This

is a summary of my observations of the wonderful children that were part

of my learning experience at the school practicum.


Lukas
Lukas is the sweetest, most helpful child. He came to my attention in my first
hour of starting my practicum. When my mentor asked me to find a station,
Lucas came up to me and advised where previous student teachers had sat. He
also gave me a hint once that maths answers were at the back of the book, when I
was given the responsibility on the spot of checking the childrens answers.

Olivia
I adopted Olivia as my buddy on my first day, as it was our first day together at
school. I came up to her as she was settling into her new seating and her book
slot. Olivia adapted really quickly to her new environment (having just moved
from Port Hedland) and made a few friends by her second day. Olivia is a happy
girl who seems to have s strong familial bond. She asked me twice during the
week whether I was taking that particular lesson for the day. It made me feel
very special and privileged.

Amberley
Amberley is a sweet child with a cheeky smile. Amberley is a happy girl full of
energy and smiles. She is also very creative and soft spoken. She loves running
around during recess and seems to always wear her hair in plats.

Ruby
Ruby is very quiet and keeps to herself. She strikes me as a quiet achiever. She
wrote a beautiful Fathers Day card and drew a beautiful picture. Her maths
exercise I marked was faultless. Rubys voice is low and does not keep eye
contact. She is very smart and creative though, and always polite.

Joshua
I was so impressed with his knowledge of electronics! He knew about my laptop
model and functions just by looking at it. He went on to explain to me whats
under the keypad and how the mechanism works compared to the latest model.
His dad is an electronics engineer. Joshua is brilliant at maths and is able to
explain processes really well. He speaks with passion and knows terminology I
am not familiar with.

Callum
Callum was absent for two days during my 5-day practicum. The interactions I
had with him taught me that he is easily distracted and needs constant
prompting to do tasks. His teacher often has to repeat instructions to him. His
work standard is very good though.

Thomas
Thomas tries to use his charm to get his ways! He bat his eyelids at me once
when I asked him to finish his task. He interjected me at two separate occasions,
correcting me that the TV I referred to was actually called e-board, with the
second time telling me thats not how you do it when I tossed two coins as a
demonstration during a maths lesson. Thomas is not afraid of throwing
comments around out-loud. His academic ability is very good.

Jos
Jos is brilliant at maths. I learnt to be prepared and have plan B for Jos as he
went through maths exercises very quickly. Otherwise hed lose interest and get
frustrated. He can be a distraction to his classmates when bored and looking for
something to do. The teacher separated him from the group he was sitting with
and moved him to sit next to a year 4 student. I could not connect with him as
well as I wanted during that short week.

Lucas
Lucas is a very pleasant child. He always has a smile on his face and is quite
focused. He understands tasks required quite easily and applies himself to do
them. He seems to get along well with his classmates and does all the right
things in the classroom.

Caelen
Caelen needs a lot of academic support in class. He is a bit slower at
understanding concepts and requires the teachers guidance and constant
support. He has a short attention span, often disturbing his classmates. The
teacher often has to tell him off to get him focused again.

T.M
Having just relocated from overseas, T.M is another new student to the school.
Even though academically he is at Year 2 level, he is in a Year 3 classroom due to
his age. T.M requires one-on-one attention in class, reiteration of tasks required,
assistance in completing those and often, special tasks given to suit his level
especially in maths, all whilst trying to keep up with Year 3. T.M is quite
disruptive to his classmates, talking to them, initiating disputes and sometimes
being physical. He led one of his classmates to cry once when pinching the ball
off him once quite forcefully, during lunch.

Serena
Serena is a very gifted swimmer and quite advanced for her age. I got to meet
her lovely mum, Sue, at swimming. Serena is a special needs student due to a
pertinent issue and psychological health. The teacher has found that a weighted
pillow on her lap during class helps her focus on tasks at hand. She lacks
confidence and complicates tasks in her mind, even after breaking them down
for her and giving her answers and guidance. Care needs to be taken to keep her
stress levels down in class. She is a beautiful and smart child with lots of
potential.

Savannah
Savannah is a buzz of life and chatterbox in class. She likes being the centre of
attention, often asking the teacher questions to get noticed. She is confident and
has a flair for fashion. She needs to be prompted in class to stop her disrupting
her classmates focus and keep her on track.

