Month: January 2019

When I was in primary school I really enjoyed maths and I have continued to enjoy it. I gain a feeling of reward from maths, which some may say is geeky or nerdy, but I see it as motivation. You know if the answer is right or wrong, it can be demotivating if there is only one small calculation error at the very beginning and you have continued until the end to realise that it is wrong. However, it is clear and concise. I struggled with English and History at school as there is many possible answers to one question. But with maths there is one possible 2 correct answers depending on the positive or negative.

I was determined to carry on with maths, in my 5th year of school i sat Higher maths and didn’t achieve the grade I wanted. So in my last year at school, I went back and continued with the class and re-sat the exam and came out with a result I was really happy with. Maths taught me that things can take multiple attempts and if you struggle it isn’t worth giving up, you can gain determination from not letting something defeat you. Just like I did with my Higher grade.

 

I understand that people have different strengths and weaknesses, but I do not believe that whole subjects so be written. People cannot be perfect at everything however, it is up to the teacher to keep on motivating their pupils to keep trying. Giving new ways to explain the same concepts and helping give extra to those who struggle so that children don’t think that just because they struggle with their times tables for example, they aren’t able to continue with the rest of the course. This is not true, some children may be really good at creative writing but struggle with discursive writing and yet they are not given the thoughts that they are rubbish at English. Each child has strengths and weaknesses. But it is up to the teacher to praise their achievements and support in their struggles.

 

In today’s workshop, I learnt that innumeracy is just as bad as illiteracy. Not being able to work with numbers is worse to lifestyles then not being able to read and write. Most people I think will underestimate how important numbers are. It is a universal language. Numbers are present in everyday life, whether we are aware of it or not. I believe that it is important for all teachers to teach maths with the same enthusiasm as every other subject, because there is no reason why maths should be penalised. Every subject is worthy of being in the curriculum, and every child deservers the change to excel at them,

Through watching this video, I learnt that teaching drama lessons must always begin with an agreement of the 3 C’s: Communication, Co-operation and Concentration. This is the best way to ensure a productive and effective lesson.

 

The next step of a drama lesson is the warm-up, this gets the body and mind ready for the lesson and ensures that there is a clear definition between the drama lesson and other class lessons. A warm-up also differentiates play and learning to allow for children’s creativity to begin. Types of warm-up include; Vocal, Concentration, Teamwork and Physical, any of these could be used or multiple styles could be used together. This shows that the pupils need to focus on the lesson to follow.

Focus is the following step to a constructive drama lesson. This is where a stimuli will be shared with the pupils such as a video, song, image, word etc. This allows for a subjected to be created and set, allowing for the children to think about what they could do using their imagination.

Following on from the focus, is development; starting with the stimuli and progressing to a bigger idea. The pupils will be able to visualise and talk through the story journey and use their creativity and imagination to discuss the topic.

Continuing with visualising, the students will have a scene described to them and then be asked what they think of this image.

Moving onto the next sense, the children will use the skill of Soundscaping. This is where a pice of sound will be played and the students will be asked to think about what they can hear. As a teacher asking what their suggestions are is really important as it allows the children to express their thoughts and develop on these, as well as asking how they would create their suggestion using their bodies.

By using their body’s, this utilises the skill of bodyscaping. It allows for the children to use creative aspects in a visual context. It is important to not provide props in this sense, as it is to allow children to think about how they can make different shapes, images and effects with no resources.

After all of these sections, the Performance is important as it allows children to show their work to their peers. Performance also shows them that there is a purpose to their hard work, effort and determination.

Other areas of drama which are important for children to understand are frozen scenes and thought tracking. These involve the children using different levels and vocalising what they feel in that image.

Evaluation is the best way to finish a lesson as it allows for children to be aware of their achievements and know and understand what they have learnt. Evaluating a lesson allows for children to develop the play and fun into a learning experience as well as calm them before returning to the classroom.

 

Overall, through this drama workshop I have built my confidence, I was not sure how I would start teaching a drama lesson. However, I now have a clearer understanding and feel more comfortable to teach a drama lesson.

Reflecting on semester 1, I believe that my most important learning point was at the very beginning of term, where the working together module demonstrated how all the different professions interlinked. This was then reinforced in the values module where all different backgrounds, political views, cultures, races, genders and professions interlink in society on a wider scale.

