Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

Going on trips in social studies

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This morning myself and my friend took a trip to the RRS Discovery Boat Dundee. I went there with two aims in mind; to learn more about the history of Dundee and to evaluate what it would be like to take a class there.

As a child, I remember visiting the Discovery Boat multiple times however I had absolutely no idea about the history behind it. I was amazed to learn about the journeys the boat has been on and really liked the way the exhibition led you through time from construction, to the first expedition, it’s life after the expedition and how it came back to Dundee today. The exhibition was extremely informative and described many aspects relating to the boat and its expeditions such as what they ate during the expedition, the conditions in Antarctica and the types of studies they carried out there. All of these subtopics had my teacher mind spinning and I began to consider what a topic based around the Discovery Boat would involve. I feel this topic has links with many other subject areas and therefore could easily be covered over a whole term. This fits in with the Interdisciplinary Learning Approach discussed in Curriculum for Excellence Briefing 4; “Learning in different subject or curricular areas is used to explore a theme.” (Scottish Government, 2012).

Examples of possible cross-curricular links:

  • History – Dundee’s role in ship making and what other ways we used/use the river.
  • – What type of food and clothes they had back then. (SOC 1-02a, SOC 2- 03a)
  • Geography – The path the discovery took to reach Antarctica, the climate in Antarctica and how it is being impacted by global warming ( SOC 2- 08a, SOC 2- 12a, SOC 2-14a)
  • Technology and Design – The construction of the boat (TCH 2-09a, TCH 2-10a)
  • Literacy – Writing diary entries about what it was like to be on the boat (ENG 2-27a)
  • Skills – researching, note taking, comparing and contrasting, reflecting, presenting.

(Scottish Government, 2009)

As mentioned, I previously knew little about the RRS Discovery, therefore, it was not until I had been through the whole exhibition and engaged with the resources that I felt I had a full understanding of what it was all about.  On reflection, this made me realise that without previous knowledge the children may not be able to piece the story together themselves and might not get as much out of the experience. Therefore, I think the visit would be best to come during the topic rather than at the beginning. This will allow the teacher to give the pupils some background knowledge on the topic and gather what the pupils would like to learn more on. Pickford, Gardner and Jackson (2013) call this a deductive approach to fieldwork, where pupils make predictions and generate thoughts about the topic which are then answered during the fieldwork. Whilst at the visitor’s centre, I came across a book which tells the tale of the Discovery Boat and its journey. I think this would be a good way to introduce the topic to the pupils as hopefully the story would spark curiosity, imagination and inspiration while giving some background knowledge.

I then moved onto thinking about what activities I would plan for pupils during the visit. Some reading, such as Hoodless (2008) discusses giving pupils free range to explore the museum how they like. However, I felt there was a lot of information in the museum and if pupils were not focused, they may not get the most out of it. I thought of splitting the class into ‘specialist explorer groups’ where each group would have a specific area to research. Pupils would then report their information back to the class once back at school. Turner – Bisset (2005) discuss that this literacy aspect may put pressure on pupils and take the fun out of a visit. They suggest allowing pupils to record their information in various formats such as pictures, videos and sound clips. This is something I would definitely take into consideration.

Along with this, I feel it would be beneficial for pupils to do a personal piece of work when they returned to school too. This could involve pupils putting themselves in an explorer’s shoes and reflecting on how they think they would feel. I found the experience very moving and inspiring therefore I think this would work well.

Finally, I considered the risks of the trip. Firstly, if you were an inner-city school you may walk to the centre. This would involve crossing and walking along some very busy roads. Therefore, the need for high vis vests, what adult- pupil ratio is required and the route would need to be pre-investigated. Although, if pupils were to be getting a bus to the centre, the road outside is still very busy. This may be something I would discuss with pupils before getting off the bus. Once indoors the centre is very enclosed with fences around the whole outdoor area. This is good as it would stop pupils wandering off. The centre is also small meaning it is easier to keep an eye on pupils.

Overall my visit to the Discovery Boat was very beneficial for me as a teacher. I learned a lot about the city I live in and how the 18/1900’s was a period of ground-breaking expeditions to Antarctica; a place people back then knew so little about. This will really help my own professional knowledge. I also learned how to conduct a pre-visit and evaluate places.  I considered when is best to carry out a trip, what activities are suitable and what risks need to be considered.

While walking around the exhibition I also had myself in a leaner’s shoes. I found going to the Discovery a very exciting experience, much like how I felt whenever I went on a school trip as a child. The exhibition included lots of interactive pieces and appealed to lots of learning styles, for example the 4D Cinema. The exhibition was laid out in such a way that felt like you were part of the expedition through dressing up and handling equipment. Due to this array of hands-on learning I can see how this would help consolidate knowledge learned in the classroom.

Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to speak to the education officers at the centre however the website details the variety of resources the centre can offer for schools (Dundee Heritage Trust, 2018). This is something I would definitely draw upon as it may bring in more child aimed experiences and the staff will be able to give pupils more in-depth subject knowledge.

References

Global Citizenship

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Today we had our first lecture on the third part of Social Studies ‘People in Society, Economy and Business’ and focussed on the idea of what it is to be a ‘Global Citizen’.

To me, a global citizen is someone who is aware how their actions can impact other people and holds the values of respect and diversity.

As an activity we watched a clip from the Paddington movie where you see Paddington meeting the Brown family for the first time. We were then to pick a theme from this scene and develop an activity you could use in the classroom. Paddington has found himself homeless and is sitting in the train station wondering his next move when the Brown family get off their train. Mr Brown makes assumptions about Paddington straight away and says things such as ‘stranger danger’, ‘keep your eyes down’ ,’ he’s probably selling something’ and is not happy when his wife goes back to approach Paddington. He then continues to be hostile towards Paddington as he explain how he came to be homeless. Therefore I choose to look at the theme of making judgements and ignorance.

I brainstormed the various ways we can make judgements in society. For example about: homeless people, refugees, people of different nationalities and race, criminals, celebrities and politicians. I then began to think about why we may hold these judgements, for example influence from the media and our family. My activity idea involved presenting pupils with a photo of different people in society and get them to write down the words that come to mind. As a class we would then discuss, challenge and begin to explain where these ideas have come from. The main outcome of the lesson would be to encourage pupils to be critcal about what they are told by the media and other people in their lives before making up their own opinion with he values of respect and diversity in mind.

I took this further at home by watching a Ted talk about something called the ‘Ignorance Project’ conducted by GapMinder. The project conducted studies on peoples answers to stereotypical questions and then analysed why people were giving the stereotypical answers. They discussed how all we see on the news is the bad and we forget that the majority of the society/people/the world are not experiencing this ‘bad’. They suggested the way to lessen these judgements is to teach positively, that the ‘bad’ is getting better. For example poverty levels have reduced, defences against natural disasters are increasing and that refugees bring valuable skills.

Ted Talk: https://www.gapminder.org/ignorance/ (Accessed 1/10/18).

Overall I found this lesson extremely motivating and helpful. I feel I have benefitted as learner by taking a minute to challenge the judgements I may personally make which will in-turn positively impact my professional values. While I have also developed an understand of how to teach a Global Citizenship lesson and have gathered some useful resources for this.

 

 

The Child’s Voice

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In this weeks lecture we looked at the child’s voice in the classroom, how this can be incorporated and the advantages of this.

Arguments for encouraging children’s voice in the classroom. 

  • Stimulates development of skills ( accountability, resilience , confidence, turn taking, debating )
  • Children can bring in their personal experiences, making the learning more relevant to them
  • Children can be ‘co-teachers’ and can help other children understand concepts using ‘child’s language’
  • This also benefits the ‘co-teacher’ as by talking through a concept it will help consolidate it in their own learning
  • Children can steer direction of learning, which in turn increases motivation
  • Can add knowledge the teacher didn’t know
  • Shows the child that their voice is valued which can be vital in relation to child welfare issues

(Catling, 2014)

How can we encourage children’s voice? 

  • Involve them in planning of new topics
  • Set up projects or clubs and make them leaders and decision makers
  • Help them develop a critical eye and skills on forming arguments
  • Organise debates
  • Organise ‘co- teaching’

(Cartling, 2014)

Arguments against children’s voice in the classroom (with solutions)

  • Not all children are able to articulate their voice – Give them other ways to be heard, eg drawing, acting etc.
  • Puts unnecessary pressure and stress on the child, especially with decision making – ensure that participation is voluntary.
  • Could develop a lack of respect for parents, teachers, elders – ensure that rules are in place for these discussion times.

(UNICEF, n.d)

How does a teacher’s educational philosophy influence the implementation of approaches that encourage children’s voice? 

  • Teachers can struggle with giving away full control as they feel it is their job, however if the child does not feel their voice is not actually going to make a difference they will lose motivation to contribute again. Therefore it is not enough to just listen to the child, we must allow them to steer decisions too.
  • It is part of teachers philosophy to be the educator, however in order to get the most out of the child’s voice we must sometimes be ‘co- learners’ and learn with the child.
  • As teachers we are so busy and sometimes go for the quickest method of learning. However, so much more can be learnt for example during classroom discussions.