Madi
Madi is a beautiful special needs child with strong academic ability. She has a
low seating chair and desk to accommodate her physical disability. She is
confident and articulate, and very nice to talk to. She interacts with a small
group of classmates. She didnt attend swimming classes in fear she would not
be looked or supervised appropriately. To me, Madi is a perfect student with a
positive attitude.


Kynan
Kynan is a lovely special needs student. He is suspected autistic but hasnt
been formally diagnosed. It seems parents do not wish to know. Kynan sits
away from the rest of his peers on an individual desk, and has no interaction
with them during class. His own teacher assistant guides him through classroom
tasks and watches over his emotional state. He has a good mental capacity but
he is easily distracted. The teacher needs to prompt him to stop talking when
asked a question as he tends to speak for an extended period, veering away from
question at hand and not allowing other students to have a go. He usually works
on class tasks in his own time under the guidance of his assistant, and does not
participate in classroom activities. Sometimes he hangs out with his older
austistic brother during recess.

Jack
Jack is a kind-natured special needs student. Having a physical disability, he
has a special chair to get him around, and sits at his own desk away from
classmates. Like Kynan, he also has a teacher assistant who helps him with tasks
in his own time and at his own pace. She also helps feed him. He stays in during
recess and lunch break and plays computer games when not working with his
teacher. He was nice to me lending me his red pencil once when I needed it.


Brodie
Brodie is a nice child and a good student. He applies himself in class and does
what he is told. You dont hear his name being called out in class. He is very
polite and respectful.

Amelia
Amelia is sweet and polite child. She is soft-spoken, well behaved and applies
herself in class. I can tell she is proud of her family and home. She pointed out
her house to me as we went past it on the way to the swim school one morning.
She mentioned the roses her mum always tries to look after.

Lillie
Lillie will be moving on to another school at the end of this year. She had been
working hard to keep up with the academic demands. She fluctuates between
two groups of peers, creating a social network in class and during lunch. She
befriended Olivia for a few days, while she was getting acquainted with the
system. Lillie gave me compliments on my clothing twice and argued with
Amelia and Amberley over sitting next to me on the bus during one of the trips to
swimming.

Oliver C
Oliver is a jovial child and has a happy-go-lucky attitude. He is quite respectful,
polite and does his tasks in class and listens to what the teacher has to say. He
gets along well with his peers.

Oliver G-H
Oliver is a smart, respectful and articulate child. He has a good demeanour about
him, but gets influenced a lot by some of his peers, T.M and Alexander. The
teacher intervened to separate T.M off him and also Alexander at two separate
occasions.

Hussein
Hussein is well behaved in the classroom. He completes his tasks quietly and
does not disturb his classmates. He is very smart and a good learner. I learnt to
have Plan B maths exercises for him and Jos.

Addisen
Addisen is very sweet and polite. She is a good friend with Lillie and befriended
Olivia on her first day at school. She listens to instructions and is a delight in the
classroom. Addisen is very artistic but needs teacher assistance in the
classroom.

Grace
Grace keeps to herself and does not disturb her classmates. She completes her
tasks but generally requires a bit of assistance. She had to go home early one day
due to illness, but was her happy self again the next day.

Alexander
Alexanders name gets called out a fair bit in class, as he gets a bit disruptive and
moves around a lot. He got separated from Caelen and Jos, as they were not
getting along at all, distracting more of their peers. Alexander needs to work
closely with the teacher to understand concepts and complete tasks.

Kobi
Kobi is a fascinating child. He is trying to make a football team and as a result, he
watches his behaviour at school, follows the rules and studies hard. He is quite
intelligent and well spoken. I was told he stopped dying his hair and changed his
haircut style, all in added effort to be selected. He is conscious of his hairstyle
after swimming, making sure it is well groomed. He engages well with
classmates, namely Oliver GH and Thomas.

Ari
Ari is very artistic. He drew a beautiful picture on his Fathers Day card. He is
non-disruptive in class and completes his tasks unassisted.

Hayley
Hayley is a gentle soul. She interacts well with most classmates and does what
the teacher asks of her. I never heard the teacher call her name out in the
practicum week. She is a good learner.

Aisha
Aisha is a good friend with Lillie. She learns well and keeps to herself. Like
Hayley, I never heard the teacher call her name out in class.