Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

A Semester of Change

Semester 1 has been a whirlwind of new experiences, people and knowledge. The blink of an eye and I am half way through my first year at University. How did that happen?

Semester 1 has undoubtedly had a huge effect on my social skills, forcing me to start conversations and build new friendships. Throughout my years at school I very much stuck to my close group of six friends as we understand each other in a way that I don’t think many people are lucky enough to experience. I still consider these girls my closest friends as they are my childhood and my family, however I have embarked on so many new, amazing friendships. My flatmates and I are already such great friends, having had so many unforgettable memories throughout semester 1. Furthermore, I have made strong friendships with course mates who have kept me laughing through hard days and we have built a great support system. Being able to meet so many new people within such a short amount of time has made me realise what I look for in a friend as I make an effort to ensure those whom I surround myself with have a positive light in my life. Semester 1 has instilled in me the importance of taking chances, starting conversations and moving on.

A key moment for my professional development in semester 1 was discovering and challenging my personal values through the ‘Values: Self, Society and the Professions’ module. Prior to semester 1, I had never fully explored my values or the reasons for which I have certain values. I am now aware of the values which hold the most importance to me and take the much needed time to reflect upon these values. My eyes were opened to unconscious bias that lies within me due to the society in which I was raised.

Reflection is becoming a really important aspect of my learning. As I learn new things, I now find a need to reflect upon what this means to me and how I can use this knowledge to benefit myself on both a personal and professional level.

It’s Time to Reflect

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Our second seminar was all about reflection – reflecting on our thoughts, questions, and opinions from the past few weeks. Carrie asked us all to discuss questions that we have regarding the topics we’ve learnt about so far and the various tasks we have completed. Straight away our group jumped to the last seminar about resource allocation. This had a significant impact on each of us and was a stand out moment which made us really think about equality and how we can be so blind to those who are less fortunate than us. Other groups highlighted that the recent lectures had made them realise the shocking extent of racism which is unconsciously embedded within our society.

There was one key thing missing from the room, making our group completely unbalanced in terms of society. Within this huge group of students, there was not a single male. This is a key example of gender roles within our society, primary teaching is seen to be a female role and ‘un-masculine’. This prompted discussion into why this gender role is so prominent – thinking about the history behind it, as well as the clear stereotypes.

We then moved onto reflect upon our feelings towards homophobia – watching ‘Panti’s Noble Call at the Abbey Theatre’ where Panti states her belief that we are all homophobes.

Carrie asked us to discuss what we thought of that statement and whether or not we agree with it. My group and I were clear on the fact that we agreed with this statement, we agree that we are all slightly homophobic. Although usually unconsciously, we can all be homophobic in our daily lives through simple things that we may not have previously realised as homophobic. We all discussed the fact that we almost automatically recognise homosexual couples in the street, where as we wouldn’t necessarily notice every heterosexual couple we pass. Furthermore, we talked about homophobic statements and phrases that we all unconsciously use. Another example that many of us hadn’t thought of was that people are seen to have to ‘come out’ as being anything other than heterosexual as that as seen as the ‘typical’ behaviour. We are all seen as being heterosexual unless other wise stated, why is this? We did all conclude that progress in society is evident as our generation is overwhelmingly less homophobic than generations before us and we are now recognising the need to recognise homophobia from an early age and open the minds of children.

Our last discussion point revolved around gender stereotypes, particularly revolving around a BBC experiment which was done to show how we treat boys and girls differently. In the experiment, boys were dressed in typically ‘girl’ clothes and vice versa with the girls. Adults were then asked to come in and play with the kids using a selection of various toys on the floor. In every case, the adults automatically picked up the pink fluffy stuffed animals and dolls for the kids in ‘girls’ clothes, while the kids in ‘boys’ clothes were given puzzles, ride on cars and robots. We discussed how girls were being disadvantaged in terms of mental and physical development as the toys they were given weren’t mentally stimulating or challenging. We raised questions as to why toy shops have such clear divides between toys for specific genders? Why has our society become so focused on the idea that pink represents girls, while blue represents boys? (being seen recently through the current trend of gender reveal videos on social media). Why must companies, for example Lego, bring out girl versions?

