Bloom’s taxonomy

Leave a reply

When scrolling through my Facebook account the other day, this display came up. As we had just had lectures which involved Blooms Taxonomy, this made me intrigued to know more about it and what skills are used in Blooms Taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy was created in 1956 by the educational psychologist Dr Benjamin Bloom in order to promote higher forms of thinking rather than just remembering facts.( Nwlink, 2015)

There was three domains of educational activities of learning identified, they were:

Cognitive- mental skills (knowledge)

Affective- growth in feelings (attitude or self)

Psychomotor- manual or physical skills

They made the Blooms Taxonomy triangle by working with the cognitive domain. They came to the conclusion of six major categories which are:

  • Knowledge
  • Comprehension
  • Application
  • Analysis
  • Synthesis
  • Evaluation

These are the ones seen on the pyramid:

Also when looking at this classroom display, I was trying to thinking back to the lecture on classroom management. One thing with this display is that it is basically just giving information, its not interactive so I think that it is unlikely the children will engage much into it unless the teacher uses it a lot in their lessons. Overall I’m not sure apart from giving information what this display would be for and whether the children would use it. At first it comes across colourful but after it being there for a while would the children actually engage with it or not. I’m not so sure.

 

References

Image 1:https://www.facebook.com/twinklteachingresources/posts/10153474360515028:0

Nwlink http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

Image 2: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Upstart?

1 Reply

On the 26th January I went to a talk about a campaign called Upstart. I wasn’t very sure what the talk was going to be about but I thought that I would be able to see what is happening in Scotland with regards to education. I found the talk interesting and it brought up ideas which had never crossed my mind. It challenged ideas that I didn’t think needed challenging, like the age we start school.

Upstart’s aim is to introduce a play based kindergarten stage until the age of 7.  Sue Palmer explained to us that the view of society nowadays is to have children reading and writing by a certain age. However she explains that it isn’t a race and therefore is creating more pressure on children. So she explains that play is the element needed.

Scotland’s starting age for school is 4/5 and this is one of the earliest starting ages in the world. What they have found is that in the education ranking of western nations, the countries which started their children at 7 are more likely to gain better grades. This research and others carried out shows there is little to gain from an early start.

One of the audience members suggested that the starting them earlier makes them ‘burn’ out in their teens. This therefore makes them not want to go to school and they aren’t bothered about attaining. I think this is what I saw when I was at school as no one wanted to be there anymore.

Suzanne Zeedyk said that free play influences these qualities:

  • sensory development
  • creativity
  • emotional experiences
  • thinking ability
  • friendships
  • motoric development
  • sense of self
  • curiosity

She explained that these are what we want children to become with curriculum for excellence. Her thoughts suggested this could be done through play rather than needing to read or write really young.

One of the main points that stood out from me however from Suzanne’s talk was that Patrick Geddes designed kindergartens for children to be out in the garden. A quote from him we were told was ‘By creating we think, by living we learn.’

Although this talk was very thought through and had many reasons for starting at 7, I don’t think I could make a decision just based on that talk, as I would need to consider all possibilities. However I could see the benefits and it definitely gave me a different look out to how children should be taught at certain ages and what would be most beneficial to them. I hope to look into this at a later date so I can see the pros and cons for starting children’s education later.

On this link here is a radio show and at 52 minutes, Sue Palmer talks about the campaign.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vmzhg

 

 

 

 

Veils!

Leave a reply

In England, Ofsted has now said that if the veil is becoming a problem for teaching then they will make the overall score the school gets lower.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35411518

Although I can see the argument to why they should receive a lower grade, I feel like if it’s effecting the teaching then it isn’t probably just down to the veil. If there is communication problems then to me, I think that this could be to do with the actual teachers communication rather than the veil creating the problem.

Another reason I can see why people may say it’s a problem is that they can’t see their teachers face and so you can’t see the emotions that they may be expressing. Also I always think when someone is speaking it is easier to look at that face because you can look at their lips and also see their emotions to the topic.

Anyhow I believe this could take away someone’s identity. If they believe in something they should be able to express this. It also shows that if there is someone else who is a Muslim in their class, it shows a positive role model for them and for those who may be a minority in the class.

