Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

There’s maths in art… No i’m not going crazy!

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Until I chose ‘Discovering Mathematics’ as my elective this year I was totally unaware just how much mathematics affects us in our everyday life’s during absolutely everything we do. One of the recent things that I have learnt is that maths is used just as much in a maths class as it is in an art class. Yes that’s right, an art class.

013I was a little sceptical at first as to what Anna was going to speak about for an hour but I can truly say that this was probably one of the most interesting inputs I had attended for a while. Before I go onto speak about the more interesting points I learnt, I realised that almost every little thing in art can be easily linked to maths and when you actually think about it, it is so easy to see why. From things such as the shapes they are drawing, the time they have to complete their art piece, asking the children to collect a certain amount of resources e.g. brushes, paints etc. This is art relating to maths in its most basic form however, this links nicely with Liping Ma’s ‘basic ideas principle’. As without being able to form these simple tasks then the pupil would then not be able to go on to complete their masterpiece – because everything the child creates is fab!

Going back to the more interesting points from the art meets maths input, I am now aware that a lot of artists use specific sequences in order to plan and actually create their art. We looked at the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Spiral and the Golden Ratio. To begin with each concept absolutely blew my mind however the further the lesson went on the more I began to grasp the idea.

Starting with the Fibonacci sequence, I learnt that this is a series of numbers. 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… It is a very simple sequence that when broken down is just adding the first number to the second to give you the third and then the second to the third to give you the fourth and so on… This sequence was named after mathematician Fibonacci or formally known, Leonard of Pisa. He found this pattern by noticing a recurring simple numerical series found commonly in nature. As well as being found in nature, this exact sequence has also been used by artists when creating their images. For example, Piet Mondrian has been known to have used it within his art work.

010As the Fibonacci sequence is found in natural objects and can be seen when drawing the ‘golden spiral’. We drew this spiral on the Fibonacci sequence following prewritten instructions and pictograms. The outcome was ultimately this spiral. This spiral appears over and over in many natural occurrences and this picture shows just a small percentage.

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Moving away from Fibonacci, we then looked at mathematician Luca Pacioli who published an article in 1509 on the ‘Golden Ratio’. The Golden Ratio is when we take any two successive Fibonacci Numbers, and divide the larger number by the smaller. The answer will always be this special number approximately around 1.618. This ratio, symbolised by Phi (Φ) appears within mathematics, art, architecture and other areas. It was also used to design the Notre Dame in Paris. The ratio features also in the United Nations building and the pyramids in Egypt (Boaler, 2016.)

014Renaissance artists also used this ratio to inspire their beautiful and balanced artwork. The Last Supper painted by Leonardo Da Vinci is also associated with the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequence. This painting has clear examples through the design and architectural features to be said that the golden ratio was used. Some also believe that Da Vinci even positioned the disciples around the table in proportion to Jesus using the ratio.

It excites me to now go into a primary classroom and explain, in a more child friendly way, everything I have learnt. I feel that showing the connections between different subjects, particularly ones that seem more appealing than others will have a great impact on the way some children think about mathematics overall. Well… That’s the wish I guess.

Ma, L. (2010) Knowing and teaching mathematics: Teacher’s understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. 2nd edn. New York: Taylor & Francis

Fibonacci Sequence (2016) Available at: https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/fibonacci-sequence.html [Accessed on 28 November 2016]

Design in art: Repetition, pattern and rhythm (2006) Available at: https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/design-in-art-repetition-pattern-and-rhythm [Accessed on 28 November 2016]

Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics

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 “Teachers must have a profound understanding of fundamental mathematics.” – Liping Ma, 2010

009To teach maths, you must first understand maths. To understand maths you have to be fully engaged and willing to put yourself in your pupils’ shoes and learn. Liping Ma states that this is one of the most important factors in terms of enhancing teachers’ knowledge of, and ability to better teach, primary mathematics.