This seminar really challenged us to think deep into our views and challenge our views and beliefs. We were able to discuss all the topics that we had learnt about in the past few weeks and share our own interpretations of what we’ve learned. Through discussion, we stimulated each other to think of things we hadn’t previously thought about. This was a great change from the usual lectures and we all left feeling like we had gained a lot.

Resource Allocation Workshop

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“Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent” – Laurence J. Peter

No matter where we come from, when given a task we should start with a clean slate. The door should be open to make an impression for ourselves , show our talents and prove our competence. After our resource allocation workshop on Tuesday, I now believe this more than ever.

The task given to us in Tuesday’s workshop was to create something that would be useful to give to a student starting at the University. Each group was given a big brown envelope with the resources in it that we were allowed to use to create our product. As the envelopes came round, the first one hit the group’s table with a bang, while ours slowly floated down onto our table – straight away we could see that we had been disadvantaged in terms of our resources. While the group next to us marvelled at the mini art shop inside their envelope, we pulled out a single sheet of paper, a few paperclips, a pen, a couple of rubber bands and two post it notes. Although disappointed at our lack of supplies, we saw it as a challenge to make the most of what we had.

Still in high spirits, we began thinking up our ‘grand plan’ of an essentials pencil case made out of our single piece of paper. We were eager and ready to share our idea to the class and begin creating our product. However, this enthusiasm was promptly crushed as the only response our tutor gave our idea was ‘done?? is that it?’. She went on to suggest that some groups (clearly hinting at us) may want to change their ideas in light of the incredible, creative ideas of the other groups. Our group all looked at each other with the same look of both defeat and annoyance. We were certain on the fact that she hated both our idea and our group.

Our frustration continued as while we all made our products we were given no encouragement or assistance while our tutor sat down with the other groups helping them in every way possible. We found this unfair as we, with such limited resources, were the ones who needed the help and attention. Our group were very happy with our end product, having added a timetable to the front of our essentials case and hints and tips to the other side. Although lacking in the vibrant colours the other groups’ products had, our product was purposeful and made use of everything we were given.

Once again, each group presented their product and our tutor gave verbal feedback and a score out of ten. The change in the tone of her voice and enthusiasm was evident as she moved to our group, she had no hope that we could make anything worthwhile. Hardly paying attention to what we were presenting, she simply rolled her eyes and gave us a 1/10. We put so much effort into our product and to have someone disregard it so quickly was really upsetting. We had no intention of listening to anything else she had to say or engaging in the rest of the workshop. However, our tutor then revealed the true purpose of the task.

Our tutor was purposely disregarding and paying no attention to our group; while she was being overly helpful and encouraging to the other groups. This task was all about showing that all too often those who have everything they could ever need get all the attention and praise for their effort and work. However, those who have little are pushed to the side and given little encouragement or praise for their work; even though they had to put a lot more thought and effort into creating something out of so little. This was a great way of showing this scenario and teaching us how it feels to be on either end of the scale. The groups who had it all found it a very enjoyable task, while the groups who had few resources found it frustrating and difficult. It really helped to open my eyes to how a teacher should and should not act and the implications a teacher’s attitude can have on a child. It is often easy to marvel at the most colourful and elaborate design. However, we need to also look at those who are struggling with their designs, giving them the support and praise they need to create something wonderful. Furthermore, the other groups admitted that they hadn’t really noticed our lack of supplies or how hard the task was made for us. They felt guilty as while we were using everything we had, they had piles of unused resources on their tables. This is an important example of how we are often so concentrated on our own aims and success that we don’t realise what’s happening around us. We are often blind to the struggles of those around us and it is only when we too experience these struggles that we realise the need to help. I found this workshop really worthwhile and I will always remember this lesson when I go out on my placements and into the teaching profession.