Journal Reflections

5.
APPENDICES
7.1 Appendix 1 – Journal Entry 1
First Day of Placement
Date: 25/3/2019
Today was first day of placement after attending an orientation session at the school last
week. I was able to interact with the class and build rapport with them through the
supervision of a handwriting activity as well as playing with them at ‘playtime’ a scheduled
in-class activity. They were all very interested in me and liked participating in activities with
me as well as talking about themselves and asking me questions. I really enjoyed interacting
with them in that way and the teacher was surprised that a little girl that very rarely talks at
all, spoke to me about her baby dolly that she had with her at school. My supervising teacher
is friendly and approachable and has made me feel comfortable straight away which is
wonderful because I was a little nervous about what to expect. The teacher handles any
disruptions or unfavourable behaviour without raising her voice and does not punish the
children instantly but rather gives them a warning. So far, I am admirable of her qualities as a
teacher and look forward to working with her in the coming weeks. The only concern I had
was that there are two lists on the classroom wall that identifies the boys and girls in the class
and they also danced to a song where boys were told to do an action and the girls a different
one. In another unit I am studying we are learning about the importance of being gender
neutral and not identifying a person’s gender by their sex at birth. The teacher is of an older
generation and may not be fully aware of gender diversity.
9
Intercultural Competence
Date: 1/4/2019
After recess we did some literacy activities. One of the activities involved tracing, cutting,
gluing, and the folding and twisting of crepe paper. Not only did the children enjoy this
activity but as the same time it was developing their fine motor skills and coordination skills.
During the activities it was interesting to see the different levels that the children were at and
how the teacher catered to this by slightly adjusting activities to suit a student’s needs.
Having the same work with only slight variations is important as it not only caters to the
needs of the child but by being similar the child doesn’t feel different from their class peers.
The teacher also made me aware of some of the cultural differences that she encounters in her
class. She talked to me about one boy in her class that whenever he is spoken to for not doing
the right thing such as, yelling out an answer and not putting his hand up, he smiles. The
teacher advised me that there was an incident where this child did this to another teacher and
that teacher mistook this as an act rudeness however this is a nervous/natural response for the
child. This ties in with being interculturally competent and being aware of cultural
differences. It was interesting timing that teacher spoke to me about this as we had just
learned about intercultural competency and its importance in class, so this was the theory
being put into practice for me which was beneficial. At lunch time I supervised children from
all age groups as they played in the sandpit. I was happy to see that a boy from my class that
had told me at eating time that he did not like playtime because he had no friends was happily
playing with another classmate after they were both following and chatting to me together.
This warmed my heart.
10
O is for Octopus
Date: 8/4/2019
In class today, there were different activities set up and I assisted with a spelling activity
as well as a craft activity. The children are in spelling groups that cater to the different
levels that they are at. Some children were able to complete the task with very little
assistance while others required a lot of help. It made me think that perhaps some parents
can’t help their children with their reading, writing and spelling at home as many students
come from a language background other than English and the parents may not be fluent in
English. There is an ESL room at the school and the classroom gets a visit from her every
morning for approximately an hour. The craft activity I supervised and assisted with
involved the children tracing a large letter ‘o’ several times. The ‘o’ was the face of an
octopus which they had to colour in without leaving any white gaps. They then had to cut
the octopus out and create some wiggly tentacles by folding and twisting crepe paper.
They then glued the tentacles on. Some children were able to complete the task in the
fifteen minutes allocated while others did not. I then spent lunch time in the playground
where I supervised the sandpit again and helped a dozen children put their shoes on. I also
had a little girl from that isn’t in my class talk to me about fasting, Ramadan and how her
family celebrates. She asked if I fast and I said I did not which she did not question
anymore. This school is very multicultural, and I have enjoy learning about other cultures
as this adds to my cultural awareness and competency.

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5.

7.1 Appendix 1 – Journal Entry 1

First Day of Placement

supervision of a handwriting activity as well as playing with them at ‘playtime’ a scheduled

generation and may not be fully aware of gender diversity.

This warmed my heart.

as this adds to my cultural awareness and competency.

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