My specialist experience working with young people with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships: I have been working with children for over 15 years and have strived and succeeded in ensuring that each child had their needs met. I have worked to ensure that the level of care for young people with SEN was high quality, embraced their interests and needs and aimed for children to feel a sense of personal achievement. As a teacher, I know that you can only guide and motivate children once you have built trust and I enjoy building meaningful relationships with learners, parents and any liaising persons.
My experience working with young people with Complex and/or medical needs, including brain injuries: I have spent several summers working in summer camps that create core learning and social opportunities for children with complex and medical needs. Once I undertook hygiene and feeding training, I was confident to work with the children and enjoyed building relationships with them and understanding their preferences and interests. I’m always happy to support with care and more than happy to learn routines that best serve each learner.
My experience teaching engagement, trust and interest in learning:
I love using a range of engagement strategies to build trust and learning. From multisensory learning, to call and response, visual aids, clear instructions and all starting with giving the learning a lead. Since it is 1:1 learning, this is a prime opportunity to allow the learner to lead their learning with their pace and for myself to reinforce their accomplishments and encourage their personal growth through patience and motivation.
My experience teaching stimulating activities responding to interests of the young person: I rely on a range of multisensory learning to stimulate learners no matter their need, however I can swiftly adjust what multisensory techniques best serve that learner once we meet and they can express what works best for them. I consider all factors: voice, volume, visual aids, music, lights and distractions and plenty of time to explore. This can all be adapted and planned for based on each learner’s individual needs and learning experience; I am always open to discussion and adding and removing parts to better stimulate learning.
My experience teaching flexibly to meet young persons needs:
I have always believed that an outstanding teacher is one that is constantly reflecting on their practise, willing to search and execute new strategies, happy to implement the learner’s voice in my practise and ask them what needs go unnoticed and make them feel seen by addressing them in a professional yet personal manner.
My experience developing confidence and self-esteem:
Above learning formal education skills, the main aim in my teaching is to develop confidence and self-esteem through sharing ideas and opinions, questioning ideas and asking questions. These behaviours often go amiss in formal educational settings and often lead to apathetic learners; it is my passion and joy to bring those back into the sessions leading to a passion for learning.
My specialist experience providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning:
Just as mentioned above, I strongly believe that inspiring a love for learning once learners gain confidence and build a high self-esteem. Once learners feel that their voice and perspective is heard and counted then they better engage with learning. Giving learners options on how they share their learning helps and sometimes delivering learning in smaller steps can be the magic that inspires a lifelong love of learning.
My skills and experience supporting young people to develop their independence:
All across the age groups and settings I have worked in, I have always reinforced a framework of independence for young people to rise to in their own time. Whether it’s encouraging young people to pause and reflect, talk partners, independent research or building on yesterday’s skills a day at a time. I have always supported independence as a personal experience. Some young people feel more comfort when working with support and some young people need a small nudge or a reminder to set them off on their own path.
