Claran National School
By Laoise
I have learned so much of the behind the scenes of teaching and that it's not just picking to do a random story for the class to read and answer the questions on, that there is a whole planning process behind it. I learned how to give the kids warning is they were misbehaving on the yard or in the class as well as how the new curriculum works. I also improved my IT and communication skills as well as my people skills when dealing with parents at home time. I really enjoyed my experience as I have always had a love for primary school teaching, since 4th class and getting to spend 5 days in that environment was an amazing experience and has made me definitely want to pursue a career in teaching. This is my account of my week at Claran National School.
Tuesday 12th February 2019
Today was my first day of work experience. I went into the school and met the principal in the morning. It felt so weird going back to my old primary school to teach and not as a student. And to see all the teachers in a new way too was really strange. Ms Heneghan sent me to Junior Infants first thing in the morning where I did a lot of filing work, as in putting all their worksheets into their trays. This wasn't too bad and I also got to observe the teacher's teaching and get to know the kids name and the whole new way of learning that has come into the school since we've left. They learn so much more than I ever remember learning in Junior Infants. They were learning all about nocturnal animals and all sorts of information about owls. I went around the class and checked on their work while the teacher was going over some of the work with the kids. They were all excited to show me what they were doing and their colouring in.
It came to break time and I grabbed my lunch in the staff room. It was really weird being in there not just being there to grab something for a teacher. It was nice just to see all the different things teachers were planning. After lunch I was doing filing for Senior Infants and they learn so much hard things for such a young age. They were talking about farms and pasteurization of milk and all the things people use milk for. They also learned about fair trade as that's what they are doing for their Green Schools Flag this year. They are going for the flag on biodiversity and sustainability.
During the lunch break, I was on yard duty and I don't know how the teachers do it. Every five minutes I would get a child running up to be saying that such and such said this and such and such did that. You learn to deal with it I got told by the teachers and you and up telling them all the same thing “Play nicely or we'll have to stop the game”.
Junior and Senior Infants get let off at 1:30 and so I was helping tidy up their classrooms for the rest of the day. We had to sweep the floor and stack the chairs and wipe the tables. They were having their introduction day for the upcoming Junior Infants on Thursday and so I was organising their library and labelling the jigsaws so that if they got mixed up, we knew where they went. It was nice as I got to talk to the teachers a bit. School finished and 2:30 and that was me done for the day.
Wednesday 13th February 2019
Today I was put with 1st class in the morning and I helped them with their Work It Out. The look on their faces when they figured out the answer to the question with my subtle hints on what to do was so fulfilling. They were so happy and felt so proud when the teacher asked them the hard question and they knew the answer. It was such a rewarding feeling for me to be able to help them.
A little later on, we did some Valentine's art. On Monday they had made clay hearts for their families as well as a box out of card to put them in. I then gave them some crepe paper today and a chocolate to make it like a present. They were all asking for more crepe paper as they wanted to cover everything to make it a surprise. It was scraps so I had to tell them to make do with what they had. We then went on to make “Tweethearts”, which was a paper plate cut out into the shape of a bird and the kids painted them blue or pink. If the chose blue, then they cut out 2 big love hearts on pink paper for wings and some little ones to decorate it and vice a versa. They had great fun making them and once they were dry, we stuck them onto the window as one of the teachers was getting married in the church across the road the following week and so they worked as 2 love birds getting married as well. They took great pride in the fact that everyone going to the wedding would see their birds as their classroom is right opposite the church.
After I had completed the work in Miss Lee's room, I went back to Junior Infants where I got to see them do their Irish. They do a lot of things through visual learning and aural clips to keep them interested that it being the teacher all the time. This seems to work well as they listen attentively to everything that's being said. They also learn through song and aistear. Aistear is learning through role play. They have a different topic every month and they were just changing topics when I came. This month they were doing the vet's office. The kids all brought in animal teddies they had at home and set up a whole vets office with a waiting room and doctors office and an assistant and a secretary. It was really cute as they all took it so serious.
When they went home at 1:30, We cleaned the room again and I went back to labelling the rest of the jigsaws.
Thursday 14th February 2019
Today was the day of the Introduction day for the new Junior Infants, and so it was so lot if organising for Ms Heneghan. I made goodie bags for the children in the morning followed by computer work. This I found quite interesting as I had to sort online files from the website of the teaching materials for their new english learning curriculum for Junior and Senior Infants. I had a look through the documents and I thought it was nice the way they have it done. Everything is based around a story like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and then they have writing handouts and different stuff to do on the story. I think it's a nice way to teach young kids and a way that they will enjoy and learn in different way to reading and writing all the time.
