APC Activity 1 - Introduction

As I turn to the final paper in my studies I return to my reflective blog, which is itself the entirety of my assessment for this last part of the course. Throughout the Research + Community Informed Practice paper I stepped away from this platform for a couple of months. I found it a challenging time - we moved from weekly classes to distance only learning and undertook a large research assignment, all while juggling term 4 and end of year reports! I couldn't quite manage regular posts as well, so am looking forward to this opportunity over the next couple of months to step back into regular reflective practice as I consider a variety of topics.

The first task was to create a blog and a welcoming post.  I've already got the blog up and running, but as I look back to my first post in July it appears I never actually properly introduced myself!

My name is Sophie and I'm a full time junior teacher at Heathcote Valley School in Christchurch. When I did my teaching qualification I studied the 'early years' which covered preschool up to year 3. Since then I have worked in preschools and relieved throughout all the primary year levels, however have taught year 0/1 for the last 4 years and adore that age group. Having said that, 2016 is a year for me to branch out of my comfort zone a little as I take on a wonderful group of year 2/3 students. I am also taking on a team leader position so am excited by all the new challenges ahead.

Our school embraced collaborative practice at the beginning of last year and we opened up all our learning spaces. I will be teaching 46 students this year with my fabulous teaching partner in one large flexible environment. We all learnt a lot in 2015 and are looking forward to building on our experience this year. 

You can check out my team and some of what we got up to in 2015 on our classroom blog though I will of course be using a different site for my new team once school is back up and running!

Update: You can now also see my new 2016 classroom blog here :)