However, having a concrete profound understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics is much more than being able to understand primary mathematics. You have to make sure you have a sound knowledge of the overall theoretical structure and basic attitudes of mathematics. By having this, you will then be able to use this as a foundation in order to teach your children effectively and inspire them to want to learn maths for themselves and not because they have to. It is very important to have a conceptual and procedural understanding – to know how and why we do something – that is deep, broad and thorough.

In order for yourself and your pupils to meet what Liping Ma states as a profound understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics you have to make sure that you can identify and understand the four principles that are essential in being able to meet this ultimate goal.

The first of these principles are (inter) connectedness. This refers to being able to see connections between concepts and procedures. Meaning that children can see why there is a need to have elements of maths that connect together in order to be able to use at other points of your mathematical education. This could be as simple as letting the children understand that in order to move on to understand and describe two dimensional shapes they first have to know the properties and characteristics of two dimensional shapes. This will then help to ensure learning is not fragmented, but viewed instead as a unified body of knowledge.

The second principle is multiple perspectives. This is having the ability to comprehend and also appreciate the different approaches you can have to one specific mathematical problem. This therefore encourages a more adaptable way of thinking and is therefore not restricting any child as it is not focused on one learning style. Teachers who have the ability to develop multiple perspectives for every topic within mathematics will have a better sound knowledge of the fundamentals of maths overall.

Thirdly, Liping Ma talks about basic concepts and having a full awareness of all the central ideas that surrounds primary mathematics. It is important that the basic ideas that recur throughout maths are constantly revisited until they are fully reinforced and have created a solid foundation in order to move forward onto future concepts. Without basic concepts, we would not be able to move forward and enhance our mathematical ability.

The last feature is longitudinal coherence. This is having a full awareness of the entire mathematical curriculum and how one basic idea or principle can be built upon another. What is taught today becomes the base for future knowledge, just as current mathematics teaching builds upon students’ previous knowledge, however fragmented that knowledge may be. This allows for there to be much more understanding and flexibility in terms of where learning is headed as lessons can be tailored with this in mind.
With this profound understanding of fundamental mathematics, we as teachers will be able to teach students more successfully. I fully agree with everything Liping Ma says and believe that I will definitely work to this model in order to teach mathematics to the best of my ability to my pupils in future.

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Ma, L. (2010) ‘Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics’. London: Routledge.

 

Lets have fun, lets do maths!

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One of the most important factors for me to have children engage with mathematics at a level that they want to learn and more important understand what they are learning is to make sure they enjoy what they are learning. In order for this to happen it is up to us, as teachers, parents and careers to make mathematics enjoyable and allow them to see that maths can be used whilst playing.

As an adult being able to play during a maths input put a smile on my face. I loved it. Being able to physically get to grips with what we were learning through the use of building blocks, games and other various maths resources that can typically be found in an everyday classroom and most home environments was so much more refreshing than a boring PowerPoint.

007Allowing children to play is an extremely central factor in their overall holistic development. It allows them to make connections to their learning, especially when they are in a relaxed environment. It empowers them to experiment and encourages creative and flexible thinking.

The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child recognises that child development is the key to the future success of a society.  They define the core concepts of development as including “cognitive skills, emotional well-being, social competence, and sound physical and mental health” They also stress that if these areas of development are nurtured in the early years through quality learning environments, positive relationships, and engaging social interactions, a foundation will be laid for future successes that everyone wants for every individual child. Some of these successes that the NSCDC describe as things such as; positive school achievement, future economic productivity, as well as responsible citizenship.

005A simple thing such as the building blocks we used within our input are small but so effective. They can help a child start there numerical experiences by counting one by one, moving onto addition and subtraction and then can be used further up the school for more challenging lessons such as cubic centimetres. We take for granted as adults how easy counting actually is. We do not remember the stress and anxiety that we had to go through when learning the simplest fundamentals of mathematics. This step is one that has to happen though; Liping Ma states that we have to be aware of the basic concepts of maths and these concepts have to be reinforced and revisited before children have the foundation to deal with future concepts and can then move onto more complex mathematical problems.

