Maisie smith, my reflective blog by maisie smith

2nd November 2015

maisiesmith98 — 2015-11-09 11:49:39 UTC

During my week at placement I faced some challenging situations that I didn't quite know how to deal with, for example there was this little 6 year old boy that keeped behaving naughty towards me, shouting things such as 'Do it now!' 'No I said now' and I was trying to talk calmly towards him and explaining I will come to him a soon as I was finished with another student but he still wasn't listening and was continuing to shout at me, the teacher assistant over herd how he was speaking and come over and was explaining to him that he needed to talk with his manors and respect me as I am a teacher the same as his other teachers, you could see in his face he was acknowledging what she was saying, I learned from this how to react in difficult situation, remain calm and talk slow to show you are understanding them also explain what he is doing is wrong and explain the right way to talk to people, he then came up and apologised and has been fine since, from this I now know how I would respond in this situation.

maisiesmith98 — 2015-12-07 14:26:14 UTC

Unit 6. AC 4.3: Reflect on your own role in creating an enabling play environment

maisiesmith98 — 2015-12-11 13:24:51 UTC

To help create a good enabling environment I make sure the emotional environment is good by the way I act and behave in the setting towards the children and other members of staff. I make sure I have a good relationship with the children by showing them I will listen and resolve a problem if they come to me, I also show them respect to show I care and are there to help them, this creates a good enabling environment because the children will feel safe in the envoment are in will trust the workers. For example how I helped resolve a problem a little girl was crying that some drew over her picture she had made, to resolve this I explained to the little boy in a calm voice that he shouldnt draw on other people's work and then encouraged and helped the little girl to make a new picture, know she knows she can come to me with any problems and I will help.

To help create a better enabling environment i will make sure the physical enviroment is the best it can be, to do this the layout of the room with have to be perfect for every child's needs in order for them to learn as much as they can. To do this I can watch when in the setting how children get along with the activitys, games and objects in which places they are in now, if there is any thing I think would thing would be better in a diffrent space I could discuss this with the room leader and see what she thinks about it aswell. For example if I spot a child is struggling to reach a book on a shelf I can inform the room leader that the shelf needs to be lowered in order for the child to reach the books.

My strengths in helping to create a good enabling environment is the 'Emotional environment' I try to create when in the setting by creating a positive relaxationship between me and all the children, my weakness in creating an enabling environment would be the space and layout of the room as I don't really have much say in this as I'm not there as much as the other teachers so they know more what works well were but as I'm there longer I am graduating learning things about this to.

RR (15/3/16) PASS - Well done, reflection complete.

Unit 2.1 AC 2.1: Identify reasons why people communicate

maisiesmith98 — 2015-12-11 13:50:50 UTC

People have to communicate in a setting for things to work, be successful amd safe, staff have to communicate with parents, as a parent should be regularly informed on there child's progress, for example in my placement each child has there own book and in the book has information and pictures of pieces of work there done to show there development it also explains what the child's next step is to improve, this is shown to parents on parents evening, parents evening happens once a term also let teachers and staff know if there is any problems about the child they should know.

Children should communicate with staff this dosnt just have to be threw talking they could draw them a picture or write for them if their struggling to explain by talk, but the children need to communicate with the staff to tell them if they liked or disliked an activity or if there struggling with work, or if there is a problem the staff need to know about. If they did not communicate the children's opinions and problems won't be herd and the children would feel like no one listens to them.

Finally staff should communicate between each other so they can discuss children's development and how they can improve on each child's next step, also it's for safety reasons as some children are only allowed to be picked up by certain people, this is also why staff and parents need to communicate. In my setting in a staff room on the wall there is pictures of children with there names and it says the only people that should pick them up and what to do if a certain person try's, this is so all staff know what to do. Also staff would be able to tell you personally how you can improve, as their working with you they can see hands on what you can improve on and how.