 

Through taking part in these modules my learning journey progressed through realising that all areas interlink to have the best outcome for each child. Through widening my views and opinions of inter-professional working I realised that the overall outcome and work for each profession improves. There are more suggestions and ideas available with the more experience available.

I believe that the process of reflection is very important in the teaching profession. Without looking back at previous situations and scenarios and learning from them, you can never improve, adapt and develop as a professional.

In the module “Working Together” we took part in an anonymous peer-reflection activity which was really interesting to understand how other group members view each other and their role within the group. I found this activity useful and I learnt that I need to explain the point I am making in a clear and concise way.

 

Over my time at university, I believe that I am improving on my personal reflection, which will benefit my daily and weekly reflections on professional practice.

Through this lecture I have seen how different exemplar reflections compare, which are in more detail, which are more professional and which will be more useful to the writer looking back at their experiences. This  was very useful as I was unsure of how the daily and weekly reflections were to be worded, but I now have a clearer view.

I found learning where to be critical and where to reflect and improve on situations difficult to distinguish. However, after learning about Schon (1983) reflect on-action and reflect in-action, I have improved my understanding and awareness of the differences.

 

At school I found constructive criticism difficult to accept and understand. However, since I have had school exams and university work, I am learning how to take the feedback out of the information. Through my change in attitude to constructive criticism and the change in my understanding, I feel better prepared for my professional practice. I also feel better equipped for professional development as I am constantly improving my understanding, organisation and self-reflection.

Relationships have always been important in the development of children. Through watching Dr Suzanne Zeedyk’, I have become aware of how much of an impact Early Years relationship have on child development and growth.

Dr S. Zeedyk used the analogy that if a baby grows up in a dangerous background (e.g. domestic violence), they will constantly be looking for danger and producing Cortisol which will make them alert. The production of this hormone was originally produced to protect the human body from dangers like a saber-toothed tiger and help the body cope with stress. This means that a baby who has grown up with domestic violence, will constantly produce the stress hormone which is detrimental to their health as they will not know how to relax and calm down. As well as not being able to process stress effectively, these children are constantly focused on possible dangers and will therefore no be able to learn other important factors of their life- sich as their surroundings.

 

John Carnochan OBE, a former head of Strathclyde’s Police Violence Reduction Unit, speaks about the importance of the first 4 years of a child’s life. In these years, children develop a sense of coherence and belonging; they learn how the world is structured and how their internal resources meet demands and which of these are worthy of engagement. This shows that the first 4 years of a child’s life are important for them to understand human connections and bonds.

As a teacher, Carnochan makes it clear that children that come into your class maybe at 4 different stages of reflection in their home life; chaos; just coping; coping and thriving, this makes it so important for a teacher to ensure that the learning environment that they provide is suitable for every child and every child feels safe and secure to have a place where every child can thrive.

Teaching children the essential factors of humanity- care, forgiveness, optimism, nurture, tolerance, empathy and compassion- is so important for children to develop into well-rounded individuals who can improve society.

 

Through watching these documentaries; I now understand more about how children’s relationships with their families, guardians and other important members of their life, can impact all areas and aspects of their life. A a primary practitioner I will be more aware of how each child in my class presents themselves each day and how their attitudes, behaviour and personalities waver as this may be a sign that they are in the “chaos” category of the class.

Todays workshop was very interesting to see how dance and movement can link into a large variety of other areas of the curriculum- like lesson topics.

Through using a stimuli the use of movement can help the understanding of children in a different way to the topics that they are learning about at the moment. This is very useful as it is good for children to experience different types of learning.

Before attending this workshop I had never considered using dance and movement in lessons for explaining information. However, after this workshop I am encouraged to as it allows for children to express themselves and develop their confidence and understanding.

From this workshop I will take forward:

• The positive ways to reassure the children that we were taught.
• The ways to help children build relationships with other members of the class and build their confidence.
• To be open-minded to new ideas of teaching methods that I have not experienced before, as well as collaborating with other colleagues.

Professional Values and Personal Commitment:

This area of the standards demonstrate that each learner is influenced by the experiences that they have.

Social Justice- Education needs to be locally and globally embraces with inclusion and transparency to everyone. As an educator, every learner should be engaged and shown respect and the diversity of society.

