I am at placement in a mixed Rec/Yr1 class and am finding it really difficult. In my previous placements I have been in reception classes and have got on just fine. At the end of my last placement in February I felt really confident and my mentor graded me as 'Good' in most areas. My university tutor agreed with her.
Now in my new placement I have had my confidence completely knocked back; last week in my weekly report my mentor (the class teacher) marked me midway between 'Fail' and 'Satisfactory' due to whole class behaviour management and the pace of my lessons. I have really tried to improve on these areas and am using the schools discipline system for behaviour management and have tried to pick up the pace, especially for starters to lessons; where today for Maths we spent about 10 minutes on the carpet before going off to do group work. However, she is still telling me I am not pacey enough and I get the feeling that she is less than impressed with how I am managing whole class times. I want to improve but just feel so lacking in confidence and that nothing I can do is going to be enough that it's really affecting my practice. My tutor is coming to visit me tomorrow (a routine visit) so I will mention it to her but any advice would be much appreciated.
Answers
It is true that mentors forget that a trainee is a trainee and not an experienced teacher. It's like driving behind a learner driver, they are doing it all 'correctly' but they never seem to be driving the way you want them to. Teachers are like that. What you can do of course is ask for real examples of how to achieve what she wants. Ask to observe her and both of you could analyse her lesson - perhaps she would be prepared to vide herself teaching and review that with you - teachers also often do not see their own faults even if they are the same as the faults they pick up in you.
You can also ask for a lesson that just focusses on the positives - that just looks for all the things you do 'well' rather than criticisms. That is a useful mentoring technique that works when a trainee is lacking confidence.
James