Interview Questions for EPC 3403

Answer the questions below Name:Nada Khalil Bin Took

Competence Sustained Teaching
Introduction -Warmer Describe the setting, the grades you taught and explain the purpose of this
placement:

- I practiced in Al Salamah kindergarten in Umm Al Quwain. There are seven classes of

KG2 and I taught KG2b with teacher Khadija. I chose to practice teaching this class
because the teacher is active and creative and I wanted to benefit from her experience.
Moreover there is no Arabic teacher for this class so I can choose anytime I want to teach
the students.

Professionalism How did you demonstrate professional behavior as a trainee teacher in the school?
Explain how you maintained your professional status not only in your own
classroom but also across the school.
- As a trainee teacher I did lots of things to show my professionalism through helping my
MST to manage the students in the classroom, play ground and the cafeteria. I did
different classroom works such as correcting their homework, organizing their files and
preparing activities with the teacher. I also show her that I am happy to do the works and I
always respect her.
- Everyday I come to the school I sign in and greet the principle. In the assembly I see all
the teachers so I greet them and sing with them the national anthem. At the end of the day
before leaving the school I go to the principles office to take her permission and I sign
out.

Explain how conducting and receiving one formal peer observations helped you to
develop professionally?
- I didnt do a peer observation but my MST and MCT observed me while explaining an
English lesson. My MST feedback was good but there was only one point that I had to
develop. The point is raising my voice and use different voice tones. The feedback helped
me a lot to improve my weakness point so I decided in next lesson to raise my voice and
respond to children using different voice tones and give them more positive feedbacks.

Explain how you collaborated with other staff in activities that involve the
community during this placement.
- I collaborated with the teachers in a day when children were printing their fingerprints
with UAE flag color (red, black, green) to make a big flag from their fingerprints. I was
managing the students to stand in a line one by one and print on the white cloth.

Planning for Learning (including Describe the process you went thorough in order to plan an integrated, thematic unit
Knowledge and Understanding of of work in partnership with your MST. How were you guided in this by your own
Content) teaching philosophy? What impact did the use of STEAM/STEM activities have on
student learning? Do not answer this question

What difficulties did you face in planning seven differentiated lesson plans to ensure
that they included a range of activity types for the whole class, groups, and
individuals
- I faced difficulty in planning for differentiated activities especially for the middle level,
because I already know what the high and low level can do but the middle it should be
something in between. Also in planning for a science lesson it was hard to choose an
appropriate lesson for their age, because they dont often study science but I chose Parts
of the Plant topic because they know it and the teacher also suggested me to teach them
about this topic.
Explain how you assessed the learning objectives/outcomes you set the students.
- After teaching each lesson, I see if I achieved the learning outcomes that I set. The
learning outcomes are easy so thats why I think that I achieved most of them. For
children, I used my MST checklist to make sure that they can write and pronounce the
letters that I explain correctly.
Implementing and Managing Explain what you did to make sure that your modeling / demonstration of the tasks you

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Learning (including behaviour set your students was clear and effective.
management, language, and delivery) - I raised my voice so all the students can hear, I gave them short and clear instructions
before each activity, and I told them that when they hear the tambourine they have to stop
doing the activity and start cleaning up thats why every time I teach a lesson and use the
tambourine children directly clean up and sit on the carpet. I also show them what each
group did in their activity and praise them by saying words like: this group was excellent,
wow! Look at their work.

What strategies did you apply to maintain student engagement and how effective were
they in ensuring that tasks were completed effectively?
- To keep children engaged to the lesson I prepared an activity for each group related to
the lesson and I put an example for each activity in front of each group to make sure they
do it correctly and even though some students didnt do it correctly the teacher and I
helped them. I used the tambourine for the time management so children know that they
have to stop and clean up. At the end, I hanged students works on the green board to
make them feel proud of themselves and raise their self-confidence.

Provide examples of how you developed student independence and responsibility in

your classes.
- Everyday I choose a child to be the helping hand for the teacher. The helping hand count
the students, name the absent students and write the number of students on the white
board. All the students in the class have the chance to be the helping hand because
everyday the teacher chooses different student.
Monitoring, Assessment, and What strategies did you use to monitor student progress across a range of connected
Evaluation teaching sessions including class, group, pair, and individual work

- I used my MST checklist to see if children can read and write the letter I taught. I also
write the names of children who are not involved to the lesson and see their progress in
the next lesson.

Provide examples of and describe the formative assessment instruments such as as

anecdotal notes, checklists, Traffic Lights, photos, children self-assessment, Learning
Journey, etc.. you used to evaluate student performance in a variety of activity types

- I always write my notes and journals in my notebook to reflect and assess childrens
work. I take photos and videos of children working during my lesson. Moreover, the
teacher make a short quiz at the end of the week to see if they can read and write the letter
of the week and I helped her to assess children using the checklist.
Reflection on Practice Which teaching strategies did you find were particularly effective and explained why
with reference to educational theory and/or experience?
- during this TP I used different strategies to teach children in the class such as making
different activities including individual, pairs and group work. I also used different
teaching styles like auditory through playing music and song of sounds, visual using
flashcards that have pictures on it and physical through activities such as jumping on the
shapes. According to Lev Vygotsky, children improve through interacting with family,
friends and people around them. (Vygotsky, n.d.)

the influence of a range of stakeholders at your school e.g. Ministry of Education,

Principal, parents, etc.
- Some members of the ministry of education come to observe teachers while they are
teaching and how they deal with children to make sure that everything goes in the right
way. Parents always attend the kindergarten to see their children and how they are
progressing in all school activities such as playing in the playground and they attend the
celebrities that the school make and invite them. The principal observe children in the
assembly, sing the national anthem with children and other teacher and sometimes she
observes teachers in their classrooms to make sure that both the teacher and children are
getting used together and that children are engaged.

Explain how closely you were able to apply key principles from your own teaching
philosophy as a student teacher in this school?
- Before attending the kindergarten I set a number of things that I need to improve during
my teaching practice. I improved my behavior management by using the stars stickers for
the excellent students and the tambourine to grab their attention. I improved my time
management more than before and I can now set a specific time for children to complete a
task and they do it in the specified time. I use the ringer and sing clean up song with them
to stop doing the activity and clean up them sit on the carpet.

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What would you say have been your particular strengths during this TP? Which areas for
development have you identified for next semester - justify this?

- During the teaching practice of this semester I developed lots of things in myself such as
dealing with misbehaved students or students who are making noise by changing their
places, using the daily routine and sing songs with children which was one of the thing
that I was shy to do, and giving the lesson in the way that I prepared because in the
previous semesters I always forget something that I wanted to do during the lesson.

The things that I need to improve in my next teaching practice is using different voice
tones and give positive feedbacks for children and I think that next semester I will achieve
these goals and I will do my best to achieve them.