My initial concept of maths has completely changed in the few weeks that I have being doing the Discovering Mathematics elective and I feel this is due to the fun that has been incorporated into lessons and inputs. By being able to work with friends to solve problems or to play maths based games brings out feelings towards maths that I never knew I had. As a student teacher, this is one of my main goals when teaching maths to my pupils. I personally feel that I will move away from the old games and resources, as good as they were, I used them 17 years ago so they are a bit outdated. But with all the technology we have now a days and how easy it is to access different resources I hope to let all my pupils know that maths does not need to be hard, stressful or boring… Maths can be fun. 006

Haylock, D. (2010) Mathematics explained for primary teachers. 4th edn. London: SAGE Publications

Ma, L. (2010) Knowing and teaching mathematics: Teacher’s understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. 2nd edn. New York: Taylor & Francis

Han’s The Magical Horse

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The question can animals count arose during one of our mathematics inputs and it got me to thinking, well can they?

We had been looking at Vo001n Osten and his clever horse, Hans. Osten had a keen interest in animal intelligence and with the help of Hans, this would ultimately win him some degree of fame.

Osten believed firmly that animals had skills and a degree of intelligence that humans as a race had dismissed fully. To show the world that actually, animals can understand maths, he started to tutor a cat, who was unresponsive to his work. He then moved onto a bear, who tried to attack him (like a normal, wild bear would) and finally he tutored Hans the horse. Hans learned to work with Osten and when a number under 10 was written on a board, Hans would be able to tap out the correct number with his hoof.

002Osten toured ‘Clever Hans’ all over Germany to show off the horse’s mathematical abilities. More and more people heard about this clever horse and the crowds grew larger and larger. The curious onlookers were seldom disappointed.

However, there were the sceptics. Oskar Pfungst, believed he could unravel the mystery behind this ‘clever horse’. Pfungst created a large tent to house his experiments, in order to eliminate the effects of outside visual stimuli. The outcome was simple; Hans performed very well when questions were asked by his owner, Von Osten. However, when the questioner was not his owner and was made to stand out of sight of the horse, something interesting happened: the horse’s accuracy weakened, though it wasn’t immediately clear why. (Bellows, 2015)

In the years that followed, it has been found that many animals are responsive to subtle and unintentional cues from their human masters. To prevent prejudgments and foreknowledge from contaminating experimental results, modern science employs the double-blind method where researchers and subjects are unaware of many details of the experiment until after the results are recorded. For instance, when drug-sniffing dogs undergo training, none of the people present know which containers have drugs in them; otherwise their body language might betray the location and render the exercise useless.

Even though, Hans may not have been able to understand the fundamentals of mathematics this don’t not stop my curiosity so I then done more research into Ayumu the chimpanzee.

003Ayumu the chimp, son of Ai, a chimpanzee whose intelligence has been studied for over 30 years by Professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa, can remember the location and order of a set of numbers in less time than it takes the average human to blink. (BBC Nature, 2012) The test was undertaken at Kyoto University in Japan and the chimp managed to solve the puzzle in a remarkable 60 milliseconds. The test was more a test of short term memory which required him to remember the sequential order of numbers which 9/10 he was able to get correct first time. There is no hesitation of Ayumu either, he knows straight away where all the numbers are and completes the task at a mind blowing speed. Regardless of the undoubtable facts that Ayumu can complete this task, does this mean he has a fundamental understanding of mathematics? Does this mean that Ayumu is numerate?

As a class, we tried to do the simplified game and our results were somewhat poor… We were unable as a class of 20 to most times get past the first few numbers. However, does this mean we are not good at maths? Or that our reactions times aren’t as developed as Ayumu’s? Or does it simply mean, our memories are not as advanced as a chimp like Ayumu?

