Embedded Files
REFLECTIONS ON LEARNING
After completing the course of Field Placement 2, and after attending placement, I feel like I am more aware of what confidentiality is, and I can see the importance of privacy when we are sharing information about other students.
The moment I arrived in my placement school, I realized that they took confidentiality very seriously when they would only use the initials of the student’s names in the weekly schedules; I was also shocked to see how much information you get to know about one student, from having a conversation with them, with teacher or other EAs, to the information in their agendas or the reason why they were away from school on a certain date.
As we have learned in this course, confidential information “is not to be shared unless there is legal permission to do so” (Mactaggart, 2023, p.4). When dealing with this type of information, we should be very careful about what we do with it, and we should be serious about the consequences of breaching the policies about privacy, this is part of being a good EA.
SMART GOAL 1
SMART GOAL 1
For this goal I decided I needed to do some research on what is an EpiPen and how it is used. I was able to learn more about this device when I completed my first RPJ and I was able to do some research about it; I also found a nice infographic with important information that I should know.
At placement with the student, I was able to learn about the allergens or triggers that could potentially induce an anaphylactic reaction on him. This student is allergic to dogs and I was present in a situation in which a service dog almost entered the classroom, but the EA in charge acted fast and this was avoided. This goal also made me aware of the number of students in school that need an EpiPen in case of an allergic reaction.
Overall, I consider that this goal was successful.
RPJ 1.pdfRPJ
FAC_Use-of-Epinephrine.pdfINFOGRAPHIC
SMART GOAL 2
SMART GOAL 2
I thought that my second goal would be easier to achieve since the student is already familiar with the prompts and the pikto-charts showing “watching eyes”. My biggest concern was that I would not get the same response the staff in school gets from him, because he did not know me that well.
The first times I interacted with him, the EA would have to prompt him into looking at me whenever I talked to him by just saying “eyes”. As the weeks went by, every time I talked to him, I would always try to position myself in a way in which he could look at me directly when I talked to him, and if he didn’t, then I would prompt him.
I believe this goal was partially successful because he would make eye contact with me when I positioned myself in a specific way, but without this, he did need prompting every time we interacted.
PIKTOCHARTS
ACCEPTING FEEDBACK
I have been supporting this kindergarten class throughout my placement for one period a day and I was mostly shadowing the EA in the classroom. Recently, this class got a new student that needed support, so for the first time, I was going to be in fully-charge of supporting him, while the EA would support another boy in the classroom.
The EA, the two boys, and I were sitting in the same table when the student I was supporting did not want to do his work, he just wanted to do his preferred activity, so I said, “We are going to do this, then you are going to get that”.
The EA suggested I should use less words and say something like “First this, then that”. She said that by using these words instead of what I said before, I was giving a more direct instruction, and it also would not give the student the opportunity of arguing or the chance for him to try and twist my words. She also apologized, and said I hope I did not take it the wrong way, but I reassured her that her suggestions where very helpful and that I appreciated her feedback.
After that, I started to implement this technique and I realized that at least for this student I was supporting in kindergarten, the short instructions worked.
R E F E R E N C E S
Mactaggart, J. (2023). Confidentiality [Lecture Notes]. SLATE Sheridan College. https://slate.sheridancollege.ca/confidentiality
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse