Page 24: "The Bubble"

 Page 24 - "The Bubble"

I am very grateful for the many opportunities and things I have learnt during placement. However, one of the key stand out points to me, was the privilege I felt to teach through the lockdown, and work with vulnerable, and the children of key workers group.  (Nursery's did begin to open sooner through this but still bubbles were in place.) Although being on placement anyway, I felt such an honour and privilege to be able to teach this specific group and to 'work' through the pandemic, contributing in this little way - I felt proud to 'do my bit'. Teaching and hearing stories from these pupils were inspiring - especially those telling me with pride and a smile from ear to ear about their 'mummy's' and 'daddy's' who were NHS workers. My first two weeks on placement, was with "our bubble" and I learnt so much about teaching the EYFS with the aid of this special group.

When starting a new placement getting to know the class and remembering all names is always pretty daunting. With only 12 to remember, for once I was pretty confident with them all by the first day which was a lovely relief! We started placement on the Wednesday, and these first 3 days in school we had no teaching so I set myself the mission of getting to know these students inside out as best as I can. As well as engaging in the group sessions, when getting to know the pupil's as individuals (individuals is vital), I mainly started making these relationships through interactions in continuous provision. I engaged with their interest and equally allowed them the opportunity to ask myself questions and get to know me too. With this being my first experience in EYFS, one thing I noted and found particularly fascinating was the different development and academic knowledge of the nursery pupils compared to reception. (Due to when pupils returned and joined the bubble it was mixed). I naively expected pupils to 'know more' naively making the innocent EYFS mistake of a child handing me a book and me responding, "would you like me to listen?" - I quickly realised, laughed at myself and began reading the story. But in terms of EYFS development within the nursery pupils they were majority mark making and forming first letters in response to their name, compared to reception writing their full name. 

During my time in the bubble, following observing my mentors and their guidance, I was able to help assess the pupils current communication and language level through completing the assessment scheme the school worked with. This included many levels based on age and you started then worked down to enough green areas to level to child. In terms of what was being assessed some activities referred to looking at pictures and responding to the stimulus in terms of choosing answers, as well as some general teacher observation such as ability to interact with other children and respond and speaking in sentences of varying words. Through this, I was able to establish a good foundation and understadning of the level of learning and need in the class and how the levels cross over and link. From this, I was able to adapt this knowledge learnt which really improved my confidence of planning communication and language sessions as I new firsthand where each pupils levelled, what these levels meant in terms of that specific area of need, as well as general assessment and assessing the class throughout the rest of placement. 

Following on from the first few days, getting to know the school, routine and most importantly the pupils, it was week 2 and time for my first lesson. Following on from conducting communication and language assessments above, using some assessment I collected and the group of specific pupils I assessed, I taught my first lesson, focussing on the objective of remembering two things at once. We started with a song, listening and attention activity, the main input and ended with a story. I used a range of common objects pupils were familiar with from the home corner and we focused on hiding them, covering in scarves and closing eyes to identity the missing object in hand with remembering the two. After this, pupils had their own sets of objects and could then physically show the learning themselves and allowed me to assess via observation. i.e can you show me the pencil and starfish (out of three objects)? ... The story this session ended with was Good Little Wolf by Nadia Shireen. I was able to use some of the common objects pupils were familiar with from the assessment and through getting to know the pupils from provision and group work, due to only having a small number of pupils due to "the bubble" I was able to focus really specifically on targeting individual need within the group. I throughly enjoyed this first teaching session and it set me up positively and confidently for the rest of my teaching to come. 

In comparison to the 'normal school day' - in "the bubble" due to factors such as reduced staff members in school and staggering start times, we faced a different day compared to the general 'normal school' time. These changes I personally felt was beneficial for further getting to know the pupils, them beginning to trust and know me, and begin meeting parents. With parents no longer able to enter school site, we met pupils at the gate and I was the friendly familiar face stood at the top of the ramp with big smiles and loud hello's every morning. I additionally waved and spoke to all parents when possible/appropriate so they could get to know me too. In addition another change from 'the normal classroom' was pupils eating lunch in the classroom. Dependant on day and teacher lunch time, you either helped the children eat then assist in teeth brushing or 'supervise' the outdoor play. I really enjoyed both and both allowed the children to see me in a different more supportive role inside the classroom and allowed me to get to know key vital elements such as dietary requirements and aimed to making eating fun for those needing that slight extra push! Similarly, when outside during their break I 'played' and engaged in the children's activities, following role play they led such as casting magic spells which they often enjoyed! Having this extra time in this environment really strengthened relationships and understanding of the pupils, likes and dislikes as well as level as need. One lovely moment included when in the morning, I created and taught a world maths day driven physical development obstacle course. With the children's freedom to choose as this wish at lunch, many pulled me to the course and wanted it timed and set up directly like this lesson. Being one of my first few sessions, this was so lovely to see how much the children were beginning and how much they wanted to further engaged again in some of my activities.

With the first two weeks drawing to the close, I was super excited to now meet and welcome the full class back to school, but with "the bubble" closing we sadly lost some students back to reception and the other nursery class who I most definitely missed! Small moments like this can show the memorable short term impact you can have on any learner, as I still get waves and a "hello Miss Yeoman" yelled over our covid partition from time to time and these always make my day! It highlights the impact that any teacher can have on learners no matter the period of time and made me feel proud of the connections I had made with all learners so far at that point.

There is so many more and memorable moments from teaching in "the bubble" that simply could not fit in one page. I hope you can join me on my blog next week where I share my experiences of all schools reopening during covid-19 lockdown and the effect this had on the pupils - both "the bubble" who had been in school, as well as the learners who had not been in school since Christmas. For 3&4 year olds the scale of response after missing in school learning at such a vital developmental age was hugely varied - I'll leave sharing this for next week!

Over the next few weeks sharing my EYFS experiences, I will end each post with a little advice on some of the invaluable things/tips I have learnt:

3. Find and emphasise that time to get to know your pupils further. Taking the time from listening them tell stories about their families and friends or the shiny silver slide they slide down on the park - for all pupils, these individual what can seem like small interactions is what they remember. A pupil who returned to another class (was in "our bubble") often shouted over our covid partition sharing a story we previously discussed or something learnt and the smile on that pupil that I remembered their story, or was interesting their learning was fantastic - these little moments mean it all for those students! There are many key little teaching tips - but it is all about the pupils - share these stories, and where appropriate: incorporating this into learning.

- Miss Yeoman