The term knowledge doesn’t just simply encompass knowledge of the curriculum but also knowledge of ones pupils and their own teaching skills as well. It is important that a teacher fully comprehends the curriculum in English if they are to teach it effectively. The curriculum is forever changing and it is essential to keep up to date. During my placement I would often look at the writing objectives for my year and the year above so I knew what targets the children had to meet during the lesson but also what they could push towards.

Before I began teaching during my placement, I was able to get to know my pupils during my attachments days so I was familiar with how they learnt as well as what there interests were. This allowed me to effectively adapt my lessons in English to meet their learning needs firstly but secondly I could tailor my planning to meet their interest which stimulated their learning and contribution to the lesson. For example we had an English lesson to learn how to use inverted commas and the children were allowed to act out a dramatisation of a scenario  they came up with, lots of the boys did a football match and minecraft scenarios whereas the girls did a day at Disneyland and the beach. 

For a teacher to teach English effectively they must routinely engage in self-reflection and be aware of their capabilities. During placement we had weekly meetings and observations to improve our teaching skills and reflect on what we did well and what we could have done better. In English I specifically had to look at my mannerisms and how I could improve to teach effectively.

 

An effective English teacher needs to be able to coordinate resources and space. During placement I found that there was an abundance of resources for maths, but not enough of a variety for English. The resources that were available were not used widely enough I found so I tried to incorporate these into my English lessons. For example, during a writing group activity I gave each child a strip with the alphabet on it and it showed how to properly formulate the letter, this helped the children who had difficulty with their fine motor skills. Coordination of space and resources means that activities need to be set out ahead of time in order to maximise time given to learning. Teachers therefore have to be aware of which resources will support particular children in the groups and make these readily available in the space where the pupils are working. Therefore, the classroom physically has to be organised in a way that flows, with different areas being set up such as an ‘English corner’ where pupils can find resources, relevant phonics games and books on the subject. 

 

An effective teacher needs to be able to manage pupil behaviour well so that the quality of learning during lessons is not interrupted. This is not specific to English; however, it is necessary to becoming an effective teacher overall. Behaviour management varies widely from Reception to Year 6; however, the rules and systems must be consistent, fair and built on respect no matter the age of the pupils. Whilst I was on my attachment days leading up to placement, I began to get a feel for the rules and routines used within the classroom and the whole school. Children were counted before leaving the classroom and other areas in regard to safeguarding and they were put into pairs whilst leaving the classroom. In terms of actual rules within the classroom, the children had three chances. If they disrupted a lesson, they were given a ‘warning’ and then the next time it happened, they were moved to a different space on the carpet and if it happened again their name went on the board and they missed 3 minutes of child initiated time. Therefore, timers were used consistently throughout the day and when a timer ran out, a tambourine was shaken to signal the end of an activity or lesson. However, I do feel as though the rules needed to be more concrete and a rewards system set up as this behaviour management strategy was not that effective as the same children’s names were going on the board throughout the week.

It is important that the classroom environment allows the children to learn and progress as efficiently as possible, meaning that the classroom itself must be a safe and relaxed place that inspires and stimulates the children working in it. It has been proven that in sed environments, the children learn more efficiently and the quality of teaching is better. It is a duty and a responsibility of the teachers and teaching assistants to provide this for the children in their class.

It is essential that featured in all classrooms should be a number of learning resources for the children to access whenever they feel necessary. During my time on placement, I found that most children, even high attainers, benefit from using resources. In their literacy lessons the children had access to a number of resources, for example, there were laminated pages on their tables of commonly misspelled words for them to use if they are struggling with their spelling, as well as this, every child in my year 2 class had their own popsicle stick on their table to help them with leaving enough space in between their words.

Displays of work are a good way to brighten up any classroom and reward the children for their hard work. However they are more importantly a great resource for the children to use to help them with their work. For example, in my classroom on placement the teacher had a literacy display on the wall that had examples of sentence starters, adjectives, verbs and ambitious vocabulary that he encouraged the children to use and experiment with, and every term he would change the words on the display and the children would be able to expand their vocabulary and improve their literacy work.

On placement, my classroom had a reading area separate to where the children would work. The reading area was an area of the class where the children could take themselves to whenever they had free time. This was beneficial to the children as children's books are very inspiring and could influence the children to be more creative and imaginative with their writing. It also provided a calm and safe place for the children to relax and recharge so that they are in the mood to learn.

For the children to produce the best work that they can and for the quality of teaching to be the best that it can be, it is important that each child has a positive relationship with their teacher. The relationship between a pupil and a teacher should be based on mutual respect and trust.  It is vital that each child knows that the teacher has their best interests at heart and that their classroom is a safe place for them to have fun and learn.

 

Supporting colleagues in the classroom and wider school environment is very important for pupil development. Offering ideas about some English activities which worked well for your class may work well for another class teacher and they may share an idea in return, and this is effective as you can spend less time thinking of an idea and more time adapting it for your class. On placement, there was another student in the classroom, and we had to support each other in order for the day to run smoothly and also to promote each other’s professional development. We planned together and utilised each other well during lessons which overall led to effective lessons.

To be an effective English teacher it is important to have set beliefs about how to teach this subject. One belief I strongly followed in my English lessons was modelling good spoken English at all times in the classroom. This promotes an environment where all pupils are hearing standard English which should be reflected in their spoken language. This also encourages support for EAL pupils who may find this more challenging. By adopting this practice in the classroom all pupils were able to explain their reasoning to questions using good standard English. My used of standard English in the classroom was picked up as a strength by my class teacher in my lesson feedback. This is also linked to teaching standard 3, where teachers should “demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy, articulacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject” Therefore this is an important belief to follow in all subjects not just English.

 
Rationale 

Another practice I found important in my placement class was for pupils to know key English terms. As I was in a year 5 class working on a narrative piece of writing pupils were encouraged to use these techniques in their writing. I believe that this should be something that pupils in all years are encouraged to do. As well as being able to use a technique they should also be able to describe what the term actually is. For example, we had lots of activities in the class based around the techniques before they started their writing. Including techniques such as similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration etc. This allowed pupils to be able to recognise all these techniques whilst reading and also this encouraged them to include the techniques in their work. I found an important part of these lessons was questioning pupils about why we actually should use these techniques. I also found this important when teaching pupils about using other words for “said”. This allows them to be able to understand the effect of using other language and why this should be done. Therefore, they’re not just including a simile in their work because they have been told to but because they know that this will have a better effect on the reader than a simple adjective. From understanding the rationale behind using techniques I found this encouraged pupils to try and improve their writing by using the techniques that were taught.

 
Reflection

From being in my placement class I also found the importance of revisiting upon work previously done. For example, at the beginning of every lesson I gave my class a starter activity that would recap on knowledge from previous years. I noticed my class were struggling with the homophones there, their and they’re. By going over this at the beginning of the lesson it helped pupils with the knowledge to use the correct homophones in their writing but also gave them something to refer back to in coming lessons if they were struggling with the use of the homophone. I also found it was important for them to reflect on their own work and allow time to read through what they had written and challenge them to constantly improve upon their work. By doing this it allowed pupils to stretch their knowledge and create better quality work that they were able to reflect upon. I also encouraged this in class by going around if pupils thought they had finished their work and asking them to show me where they have used a technique (such as a metaphor) and if they hadn’t then I could encourage them to do this. Reflecting upon their work was an important belief I followed in the classroom.