On Tuesday I had my first workshop which I was really excited about as I didn’t quite know what to expect. We were told to split into different groups and each group was to sit at a separate table. Each group was then given an envelope each which had various different resources in it such as paper, pens and pencils. We were then informed that we were to come up with something that would make our first week on campus easier. We were then given 10 minutes to come up with an idea and present it to the rest of the workshop group. When we opened our envelope it contained two post-it notes, a sheet of white A4 paper, a strip of blu-tack, a pen, a pencil and a few paper clips.

In that time my group came up with a leaflet that contained a weekly planner for your first week on campus, important phone numbers, a mini campus map, a section on fun things to do and a notes section. We came up with this idea as we all felt that it would of been useful to have as we often felt like we were bombarded with too much information that it was a bit overwhelming at points.

We were  then given two minutes to express our ideas to the rest of the groups. After we presented our ideas we didn’t really get any feedback from our lecturer which made us feel like our idea was not as good as the others. We then noticed a couple of the other groups were getting positive feedback on there idea and how they could maybe improve it.

We then had another ten minutes to use the resources we were given to come up with a prototype of our idea. After the ten minutes we then had two minutes to present our prototype. My group did not use the full two minutes and this is when we really noticed that we were being treated differently as our lecturer said to my group “is that it?”. We thought this was really rude and started to question why we were being treated differently to others. As time progressed we saw that other groups had a vast range of resources and materials when compared to us. Other groups had better materials such as coloured paper, plenty of pens and sellotape. When we were presenting our ideas we noticed our lecturer was more engaged and focused on groups with a better range of resources, this made us feel like our idea was not good enough and that we were a bit stupid. At the end of the task my group was given a score of 3/10 whereas other groups got 8/10. This is when we questioned our lecturer on why we scored a lot lower than other groups. We were then informed on what the task was really about and then we realised that the lecturer was making rude comments etc on purpose.

On reflection of this task I feel as if I am now more aware that these behaviours are sometimes displayed when they shouldn’t be. It definitely highlighted the fact that some children and schools are discriminated against due to their background. Our lecturer showed us behaviours that as a teacher but also as a good person that we should never display towards anyone. For myself it really made me think about how some schools do not receive as much resources as others and how it can be difficult it could be to come up with new and creative ideas for classes with only little amounts of resources. I also found that the groups with more resources did not notice that other groups had a smaller range of materials available to them. This displays how often people can be oblivious to others having less than them or to people who are struggling. As teachers we need to work to make sure this does not happen in the classroom as often teachers are put in a situation where some children do not have as much as others and they have to make sure that each child still has the same opportunities no matter their background. I believe it is important as teachers that we provide every child with an equal opportunities as some children may come from a more poverty stricken area than others so may not be able to afford as much as others. I think that as teacher we need to be especially aware of this as it can have a negative impact on a child’s learning as they may not want to come to school as they do not have as much resources and learning materials as others. If we become more aware of this it will then result in a more positive learning environment for children therefore improving their overall education.