1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
You are applying what ALT 3 already taught you about transferable skills. Strand 2.2 placement is next, and the days on the floor will not wait for a neat essay. A plan about how you will reflect later usually becomes "I will keep a diary" and dies on day one. Today you build the log itself: a daily skill log, pre-loaded with the skills you named in your ALT 3 Transferable Skills document (from the earlier transferable-skills audit in this module), ready to carry onto the placement floor.
Open that document when you can. If you cannot open it in this period, flag your teacher now and still build the log structure with blank skill rows. Fill the skills from ALT 3 before Strand 2.2 starts. Do not invent a new skills list in class.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three terms shape today's build. Read them once, then use them when you design the log.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Skill log | A daily record with your transferable skills listed and one line of real evidence written against them each day. This is the document you will carry onto placement and later draw on for ALT 4. | A one-page table: skills down the side, a row per day, a fixed prompt at the top |
| Placement preparation | The practical work you do before you walk through the door so the days produce evidence, not only memories. Pre-loading your ALT 3 skills now means you are not inventing the list under pressure at 5pm. | Printing the log the night before Day 1 instead of promising to "write something later" |
| Prompt | A short question that pulls a specific moment, not a vague verdict. The quality of your placement evidence depends on the question at the top of the page. | "What did somebody ask you to do that you had not done before?" beats "How did today go?" |
3 - Build Your Placement Skill Log ~35 mins
First the class builds the shape of a log that still works when you are tired. Then you personalise it with your own skills and save the finished log.
Part 1 — class list-builder (about 12 minutes). Work the interactive on the board. Agree wording under each heading. A line only stays if it would still get a true answer at the end of a long day on your feet. Reject anything that only works when you feel like writing.
Part 2 — your own log (the rest of the time). In your Digital Portfolio, open the same area as your ALT 3 work and create a new document titled Transferable Skill Tracking Plan. Build it so it is ready to print or keep on your phone:
- Copy the class-agreed day prompt to the top of every day section
- Down one side, list your 5–8 transferable skills from your ALT 3 Transferable Skills document (open that file and lift them in full — do not invent a new list under pressure). If the document is incomplete or missing, leave the skill side blank or marked "to lift from ALT 3" and finish the layout, day rows and class prompts now; homework is to lift the real skills before Strand 2.2 starts
- Add a blank row for each planned placement day (at least three), with space for one dated evidence line per skill you actually used
- Copy the class-agreed evidence rule, skill-catch and close-check into each day section (or once at the foot of the template if that keeps the page usable)
- Write your name and the placement organisation (or "TBC") at the top
You leave holding a usable log, not a plan to make one later. What this file is for: today it is your ALT 3 skill-evidence instrument — the portfolio entry you will fill on placement days. After placement, the completed lines become source material you draw on for ALT 4; this file is not itself the ALT 4 submission.
A skill log that still works when you are tired
4 - Think About It ~10 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, then keep the honest answer in mind when you next open the log.
- Which prompt on the class list would still get a true line out of you after a nine-hour day on your feet, and which one would you skip?
- If a future employer or the Portfolio in Action brief asked for evidence of one transferable skill from placement, which row on your log is most likely to give them something real?
Optional, in your own time: add 3–4 sentences at the foot of the same Transferable Skill Tracking Plan document on why you kept the day prompts you kept and rejected the softer ones. That short note is optional evidence of prompt choice for your Digital Portfolio trail, not a second reflection essay and not required for ALT 4.
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
- You applied ALT 3 skill work by turning it into a daily log for placement, not another paragraph about reflection
- You learnt why a prompt that names a moment beats a prompt that asks how the day felt
- As a class you agreed day prompts, an evidence rule, a skill-catch question and a close-check that still work when you are tired
- You built your own Transferable Skill Tracking Plan: skills from your ALT 3 Transferable Skills document pre-loaded (or a clear gap flagged), day rows ready, all four class prompts in place
- That log is the ALT 3 instrument you carry into Strand 2.2 placement days; completed lines later become source material for ALT 4
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