My voice is not naturally strong and does not carry throughout a classroom This is something I am clearly going to have to work on.

I would also have to be cautious with my voice and not over-do it by speaking too loudly, something I have done on occasions as a student.

The video focuses on articulation of words with some useful tips to help in doing so.

Being yelled at can have a negative impact on a student’s confidence when answering questions, I know this from being on the receiving end myself.

When I work as a placement teacher it would be a good idea to avoid yelling at all costs and to be mindful of my tone of voice. I must be mindful not to show any signs of frustration.

Yelling at students can cause them to dislike and distrust you making effective learning a far greater challenge.

A classroom where I am not yelling at the students would create a healthy environment for maximizing student learning.

Placements are a good opportunity to listen to the advice of my mentor teacher regarding my voice. Their feedback and my continued practice and refinement in a classroom setting would improve my use of voice and authenticity.

· What I should do if a student misbehaves in regards with my tone of voice

· How do I speak clearly for a long duration of time?

· How do I stay calm if I am annoyed at a student?

· What causes you to stay calm and speak slowly when you are talking to the class?

· They could no longer respect me as a teacher

· They could stop paying attention to me

· They could commence challenging me in the classroom

· I could become lax in following the classroom management plan

I need to find a point where I am not too friendly but not too cold around the students, a fine line that may prove to need a bit of practice.

A tactic that I can apply on placements is to see myself as a mentor and role model, not a peer or friend with roles and responsibilities that I am accountable to. On the other hand, I still need to be respectful of them as individuals, be polite, and occasionally engage in friendly banter. 

· What would you consider too friendly?

· What do you do to avoid coming across as too cold?

· Why do you think finding a balance is important?

To establish presence, I would need to be confident in my teaching abilities and understand how to engage with the class. I found a video on this topic and it discusses much of what appears to be required.

Presence in the classroom requires a good presentation style (e.g. eye contact, dressing appropriately) as well as demonstrating both passion and excitement when teaching. It is also about setting clear expectations. Expectations of my students need to be clear, as the AITSL Standard 4.1 points out, I will always support student participation and encourage them to engage in classroom activities.

To help my cause in becoming a role model for the students, I will need to serve as a mentor who can guide the students in the right direction to success at school. Once I get to know the students, I can provide them with support, encouragement, and advice on how to tackle their encounters at school. I will also need to provide leadership for the students through being positive, inspirational, and motivating the students to work hard. These are qualities that students can admire and mirror to help direct them to success in the classroom and in life.

In being a role model, I will also have to show good character and moral virtues that encourage my students in a likewise manner. As teachers, we are expected to display behaviours that reflect moral virtues, this includes being fair, kind, and respectful to students to demonstrate to them how they should behave in their everyday life.

https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-profession-how-be-role-model

· Why do you believe establishing a presence in the classroom is so important?

· How do you treat students who show disrespect to yourself and their peers?

Using my voice was one of the topics given that I personally found challenging. The research I did suggested that when I talk to the class and am feeling nervous, the best tool is to control my breathing and relax my muscles to ease up some unneeded tension. I was also instructed that yelling or speaking with an aggressive tone of voice was not the answer to stopping students from misbehaving. It may work temporarily but will be short-lived as they will begin to dislike and distrust me. Another valuable insight was that if the students did not like the teacher as a person, any form of effective learning in the classroom is near impossible. Yelling would be a good way of ruining my chances here. I can see myself regularly asking for feedback on my voice and tone from my mentor

Another area that I need to work on is balancing between being a teacher and being a friend. The research I carried out pointed out that it is not a good idea to be too friendly with the students. The role of teacher and the role of student should remain distinct. Being a teacher is all about supporting the learning of the students, not being friends with them. For placements, I will be looking at how my mentor teacher balances being friendly and teaching. A question that I can ask my mentor teacher is ‘how do you personally find a balance between being a teacher and being a friend?’ 

Finally, establishing a presence in the classroom is critical. I found it interesting that building presence has a lot to do with the way you present yourself as an individual (e.g. eye contact and wearing appropriate clothing). Something I learned from Nicky was the need to demonstrate genuine passion and excitement in the learning process. Through establishing presence in a classroom, students view you as a role model. It requires that I demonstrate good character and strong virtues as a teacher. In doing so, students will be more obliged to feel they should be mirroring how I act. During placements I will be looking at things such as how my mentor teacher gets the students to engage throughout the lesson, the level of excitement that is displayed and, any acts of leadership through encouraging students. A question that I really want to find out an answer for by a mentor teacher is, ‘how do you treat students who show disrespect to yourself and their peers.’ I can utilise their answer for future endeavours as a teacher.

This will all give me a lot to be mindful of during placements.