GMIT EXAMINATIONS 2016/17

Continuous Assessment
School Placement 1 Reflective Essay
Programme: BSc (Hons) in Education (Design Graphics and
Construction)

Year: 1

Module: School Placement 1

Module Credits: 5

CA Weighting: 50%

Internal Examiner(s): Ms. Ann Foley

External Examiner(s):

Submission
Submission Date/Time:

Post Lesson Reflection: 6/3/2017 at 10pm

Unless accompanied by a signed absence sheet, late submission will not

be marked

Instructions to Candidates:
Please read the following information carefully

Student Name: Brian Dunne

Student Number: G00342244

The Joys of Teaching! Module: School Placement 1

Introduction

In my opinion the joys of teaching can be take-up in one of two ways the
first way is the positive energy and sense of job satisfaction you can get
from teaching students but on the other hand you have the joys of
teaching where it is aspects of the job you might not always exactly like
teaching but the reward might be the satisfying part or maybe there isnt
a joy at all at the start but you learn to find the joy in it as it will help get
you through every day. you cant tell when strange things with meaning
might happen (Carr, 2010, p. 149)

What are the Joys/Joys of teaching?

This is an interesting topic as many people have different opinions many

teachers will joy and say its the long holidays and having the summer
months off to themselves. Which isnt entirely true as they are busy doing
out lesson plans and preparing for the next terms classes but in everyday
teaching there are little joys which I have seen first-hand from my
experience in a primary school on school placement. As part of my role in
the school it was me and my colleges job to do the morning spelling test
with half of the class which was generally 3rd and 4th while the teacher did
the spellings for 5th and 6th as we corrected the students spelling tests we
could see the joy in their faces as we handed them their tests corrected
with few mistakes. In a different way I seen the joys of teaching when you
walk away and get that feeling of satisfaction knowing those students
went away after learning something from you that might well help them in
their future careers or studies. (kyriacou, 1998, p. 67)tasks which best
elicit pupil motivation are those seen by pupils to be challenging.

On the other hand some of the so called joys of teaching was on our
break we had to mind the junior yard which consisted of watching them
run around falling and coming in crying fixing them up and sending them
The Joys of Teaching! Module: School Placement 1

out to do the same thing over and over occasionally there was a bit of
name calling execution from games and the one occasion where a pupil
got bit by another those are difficult situations as it requires careful
investigation as there is always a reason behind why a pupil is inside
crying to the teacher and sometimes its bigger than just a bit of spilled
milk. These can be challenging for the teacher to deal with and require all
of their skills to deal with. Questioning is an effective way of correcting
students what are you supposed to be doing? This question redirects
students to own their behavior be refocusing on the present situation
(rodgers, 2007, p. 147).

In the school I was in the teacher of the senior room help bingo once a
month there was sweets bars and lollipops for the winners and a set
number of winners and games was set at the start of the lesson each
student brought in 5 euros to cover the cost of the prizes and all extra
money went to charity I felt this was a really good way the teacher used
to increase the sense of self-satisfaction for both herself and her students.

Conclusion

I feel this reflection was very effective and it helped me realize the
obvious and hidden joys of teaching. I feel thats although not all sides of
teaching are joyful it is important to find a little joy in everything that
happens in teaching. This will help with job satisfaction and also with
classroom atmosphere. I felt the teachers stress of importance of
positivity in the class room and its importance outside of the classroom
too.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carr, D. K. (2010). BECOMING A TEACHER THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH (Vol. 2nd
edition). NEWYORK: ROUTLEDGE.
The Joys of Teaching! Module: School Placement 1

kyriacou, c. (1998). essebtial teaching skills (Vol. 2nd edition). london: basil
blackwell LTD.

rodgers, b. (2007). behaviour management a whole school approach (Vol. 2nd

edition). australia: SAGE.