This term the main focus for me has been establishing routines, setting expectations and behaviour management. My successes have been that many relievers and release teachers have commented that my students seem to know where everything is and how things are done in the classroom, which shows me that I’ve been consistent enough that routines are in place for my students. My reading tumble is also up and running and I’ve started up my maths tumble.
Having Golden Time at the end of the week has helped students to manage their own workload. They know what need to be done and work on getting it completed so they can all participate in Golden time. Rather than me constantly reminding children about what they need to be doing and being stressed about children being off-task, Golden time has incentivised more responsibility so that children remind themselves and are motivated to manage their learning.
Next term I will really focus getting a writing routine and maths routines and running smoothly. SM suggestions for next term is that I focus more on my target students in all areas. However, my main concern is teaching Maths. I have noticed that for my below and well below students, their attitude towards Maths was a major contributor to their overall success in the subject. My goal for next term will definitely be to change their attitude and build their confidence in Maths. I want to include more games and hands on activities so that children can see the relevance of what they are learning.
Things to consider for T1, next year:
- I will definitely consider doing golden time again next year.
- Have a range of tasks/games both literacy and numeracy to keep fast finishers occupied.
- Standard of book work. Its been hard to set and keep up a high standard for book work. Next year, I would like to make this a focus during term 1. Having templates to follow and designing title pages. For maths, I think prefer using a grid book as I noticed that children found it hard to write/draw without lines/grids and it made it hard to ensure that books were set up neatly.
- Changing the set up of the class. This term, its been difficult to find a way to work with groups particularly for reading and I need to factor in the size of the group and make sure it is accessible for Sage who cannot use the left side of her body. A major part of the class set up has involved keeping things structured and accessible for her. Although I have received positive comments about how well structured the class is for someone like Sage, its not my ideal set up and I would love to change it up again next year.
