1 Interpersoonlijk competentGood

I think I can make students feel at ease in class. They usually know the rules and barely ever violate them. I do think that I should be more open for the students’ opinions because I tend to make them write it all down instead of to let them discuss it in class. And I think the last option will make the students more comfortable in class. Because I am already in front of class every week, I get to improve myself a lot which is very useful.
Getting in contact with (new) students is not a problem for me at all, I actually consider getting in contact as some sort of challenge.

2nd year - I think I’ve learned quite a lot this year, though, obviously, there is still a lot of work to do. I want to find an appropriate balance between being the students’ teacher and finding a way to, not really be one of them, but to be able to adjust to their level.

In year 2 I wanted to: improve my supervision skills. I want to make sure I’m aware of all the guidelines within my placement schools so that I know how to react to gladly seen behaviour and incorrect behaviour. I also want to get to know the individual student a bit better. During my first year at my placement school I only knew a few names and this bothered me. Next year I would like a list of names combined with the students’s photos so that I can start learning their names from the very beginning.
Besides that, I would like to go into the supervision of trouble making behaviour among individual students, by which, in the future, I can take action against such situations in class terms.

This year I’ve been trying to provide different types of students with different types of education. For example, some assignments were focussed on the more creative students whereas others were more suitable for the more logical-thinking students (Grammar 5 and 6 – Placement Products year 3). What I would like to work on next year, is that these different approaches should be inserted in virtually every exercise, in stead of having different exercises for each and every approach.

This year I dealt with some students who did not fit in as well as they would like to. I had no experience in dealing with these kind of issues whatsoever and now I had to come up with a solution by myself. None of the students ended up to be fully ‘accepted’ , but there are barely any confrontations in my class. I would really like to work on this, creating a safe learner environment.

In year 2 I wanted to make sure I was aware of all the rules and guidelines in my placement school, this year I really chose the easy way out. My placement school was my own secondary school so I knew my way around the school rules.

Next year (4th year) I want to focus on adaptive education. One of the things I really want to work with, is Multiple Intelligence. Working with Multiple Intelligence is something that requires quite some pedagogic skills, which is why I’m going to elaborate on this subject for the Pedegogic competence as well, but Multiple Intelligence is also a way of making a distinction between several ‘types’ of pupils. I think students who prefer to approach an assignment using the same intelligence, will have a bigger chance of getting along quite well than students who use ‘opposite’ intelligences.

2 Pedagogisch competentGood

I like to ask students what they think about certain subjects though I barely ever pay attention to their answers. When it comes to working with small groups I think I do OK for now. If one student isn’t accepted in the group I usually interfere in the group process and I try to make that one student accepted after which the group will function a bit better (I hope).

2nd year - Next year I want to develop my very own identity when it comes to structure and rules I consider important in class. I want to see what works best for the students and myself. I want to find new ways of attracting the students’ interest. Last year I’ve really trying to make sure I gave each and every students the same amount of attention. I think I know what students think of my teaching, and I also think I’m ok with that. I guess I’m not the type of teacher all students like, nor will I ever be. But I do think I can become the teacher all students are content with when it comes to their learning outcomes.

In year 2 I wanted to: get acquainted with several teaching / working methods and find out how they work out for me. I want to find out what would be the best way for me to approach a group. Which method do I feel most comfortable with, and which method do the students prefer.
I also want to develop my pedagogic vision and find out how I can project this on my own way of teaching. I want to learn how to be consistent and more authoritarian.

This year I had responsibility for 2 groups, which was an opportunity for me to focus on positive and negative behaviour in class, and more important: my role in correcting behaviour. For one of the groups this was a huge challenge, the ‘problem’ with this group was, that there was no clear ‘centre’ for commotion and I didn’t, and still do not, know how to thwart the group. I did learn that I had to adapt my lessons to this group. I had to double the amount of structure I gave the other group (whereas the latter one is a havo/vwo group and the first one a vwo+ group), I had to lower my expectations regarding their ‘zelfwerkzaamheid’ in class, and start trusting their capability of tackling the assignments themselves at home, they are a vwo+ group after all.

