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The Environment – Learning Log 1

The environment has been my first introduction to sustainable development. “The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations.” (Scottish Government, 2010, p. 4) We looked at two environments the natural and the urban. Because of task 1 I am more aware of what the urban environment is. As a teacher I now see the importance of educating the children about sustainable development. It is important to educate children to care for their environment as they live in it now but also for the future generations. We will be teaching them the values of sustainability about a healthier, happier, environmental friendly world that will develop benefits in health, the environmental improvements, better use of resources, makes education relevant and will help with policy making at government level.

I am very aware already of the damage that the environment has encountered as its good to teach children from an early age how we can contribute in protecting the environment where we live. “The disproportionate overuse of resources by industrialised nations has raised living standards in many countries but at a huge cost to the health of the Earth’s living systems” (Scottish Government, 2012, p.6)

The natural environment has to do with human relationships with nature, the biodiversity of the local area and interdependence.

One of the first workshops we had to look at plants and living things. This involved identifying the living parts and dissecting the flower. We then had to match the parts of the flowers to a diagram on a worksheet. We went outside to be nature detectives and we were looking at air quality and Lichen. The Lichen can be used to find out how much air pollution is in the area and what affect this is having in the area. The children can look for Lichen and find where it is and why it is there, for example on trees facing a specific way.

The second workshop involved looking more at living things in our groups. We looked at snails in the classroom and I can see this as an excellent activity in the primary class by getting out the microscopes, looking in detail at the spirals, the tentacles and the air hole on the snail. The children could then draw their snail looking in detail at all of the colours, spirals and details of the snails.

Reference

Scottish Government (2012) Learning for Sustainability: The Report of the One Planet Schools Working Group. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

References

Scottish Government (2012) Learning for Sustainability: The Report of the One Planet Schools Working Group. Edinburgh: Scottish Government

Learning log – Disasters

Week 1 My knowledge of natural disasters was very limited prior this week’s learning in Sustainable Development. Our lecture reinforced what I already knew about disasters, i.e. types of disasters, what they look like through video footage, the primary effects they can have such as high rate of mortality and mass destruction of land and … Continue reading Learning log – Disasters →

Week 1

My knowledge of natural disasters was very limited prior this week’s learning in Sustainable Development. Our lecture reinforced what I already knew about disasters, i.e. types of disasters, what they look like through video footage, the primary effects they can have such as high rate of mortality and mass destruction of land and infrastructure. Middleton (2013, page 367) suggests “natural hazards should be defined and studied both in terms of physical processes involved and the human factors affecting the vulnerability of certain groups of people to disasters”. Thus looking at socioeconomic and political aspects of certain areas, such as government policy and access , is essential to understand why an area does not tackle a natural disaster well. This is something I had not recognised previously as a student.

I had the opportunity to further understand how disasters are inherently political by comparing case studies of Japan and Haiti. Both country’s government response to their natural disaster were very different from one another, this is for a number of reasons. With Japan being exceptionally more wealthy than Haiti, the funding and policy towards preparedness for disaster events was well prioritised. Wealthier countries will tend to have more allies, meaning in the case of a disaster they can rely on international help such as extra resources. Japan being heavily organised for such an event made recovery and mitigation a more fast effective process. Contrary to this, Haiti having levels of corruption in government the response decisions were not all made based on human principles. Their unorganised planning for example slow distribution of supplies and poor search for survivors caused detrimental effects to the country, this also resulted in protests and outbreaks of violent behaviour from the public. Effectively evaluating and analysing these two case study texts allowed me develop my higher-order thinking skills as a student.

The American government’s handling of Hurricane Katrina is a powerful example of how being socioeconomically disadvantaged stimulates a weak recover from natural disasters. A lack of social capital can hinder the ability to generate both the conditions necessary for mutual support and care and the mechanisms required for communities and groups to exert effective pressure to influence public policy (Nix-Stevenson, 2013). New Orleans is mainly populated by working class African-American people, therefore the people did not have the power to create change and get the help they desperately needed from the government. I found this to be the most interesting part of my learning as even in one of world’s most wealthy and powerful countries, a lack of social justice and political action created ruinous effects on one it own states.

We later discussed the questions of how and why should we teach natural disasters to primary children. Personally I feel growing up disasters were not spoken of much by my teachers, this is most likely due to teachers being uncomfortable talking about the subject, therefore I had the misconception that I could not be affected by one. If I take the attitude as a teacher myself I feel my pupils would have the same misconception. The Grenfell Tower disaster is an example of how important teaching disasters is and shows children that they could potentially be hit with a disaster in the UK. Looking at disasters in this way enhanced my knowledge by recognising that teachers should open about these subjects to children in order to prepare them for real-life situations.

