My experience at an SEN school was really beneficial and a
real eye-opener.The school’s atmosphere was calm and pleasant. I was also
very fortunate to have been placed in a school whose staff and pupils made me
feel welcomed and valued instantly.
It is fair to mention that although it was in a secondary
school, it did feel like a primary school. This might be due to the fact that
classes were grouped not by age but by difficulty levels or disabilities, and the
majority worked at a primary school level.
Though the school had a high percentage of children with
some sort of disability and special needs this wasn’t reflected so much in the
classroom I was placed as it did in other classrooms. The class I was in consisted of year 7s, 8s and 9s and had
mostly behavioural issues. The ability range of the children I was able to
teach and observe varied from year 1-7, so it was at times very challenging,
especially when it came to teaching and differentiating correctly.
Something that really stood out in this placement was how
behaviour issues were resolved. As our class had the highest behavioural
incidents and the pupils were in fact adolescents verging on teenage years, bad
behaviour was dealt with quite severely. Each lesson each pupil would have a
passport which will give you the option to analyse how they have behaved in
class. In this case the learners were also given a chance to self-assess and
evaluate how they did and how their behaviour impacted the classroom
environment. Their “score” would then determine whether or not they made “star
time” on a Friday afternoon. Star time was the end of week treat were children
could choose their activity. This would encourage better behaviour as the
pupils knew that their good behaviour would amount to a reward of their choice.
Parents/Guardians were also thoroughly involved. Teachers would ring home if
expected behaviour was not met or was overall very appalling.
Throughout the school there seemed to be a unified theme
this term which was based on Alice in Wonderland. Our class had previously been
involved in a tea party and were currently watching the original Alice in
Wonderland film – as they had already watched the new adaptation. In Philosophy
for children they would use Alice in wonderland to help them construct a book
on things they are glad about. This also helped promote good behaviour as it focused
on positive thinking leaving no room for negative encouragement. Chambers
(2011) suggests older children tend to enjoy dramatising scripted and
improvised performances. They did this to help them distinguish the different
types of emotions we can have and whether they were in fact positive or
negative. This helped them further to develop their writing on the things that
make them glad.
Overall I had a truly inspirational, very valuable experience
as I learnt about strategies which were efficient and effective in managing
behaviour and motivation in the classroom.
References:
Chambers, A. (2011) Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk; The Reading Environment; How Adults Help Children Enjoy Books. Stroud; The Thimble Press.
Picture available at:
http://www.coesign.com/img/2014/11/83_39_lewis-carroll-quotes-alice-in-wonderland-quotes-lewis-carroll.jpg
