Professionally negotiating differences between GMIT Letterfrack training

requirements and the school culture and practice: challenges and

opportunities.

This week I decided to focus on the differences between GMIT Letterfrack and
the school environment and culture. “Culture can take different forms….. Pupil
culture, teacher culture, leadership culture, support staff culture and parent
culture.” (Prosser, 1999, p. 36). Nothing can prepare you for a real classroom
situation other than the experience itself. This is my own personal view on the
matter. We get plenty of helpful tips and ideas from our colleagues and
lecturers, which prepare us in the best possible way. The only thing is anything
can happen while in the classroom. Unexpected scenarios can occur at any
given moment and what I believe truly makes an excellent teacher is one who
can deal with the obstacle put in front of them. These challenges occur without
warning and it is that instant reaction that really separates the experienced
teacher from the student teacher. I have learned an awful lot from my co-op
teachers and from my own experiences on school placement. Situations such
as a student passing out in class which occurred in one of my classes’ this year.
The student had diabetes and their sugar reading was very low before they
noticed they were passed out in class. I had to react quickly to get assistance
from another nearby teacher while putting the student in the recovery position
until they regained consciousness. This was a learning experience on what to
do in an emergency situation in the classroom. This is not something that is
always discussed in classes. Also another area which I had to professionally
negotiate is the differences in available resources. In Letterfrack, we as
students can become familiar with a wealth of options and resources with
materials and machines etc. This is not always the case in a lot of schools
across Ireland will not have the state of the art machinery and available
resources. I have been lucky enough to be in schools with a wide range of
resources but is an area I am aware of and prepared if one day I do teach in
such a school. I have learned ways of creating and using what resources I have
to successfully teach lessons to students getting them actively engaged in the
process. These lesson are commonly called action flow lessons. “As the name
suggests, Action Flow Lessons are high on energy and movement. The aim is to
get enough action going so students naturally remain involved, so neither
threats nor rewards are necessary to keep students on task”. (Harmin & Toth,
2006, pp. 29,30). This is no doubt a tactic I will learn to hone over the coming
years and experience of teaching in a classroom.

References
Harmin, M., & Toth, M. (2006). Inspiring Active Learning: A Complete Handbook for Todays Teachers.
Alexandria: ASCD Publications.

Prosser, J. (1999). School Culture. London: SAGE Publications ltd.