I was able to expand my skills by taking part in a number of disaster-related science experiments. One example activity was using vinegar, fairy liquid, food colouring and bicarbonate soda to represent a volcanic eruption. I could use this activity in a lesson to also allow the pupils’ science investigation skills to develop as well as my own, such as: hypothesising, evaluating and observing.

Week 2

The second week of our learning of natural disasters required us to prepare and give a group presentation to the class on a chosen type of natural disaster. After being given the topic of volcanoes, my group and I came together to create the structure of our presentation and fairly allocate each person to a specific research area they would later present. Leading up to the day of the presentation, we all remained in contact with each other so everyone knew what each individual had worked on and what they had prepared to talk about. This was mainly to see how we could interlink each of our parts so that the presentation was cohesive and would flow better. The role of effective communication played a crucial part in the success of our presentation, a skill which is used extensively in a student’s university career. With having the opportunity to develop this skill I feel much more confident in working as a team and relying on others to produce the same standard of work as I would myself. My research skills as a student further developed as I investigated topic I had little knowledge about. Furthermore I enjoyed the experience of listening to my classmates present on topics such as floods, typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc, as it helped increased my overall knowledge of natural disasters.

My role in the presentation was to produce and present a lesson plan in which I could teach the topic of volcanoes to a primary class. Having the opportunity to do this independently (for the first time as a student teacher) really opened my eyes on how work and planning goes into a lesson. Specifically, researching information on a topic that could potentially disturb and frighten pupils of a class, such as high death rates of volcanic explosions; I had to find websites, image ands videos that were child-friendly. This developed my evaluation skills as a teacher, looking for appropriate resources and information is highly important to not only effectively inform the pupils but also to protect them.

The aspect of presenting in front of an audience enhanced a variety of my skills. In relation to my skills as a student, group presentations are a brilliant way to build a person’s confidence and speaking skills in front of colleagues. This will not only prepare me for future projects within university but also for future meetings and seminars with other professionals once I am qualified. Being able to communicate efficiently to an audience is one of main success criteria of teachers. By presenting my lesson plan and explaining the instructions I would give to a group of children, further built on my presently skills as a teacher. In addition, watching others present allowed me to develop my observational skills as I saw how each person engaged with the audience, e.g. through their body language, and what technique I thought worked best. I intend to take that knowledge on as a teacher in order to be the best communicator I can be to my pupils.

Natural Disasters – Directed Study Task

For our natural disasters directed study task we were asked to create a presentation in groups about a natural disaster and present this in front of the class. Earthquakes updateAbove I have attached a link to the PowerPoint on Earthquakes which our group created. This micro-teaching method allowed me to improve my team building skills, … Continue reading Natural Disasters – Directed Study Task →

For our natural disasters directed study task we were asked to create a presentation in groups about a natural disaster and present this in front of the class.

Earthquakes updateAbove I have attached a link to the PowerPoint on Earthquakes which our group created.

This micro-teaching method allowed me to improve my team building skills, listening skills and communication skills. When doing group work I always try to take charge, however, this time I was able to share my skills and knowledge as well as work effectively as a team member. This task allowed me to work with people in my class who I would not usually work with. Therefore it allowed me to work with others and bounce ideas off of each other to create the best piece of work which we could.

My presentation skills also were worked on and improved during this task. I was able to speak clearly and pronounce my words correctly which allowed the audience to hear me correctly and the information which I was portraying. I was also able to use eye contact to communicate effectively with the audience. All of these skills are useful and important for the development of my skills as a teacher.

Integrated Arts- The importance of Voice

This weeks lecture and seminar focused on the importance of your voice in teaching. As a teacher, one of your most effective tools is your voice so it is therefore important to learn exactly how to use it in order for it to be a useful resource in teaching and communicating. Therefore, this weeks seminar focused on tips and tricks that we could use to help protect our voice and ways to use it to the best of our ability. One tip that I found very interesting and useful was that there is no need to shout in a classroom. Sometimes as a teacher, you forget that shouting to get the children’s attention isn’t always the best approach as its not always effective and can hurt our voice in the process. I think some teachers find this a good way of controlling behavior management but in my past experiences of being on placement in schools and nurseries i found that shouting didn’t ever really get anywhere with the pupils. A better technique I think would be to change the tone of your voice, use facial expressions or even sometimes clapping a rhythm to the pupils for them to clap back can be an extremely effective tool to use in the classroom.

