Uzma Patel

I am extremely passionate about planning lessons that are creative, innovative, engaging and encourage pupils’ intellectual curiosity. This allows pupils to take accountability for their own learning and develop a love for acquiring knowledge. It also requires the teacher to be organised and take responsibility for resourcing and teaching to a high standard. I displayed these skills when teaching the water cycle in geography to my year 4 class in my first teaching placement. Using my subject knowledge and passion for teaching humanities, I approached teaching this topic in an innovative way so that it could be applied to other subject areas such as science and could also relate to pupils’ own daily lives. My students carried out an experiment in making their own water cycle, this required me to ensure all resources were prepared before the lesson so the lesson was effective and efficient. Before carrying out the experiment, pupils had to create a research portfolio on the water cycle using their laptops. This method of teaching encouraged students to take responsibility for their own learning and provided them with agency. Furthermore, it enabled pupils to explore the same phenomena and learning but from different lenses. Thereafter, pupils were able to apply what they had learnt to the water cycle experiment as they could see condensation and evaporation take place and were able to explain why this may have occurred. Lastly, pupils linked the water cycle to their everyday life, explaining where and why they may see evaporation and condensation take place. This link contextualised the learning experience and personalised it, as it relates to a wider context beyond their books. This was a successful lesson as it created a learning environment which was meaningful and engaging. As research has shown, engagement is key for learning to occur and I have used this knowledge to strive to develop students’ curiosity and enthusiasm outside the curriculum.

Building an inclusive learning environment within my classroom is essential as it allows all children from different backgrounds the same chance to grow and flourish at the same level. To have an inclusive learning environment, you have to be able to reflect on your position as a practitioner to enable good pupil progress and outcomes. I have consistently supported children with learning difficulties and pupils with a range of additional needs. I understand the challenges that this entails and I am able to provide pupils with the correct scaffolds for learning to take place and overcome such challenges by making it accessible to all. For example, when teaching maths to the year 4s in my placement, I provided additional resources such as adapted worksheets, BaseTens and fraction walls. By using concrete representations of numbers, I enabled all pupils to be engaged in their learning and created meaningful experiences. In addition, my undergraduate dissertation phenomenological study explored the factors which may have impacted disadvantaged pupils when remote learning took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the outcome of the research made me mindful and further aware of educational discrepancies within society. My research highlighted how the pandemic has led to an exacerbation of the disadvantage gap between the more privileged and underprivileged pupils within modern society. Since training to be a teacher, and training within inner London, I am committed to raising opportunities for underprivileged pupils and reducing the attainment gap- creating more inclusivity, diversity and equality.

Through my good organisation skills, I have undertaken all of the responsibilities of a class teacher, specifically within the core subject maths. I have ensured all tasks were completed to a high standard whilst also observing and tracking the progress of pupils. For my Master’s level assignment, I tracked the progress of three focus pupils by keeping a portfolio of their work to monitor the progress pupils were making in maths. Furthermore, I led the assessment of pupils in maths and marked and audited their attainment progress. The pupils in my maths class made accelerated progress, most pupils were on track and some scored higher than expected. Subsequently, for the GDS students, new targets were put in place so these pupils were stretched and challenged. In addition to assessment results, I collaborated with my mentor to accurately assess and use good professional judgement to grade children. To ensure pupil progress, the teacher is required to be organised, which I feel I have demonstrated in my first placement as I took the lead in planning and teaching maths across my whole placement. I was well-prepared and well-resourced for my teaching practice, created adapted worksheets and delivered high-quality resources and teaching.