As well as these two well documented experiments there are scientists everywhere trying to prove that animals can understand mathematics and can count. A lot of people are very sceptical of the whole theory and believe that it is just the ability to use their memory better than that of a human memory. Others believe that animals are able to associate action to words or numbers like Hans the horse. Personally, I am undecided on the answer wither or not animals can count but I do believe that all animals are very clever in many different ways and I am sure that we will find out in the near future if they are as clever as we think they are.

BBC Nature. (2012). Chimp sets memory puzzle record. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16832379 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

Bellows, A. (2015). Clever Hans the Math Horse. [online] Damninteresting.com. Available at: https://www.damninteresting.com/clever-hans-the-math-horse/ [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

I HATE MATHEM… Oh actually it’s not that bad!

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Primary 5… some dreary day in mid-November. Maths test. The dread I felt when the teacher uttered the words the moment we came back into the classroom from morning break have never left me. I would not say I ‘fear’ mat1110express-student-fearshs however, it genuinely makes me feel uneasy. I think the main reason for this was this specific maths test. It was mental maths. 20 questions. And we had 10 minutes to answer as much as we could (no working allowed – including the use of fingers!!) It’s safe to say I never done very well, 7 out of 20. Although, at first, I was rather pleased with myself for getting that much correct, until my teacher stated that ‘you can only be good at either English or maths; you cannot be good at both.’ So from that moment, I had always considered myself rubbish at maths so really… Why try?! Eastaway and Askey state that people’s mathematics anxiety can develop from a parent or teacher but mainly it is not the fear of maths itself but the fear of being shamed. (Eastaway and Askey, 2013, p15.) Personally, for me, I feel that, this point in my education was one of the main factors as to why I feel anxious about mathematics.

As I have grown the idea that my primary 5 teacher had fixed in my head that you can only be good at maths or English slowly but surely started to vanish. I do not believe that if you are good at English, you cannot be good at maths, or vice versa. I have seen first-hand, many people that have the natural ability to be good at both.

You may prefer one subject to the other, therefore may shine in that said subject but this does not mean that you cannot then excel at the other if you put the work in for it. Eastaway and Askew tell us that, ‘there is no such thing as a maths gene’ (Eastaway and Askew, 2013, p14.)

According to these men, today’s society is much more sophisticated in maths compared to those in medieval times. Showing that over time we have adapted to the different concepts and ways to understand math that categorically there cannot be a gene that has programmed us to ‘be good at maths’ (Eastaway and Askey, 2013, p15.)

One of the main reasons for choosing ‘discovering maths’ was to get over this anxiety I had surrounding maths. I can already categorically say that I am so glad I choose the elective I did.

Our first lecture, ‘What is maths? Why teach it’ was an eye opener for me. I went in to this lecture a little apprehensive and left with a new excitement surrounding mathematics that I had not felt before. This was due to the lecture being made fun and relatable. The main task set to us was to work out how many snaps it would take to break up a bar of chocolate that had 64 squares. By working together in groups for this task with actual physical props we were able to explore maths in a way I don’t think I ever had. It brought out discussion, conversation, sharing language and most importantly, play.

As a learner, being able to relate my maths to real life was very important to me and I feel helped me understand clearer and ultimately enjoy what I was doing. As a teacher working with children that may feel anxious and withdrawn for maths, I will strive to ensure that I will relate it to real-life as much as I possibly can. By doing this and adding in the ‘fun factor’ I feel children will not had this fear of mathematics that most do today. This will hopefully give the children an insight as to why they need maths and I hope that they will never be asking themselves ‘when will I use this again?’

Eastaway, R., Askew, M. (2013) Maths for Mums and Dads. Square Peg. London.

Earn it

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College was the first time I had heard of B.F. Skinner and his theory of operant conditioning. Straight away I took an instant interest in it and decided that I would work around his theory of positive reinforcements to complete my graded unit.

My graded unit consisted of me investigating an area of my choice within the classroom and reporting back on my findings in detail in a form of a report.