Overall I believe that the veil shouldn’t become a barrier for teaching however taking it away takes away the teacher’s identity. I think this means that it could possibly take away the idea of the children getting to know some of the teachers interests. It also means that the teacher might not connect as much as they want to with the children as part of them isn’t shown.

Reflecting on other’s posts.

Leave a reply

Reading through others posts has really made me consider what to blog about.

I now have realised that personal experience is a good way to give a context for what you believe. As you have this experience you can give more detailed answer and conversation on the topic you pick. I think because you have experience it makes it more personal and you really get the feeling of that person.

I like the way that someone may have seen something on social media and used this to develop a post. This shows using things that we have in daily life and then being able to reflect on this to create a response. I think that things on social media that you read are likely to give you knowledge and help you within this profession as you need to keep up to date with everything and this way you can reflect on these things you read.

The way some people bring theory into their own thoughts and opinions shows that you are reflecting on how the theorists could be correct or not. It allows debate and also means that others can see both points and take their own view. I think linking theory to what you see when on placement could be interesting as it shows whether what theorists say are correct or whether it shows more than one theorists ideas.

Interestingly the way posts aren’t always directed to school but education in general. Adding an idea that education is all around us, children don’t just learn at school. The idea of informal education is also paramount and therefore ideas such as morals are likely to be learnt outside school. These ideas also helps us understand what children are likely to know already and what they may believe. Therefore we should keep this in mind when teaching.

Overall looking at these blogs shows to me what sort of things others have found out about and are considering when becoming teachers. It also has helped me see what I can do to improve my posts.

Dance is serious?

Leave a reply

Whenever I have taken part in dance, I have never taken it seriously. For example when doing a badge with the Brownies that involved dancing and I was asked to run the dance, with which I have no experience dancing, I just made it as funny as I could. This was because I was nervous but I also thought that along with the children I’m probably not the only one outside my comfort zone.

When we did it at school, we had those professionals that went to dance club three times a week, which made the rest of us feel like there wasn’t any point in trying. I remember when making a dance at secondary school with my peers to the song Candy man. It was interesting at how different dances were, some students went all out and you could tell they were dancers but then there was the rest of the class who felt embarrassed. This embarrassment led to us just not taking it seriously and adding in comical moves and genuinely just messing around.

However since the dance workshop I realise that you can make a dance serious, whether you are a first timer or a confident dancer. I think this should be emphasised to the children as not everyone is good at everything but you should always try. I also realised that if you move differently that is classed as dancing and different turns is also. It makes what I felt was embarrassing actually a joyful experience.

Here I have planned a lesson for Dance:

 

CfE outcomes:Inspired by stimuli, express thoughts and feelings through dance. EXA 2-09A

Explore and chose movements to develop my skills and techniques. EXA 2-08a
Learning Intentions:Create dance depending on the mood they are given.

Talk with others and decide on best movements to make the feeling be conveyed.
Success Criteria:Work in groups to discuss what makes a movement look like an emotion.

What movements would they use to convey an emotion.

Find movements that to them symbolise certain feelings.

Creative movements that can the children can explain why it displays that emotion.

 
Assessment Opportunities:The child discussing why their movement conveys a certain emotion.

Using the feeling given and thinking how they might look and feel.

Discussing and challenging others to what they may pick to look like when doing a certain movement.
Learning activities:Game of stations- Have feelings in each corner and when the children go to that corner they should do a movement to them that symbolises that feeling. Each time they go to the same corner they should do different movement.

Put the children into groups and put the groups in the different corners. In these corners put paper and pens and then ask them to write down what they think these movements would look like. Once they have done one get them to move round in their groups.

The children should then go in a corner with their group and make up a short dance piece or some movements which they use to show this. They can move around to different corners when completed.

To finish put different types of music on and depending on how they feel with the music they make a freeze for that music.

Science SMART target

Leave a reply

My SMART target for science is as follows:

S- Research a scientist that is likely to be on TV that the children will watch.

M-Know what science they are interested in and what they have found out and link this to a lesson. Possibly write a lesson plan for this topic.

A-Watch videos and read up on the scientist and experiments they carry out.

R- Link to the Curriculum for Excellence E&O’s. Also see if it is linked to anything in the news or outside community.

T-Before I go on placement.