RR (1/3/16) PASS - Well done, identified why people communicate

Unit 2.1 AC 2.2: Explain how communication affects all aspects of your own practice on placement.

maisiesmith98 — 2015-12-11 14:08:44 UTC

Communication affect all aspects of my placement, an example of this is teachers such as my room leader or the Ta communicate with me and explain daily activitys that will take place on the day and if we will be leading are own activity and how we can help the children develop more on the activity, the room leader also talkes to me about certain children and about how the best way of helping or talking to them in there own needs for example there is this little girl that has a disability and needs a frame to walk and the room leader explains she can do some stuff she just needs to be enoursged to do it, for example teaching her how to get in her wheel chair, this helps me progress as a early years practitioner as I'm learning all children have diffrent ways of learning.

Another thing I communicate with the head teacher of the school as I come in some mornings she spots me and comes up and asks how I'm getting along or visits the class room in the morrning and explains to staff if there is any problems or if a teacher isnt in in which it is important for other members of staff to know to adapt today's lessons plan around this. In my placement I communicate with children on a daily basis their always coming up to me asking lots of questions on 'how do I do this?' 'Can you help me?' Things like that and that's how I can find out if there struggling with an activity they are doing and I let the teachers know this as she has asked me in the pass to take notes on the children's learning during the activity I lead. I always try and find out if they enjoyed the activity aswell, this way I can improve if they didn't, in the play ground children communicate with me by telling me if there's a problem, such as an injury in which case other teachers will have to be informed for safety reasons Icase the children becomes more I'll over time and this will need to be told to the parents.

RR (1/3/16) PASS - Well done, explanation complete.

Unit 9 AC2.7: State your progress in relation to PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL development since you started this course in September.

maisiesmith98 — 2015-12-11 14:40:11 UTC

Since starting in September and starting my development I feel my personal development has got better because at the start I was less confident in working in the setting as it felt weird all these children calling me Miss and them wanting my help, but now after being there a while I feel my confidence has improved, this has also had an impact on my professional development as I feel I interact with the children and staff more and get more involved.
Another thing I think I have improved on so far is the way I talk towards children I've learned that if you just talk to them asif you would anyone else they understand more where asif you talk to them like their babies they won't listen as much and follow what you would like them to do.
Also I've learned how some children learn better and how to talk to them, for example I know this little girl gets very upset and will cry if someone does something to her work how she didn't want it, from this now I've learned to ask her how she likes things done instead of just doing them.

Another thing I feel I have developed my skills and knowledge in are completing observations after an activity, when I first started I had never written up an observation before so I was unsure on how to do so. But now after being at Placment a few months I feel I have improved regarding the way I strucutre and use diffrent words to complete the observations in order for me to give enough detail on a child's development I improved by learning and watching how other staff member fill them in.

Lastly I fill I have improved on is identifying a child's next step because when I first started I used to not fill in 'child's next step' and let the room leader fill this in, but now after being at Placment for a while and learning from other what to write I am able to complete this myself.

RR (1/3/16) PASS - Well done, reflection complete.

Unit 9- AC 2.6 Reflect on work activities in relation to your own practice professional development

maisiesmith98 — 2016-02-01 13:54:16 UTC

During my time at Placment I have took part in helping teachers complete activitys and I have also lead small groups of children for activitys. Last week during my Placment me and two other teachers each had a group of around 4/5 children each on our own table and we was already told what we will be doing with the children during this activity by the room teacher so we was prepared and set up the tables for when the children came in from break The activity was a maths based activity but it also linked with the theme of dinosaurs what they have been learning about over the past week, the children had to each collect a 'dinosaur bone' in which they made the week before and had to identify the difference in size and also measure the length of the bone using a tape measure. I have now completed a couple of activities like this were I lead a small group and I feel I am becoming more confident in doing them, after these types of activities we have to each write out observations for the children we was working with and explain what they knew and didn't know during these activitys.

From completing my observations it has helped my professional development because I now can sucsesfully use observations to identify where a child is at and there next step also it helps me learn to work with other members of staff to reflect on observations. Since completing these diffrent activities I have improved on how I teach and learn children for example when I first started and a child asked me how to spell something I would just say the letters, but now I know to use phonics to help them and also encourage them to spell the words. Also I have learned how to control and lead the children for them to be able to learn at there full portentual during the activities. From doing the activities and observations has altered my professional development opperunites and what I would like to do in the future because in the fuel tire I would like to be a Teacher assistant and from being at placment I have witnessed my class teacher assistant complete daily observations on children in which I would have to do if I was one. I am getting plenty of practice of this from completing college observations at Placment and also completing observation for the Placment.