Straight away, the idea of reinforcements for behaviour got me thinking about children and one 052child in particular that I worked one-on-one with. This specific child, lost his golden time almost every week. He had different behaviour management strategies in place however told me that he did not find the need to behave as he always lost golden time anyway. After having this conversation, I researched low self esteem in schools and the highest trigger for children with low self esteem was due to the children constantly getting in trouble. So, I discussed in depth with my teacher the idea of changing golden time from the norm of losing it, to every child starting with none and earning it for a week.

At first, the teacher felt that the children would not like the Golden Time changed however, after I discussed with the children what would be happening, I allowed them to vote independently wither or not to try the new Golden Time procedure so that it was the children’s decision and not mine. The results came back and the majority of the class voted to changing Golden Time to earning. The teacher was very surprised with this but was also excited to see my results after the week.

As I based my project on the theories of, Skinner, Rodgers, Maslow and Erik Erikson I learnt a great deal on children’s behaviour overall. I agree with Skinner in a lot that he says about positive reinforcements and my investigation reiterates that what he was saying actually has a major factor of truth.

After everything was researched and the ‘Golden Rules’ that the children came up with collectively as a class was put in place, I allowed the children to then earn their golden time over a week. After the week was over, I gained feedback through a carousel method and found 051that the children found earning golden time a better method to use as they could work as a team and it made them feel better knowing their positive behaviour had gained a reward.

I would love to have done this with the child that gave me the inspiration to put this investigation into place. I feel that it allowed children who may feel discouraged to improve their behaviour due negative reinforcements to have a clean slate and try to turn their behaviour around by working together with their peers. By also physically seeing the rewards for their good behaviour by receiving golden time the children’s self-esteem will also hopefully increase overtime.

The Road to Becoming an Enquiring Practitioner

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Are you someone who is proactive? Are you responsible for maintaining and enhancing your own professional skills? Do you do this to enhance your own pedagogical development? If so you may just be on your way to becoming a very good enquiring practitioner.

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An enquiring practitioner goes beyond the norm of personal enquiry and reflection. They have the ability to share and discuss their own knowledge with others and also to listen and retain information that others share with them. From doing this, as a professional, you will then be able to continuously develop on your own learning.

 

Professor John Hattie stated; “The biggest effects on student learning occur when teachers become learners of their own teaching”.

A teacher who is constantly learning and can be seen as an enquiring practitioner may research topics such as teaching techniques and adapt their own ways of teaching to facilitate the best learning possible for the children within their classroom.

There are numerous benefits that come with practicing to be an enquiring practitioner. Not only does it allow us, as teachers to monitor our own practice it also allows us to critically analysis our practice and challenge ourselves to become better and more professional practitioners.

By being an enquiring practitioner, we allow ourselves to continuously develop and enhance on our own learning and teaching abilities. By doing this, we are in control of setting out the best learning environment we can to teach our children in.

Being an enquiring practitioner also means that we can work together, collaboratively, with not only our colleagues but also the pupils within our classrooms. By working closely with these people, we can see what does and doesn’t work with others practice and also know that there is a safety net if you feel that advice or guidance on specific areas may be needed.

By working together, teachers can make sure that they are all working towards the same standards and guidelines to ensure that they are working towards the Curriculum for Excellence.

Alongside the benefits; we are also faced with numerous challenges when practicing to be an enquiring practitioner. For teachers who may have been in the profession for many years, or teachers who have a lower self-esteem, the thought of changing their ways to become an enquiring practitioner may cause problems due to anxiety’s and or a fear of a change. Due to this, it may be difficult for these teachers to open up and share their own experiences and knowledge with others which then hinders them from becoming the best practitioner they can.

Although there are challenges that face practitioners becoming an enquiring practitioner; the benefits outweigh them. Due to this, every teacher should try their hardest to overcome their fears of becoming an enquiring practitioner as there are so many positive outcomes that can be gained by not only yourself but also your colleagues and your pupils within your class.

As a student teacher, we have a responsibility to also practice as an enquiring practitioner. Whilst on placement as a professional, we will be put in new situations which we may not feel comfortable with but having the ability to adapt our teaching styles and work closely with other staff members we should have the ability to therefore overcome our anxiety’s to these new situations.

