Monthly Archives: January 2018

Health and Wellbeing TDT

By investigating food labelling systems, I can begin to understand how to use them to make healthy food choices. HWB 2-36a

 

This outcome has almost limitless way of tackling it. as part of the tutor directed task from a Health and Wellbeing input, we were asked to plan three sessions on at least on of the experiences and outcomes.

In particular I am going to focus firstly on the sugar levels in the foods that we consume. Firstly, the children could be given different foods and drinks and, in groups, order them from the product that they think has the least sugar to the product that has the most sugar. With an upper years class, they would then list the items in the order they decide in a table to work across the curriculum by using elements of numeracy as according to Rowley and Cooper (2009), children make connections that enhance learning  when learning is done across a variety of curricular areas.

For session two, the children will look at the label and add the actual amounts of sugar to their tables. they will then be given the opportunity to measure the sugar so they can visualise the amount of sugar they consume. This can then be used to create a wall display.

In the third session, children will mind map, then research, healthier alternatives. Allowing the children to look for the answers themselves will enable them to develop not only team-working skills but also to use and develop their ICT skills.

Inaccurate Limitations

The recent Health and Wellbeing lectures and TDT’s have been amongst the most personally and professionally challenging inputs that I’ve been faced with since embarking on this journey that society said I’d never get a chance at. As the topic of relationships was discussed during the first lecture, I began to reflect on my own childhood and the difference that the relationships with various teachers had on my life. Without the influence that they had, I assume that my life would have taken a very different path. Their presence always gave me a sense of security, freedom and hope. The high expectations that they had for me made me strive to find a better life for myself, to break free from the ‘warzone’ that I called home. However, I cannot help but wonder if I would have been encouraged in the same way had they known what I faced when I left the school building to return to my reality.

Following this lecture, we had two videos to watch as part of a TDT. These videos help to explain why I see the world the way I do. One of the videos was by John Carnochan, who established the Violence Reduction Unit within Strathclyde police. Carnochan discussed many issues in this video which once again caused me to reflect. One of the most prominent things that Carnochan said during this video was:

“raise a child in a warzone and you’ll raise a warrior.“

Despite the chaotic state of my home life, I was never a child who was disengaged on a regular basis; I didn’t have outbursts of anger or upset in school. Instead, school was the place I could be myself, the place where everything made sense and most importantly the place where I could let my guard drop a little.  From as young as nine or ten I was able to live what may been seen as a double life. What appeared to be a normal way to live at home and what seemed to be normal at school were never the same. School was tranquil, even on the days where others may say it was mayhem.

For a long time, I’ve been able to see that every child reacts to stress in very different ways. Some children deal with this by lashing out in anger or upset; others will be disengaged with everyone and everything; for yet more children, like me, the only way to cope is not to speak, or shout or scream but instead to throw themselves head first into learning. This allow an escape to be found.

Today, we had the chance to discuss this video at the beginning of the lecture. I found this to be difficult as I never really know what to say when it comes to actually speaking about how I grew up and what my relationships were like. What did strike me today was the expectations that people place on children who have never had the opportunity to completely escape from stress, aggression and violence at home. As much as I believe that the comment today was not meant in the way that I perceived it, I was a little shocked. I feel that there is a valuable lesson to be learnt from today, which I presume will have gone unnoticed by many people in the lecture theatre. The limitations that I have fought (and still fight) against  were once again placed upon me. The limits of living and growing around a vast variety of social issues, including drugs and violence, are different for every person. Everyone has developed different levels of resilience and a variety of coping strategies and therefore a generalised limitation cannot be placed over the group of people.

As I continue on this road to joining the teaching profession, It is coming more and more clear how easy it is to place limits on people which have the possibility to stick with them throughout their lives.

Semester one reflection

A whole semester is over already?! Where did time go? There are many words that could be used to express how the semester has been for me including crazy, surreal and liberating. Throughout the semester I have learnt so much about the society we live in through the “Values” module and my own opinions have been tested an changed significantly throughout the “Working Together” module. There have been many key moments for me as the semester has progressed which have caused me to reflect on why I think about certain things the way I do.

One of the biggest moments of reflection for me arose during at  the Working Together module. Before a of our focus for on the assignment, we took some time to discuss the experiences we had had in our peer learning groups. This, for me, ended in a massive breakthrough in my thought pattern. As a child, the collaboration of professionals in my life was poor. This led to me struggling with the idea of a variety of professionals being able to work together well with the child at the centre of the entire process. Hearing the more positive experiences of other people in my peer learning group challenged the mindset and stereotypes that I didn’t realise that I had.

Reflection is essential in order to become the best version of myself I can be. In doing this, the needs of others around me are often clearer and easier to see.