. There were certain teachers that you could see had students really engaged in what they were doing by the way they put the information across. If it was taught with enthusiasm, in an animated way it seemed more attention grabbing and both myself and the students were more likely to want to do, to achieve and be positive about the work.

There were two assembly’s that I watched at different schools and it was interesting to see my own reactions to them. The first was taken by a head teacher and although it wasn’t boring what she was saying I found myself switching off and not paying attention as she was just talking to the whole group and there wasn’t anything much to focus on and her ‘performance’ was very much the same all the way through. It made me think if I was struggling to engage with what she was saying as an adult then how did the students feel?

The second assembly I watch was at another school but again was the headmistress taking it. As part of hers she used a puppet to speak to, she interacted with the students getting them to join in or shout out answers and she seemed genuinely interested in what she was taking about. It had a completely different feel to it and I felt I was really listening to what she was saying as I wanted to find out what she was going to say next!

It just clarified for me with a greater understanding that it’s not necessarily what you teach or are talking about, but how you put it across to your audience.

I want to be the teacher who engages my students and ignites their interest in learning and achieving, not a teacher who makes students switch off.