Practitioner enquiry impacts on us all both as students and fully qualified teachers. We need to have the ability to have higher expectations of ourselves; have the ability to be able to adapt to new situations and surroundings and be aware of ways to improve our own learning and utilise this within our practice in the classroom.

Timeline of Neuroscience

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Carrying on from the input on Brain Development today with Will, I found that there is a large array of events that took place in the subject of neuroscience… As there as far too many to write I have just selected a variety that interested me within the 20th century.

  • In 1909, Harvey Cushing is first to electrically stimulate the human sensory cortex.

Studies involving severe epileptics has shown us that using weak currents, investigators found that the usual responses when stimulating the individuals included, numbness, tingling and feelings of electricity and all these feelings where on the contralateral side.

  • The disease, Alzheimer’s, was named by Emil Kraepelin in 1910.

Kraepelin, who was a german psychiatrist that worked closely with Dr. Alzheimer, first named the ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ in the eighth edition of his book, Psychiatrie.

  • The intelligence quotient, or QI, was first developed in 1912 by William Stern.

He felt that by investigating the individuality of a person he could then uncover real principle of personality and intelligence. He developed the idea of expressing intelligence test results in the form of a single number, the intelligence quotient.

He looked at individual test scores and focused on “mental ages” which could then be compared to actual ages which could then relate to their intelligence ability. To get the intelligence quotient, he took the mental age and divided it by the chronological age.

  • In 1916, Shinobu Ishihara published a set of plates that were used to test colour vision.001

The colour test is called, ‘The Ishihara Test’. The test consists of a number of coloured plates which are called Ishihara plates. These plates contain a circle of dots appearing randomised in both colour and size. Within the dots, there are dots of another colour with represents a number or shape visible to those with normal colour vision. However, if you have a colour defect, these numbers or shapes will be invisible or difficult to see.

  • B.F. Skinner publishes ‘The Behaviour of Organisms’ in 1938 that describes operant conditioning.

The term, ‘operant conditioning’ was invented by Skinner. Roughly, it means to change the behaviour of a person or animal through the use of either positive or negative reinforcements. If the subject is shown to be doing the desired behaviour, then this is when the reinforcement is given.

  • In 1953, Eugene Aserinski and Nathaniel Kleitman describe rapid eye movements (REM) during sleep.

Kleitman and Aserinsky discovered there to be rapid eye movement while a child was sleeping. This led researcher into believing that sleeping involves some sort of learning process.

  • In 1956 Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen isolate and purified nerve growth factor.
  • The treatment for depression was introduced by Fluoxetine in 1987.

Eli Lilly and Company discovered Fluoxetine. This drug is used for a number is disorders including; major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bulimia, and panic disorder. In some cases, it has also been used to treat trichotillomania, a condition where the individual feels the need to pull their hair out, if cognitive behaviour therapy has been unsuccessful.

  • 1990 was declared the ‘Decade of the Brain’ by U.S. President George Bush.
  • Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel shared the Nobel Prize in 2000.

These men were awarded this prize for their discoveries of signal transduction, which is the message being sent from one nerve cell, to another through a chemical transmitter.

 

The Virtues of Teaching

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Teachers need to have the ability to display a variety of different virtues and ethics all the time within their professional career.

I have chosen to focus on five main traits, which I have went into more detail about below. However, I am not saying that these are any more important than other traits. It all primarily depends on the individual circumstances at the time and how you as a teacher feel would be the best way to handle that situation.

Patience;

Patience, I feel is one of the most desirable traits for any individual however, for teachers I feel it is essential. This trait is most definitely vital while working in a classroom setting. As a patient teacher, I feel you should have the ability to adapt and try new learning styles and approaches when children aren’t responding or grasping certain things you are teaching. Not every child will be able to understand and learn the same way which then results in you as a teacher being able to remain patient and calm whilst finding another method that the child or children can understand.