Luckily enough I was not the only teacher who had some mayor issues with the group. My link-teacher taught the group a couple of times during my absence and she was somewhat shocked to see how tumultuous they were. Other teachers claimed they had never seen anything like this, although I do think that is somewhat exaggerated.

Next year I really want to focus on giving positive feedback a bit more. I’ve already tried to do so as much as possible but there is a lot of room for improvement. Furthermore I hope I’ll be challenged a bit more when it comes to the range of cultural background in my classes, because my groups where quite ‘boring’ this year.

3 (Vak-)didactisch competentGood

I’m not really into the didactical stuff yet so I consider myself poor. I do think the observing I do at my placement school is very helpful because I really start to see the structure. One thing that bothers me is that I can’t really get students to do some self-study, not even for 10 minutes, that might be caused by the fact that I usually don’t really teach a subject but I have to replace a teacher that’s ill, but I’m not sure about that. Maybe I’m just not much of an inspiration.

2nd year - Last year I honestly learned a lot when it comes to this competence. It is now much easier for me to get the students to stay focused, mainly because I more or less found out that keeping them challenged is the best way of keeping them to the work that has to be done. I really enjoyed making new challenges and so that is something I really want to get better at next year.

In year 2 I wanted to: learn how cooperation can work out for secondary school pupils and how I can make cooperation contribute to my classes. I want to continue to work with modern technology during the lessons (smart boards etc.). I also would like to adjust my method of working to individual students according to their level, age, cultural background etc.

In my third year I’ve been working on using Neuner’s PPP theory as much as possible (Grammar 5 and 6). I want to continue doing this whilst broadening my experience in using task based activities. Although I don’t really like task based activities myself I have seen their effectiveness in the groups of one of my colleagues (Observatie les Wendy ROW – Placement Products). This year I learned quite a lot when it comes to problems Dutch-speaking students encounter when learning English as a second language. Next year I want to see if I can use the knowledge I’ve gained over the last couple of months to prevent students from running into these problems.

Furthermore I tried to make the students work in groups more often than I did in the first two year. Just like working with task based learning, working in groups is not something I would prefer myself, so getting the students enthusiastic to do so is rather hard for me. I did find out that it motivates them to be given such responsibility so I do want to have group work in my classes more often next year.

And finally, I designed a side-course for the grammar that ‘had’ to be discussed, to provide the students with more structure than the actual course does. I had a huge amount of fun whilst designing the course and it was so much easier for me to teach using it, that I’m very motivated to carry on with designing materials like this.

So for next year, all in all, I want to increase my influence regarding what I’m actually using to teach. I want to do this by using multiple intelligence in my lessons and by designing more and more materials myself.

4 Organisatorisch competentGood

Organising is a word I do not know the exact meaning of yet. My work is never structured (I just do something and sometimes that works out OK) and usually everything has to be done last-minute. Keeping my work up to date is hard for me as well because I never ever use the schedules I make.

2nd year - For some mystical reason I’ve come to see the light. My work is much more structured. Not only my work at my placement school, but for my own study-planning as well. I make sure I start working on things in time, I study a lot, really a lot and I keep notes on what I’ve done so far and what is still to be done. All of this made me enjoy studying even more. I never thought I would enjoy it this much, but it’s really motivating. I really hope I can keep this up so that I will be able to enjoy studying, but also teaching of course, even more.

In year 2 I wanted to: develop more discipline. I want to be organised, work organised and create an organised environment for the pupils. I know this is not possible in just one year, but I want to make a start. I have to be more strict towards myself. By doing this, my lessons will, most probably, be more structured.

This year was quite a challenge regarding structure and organisation. Mostly because I had more responsibilities than ever. Having the full responsibility for the groups was challenging because I was thrown in at the deep end, I was forced to find even more ways of structuring my work. Which really worked out better than I had hoped. One of my link teachers is extremely organised and I tried to follow the example she had set. Although I didn’t end up being as structured and organised as she is, I did have a good overview of my students’ and my own work.

Next year I want to keep up this development although I’m not really sure how to do this. What I do know I should pay attention to is that I find the right way of ordering my materials and paperwork.

5 Competent in het samenwerken met collega’sGood

I chose poor because working in groups is something I’m not really good at. Don’t get me wrong, I can cooperate quite well, usually I just don’t want anybody else to do something if I think I can do it better/faster (which is almost all the time). Furthermore I’m not a great debating person because I barely ever change my opinion and I usually try to get my point across.

