Professional Practice 3 102095 Self Reflection and Evaluation

During my time at Evans High School working with the Learning and Support team inside the Return
to School Centre as a Student Learning and Support Officer I have gained valuable insights and
experiences from my placement. The setting and environment within itself was inviting, friendly and
warm it was a space that felt comfortable by all members of staff and students that visited. Before
this experience I was apprehensive about taking on sixty hours as a student learning and support
officer but through this role I have had the opportunity to work with the most challenging and most
rewarding students I have come across so far. My role as an SLSO varied from day to day and that in
itself kept me on my toes just as it did the whole team, but through this experience it allowed me to
work with a variety of students for different needs such as classroom support, assessment help,
reading and writing and also examination scribing (Stanlick, S, 2015, pg.117).

This placement contained many features and benefits for example the staffroom that I was situated
in was the Return to School Centre which is a learning and support hub for students who have been
expelled or suspended from another school (or any student from Evans High School who may need
assistance), they attend the Return to School Centre to learn about and understand their behaviour
through a choice theory framework. I had the opportunity to work with a student who was
suspended from another school and needed to complete the RSC course before being integrated
back at school, working with this student was something extremely special as it demonstrated to me
the need to understand why students behave the way they do, how can teachers help them and the
Return to School Centre and the program in place is something beneficial to students who attend
not only to be integrated back into their normal school but teaches them skills to control their
behaviour into their adult life and working experience. To have hands on experience witnessing the
change in this student from one session was eye opening and rewarding (Kerins, A, 2010, pg.123).

Moreover scribing and reader/writer experiences for Higher School Certificate examinations and
Years 7-10 yearly examinations was something else that I believe will shape me as a teacher, as it
provided me to the opportunity to understand the importance of differentiation and the difference a
reader or a writer made to these students performances in examinations. It is now only through this
experience that I have learnt the importance of taking time to understand and know how my
students learn and what areas may be holding them back from achieving their best. The scribing
experience demonstrated to me the ability to improve a students education dramatically just by
reading a question or note taking for them, it is only when you are in that experience do you
understand the complexities and differences in other peoples learning (Kerins, A, 2010, pg.18).
Furthermore there was constant support and feedback from the staff in the Return to School Centre
and receiving this feedback was crucial in my understanding of what I needed to do to be as helpful
as possible to the students I was assigned with and to perform the best I could to help students
complete their assessments and examinations. Lastly I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with the
Learning and Support team at Evans High School, and thank them tremendously for welcoming me
in and allowing me to experience all that I did, it is because of this experience I believe I have grown
as an educator and a pre-service teacher and will be taking these experiences with me to my next
placement.

References:

Kerins, A, T. (2010). An adventure in service-learning: developing knowledge, values and

responsibility. Farnham: Gower. (e-book)

Stanlick, S. (2015 Fall) Getting Real about Transformation: The Role of brave spaces in creating
disorientation and transformation. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning p117-121