One scientist that is on children’s TV programmes is Steve Backshall. Steve is interested in the world and what creatures and living things are out there. This means you could focus the lesson on unusual animals, that you don’t see in this country. To prepare for this lesson I would make sure I have watched some of his programmes such as Deadly 60 as then you can begin to explain what this sort of scientist does. Also mini clips of these shows may be worth watching in the lesson to get the children excited and enthused about the topic. This topic would be sorted into the biodiversity and interdependence organiser. I think that if we looked at where these unusual animals live we could think about why they live the. This would link to the SCN 2-01a and SCN 3-01a depending on the detail you went into, considering the children’s stage.

Although they may not be considered a scientist you could possibly use Neil Armstrong. Although, he was an aerospace engineer and therefore you could consider with your class what they would need to develop a good spacecraft. They could then have other curriculum subjects come into this such as art and design and technologies as they could design and make the spacecraft. When designing these however the children will need to know what is different between space and here on earth in order to make these.

Overall I feel if we used a scientist the children were familiar with or had heard of to begin a topic, then they may be more enthusiastic as they know that people actually use science in real life and that they can find out about things just like these scientists.

 

Enquiring Practitioner

3 Replies

To be an enquiring practitioner I think you are always making formal investigations throughout your professional career. The research is based on the career in which taking, for us it would be teaching. This research that teachers take is done by themselves or within group collaboration. The use of being a enquiring practitioner means that you can reflect and evaluate teaching that you may have done or others may have completed or how you’re going to teach a lesson in the future.

Working as an enquiring practitioner has its benefits, one being that you can encourage and empower other colleagues to question and challenge education which may mean that they then change the way education is delivered. Also being an enquiring practitioner means that you can monitor your own teaching and others and therefore develop your practice and possibly your understanding on some topic for example. When monitoring your own practice you may find new strategies to use to teach with and therefore be able to develop your teaching and benefit the children from this. If you know more about your profession or what you are actually teaching then your self esteem with be enhanced and so will the identity you create of yourself through your profession. When being an enquiring practitioner you may work a lot together in groups and therefore there is benefits of working collaboratively too. Such as you are likely to have more knowledge this way as everyone will have a subject they are stronger at probably or a skill that they struggle with and so there would be a range of skills. Also you can bounce ideas off each other and therefore your discussions may become deeper than they would if it was just you working alone. Also someone may suggest something that you had never thought about or think about a certain topic from a different angle to what you do.

However there are disadvantages of being an enquiring practitioner especially when working in groups. If your group doesn’t have a clear aim then how are you meant to know what you are working towards and this therefore probably means that there will be a lack of motivation and therefore the group would be disorganised. There may be problems if group members are late and therefore not always 100% sure what is happening and therefore they can’t prepare ready for the next time you meet and therefore make the group not progress as much as like. Also if someone is dominating then they may not let anyone else put their views across and could create tension within the group.

 

Characteristics of a professional

Leave a reply

Patience

Patience helps us be more understanding towards others. For example if someone doesn’t understand something as quickly as you might, then giving them time to understand it means that you both are on the same page in what you understand. This shows being professional as you are taking into account others and therefore showing a better professional behaviour. Also when using this to teach children it is a friendlier approach and more expected as you can’t expect a child to understand something they have just heard about straight away. Plus if you show patience towards the children this may rub off and they then show patience to others in their class to or when they get to work making them learn professional skills from the start.

Respect

When a point is made that you don’t agree with and you want to put your opinion across you have to remember to be respectful of others views too. This is because other people may look at something in a different way to how you look at something. This also makes you see other sides to an argument so helps you broaden your knowledge and widens your gap and therefore you may see more possible outcomes when you look at other questions in the future. Also if you show respect to someone then they are more likely to show respect back and create a more professional relationship with you.

Honesty

When you are honest you are showing your genuine self and therefore you are showing yourself as a open person. When you are honest to people they are more likely to give you more respect. With more respect you are likely to be trusted with work and other elements within your profession. This may also mean that you become more professional as more people with interact with you because of the trust you have gained.

Integrity

The idea of being honest and showing moral principles means that you can show your views and gain trust from others. The quality of your honesty shows how much people can trust you and also your morals are shown and therefore people are more likely to think about your morals before saying something and they you should respect their morals. Some morals might be expected from society and therefore if you stick to these you are keeping to the view that everyone would expect from you. If you do this then in effect you are following the ‘rules’ which people assume you know and not doing anything out of the norm. I think this would improve communication and conversations with others and therefore make people more professional because of this.