I researched the importance of our voice as teachers and how being expressive with our voice by using different facial expressions. true emotion and our tone of voice when speaking can help the children learn to be expressive as well (School of Educators, 2011). I also learned that using the whisper technique can be extremely effective with young children as it seems to “signal intrigue, mystery, secrets and more”. These techniques are definitely going to be ones that i try whilst on placement and in my future career as a teacher.

We were also told that the General Teaching Council have a whole document outlining the importance of our voice and what to do if we feel like our voice has been effected. I think this is an excellent tool as it gives you lots of advice and information on how to use your voice effectively in a classroom but also what to do and different techniques to use if your voice gets damaged. Its a very useful resource to have whilst on placement and in years to come when we have our own class to teach.

Moving on from this, we looked at how we use our voice through music and how important singing is in a classroom setting. We were shown a resource called Choon Baboon that we can use with the children. This website is a brilliant, new and modern way to get children singing. There is a variety of songs available on YouTube with backing tracks and lyrics to help teach the children. It is a fantastic, fun resource to help build not only the children’s self esteem, confidence and expression but also the teachers. This is definetly a resource I would use as I lack a lot of confidence in teaching music and this tool would be a huge help in my development.

We also looked at a technique called Graphic Scores which is a visual tool that makes reading music a lot easier. It is created with boxes, along the side you have that sounds that have to be used and along the bottom is the time frame. We got split into groups, our group of 6 created a graphic score focusing on Christmas using a variety of instruments.

Our Graphic Score for our Christmas Song

Video (2)

Overall, this seminar was very fun, interesting and informative. I learned a lot of different techniques of how to manage my voice in teaching as well as fantastic resources to help teach singing in the classroom. I feel a lot more confident about teaching music after seeing some of the tools out there to help.

After this seminar, we had our drama workshop. We were following on from last week’s class where we were looking at different drama techniques that we can explore and use in the classroom. This week we focused on four particular conventions varying from flash forward, flash back, narration and slow motion. My favorite convention was the flash forward scene as it allows your group to be creative and create your own ending for the story. This week’s story was based on a haunted house which was very relevant as it was coming Halloween. It was a very fun and creative idea as because the story was quite vague it allowed for each group to have their own individual idea. For flash forward scenes, we had to create what was happening after the present situation and flash back was the opposite that involved showing what happened before the present situation. As a group, we decided to make our flash back scene from centuries ago and it was very different and enjoyable to create. For, slow motion we returned to the present where we were entering the haunted house to see what it was all about. We also got to create a scene were we used narration which was when someone in the group would describe what was happening in the scene.

From taking part in a seminar like this, it highlighted for me the importance of using a story that children don’ know what happens so that when they are creating the scene the children are able to be creative and use their imagination to create a different story from another group.

References:

School of Educators, (2011). How to use your voice as an effective teaching tool. [Available: http://schoolofeducators.com/2011/07/teacher-tips-how-to-use-your-voice-as-an-effective-teaching-tool/] [Accessed: 3rd November 2017]

Choon Baboon, (2017) Choon Baboon. [Available: http://choonbaboon.com/] [Accessed: 3rd November 2017]

Disasters Learning Log

Prior to the inputs on Disasters, my knowledge was limited. Although I was aware of different types of disaster and the effects they can have in terms of mortality rates […]

Prior to the inputs on Disasters, my knowledge was limited. Although I was aware of different types of disaster and the effects they can have in terms of mortality rates and mass destruction, I was unaware of the impact humans have on natural disasters and role of the government. However, from the classes I am now aware of the important roles government agencies and charities play before during and after a disaster.

By comparing the two case studies of earthquakes hitting Japan and Haiti I was able to develop my understanding of the political involvement in natural disasters. I was already aware that Japan was a better developed country than Haiti but many of the information from the case studies came a s a surprise to me. The level of preparation in Japan was significantly higher than that of Haiti, as well as the aid received from other countries because Japan are allied with more countries than Haiti. This left Haiti relying heavily on charities and volunteers. Before the case studies I simply believed that the Haiti earthquake was a bigger earthquake although having evaluated these case studies I was able to develop my critical analysis skills. In addition to this, the graphs used throughout the case studies encouraged me to develop my interpretation skills.

We then discussed how we might teach natural disasters. When educating children about natural disasters, it is important to be sensitive and aware of the material we show pupils. Rather than focusing on the death toll and the mass destruction, the focus would be on preventative measures, recovery and the disasters themselves. This could be done by inviting guest speakers from aid charities to speak to the class. In addition to this, the topic of disaster would best be covered at the second level as younger children might find the topic too upsetting.