2nd year - This year I’ve broadened my experience in cooperating. Mainly because my placement teacher really involved me in a lot of things, so I wasn’t just a trainee, but really somebody actively involved in her teaching. Next year I hope to work on this cooperation, I don’t think that will be much of a problem since my placement teacher for next year is a colleague of mine right now and we really get along quite well. So I think she will allow me to be a bit of a ‘second’ teacher to the students.

In year 2 I wanted to: actually work in a team. During my first year I did not get to work with the team at all. I would like to get acquainted with this part of the job a bit more, since I consider this quite important. I want to attend more department meetings and get more familiar with the planning the team has for next school year, so that I can find out in which way I can be of any use for the entire team.

This year was most useful for this competence. I collaborated intensively with one of my colleagues this year. We exchanged a lot of ideas, asked each other about lesson plans we had, gave each other feedback and she gave me a huge amount of tips. I hardly dare admit it, but I never thought colleagues would be this important as a teacher. I am really glad they are, because I think it makes the job a lot more fun.
Next year I want to see in which ways I can help my colleagues, I hope I can contribute to their lessons as well. Furthermore I hope I get to stay on my current placement school to continue to improve the relationship with my colleagues.

6 Competent in het samenwerken met de omgevingOK
I don’t have much experience when it comes to this point, I do know that I am willing to volunteer in almost every project the school I work has, but that doesn’t mean anything. Besides I don’t have much experience in getting in contact with parents and other relationships I’ll get to deal with as a teacher.

2nd year - I really hope I will gain experience concerning this competence. I want to find out what sorts of tasks come along when working in a team and what part in that I could play.
In year 2 I wanted to: find out about this in general. Last year I did not have any contact with the environment of the students whatsoever, so for next year I would like to participate in the relationship with parents. I would like to attend a few parent meetings and / or information meetings meant for the parents.

This year I actually did something concerning this competence. I got to do two ‘tafeltjesavonden’. My link-teachers did stay with me during some of the conversations but they barely interfered. I really came to realise how important communication is. As a pupil I never really told my parents what happened in each and every lessons, but I now saw that if you actually make any kind of impression during the day, the students will tell their parents all about it. And in some cases that can be hilarious, and in some cases I wished I had actually thought things over a second time. 

Next year I hope to become ‘co-mentor’. If that’s not possible I would like to see if there is any chance I can further develop myself when it comes to student-mentoring, for example by assisting the zorgcoordinator. If I get to do my LIO on my current placement school I would like to continue with mentoring the gay-students in their current ‘campaign’ for a safer environment at school.

7 Competent in reflectie en ontwikkelingGood

I do see the things that I’m not good at and I’m always very motivated to improve those things. Doing the best I can is one of my main goals. That might sound a bit weird, considering I’m not much of a planner but it works for me (for now). Maybe in the future, since I’m trying to improve my planning / organizing skills, I will do better at my best.

2nd year - Honestly I don’t think there’s much for me to learn when it comes to reflecting on my own work. I am usually not easily pleased with my own work. I do think there is a lot of work for me to do when it comes to developing myself, mainly because I do not always not how to develop. I should not dread to ask others on their opinion on how I can improve myself.

In year 2 I wanted to: work on my self perspective and find out what kind of teacher I am / am about to become, whether I am satisfied with that or not and, if not, how I can do something about it.

Over the last to years I’ve gained quite some feedback, but this feedback was usually just there, I didn’t have to ask for it. Whereas this year, I kind of forgot that I actually had to get feedback. Luckily enough one of my link-teachers was so kind to just tell she was going to drop by in my classes, whether I liked it or not and she gave me a lot of feedback.

Next year I do have to bare in mind that I have to collect feedback from the very start, and I have to actually ask for it. Furthermore I have to make sure I do find out what my position as a teacher is. One of my colleagues wrote “Lianda is very organised, but in some cases you have to accept things do not always work out the way you planned, and she has to make sure she is ready for that.” And that is true, I have to be able to improvise and I can only do that if I’ve taken my strengths and weaknesses into consideration for each and every aspect of my lessons.