Week 3~ Reflection

A non-racist and equal world is still so far away in my opinion, however I didn’t actually realise how far off until this week. I would like to believe that my generation will be the generation that fights for equal rights for everyone, who doesn’t care about background or colour of skin but honestly, I don’t see that much of a difference to what it was like years and years ago.

The way these views are put across however is different. Nowadays we don’t have the split schools, different buses or stereotypical jobs for genders anymore but we do have social media where people can hide behind.

Personally I still can’t believe that in some work environments, women get paid less for the same job. Anyone who has the same job title should be earning the exact same amount end of story.

Equality in sport is also another area that really hasn’t moved forward that much as only recently women in tennis were payed the same as men and the England women football team are doing much better than the men and yet we don’t here anything about it.

Overall I thought I was proud of how ‘far’ we have come as a world but really after this week, I’m embarrassed.

Week 2~ Values Workshop Reflection

During my second week at Dundee University studying Primary education I had a values workshop in which we were placed into groups of around seven and were given a task. We were told that we were going to be given a pack inside which was materials that we could use to make something that would be useful to a student who had just arrived at the university. The four groups that were present in my room were all given different materials inside the packs, my group was given a basic pack with a piece of paper, a pen (which ended up not working), two post it notes and a couple of paper clips. So as my group brain stormed the ideas that we could make with our piece of paper and post it notes we started looking around at other tables and noticed that the other groups had a lot more materials than us and clearly would have more ideas that they could follow through on than us. However this didn’t stop us coming up with an idea which I am proud of. We made a first week planner which gives you all the info you need for your first week along with important numbers to call and a map of the campus on the back. We then had to do a two minute presentation explaining our idea.

After all the groups had completed their presentations we were graded, with the two groups who had the most materials coming top.

Obviously not scoring quite high in the task hurt and most of my group felt hard done by and even felt anger and frustration towards the leader of the workshop as we felt the combination of our hard work, product we made and level of our presentation was not reflected in the score.

We later learned that the whole thing was set up and the scores weren’t actually a reflection of what work we put into the presentation and that no matter how good our ideas were the groups who had the most materials were always gonna win. At this point we started to realise that this wasn’t just a group task but there was a further meaning and goal behind this.

I believe it was to show us that we can’t be biased towards children or anyone in society based on their background. That good ideas can come out of barely anything and that it doesn’t matter who you are, that it is what you bring to the table is what counts.

Shaping the upcoming generation

My reasoning for becoming a Primary school teacher is all due to my childhood experiences. I loved school, primary and also secondary (mostly) so it just felt right to me that I should give back to the world what others have given me. School should be a place of learning, not just educational but also learning who we are as people and where we fit into society so I am proud to know that these four years in the long run will be worth it and that some day we might just change people’s lives for the better.

I hope that as a Primary teacher I will be kind, considerate and above all make the children feel safe and welcome in my class always no matter what is going on at home. I hope that one day a child might look up to me and be inspired to become a primary teacher all due to their experiences with me. Overall, I hope I shape the future, I hope I make it a better place for not just the next generation but generations to come because thats what I believe being a teacher is all about.

Welcome to your WordPress eportfolio

Welcome to your ePortfolio. This is where you will document and share your professional thoughts and experiences over the course of your study at the University of Dundee and beyond that when you begin teaching. You have the control over what you want to make public and what you would rather keep on a password protected page.

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Teacher, Lorraine Lapthorne conducts her class in the Grade Two room at the Drouin State School, Drouin, Victoria

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