CRITICAL REFLECTION WEEK 1

School Integration
Starting a new school as a teacher can be both exciting and a challenging experience, overall,
I felt that my first week I settled well.

The first thing I did when I entered the school is I met with the principle to ask for some
advice on starting a new school he gave me a lot of advice on how to deal with a class full of
students and also a lot more advice that I hope that I can use in the future on my teaching
experience, I also familiarized myself with the schools policy and procedures, this included
things such as attendance grading and discipline policies. This week I tried to get to know my
new work colleagues and support staff, building relationships with your colleagues can be
helpful in creating a positive and collaborative work environment. I met with my
coordination teachers to give them a plan of what I was doing with their classes.

For the first week my coordination teachers stayed present in the room with me, I always
made sure I was open to feedback and learning opportunities, I feel as a new teacher you still
have a lot to learn and that its important to be open to the feedback and willing to continue
learning and grow as a professional. This week I also spoke to the Vice Principal of the
school, she firstly set me up on VLE, so for my own classes I can take the attendance and
monitor students, she then asked me to send her in an updated version of my CV as she
wanted to give me a mock interview which will benefit me in the future when I try to get a
job. In academic circles, a curriculum vitae (CV) plays many important functions. It serves,
in the most ideal of cases, as a summary of the important and relevant aspects of that
individual’s professional background, and lists, in detail, all the academic achievements that
have defined that individual’s career path as an academic, including as a method to evaluate
research performance and output (Cañibano and Bozeman, 2009).

I also took the time to try and learn as many students’ names as possible this overall creates a
positive learning environment. In the first class I ensured to establish routines and procedures
that I expect the students in all my different classes to follow as this helps create a smooth
and efficient classroom environment. Upon arrival in the classroom, I familiarize myself with
the layout of the room.

I always kept in the back of my mine that starting a new school can be overwhelming, so I
made sure to always be patient with myself and take time to adjust. I feel with good
preparation and a positive attitude, that you will be well on your way, that you will be well on
your way to be a successful teacher at a new school.