The second week of learning about natural disasters required us to plan a microteaching lesson. From the presentation task I developed many skills, most noticeably, patience. For our microteaching task, I gave myself the task of creating a paper mache volcano in order to carry out an experiment of making the volcano ‘erupt’. However, during the group presentation the experiment did not work. Having the patience and understanding that not everything will go to plan all of the time, I attempted the experiment again and thankfully it was successful. When creating the volcano, I was also able to develop my art skills. The microteaching task also helped me develop critical analysis skills. I found that many of the articles I looked at were not academic and so I had to look through them in detail in order to understand what could be used in our presentation.

The successful Volcano ‘eruption’.

The microteaching session itself also enhanced a number of my skills. For example, my confidence when speaking in front of others. This is an important skill to develop as a learner and transfer to my teaching. Effective Communication is one of the four capacities of the Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2004), thus it is vital that pupils develop their confidence throughout their school career.

Reference List:

Scottish Executive (2004) A Curriculum for Excellence: The Curriculum Review Group. [Online] Available: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/26800/0023690.pdf [Accessed 1 November 2017].

Natural Disasters – Sustainable Development

This week for natural disasters we were put into groups and had to make a powerpoint presentation on different sub-topics relating to natural disasters. The sub-topic my group concentrated on for the micro teaching task was floods. Each member of the group had their own individual task to focus on for our presentation, my main … Continue reading Natural Disasters – Sustainable Development →

This week for natural disasters we were put into groups and had to make a powerpoint presentation on different sub-topics relating to natural disasters. The sub-topic my group concentrated on for the micro teaching task was floods. Each member of the group had their own individual task to focus on for our presentation, my main focus was on the definition of floods and how this could relate to a lesson plan for curriculum for excellence. I found this rather challenging as I did not realise the effects of floods were so sever and had great impact of the communities.

Having done this micro teaching activity it has helped me develop upon my research skills and presentation skills. Developing my research skills came from identifying what appropriate and relevant information, that came from academic readings. In doing this it helped me enhance my knowledge about floods. Presenting is something out of my confort zone, however, I did feel that I had great knowledge about floods to share with my fellow peers. In doing this I did have to come out of my comfort zone to challenge myself to present. However, after presenting I realise it wasn’t as bad as I had thought and I let nerves get the better of me.

All in I felt the Micro teaching task was very beneficial for myself as it challenged me but also let me build upon skills.

Sustainable Development- Natural Disasters

This week was our time to present our natural disaster presentations to the rest of the class. Previous to this, we were split into groups and each group were given a natural disaster to research and then present to the class. Our group was given earthquakes. We wanted to make our presentation classroom friendly and … Continue reading “Sustainable Development- Natural Disasters”

Our group was given earthquakes. We wanted to make our presentation classroom friendly and one that supplied enough information and facts for our peers but could be used as a lesson plan. From taking part in a task like this I feel like I have developed numerous skills such as: communication, team working, time management, organisation, research as well as listening and computer skills.

Some parts of this task I did find challenging as I feel like time played a major problem for the group. This was because it was a struggle trying to find a time where every member in the group was free to rehearse, especially as we were only given a week to carry out the task. However, we did manage to pull it all together and deliver a good, well researched presentation to the rest of the class. I particularly liked that from watching everyone’s presentations we were able to get different information on the natural disasters as well as different ideas on how we can present and teach these disasters to children.

Additionally, from the previous weeks workshop on natural disasters, I gained some knowledge on the type of activities we could carry out in the classroom e.g. fossil making, tornado in a jar and a baking soda and vinegar volcano. I found this lesson fun and interesting as it gave me some ideas in implementing natural disasters in the classroom.

The skills and information that I have been able to gain from this lesson and topic can and will be a crucial role into my development as a teacher.

Below I have attached a copy of the presentation we created.

Earthquakes-update

The Importance Of Voice

“The voice of the teacher is of paramount importance in carrying out professional roles and responsibilities. It is essential that this asset is protected” (GTC, 2017). In todays seminar we focused on the importance of the voice. We started off by looking at the GTC and their explanation of why the voice was important. They […]

“The voice of the teacher is of paramount importance in carrying out professional roles and responsibilities. It is essential that this asset is protected” (GTC, 2017).

In todays seminar we focused on the importance of the voice. We started off by looking at the GTC and their explanation of why the voice was important. They have a whole document explaining why the voice is important and what we should do if our voice is effected. This was a useful tool as it allowed me to follow instructions on how to use my voice effectively and what to do if it gets damaged.

We then went on to look at the use of voice in music and how we can use singing in the primary school classroom. We were shown a number of resources that were very useful such as Choon Baboon. Choon Baboon is a brand new, modern way to get the children singing songs they will love in the classroom. Each song is on YouTube which is quick and easy to access, and you do not need to have an account to access the resource. I would definitely use this resource as i lack confidence in music, and can allow the video to take over. Choon Baboon also fits in with the Curriculum for Excellence Level 2 music.

