Having to write what I consider is a good quality teacher I have thought of the experiences I have had in the College here in UK.

First thing I have thought of was how I felt when in classroom or rather when I have completed the course and achieved certain grades. What was it about the whole process that I really enjoyed. For me it was the approach of a teacher to a student. The fact they have believed I can do more and be an actual independent person with individual thinking process. It was new feeling that I had mattered and had a voice to express. I believe it is essential for a good quality teacher to inspire students and to challenge them in ways that encourage development of their skills. 

Now when I am looking at the teachers whilst developing my own skills to become one, it is definitely all about care and honesty.  To care about the outcomes of the lesson and to care about students overcoming their visions of themselves as underachievers and mostly to care about the professional development to further the knowledge on education as well as the subject area.

Moreover, it is also about honesty, I found it hard to realise that the best learning and teaching is through continuous failure. Making my first mistake, and having had a bad day has actually prepared me more than having strictly structured lessons. Being honest and reflect on teaching practice is a one way ticket to become an excellent teacher.  

Planning for Effective Teaching and Learning

My first month I have been working hard to complete a full lesson plan with the resources that would fit each student. It has taken me long time to find the resources, texts and create other activities to enable students to engage with material. 

It has taken a tol on me as I have spent long hours preparing for lessons and have not focused enough on the actual presentation of all of these materials. When it came to the actual lesson, I have had some hiccups as I could not remember all of the things I have planned to do. It was also essential for me to adopt lesson plan and its style that would fit my needs the best. 

I realised that it was also very helpful to speak to other teachers. At one point after the dissapointing lesson I have decided to sit with the teacher of Functional SKills English to help me prepare lesson plan with him so I can see what it important to focus on and how the process can be done in an easier way. 

Eventually I found out it was good to have variety but sometimes less but correct resources were better than plenty and without the effective function for learning process. 

Another important detail for me when it came to planning of the lesson was the focus on interests of students. As I have groups from similar background I could have easily adapt lessons to their interests. 

Strategies, Methods and Approaches for Effective Teaching and Learning

First step towards effective learning was to recognise each student's needs. As I have worked with students with Additional Learning Needs as well as Special Educational Needs Students it was very difficult to be able to adopt correct teaching methods due to my lack of knowledge. First month was all about observing students' behaviour and to see what works with them and what does not. 

I have also prepared some evaluation forms to help me see what they prefer to do and what seems to be more difficult.

First evaluation was in favor of games and activities to help learning and understanding the topic. I have begun to use more shorter activities to keep their attention span during the whole lesson and have started to use easier and more engaging topics for writing which they all seem to have struggle with.

Motivating students to do anything in these lessons was a biggest challange of them all. As this course is compulsory for each student they did not want to do much or could not engage with the topics very well. It was tough for me to be able to see results or feel like I am actually teaching them somthing until about 2 months into the placement. In March I have started to bond with students much more as they understood that I cared for their learning and have started to receive positive feedback from students. 

It has become much easier for me to implement more challenging tasks on the top of the Blooms Taxonomy and I could ask students to participate in critical thinking and more collaborative tasks. Students enjoyed discussions and from the more recent evaluation forms I could have seen that students are learning more. 

I have also realised that it was much more effective to leave learning to students and to get out of the didactive ways of teaching completely as this subject does not have a need for it. It is all about student's practice and engagement with each topic. 

The Learning Environment

From the beginning of the work placement I have come accross many surprises. One of the biggest ones was the fact that I was not gonna have large group of students and the maximum I would be dealing with was 10 students per session. Second biggest one was for me the fact that most of these students from 5 groups have diffuculties learning and/or social problems and related issues in behaviour. 

These two have affected my teaching the most as well as the environment in the classroom as I have had to adopt various skills to manage behaviour in the classroom. 

Firstly, it was essential to grab their attention from one task to another. I have tried several things and eventually realised, that 'eyes on me' works the best. This was also important to combine with humour such as 'because I do love all that attention from you guys'. Humour was a key for each session, I am not good at that but the best sessions and outcomes of their learning were the ones where students have had some laughs. It does not only lighten the mood but it also enables students to engage with the topic, material and their motivation to achieve their goals.

Teaching young adults requires very different thinking, it is fully led by students and their intetions. If the mood is down the whole lesson may go down too. Teaching these studnets was perpetual challenge as I have had to think on my feet most of the time. Even for my observed session with the visiting tutor I have suddenly had only 3 students, of whom 2 left early. The session was purely based on my quick reactions to adapt activities.

This was more successful in upcoming sessions as I have learnt from students that it was not fast enough. Less students often requires more frequent tasks as it prolongs the time that some students have when finished early. 

Assessment and Feedback

As I was not allowed to assess students officially it was important that they would receive continous feedback. 

One of the assessment instruments used were individual tasks to practice their knowledge of the topic as well as for the test or assignment they need to pass to complete the level. 

Each classroom has had different levels, as well as within each classrooms students differ in the level of their abilities and skills. This has been challenge to manage and has brought some difficulties in terms of differentiation in the variety of feedback that needed to be given. 

The most helpful for me to learn how to give feedback to each group was to study closely the criteria and check with the teacher on his process of giving feedback. It was very important to give positive feedback to students before negative one. 

I have learnt it is very easy to discourage some students, mainly the ones with lower self-esteem when correcting their work so it is important to focus on the postitives first.

In terms of the official marking, it was essential to check the mark schemes and the crieria for each answer as it was very specific for each question.

Evaluating teaching, profession development and learning journey

Every session I have had I have evaluated with the teacher who was present as well as asking students how they think it went. However, the biggest critic of each session was me. During the session I was quite aware of mistakes I made and wrote down all my feelings afterwards as well as spoke to the teacher or/and support assistant to get as much feedback as possible. 

These conversations were the greatest thing I have experienced as it gave me not only insight and pespective to my teaching process but also enabled me to reflect on my practice effectively. 

The questions on effectiveness as a teacher or of my needs seems to me a bit overwhelming. Despite the feeling that I care to become a great teacher I feel like it is too early for me to judge on the needs as it takes whole lot of practice and experience to be able to assess my needs. The work placement was an amazing opportunity to have a go at the teaching and to learn how it feels to be in the classroom but it was, for me at least. just a small portion of the teaching environment that I will be hopefully soon part of.

It felt many times like I need more professional experience before teaching, being at the beginning of this all it is difficult to imagine me being a great teacher one day but the care for improving and progressing and the keeness to undertake further professional practice and training feels like I am on the path to to get there.

Going into more personal detail here, as I believe this is the moment in my life I look back into the whole year of learning, teaching, evaluating and reflecting I realised that there is a great struggle in the further education to motivate the students to fullfil their potential but in the same time to have realistic dreams. It is crazy how much I have learnt from speaking to students and watching their behaviour. 

Moreover, further education is also an environment of the change in student's life as it is a step towards 'adulthood' via taking more responsibilities in their achievements. The role of a teacher is important as they guide students on this journey and it is important how we help them and if we care enough to trust us with this help. As soon as I got to know students and they started to trust me it was much easier to teach them and to cooperate on the session plans. It was easier for me to challenge them more and to leave them more things to do on their own which felt more natural for me as I believe it is important to enhance their choice to be in the college to attain their own goals.