During Placment the things I find hard is when children are being naughty near me and I have to deal with it, I get abit nervousness that they won't listen to me but I always remain calm and talk to them in a normal voice and they actually do listen to me and behave. During Placment I find easy interacting with children and playing with them especially during brake as then they come up to me and ask me to play games with them such as 'what's the time mr wolf' and I correctly know how to talk to them. For my professional development things I need to improve and learn more on is learn how to lead bigger groups more than 5 children at a time and learn how to control and learn them all at the same time with out them becoming distracted.

RR (1/3/16) PASS - Well done, reflection complete.

UNIT 9 AC 2.4 you need to explain how reflecting on your work activities helps to develop your own knowledge, skills and understanding

maisiesmith98 — 2016-02-01 15:00:36 UTC

From reflecting on my work activities it helps to develop my knowledge, skills and understanding because I can now reflect on certain activities I have been involved in and lead, and I can now identify my next step into how I can improve my activitys such as when I lead my lady bird maths game, I reflected on this and developed my next step in knowing the children lost concentration after a while and how I can improve on this on the next activity. I would also reflect on my skills during my teaching on activities and how Iead how I need to become more confident when correcting children for bad behaviour.

When reflection my understanding I can see that I have learned and understood a lot since being on Placment such as how to think of activities to do with children as I watch and learn from the activities they've created which help children's development and from this I am able to create new activities I can do. I also have learned how to reflect on how children got on during the activities if they liked them and how I can approve them.

RR (15/3/16) PASS - Well done, reflection complete.

Unit 1.1- 6.3 Reflect on own role when supporting healthy eating in your Placment

maisiesmith98 — 2016-03-04 14:54:54 UTC

During my time at Placment I feel I have sucsesfully supported children regarding healthy eating, for example in my placement we have a snack table which children go up at nearly any time during the school day and eat/drink diffrent types of fruit & veg, bread sticks and milk. Me as a practitioner encourages the children to try and taste diffrent types off food that is available, also another thing I do is at lunch time I stand next to the salad bar where children have all sorts or fruit, veg, pasta and bread in bowls where they have to serve them self and chose which ones they want on there plate. When I am their making sure they are all fine and lining up nicely I also try and encourage the children to try diffrent fruits like "would you like to try some pineapple today" and some children reply yeah or no not today, lastly once they are all sitting down eating until the lunch time staff turn up I walk round the hall making sure all the children are eating and if they have any problems, while doing this I am making sure children are eating as much food as they can "can you eat one more little bit of your sweet corn before your afters" this actually happened thirsday lunch in which the little girl said okay and actually eaten all her sweet corn when I only asked if she could eat one more spoonful.
I feel I could support healthy eating more during class time for example I could suggest to teachers to do more healthy eating based activities in which they can learn more about healthy eating or even have more conversations with the children myself regarding healthy eating.

RR (15/3/16) PASS - Well done, reflection on own role in supporting healthy eating complete.

Unit 1.1- 6.4 Make recommendations for healthy eating in your Placment

maisiesmith98 — 2016-03-04 15:16:02 UTC

At my Placment regarding healthy eating I feel they can improve by doing more healthy eating based activities, this can be diffrent types of fruit and veg tasting which will benefit the children by giving the children a chances to try new things in which they will discover more things such and fruit and vegtables and diffrent types of other foods in which they like and can eat at home instead of sugary snacks. Or they can even just talk to the children about what they think healthy eating is and discussing it while sitting on the carpet, another thing they can do it let children watch videos about healthy food and how they are grown and good for you.
Another good idear is taking the children on healthy eating based trips such as taking them to a local farm to look at all the vegtables and fruits growing. From this the children will be exited to visit a new place and will benefit from this by seeing how the veg and fruit goes from a seed to their plate.