I also helped the sub teacher that was in for Miss Henaghan, so she could prepare for today, to organise so Valentine's art for her class, because with all the mayhem of getting ready for today she forgot to organise art for them. So we got thinking. The teacher had printed off heart pictures for them to colour all morning and then when I came in, she asked me to come up with some way to make them a card. So I got a bunch of red card from the office and we stuck one side of the heart to the paper so that you could open it. We then got them to right their message behind the heart and they were all telling me who their cards were for. There was a set of twins in the class, and the girl decided she wanted to do her for mammy and daddy but her twin brother made his for her and put a book voucher inside it as a present, which I thought was so sweet.
Tuesday 19th February 2019
Today was the last day of the teacher that was leaving for her wedding. The families of the kids in the whole school paid €2 to get her some gifts from all the kids in the school. It was so nice. They put together a little party and decorated the hall with different helium balloons and a stage for her to stand on, as well as buying her a frame, a hamper, a meal voucher and a card made by one of the students and signed by all the kids in the school. They presented it to her at 12 o’clock, before the kids went out for lunch. She was over the moon and slightly emotional.
But before that I was doing reading with the different classes. I started with Senior Infants. I called the kids over to my little station and they read me 2 pages of the book they had for the week. And then I have them a new book for this week, which was something Miss Heneghan need to be done but never got a chance to do. Once I had that done, I went and did the exact same thing for Miss Lee while she was having a Greens School meeting with the committee. It was quite interesting to see the difference on their ability to read compared to Senior Infants. There are 2 students in senior that read the books that Miss Lee's class read and then there's 1 or 2 in Miss Lee's class that read at the same ability as Senior Infants. I think this is all down to how much they read at home as well as these library books. There are some that love to read and it's their passion and then there is some who fly through these books on the first day and then leave them until a few days later. You can clearly see it when they are asked to read the whole book.
I spent the rest of the afternoon tidying the classrooms and doing some more work on the computer until it was time to go home.
Wednesday 20th February 2019
I was doing labelling of words for Miss Murphy in Junior Infants all morning as well as when she was doing aistear, making sure the other 2 tables were doing the art work properly. We were making photos as one of their learning topics was living things. So they had a picture to colour and then 8 small photos which the had to sick on the photo if it was a living thing. They were all so eager to show me their colouring and have me helping them for a bit.
Then before their lunch on a Wednesday, if it's dry, they go on a “Wednesday Walk” which is a 5km walk passed the school and back, but the younger ones don't go as far. While they were doing this, I went into Miss Heneghan’s class that were doing some work and continued her computer work for the rest of the day and got it done.
Once the younger classes went home, Miss Heneghan should me their online role system and her yearly plans and all the work she has to do a preparation for her classes, which I thought was interesting as that's something you don't really think that needs to be done so early. She said that she spends the month of June doing these up and planning the school calendar for the following year. I thought this was a sign of pure dedication.
As a thank you, I made them all a batch of chocolate brownies, which the are while I was on yard duty but I got loads of compliments on them, so it's safe to say they went down a treat.
Tuesday 12th February 2019
Today was my first day of work experience. I went into the school and met the principal in the morning. It felt so weird going back to my old primary school to teach and not as a student. And to see all the teachers in a new way too was really strange. Ms Heneghan sent me to Junior Infants first thing in the morning where I did a lot of filing work, as in putting all their worksheets into their trays. This wasn't too bad and I also got to observe the teacher's teaching and get to know the kids name and the whole new way of learning that has come into the school since we've left. They learn so much more than I ever remember learning in Junior Infants. They were learning all about nocturnal animals and all sorts of information about owls. I went around the class and checked on their work while the teacher was going over some of the work with the kids. They were all excited to show me what they were doing and their colouring in.
It came to break time and I grabbed my lunch in the staff room. It was really weird being in there not just being there to grab something for a teacher. It was nice just to see all the different things teachers were planning. After lunch I was doing filing for Senior Infants and they learn so much hard things for such a young age. They were talking about farms and pasteurization of milk and all the things people use milk for. They also learned about fair trade as that's what they are doing for their Green Schools Flag this year. They are going for the flag on biodiversity and sustainability.
During the lunch break, I was on yard duty and I don't know how the teachers do it. Every five minutes I would get a child running up to be saying that such and such said this and such and such did that. You learn to deal with it I got told by the teachers and you and up telling them all the same thing “Play nicely or we'll have to stop the game”.
Junior and Senior Infants get let off at 1:30 and so I was helping tidy up their classrooms for the rest of the day. We had to sweep the floor and stack the chairs and wipe the tables. They were having their introduction day for the upcoming Junior Infants on Thursday and so I was organising their library and labelling the jigsaws so that if they got mixed up, we knew where they went. It was nice as I got to talk to the teachers a bit. School finished and 2:30 and that was me done for the day.
Wednesday 13th February 2019
Today I was put with 1st class in the morning and I helped them with their Work It Out. The look on their faces when they figured out the answer to the question with my subtle hints on what to do was so fulfilling. They were so happy and felt so proud when the teacher asked them the hard question and they knew the answer. It was such a rewarding feeling for me to be able to help them.