Integrity- Openness and honesty need to be shown to learners as well as positive attitudes being shown so that the children are more likely to improve and become effective contributors to society.

Trust and Respect- As a teacher it is important to influence individuals and provide them with a well rounded and holistic education. It is also important for the children to feel safe in the education environment with the best intentions of motivating and inspiring ambition in each individual learner.

Professional Commitment- In order to work in an education environment commitment to your role is important as results will only happen through determination, enthusiasm and being adaptable for all scenarios and situations.

 

Professional Knowledge and Understanding:

Curriculum- Designing new concepts for children and interlinking different subjects allows for an all-rounded education. By providing support, challenges and stimuli for children to thrive, there will be more chance of the children succeeding and feeling positive about there education. However, if there are areas where some learners struggle, it is important for these to be identified and focussed on to improve their understanding. By using a range of techniques all areas of the children’s brains will be stimulated and as a result they will be more likely to absorb the information.

Education Systems and Professional Responsibilities- As a teacher having an awareness for international systems and the legal and professional factors to teaching is important as it allows for you to be full informed about the job and career. Understanding your pastoral responsibilities is really important as you will then be more equipped to provide your pupils with the necessary support and advice to the fullest extend of your knowledge. As well as knowing the children, it is important to know your colleagues as you all are working together for the same reasons and end points, and by collaborating everyone can provide advice to improve the overall responsibility and outcome to each child.

Pedagogical Theories- When teaching a class it is important to know all of the learners individually, their strengths and the areas which they need more support on, this is important to take into account as your lesson plans may need to be tailored more appropriately for the individual class.

Professional Skills and Abilities:

Teaching and Learning- A lesson plan needs to meet all of the needs of the learners and provide appropriate literacy models to develop the learner; reading, writing, listening and talking skills, to help their development. It is also important to promote healthy relationships so that the children have support from their peers and families as will as being able to provide this support to others. Developing tasks of an appropriate level to encourage and stimulate debate is important to develop opinions and understanding of different views, it also helps with communication and allows for concise endings to topics. Having commitment and confidence in yourself as a teacher is important as if you do not believe in yourself why would other people want to? You have to do know that you can do it, so by showing confidence in yourself you are setting a good example to your class.

Classroom Organisation and Management- Effectively displaying information is important as it means that the learners will be more engaged in what they are doing and learning about in their lessons. Using outdoor education is also very important to develop children’s senses and fine-motor skills and learn about positive behaviour. Showing care and commitment to the individuals is important for allowing the children to trust you and allows for the wellbeing indicators to be taken into account.

Pupil Assessment- Using formative and summative assessment, the children have a more rounded test as everybody learns in a different way and has different strengths which need to be represented. It is also important for the learners to take part in peer and self assessments in order to understand where they think they have gone wrong or where they have excelled as well as understanding how other children learn and demonstrate their understandings. It is important to record the results of assessments to ensure that each learner is improving or to see where more help is needed.

Professional Reflection and Communication- Reading and analysing literature is important in reflecting on your professional development and to build knowledge to challenge and inform your practice. Self-evaluations are important in order to reflect and engage with what you have taken part in and provided so that you can adopt and enquiring approach to improve your practice.

My initial experiences of language was from the beginning of my life- my family read stories to me at night time and I became familiar with many different authors and characters in books. These ranged from ‘The Gruffalo’ to ‘Peter Rabbit’ and ‘Paddington Bear’. As I grew older I began to find reading harder but loved listening to stories so I listened to audiobooks at night time; allowing for my language to develop and for my to improve my understanding of speech, talking, listening and develop my imagination.

 

In school I learnt how to write through a booklet containing each letter in the alphabet in large text. You would then trace over the letter and each line it became smaller in order to improve our dexterity. Other ways of improving my writing and sentence structure was through telling my teacher what I wanted to write and she would originally write it in a yellow felt-tip.  Then I would go over it myself afterwards- this was useful to learn how letters linked together in different orders depending on the words.

As I progressed in school, reading comprehension became more important. At the school I went to we used SRA, where you would read a story and answer the questions, each time you would be closer to increasing the levels and progressing.

 

Throughout my learning journey, these were a few ways in which i improved my listening, talking, reading and writing skills.