RR (15.3.16) - PASS well done nice recommendations - Check spellings please!

Unit 12 4.1 reflect on yours own role in how you manage childrens behaviour on Placment.

maisiesmith98 — 2016-03-18 00:48:05 UTC

In my placment my role in helping to manage children behaviour is for example, I will constantly try and encourage good behaviour through out the day. I do this by getting children to help me at tidy up time, I also encourage them to use manours ect.. Another thing I do is reward good behaviour, I do this by at the end of lunch the class teacher will ask each member of room staff if any one deserves a house point, in with I will say a child's name that I have noticed them being good during the day. Giving them a house point helps encourage them to be good because they are aiming to get a certain amount then will be rewarded with a badge.

I also manage childrens behaviour by noticing when a child is misbehaving and deal with it, say for example a child was doing something they should be doing like hitting another child I would then ask them both why they was fighting and explain how we don't hurt people and we're all friends. I would also explain they need to make up and say sorry but I would remain my voice all calm and wouldn't get angry as this will only make the situation worse. Once this is sorted out the child's peg would be moved down whoch will make them realise what they have done is wrong.

Overall I think I am good at identifying when a child is doing good behaviour and encouraging this as many of my children at Placment are well behaved. I think I could have more improvement on dealing with children who are misbehaving, by spotting and picking it up more on when they are misbehaving and need talking to.

RR (3/5/16) - PASS Well done you have reflected on your role when managing childrens behaviour on placement. Watch your spellings!

Unit 3 4.4 reflect on how you manage risk when on Placment.

maisiesmith98 — 2016-03-18 00:50:27 UTC

At Placment I manage risks on myself, children and others daily in things I do. For example I pick up the children's coats on the floor and hand them up on the pegs, I do this so me , the children or no one else will fall over and hurt the self. Another thing I do mainly to ensure the children safety is make sure the door is shut when I enter the younger side and make sure no one sees the pin I enter. This is so no strangers can enter the building and harm the children or staff.

Another thing I notice myself doing alot recently, is going round the tables and tucking in the children chairs where some of them have forgot to tuck them in. I do this because this is something I have seen children do before fall over the chair legs, so I'm stopping it happening again to children,me and staff.

RR (3/5/16) PASS - Well done you have reflected on your role and how your behaviour has changed during your time on placement

Unit1.2- 3.4 make recommendations for the outdoors

maisiesmith98 — 2016-04-18 22:51:02 UTC

At my Placment I feel the outside is a really good space and has been well thought out for the children to play and learn in theirs bikes, balls, water trays, a mud kitchin and more which will help the children in diffrent areas regarding development. If I was to make recommendations and build ontop of what my placement allready has in place, I would suggest they do more activities based outside. Doing activities outside will allow the children to experience something outside their routine, they do do some activities outside but I feel they could do more. An example of activity my Placment could do for the children is learning about diffrent types of insects and bugs, being outside actually looking at them in real life will give the children a better understanding of what they look like rather than just looking at pictures.

Another recommendation I would make about the outdoors space is have more creativity activitys outside, they do have chalk on the side in the garden but I think the children would enjoy drawing on the ground in the playground with chalk as it only washes of in the rain. Doing this will help them develop their fine motor skills and crativity. Mabie an practitioner or myself could show the children and demonstrate what to do.

Another recommendation I would suggest at my Placment is having fake grass in the small area near the door, doing this will allow the children to have access on the grass even if it has been raining as it would be muddy. Also doing this will allow the children not to get as messy from all the dirty messed up mud.

Lastly I would suggest at my Placment having more bikes for the children, as I am out on the playground at brake I notice some of the children get upset as their isn't anoth bikes. Although Is is teaching them to share I feel their could still be a few more in the playground.

RR (3/5/16) PASS - Well done. Nice recommendations

Unit 8- 3.1 Explain what is ment by 'a language rich enviroment

maisiesmith98 — 2016-04-25 08:39:04 UTC

A 'language rich enviroment' means that the enviroment the children are in weather it's a school, nursery, crèche ect, gives them lots of opertunitys to talk and communicate with each other. In 1970 Basil Bernstein discovered that children can develop and increase their learning in language if they was to use a more wider range of words.