Patience is also very important when it comes to a child’s behaviour. I feel as soon as you lose your patience with a child due to their behaviour then you have lost control of the classroom and everything you have learnt in how to teach. I fully believe that every type of behaviour displayed by every child can be chipped away down to the root cause of why this child is behaving in the way. However, to find the root cause requires patience on the teacher’s behalf. Without patience, you may find that you just write the particular child off as a ‘trouble maker’ when in reality there is a deeper cause and meaning for the behaviour being displayed.

Respect;

I feel that, respect is one the most important traits for a teacher to possess. Without respect present within the classroom both towards the teacher and the children then it is not an environment in which anyone is going to benefit from learning. If a teacher is respected by his or her class, it will create a learning environment where everyone feels comfortable to be and to learn in.

To gain respect, one must show respect; I feel that this is very important within the classroom and that some teachers need to realise that children should not just respect you because you are the teacher, the children should respect you because you respect them. Respect is a two way relationship and I feel that if it is met by both parties then everyone will benefit.

Empathy;

In order to be the best teacher you can, you have to have the ability to display empathy towards your students when necessary. By being able to do this, you will be able to make an almighty difference in the learning of the pupils’. By being able to bring yourself down to a child’s level and fully show that you understand and empathise with what the child is going through, that child can then see that you are a trustworthy and important character in their life, that they will feel comfortable to approach. Without empathy within the classroom, pupils may not feel safe or happy. There may be a lack of confidence in the teacher from the children and they also may feel that they cannot trust them.

The key to being empathetic is to be realistic and realise that every individual is different, with completely different circumstances both within school and outside. To be able to empathise with the different circumstances that you may be approached with you have to be able to be aware of what is going on around you and also to be an approachable figure to every one of your pupils’.

Fairness;

Preconceptions and expectations should be left at the door when you as a teacher enter your classroom. Fairness within the classroom is essential for every child to be able to learn within the classroom at the best of their abilities. Without fairness, teachers may dwell on matters such as: class, gender, race, family etc. which could result in you as a teacher not being able to look at that pupil and see their actual qualities, abilities and potential.

Teachers should also not show or have any favouritism towards pupils within their classroom. Every child should be encouraged and taught to the best of their abilities to achieve their potentials.

It should only be fair that within a classroom, the teacher should make sure that every child has the same opportunities to progress and blossom throughout their education to then reach the best of their abilities later on in the future.

Compassion;

As a teacher, you have to have the ability to be compassionate. The reasoning for this is due to the vast variety of different children from different backgrounds that you will be working with. I believe that due to this, compassion is very appropriate to show the pupils that not only are you human but that you are a means of support and an approachable individual in that child’s life for when they may need it.

Moving on from traditional teaching…

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I remember first watching this animation in my fourth year of high school and not appreciating what it was Sir Ken Robinson was trying to put across.

Four years on, with all the new experiences and knowledge that I have gained within that time, I understand now what it is that the talk represents and I also now appreciate it to a very high level.

We live in a society that is forever changing. We have to adapt to new things on a daily basis regardless of what age or ethnicity we are. So therefore, why do we not do this in schools? We need to change the way the children are expected to think and as Sir Ken Robinson says; we have to encourage divergent thinking and encourage children to learn and think for themselves in this is ever changing society.

However, this cannot be done if we, as teachers, stick to the normality and traditional methods of teaching that we have been accustomed to since the education system came to light. Sir Ken Robinson states; “they are trying to meet the future by doing what they did in the past”, this quote reiterates the fact that our education system has mainly remained unchanged since schooling became freely and readily available however, we as a society have changed drastically and our education system has not kept up with the change.

Due to this, I feel that this is the reason that Sir Ken Robinson divides children going through the education system into two separate categories; ‘academic’ and ‘non-academic’. I feel that if we were to turn away from our traditional approaches to teaching then we may just be able to abolish these categories and allow all of the children in the education system to get the best they can out of it and have less children deemed, failed by the system.