Compassion

I think being compassionate will help towards being a professional as being compassionate to your colleagues, and within teaching the parents and children, means they are more likely to come and talk to you as you may seem more open and willing to talk to.  Also with being compassionate you may see how bad something is for someone and therefore help them and therefore this would be seen as professional as it is showing you helping them and showing genuine concern. Being compassionate will also help you see other peoples lives and how it affects different people as they are more likely to come to you for help.

Is teaching a profession and what is it to be a professional videos

Leave a reply

Some people see teaching as a caring profession like a doctor. When asking a doctor what they think helps to be a professional they responded with teamwork. They believe that if you have good communication then it is easier to be a professional. From the second video we see that teachers also say communication helps, I think this is because if everyone speaks in the same way then they expect the same level of professionalism. Another reason for speaking in a professional way to children is that it should rub off and therefore make children more experienced when going into the world.

Many people say that education is where everything starts from and if people don’t get an education or receive a poor one it is seen as a doctor turning his back on a patient. That is why teachers say that people should receive dynamic education where you keep trying for a child to understand something or if something came up in the news they would have that immediately in their lesson the next day. Not only should we teach things that is happening in the news we should keep up with the curriculum and when something changes on that, we should change it in our classrooms.

Not only should we be staying on top of curriculums we should carry on our own professional development by carrying on researching and seeing if any new standards have been put in place. I believe if we do this we aren’t putting our children at a disadvantage and therefore they are learning things that will benefit them in the future and will also help us to keep understanding what is more important to be taught.

What challenges/ opportunities you may be faced with when marrying the personal vs the professional presence on social media?

Leave a reply

Should we just have one account? Or two accounts one for personal aspects and the other for professional side?

The GTCS states that you shouldn’t share any information with a student unless it would be shared in a school setting. This therefore makes you consider who you accept to be friends with online and what information you let everyone see. This might make you contemplate having an account for professional use and one for personal use however if you don’t have the correct privacy settings on,  if a student just typed your name in a search engine they would probably be able to find your personal one too. If you left your privacy settings so that everyone could see what you put on then everyone anywhere can see what you have put on. If there was things that you wouldn’t wish your students or colleagues to see that may call your professionalism into question. Therefore you want to make sure the correct procedures are in place.

When online you could appear to be vulnerable. One reason this could be is because if parents have a complaint and they message you on a social networking site then they could get aggressive and you would have to be careful when replying to the parent so that you reply remembering that you are a professional. If this doesn’t happen then your fitness to teach may come into question. When replying to a parent or anyone related within teaching you should reply with a formal and professional tone as this way the boundaries are maintained and therefore you can’t be accused of anything. Another way could be to make sure you are using an official channel of communication such as work email address, this way it seems more formal and you are more likely to keep the formal, professional tone when speaking to them. To stop parents sending you messages via social messaging you may consider not to add them as friends on your social networking sites. This way if they have to contact you in a professional manner then they may keep to the professional tone that you start contacting them with.

I think that depending on what is on your personal account may depend on whether you want two accounts or just one. If your personal account has lots of pictures of things you do outside of school, which may make your professionalism be questioned, then I would consider either turning off the tags in the photos so that if someone does find you they won’t find the inappropriate pictures or you could also make sure your privacy settings are on so that only some people can find you rather than everyone. However if you kept the one account you would have to be careful with what you put on the site.

Is using social media in the classroom a positive or negative idea?

Using social media in classroom can be very useful as this is what children are used to in day to day life. Therefore I think that it could be seen as a powerful thing to use as technology is likely to keep developing throughout their lifetime so making them literate in the technology they will be using, will be a beneficial for them to possibly to succeed in life.

However there may be problems such as it may become a distraction if they started using the social media for something else than the work. Therefore they may have to have a school account as then there isn’t a distraction between their social life and actual work. Some people may argue that less human interaction occurs however I think that pupils are more likely to interact with each other and ask whether they have seen something on the social media as they could be excited over the process.

Overall I think that using social media in the classroom is a good idea as students are used to using technology outside of school so we should not go back in time when they enter school life. I also think that because it seems exciting as they aren’t just sat writing they are more likely to be enthusiastic and be more involved in the subject.