This can be created in an activity, a game or even just daily life in the setting. In a setting it is very important that the children are surrounded by a language rich enviroment for many reasons. This is because it will enable them to further their development and skills regarding communication and language with them and others, as the more they practice their language and speaking the better they will get at it.

Practitioners can help to create this type of enviroment by the activitys they plan, for example a type of activity game/corner in a setting that can be planned to help create a language rich enviroment can be a roll play corner. The practitioners can even play with the children to help them and encourage them to expand their language skills. Having this corner will enable the children to socialise with each other and talk which will create a language rich enviroment.

A language rich enviroment can also be created by just daily days in the setting in how the practitioners communicate with the children, for example if the practitioner just asked the children a closed question in which the answer only allows the children to answer a yes or no question they won't be explaining their skills, were as if they ask open questions which allows the children to answer using their own words this is letting them use their own langueage and improve it.

Other ways to create a language rich enviroment is by having things on the wall such as a word wall, this can be words that are commonly used such as 'and' 'like' 'my' ect. This would be a good idear for reception children aged 5-7 who are begging to include the words they learn in their writing. Having this word wall will allow the most common words used daily to be in plain site for the children to see and learn how they are spelled, this will also encourage them to use these words in daily conversation and help to create a 'language rich enviroment'.

Overall a 'language rich enviroment' is created by practitioners and other members of staff through giving the children as much opertunitys to communicate as much as possible, through talking, activitys, games , corners. Doing so will help to increase their development in language.

RR (3/5/16) - PASS Well done, lovely explanation of a language rich environment.

Unit 4- 4.2 Reflect on the impact of own attitudes, values and behaviour when supporting equality, diversity and inclusive practice

maisiesmith98 — 2016-05-03 15:35:38 UTC

In my Placement I support diversity by showing the children to support their individuality. For example last week in Placement a little girl was teaching me how to write in Arabic she was really exited to show others her language and was exited to show and teach others, me doing this shows her that she should be proud of her indiviality and wants to show there about her religion.

I also support equality by making sure no child is treated differently because of their gender, race, disability,age, language religious beliefs or social origin. In my Placment i support this by encouraging people not to follow stereotypic suggestions, so I do encourage both boys and girls to do building activities and creativity activities . Also on my Placement I always try my best to make sure if a child any special educational needs they never feel left out, I always ask them and include them in any games or activities I am doing with any other children.

Lastly in my Placement I support inclusive practice by meeting children's needs in my Placement, I complete observations of the children during activities that I lead in small groups. I then discuss with the teacher what they did well in and need improvement on and discuss their next steps.

During my time in a setting i would have to make sure my own attitudes and values do not impact on my practice. for example if a child was talking to me about GOD in which i do not particularly believe in. i would not start saying things such as "he is not real" because this is their believe and i should not try and change that. instead i would show my support to their values and attitudes by asking them things like "do you go church" to show i am listening to them.

If a child was to display prejudice against another child for example girls saying a little boy can play babies with them because he is a boy and its a girls game i would have to make sure i deal with this in the correct way. i would first have to explain to the girls that babies is not just a genders games no game or thing is ever just boys and girls their for both genders. i will then explain how they should apologise to the boy and let him join in with the game. i will then explain to the boy that its fine for him to play babies even if he is a boy he can play with what ever he wants no mater if his a boy or girl.

7.6.16 - REFER - Brilliant start you are almost there, please just include information about how you ensure you don't let your own attitudes and values impact on your practice. Also how would you address when children display prejudice, have you experienced this at placement (such as when a child thinks a toy is just for boys). N.Pardoe

15.6.16 - Pass - Good work Maisie well done, you have shown your understanding. N.Pardoe

unit 3- 3.1- Identify hazards to health and safety in the early years environment

maisiesmith98 — 2016-06-06 10:21:30 UTC

In my placement i help to identify hazards to health and safety so the children remain safe and dont hurt them self. For example if i notice that the children have left coats on the floor i notice this can harm the children and other people as they can trip and fall. if the children are busy with an activity then i will pick and re hang the coats up myself but if the children are around the coats, i will encourage them to pick them up so it is also teaching them on how to remain safe and keep the environment a safe place to be in.