A little later on, we did some Valentine's art. On Monday they had made clay hearts for their families as well as a box out of card to put them in. I then gave them some crepe paper today and a chocolate to make it like a present. They were all asking for more crepe paper as they wanted to cover everything to make it a surprise. It was scraps so I had to tell them to make do with what they had. We then went on to make “Tweethearts”, which was a paper plate cut out into the shape of a bird and the kids painted them blue or pink. If the chose blue, then they cut out 2 big love hearts on pink paper for wings and some little ones to decorate it and vice a versa. They had great fun making them and once they were dry, we stuck them onto the window as one of the teachers was getting married in the church across the road the following week and so they worked as 2 love birds getting married as well. They took great pride in the fact that everyone going to the wedding would see their birds as their classroom is right opposite the church.
After I had completed the work in Miss Lee's room, I went back to Junior Infants where I got to see them do their Irish. They do a lot of things through visual learning and aural clips to keep them interested that it being the teacher all the time. This seems to work well as they listen attentively to everything that's being said. They also learn through song and aistear. Aistear is learning through role play. They have a different topic every month and they were just changing topics when I came. This month they were doing the vet's office. The kids all brought in animal teddies they had at home and set up a whole vets office with a waiting room and doctors office and an assistant and a secretary. It was really cute as they all took it so serious.
When they went home at 1:30, We cleaned the room again and I went back to labelling the rest of the jigsaws.
Thursday 14th February 2019
Today was the day of the Introduction day for the new Junior Infants, and so it was so lot if organising for Ms Heneghan. I made goodie bags for the children in the morning followed by computer work. This I found quite interesting as I had to sort online files from the website of the teaching materials for their new english learning curriculum for Junior and Senior Infants. I had a look through the documents and I thought it was nice the way they have it done. Everything is based around a story like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and then they have writing handouts and different stuff to do on the story. I think it's a nice way to teach young kids and a way that they will enjoy and learn in different way to reading and writing all the time.
I also helped the sub teacher that was in for Miss Henaghan, so she could prepare for today, to organise so Valentine's art for her class, because with all the mayhem of getting ready for today she forgot to organise art for them. So we got thinking. The teacher had printed off heart pictures for them to colour all morning and then when I came in, she asked me to come up with some way to make them a card. So I got a bunch of red card from the office and we stuck one side of the heart to the paper so that you could open it. We then got them to right their message behind the heart and they were all telling me who their cards were for. There was a set of twins in the class, and the girl decided she wanted to do her for mammy and daddy but her twin brother made his for her and put a book voucher inside it as a present, which I thought was so sweet.
Tuesday 19th February 2019
Today was the last day of the teacher that was leaving for her wedding. The families of the kids in the whole school paid €2 to get her some gifts from all the kids in the school. It was so nice. They put together a little party and decorated the hall with different helium balloons and a stage for her to stand on, as well as buying her a frame, a hamper, a meal voucher and a card made by one of the students and signed by all the kids in the school. They presented it to her at 12 o’clock, before the kids went out for lunch. She was over the moon and slightly emotional.
But before that I was doing reading with the different classes. I started with Senior Infants. I called the kids over to my little station and they read me 2 pages of the book they had for the week. And then I have them a new book for this week, which was something Miss Heneghan need to be done but never got a chance to do. Once I had that done, I went and did the exact same thing for Miss Lee while she was having a Greens School meeting with the committee. It was quite interesting to see the difference on their ability to read compared to Senior Infants. There are 2 students in senior that read the books that Miss Lee's class read and then there's 1 or 2 in Miss Lee's class that read at the same ability as Senior Infants. I think this is all down to how much they read at home as well as these library books. There are some that love to read and it's their passion and then there is some who fly through these books on the first day and then leave them until a few days later. You can clearly see it when they are asked to read the whole book.
I spent the rest of the afternoon tidying the classrooms and doing some more work on the computer until it was time to go home.
Wednesday 20th February 2019
I was doing labelling of words for Miss Murphy in Junior Infants all morning as well as when she was doing aistear, making sure the other 2 tables were doing the art work properly. We were making photos as one of their learning topics was living things. So they had a picture to colour and then 8 small photos which the had to sick on the photo if it was a living thing. They were all so eager to show me their colouring and have me helping them for a bit.
Then before their lunch on a Wednesday, if it's dry, they go on a “Wednesday Walk” which is a 5km walk passed the school and back, but the younger ones don't go as far. While they were doing this, I went into Miss Heneghan’s class that were doing some work and continued her computer work for the rest of the day and got it done.
Once the younger classes went home, Miss Heneghan should me their online role system and her yearly plans and all the work she has to do a preparation for her classes, which I thought was interesting as that's something you don't really think that needs to be done so early. She said that she spends the month of June doing these up and planning the school calendar for the following year. I thought this was a sign of pure dedication.
As a thank you, I made them all a batch of chocolate brownies, which the are while I was on yard duty but I got loads of compliments on them, so it's safe to say they went down a treat.