We then went on to sing a few songs of our own such as ” Penguin come for tea” and the “number 9” song. These were fun and engaging and suitable for the primary classroom. We were also shown Graphic Scores which was a way that children can draw their own music and follow it :

Each children will have an instrument which pairs up with one of the symbols. When ever they see the symbol they have to play their instrument. This is a fun way to get the children to compose their own music without using notes and scales. We practiced this in our own groups, following the theme of fireworks :

Overall, this was a very exciting lesson. I was engaged throughout and took some useful tips from the lesson!

Choon Baboon (2017) About us. [Online] Available : http://choonbaboon.com/about-us/. [Accessed : 3rd November 2017].

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (2017). Voice Management. [Online] Available : http://www.gtcs.org.uk/web/FILES/FormUploads/voice-and-the-teaching-profession1652_214.pdf. [Accessed : 3rd November 2017].

Disasters – Log Entry 4

Today’s seminar was focused on presenting a PowerPoint based on natural disasters. Our group focused on earthquakes : Skills I developed during this task where communications skills, digital literacy skills, presentation skills and time management skills. As we only had 1 week to prepare this presentation, my group found it challenging to all find a time […]

Today’s seminar was focused on presenting a PowerPoint based on natural disasters. Our group focused on earthquakes :

Skills I developed during this task where communications skills, digital literacy skills, presentation skills and time management skills. As we only had 1 week to prepare this presentation, my group found it challenging to all find a time that suits best to create the PowerPoint. Between uni, placement and work we all have a busy schedule, so not having an allocated time slot given by lectures was difficult. We came up with a solution which was to all create our own slides and put them together to create a final draft. Communication skills were vital as we all had to keep in contact to make sure we had created our slides. We used email to send back and forth the slides which was a great form of communication. We also contacted one another through the use of social media which we found beneficial.

As a student teacher, I think it is crucial that we manage our time effectively and also have great communication skills. As I am I placement just now, I think it is important I can manage my time effectively as I need to know how to balance a part time job, university, and placement. I have experience doing this due to college. I make sure I keep on top of all uni work and also that I plan for placement in advance so that I don’t become stressed.

I also think it is important that we teach children the importance of time management. Using a visual timetable in the classroom can let the children see how we will plan our time throughout the day and it is crucial that we stick to the timetable to stay on track. However, I also think it is useful to explain to the children that sometimes everything does not go to plan due to certain circumstances and this is just a matter of life.

BA1 Placement

Well it’s day three of my placement and today I am starting to understand how to compose a piece of reflective writing as I think back on the past few days and think about changes that I can make to … Continue reading →

I have had a great few days, although tiring. One of the biggest challenges I have found has been that two of my days so far have been in an open space environment. The challenges here were very interesting and I found a lot of respect for the teachers in this area. For example, the P3 class already faced in class challenges in its own right; there were 3 children that had barriers to learning, that had been identified. Add to this the arrival of a P7 class coming to use a bank of PC’s in the common space, the P2’s singing a Halloween song and the Primary one’s repeating numbers 1 – 10 in French, I found it hard to remain focused on the class and ensure that all children were given the same chance to learn.

Going into a closed classroom today, I have to say I was excited to get a chance to be in a space with fewer distractions. The class today was a composite class of P4/5 with one child with a hearing difficulty. As aresult, whilst there were fewer distractions the composite class presented it’s own challenges and as such I was in for another challenging and I have to say another very enjoyable day.

My moment of reflection happened when (I am ashamed to say), in my mind, I stereotyped one child who, in comparison to the rest of the class was more disruptive (Child J). When I had a chance to ask the children if they has all gone out for Halloween I was surprised to discover that child J had not because he was a from a Christian family. I am a christian and also volunteer with a Christian organisation. I realised that I had judged child J as perhaps coming from a low income family with less focus on the importance of education. I also reflected that my own child, despite coming from my Christian background is not engaged with education. On a positive note though, I was pleased that despite my inner thoughts I had continued to treat Child J the same as every other child, with respect and dignity.

With all that being said, I have been given a wonderful amount of autonomy and have been able to engage with the children in the school. When walking through the school I am being greeted with shouts of “Hello Mr Bell”, I’ve been given art work “for you” and my very own leaf, plucked with care from the playground!

Now that I have started to blog my reflections, the thoughts continue to flow and I realise that there will be lots of opportunity to reflect on my practice in the coming years and one cannot write about every experience! Now I have started, I am sure there will be plenty more blogs to follow!