I also keep the environment safe by making sure all safety equipment is used correctly and safe, for example their is pin locks on the door in which i know the pin to and in order to keep the environment safe i make sure i do not share this pin with anyone else or that no one sees the pin as i type it in. Also in-between are door hinges we have a safety barrier that is put their so children dont shut their fingers in the door hinges. As i walk past the doors i can quickly look and check to make sure they are not broken or come out of place so the children cant half them self.

To make sure no fire hazards occur i am always making sure that the fire escape routines are clear for example i make sure the gate into the little playground is not blocked with bikes, so i encourage the children to help me move them while explaining to them while they need to be moved.

To make sure no food safety hazards happen at lunch i always walk round and ask if children need their food cutting up this is so children dont choke on big sizes of food. Also when i am cutting i am looking at the food making sure its clean and cooked enough.

Lastly to make sure children are aware of their own personal safety hazards i tell them if they are running inside and ask them to walk while explaining if they run they may bump into another child and hurt them as well as their self. Another way we teach them about remaining safe for them and others is the correct way you hold scissors when walking, to hold them facing down incase they fall and stab them self or others.

Also the way i deal with healthy and saftey in the early years enviroment will depend on the childrens age. For example if i was in a setting with 1 year olds their would not be able to acknowledge risks just yet so it would be my responsibility to cover all the risks for them, like moving objects out the way so they dont fall or hurt them self. Were as if i was in a setting with around 6 year olds i would still manage health and safety risks as well but i would be trying to teach the children more about how to also protect hem self, by them moving the objects out the way so they dont hurt them self.

Also depending on the age of the children will decide what different types of risk assessments and supervision will be needed. For example the age of children and also how many will depend on how many practitioners their will need to be supervising the children, for example if their was a room of 15 one year olds their may need to be 3/4 practitioners where as if their was 15 seven old heir may need to be 1/2 practitioners, this will always change depending on age and how many children their was .
The risk assessments will all change depending on the age of children for example for younger children more objects and things will be a grater risk to them as. Where as to older children like 7 year olds their may be less risks. For example a risk for a 1 year old could be corners on a table but for a 7 year old this would be such a high risk as the children would be aware of this and be care full.

9.6.16 - REFER - Very good start Maisie, please ensure you cover how the age and stage of the child will influence your actions, the impact of risk assessments and supervision to pass.

15.6.16 - Pass - well done you have now covered all the criteria, please be aware of your spelling and grammar as there are quite a few to be addressed. N.Pardoe

UNIT 6- 3.4 Reflect on own role in supporting childrens behaviour and socialisation within the play enviromet.

maisiesmith98 — 2016-06-06 11:23:17 UTC

In my setting i help to support children's behaviour in the setting by encouraging them to behave well, for example their was this child that said to another child they could not play in their game of snap we was playing. so i spoke the child in a calm voice and said how we should share with others and let the other little child in the game, he agreed and said sorry to the child then we all played together.

I also support children regarding socialisation in my placement by encouraging the children to play and work together. for example on brake i had a few children come up to me and said they had no one to play with, so i suggested we all play a game of duck duck goose in which they all joined in and played together and even more children come and joined in.
I think during this activity to support socilisation i performed very well, i was trying my best to encourage some of the shyer children to join in more and interact more woth some of the other children. I think i acted very well as an practitioner to just think on the spot of how i can help these children learn in a specific area.

When adressing positive behaviour i make sure i let the children know what they have done well, so they know to carry on and do this more often. To do this ill say for example 'well done for doing so much work' so they know what im praising them for. I may also gove them a reward such as a sticker or move their peg up, which is the reward system in my setting

15.6.16 - REFER - good work, please just briefly cover how you think you did, how you performed when carrying out these actions. Also please show how you address positive behaviour. N.Pardoe

20.6.16 - PASS - well done. N.pardoe