An Experience at My Work Placement and What I Learnt From it
The first session back at my short work placement after the Christmas holidays was challenging. Not only was there a shortage of mentors (only four out of ten) but the project leader who would normally lead the class was unwell. This meant that a substitute had to step in at the last minute who didn’t know the mentees or mentors, leading the students to be disruptive. Mentors had to work with multiple mentees due to the mentor shortage and I was put on a table with three mentees. This experience allowed me to understand how I handle unexpected challenges and allowed me to think about how I could better handle similar situations in the future.
When the session started it was already clear it would be a challenging two hours. The 9 and 10-year-old students were distracted and hyperactive, unable to concentrate without their normal project leader. I felt uneasy about the seating plan and that it was not organised with the students in mind, as friends and disruptive students were placed together on tables.
Thinking back, I could have done something about this, as the substitute project leader didn’t know students, she didn’t know which were disruptive and which were friends. However, I wasn’t sure who had made the seating plan, as if it was the normal project leader then I didn’t want to challenge this. I could have made the situation more manageable if I had asked to move some students around, as this would have limited disruption.
Attempting to work with three students on Maths work ended up being much more challenging than usual. Students failed to listen, were slow to complete work, and walked around the classroom disrupting others. I felt as though I wasn’t doing a good job and thinking back I feel as though I could have done more to stay in control of the situation.
I think I could have handled the situation better, and it had made me realise that I need to speak up more, even with children. Despite my previous experience presenting for the students, and realising this wan not a big deal and I can
I don’t think the situation was helped by the fact that the normal project leader wasn’t in, on top of having to watch three mentees when I was used to only working with one.
Even though working with children isn’t the type of career I want to go into, it is still beneficial to encounter challenging social experiences, so I can learn from them, and hopefully be better prepared to deal with it next time.