(Cartling, 2014)

If I am honest I have never put much thought into the role of children’s voice in the classroom, however now I feel I have a much greater understand of the benefits and how I can implement this in my practice.

References

  • Cartling, S (2014) ‘ Giving younger children voice in primary geography: empowering pedagogy – a personal perspective’, International Research in Geographical and Environment Education, 23(4), pp. 350-372.
  • UNICEF (n.d) Every Childs Right To Be Heard. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/french/adolescence/files/Every_Childs_Right_to_be_Heard.pdf (Accessed 18/09/18)

 

 

 

Reflecting on semester 1

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Being the first year to complete the ‘Values; self, society and the professions’ module I feel I have been put in a strong position to undertake my first professional placement in April. Previous to this I feel I was very naïve to the impact values had on education. Values are at the heart of every decision we make and therefore teachers must hold and demonstrate good values in order for the pupils to develop these too.

The module went on to highlight the relationship between your personal and your professional values suggesting within teaching they are both very similar. Professional values are at the heart of the SPR therefore I knew it would be vital for me to establish my values before my first placement. This was my first step towards becoming a reflective practitioner.

Finding your values involves deep reflection on many aspects of your life including your; upbringing, friends, religion and so on. To add to this your values are also constantly changing with every new experience.

After establishing my values I found reflection was going to be fundamental if I were to succeed as a teacher. Teachers must also become Life Long Learners who constantly reflect and evaluate their practice in order to improve. Teaching is not a practice you can simply master and be done with. It is ever changing and therefore you must also constantly strive to develop.

During my placement I will begin to experience a new form of reflection where others (my class teacher and tutor) will also be reflecting on and evaluating my practice. This will bring me many challenges and benefits such learning to cope with constructive criticism while ensuring I take every piece of advice on board. However, despite this, I can’t wait to get started!

Dance… love it or hate it?

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Friday mornings dance workshop gave me a whole new perspective on the subject I once did anything to avoid. I have no previous experience of dance and always thought it was not for me. This, combined with the fear of making a fool of myself left me ‘hating it’ throughout my childhood.

However, after Friday’s workshop I began to realise I can no longer be the child scared of making a fool of themselves. I need to be an adult; A teacher that inspires children with full confidence in the subject. The workshop highlighted to me the importance of this subject in the curriculum. I believe if dance had been part of the curriculum when I was in primary school this would have given me the chance to try it and learn some basics.  By the time it became part of the curriculum when I was in secondary school many children had thrived in outside school dance clubs and I still had no experience. This has motivated as a future teacher to give every child a chance to try out dancing and inspire them continue it into later life.

But why bother you may ask?

After doing some reading on the ‘Get Scotland Dancing’ campaign and the Curriculam For Excellence Subject outcomes and experiences I have found dance is a huge part of Scotlands culture and brings in many important aspects of a child’s development. First, it helps the child develop their creativity through choreographing and demonstrating their feelings and ideas through a different media. Second, it is a very good and fun activity that can help towards children reaching their 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Finally, dance is a very social activity that builds on teamwork, cooperation and friendship all of which are very important for good mental wellbeing.

This new information got me motivated and inspired to teach dance in a successful and exciting way to all children. However, I am obviously facing some challenges due to my lack of experience. Therefore I am going to make a professional commitment to improving my knowledge of dance and my ability to teach it.  I plan on doing this through more reading, watching dance performances and fully participating in the dance workshops. I thoroughly enjoy physical activity therefore I know I can do this in order to make me a better teacher in the future.

 

 

Personal and Professional Values and Commitment- online unit 3

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This task asked me to look at my own personal values and how they motivated me to choose this career path.

Questions like this are never easy for me……having to look beneath my first response I give when people ask me ‘why do you want to be a teacher?’. However, I see the importance in understanding my values before I enter my first professional practice.

I guess my first and core value is quality; in all aspects of life. However, in relation to teaching I believe (and so do the Human Rights) that everyone has the right to a good education regardless of their background. Therefore, I knew that this would be one of my core values in the classroom; that I would strive to ensure no child would be subject to stereotypes within education. However, when I began to look at this deeper I realised I couldn’t treat every child equally otherwise those disadvantaged would still be below others. This brings me onto my second value, the importance of equity. I realise now this is what really motivated me to become a teacher. Equality is all good and well in many situations but when you look at education equity is what is important. Equality in the classroom is vital to ensure individual’s abilities are not under estimated due to their race, gender, religion or social background etc. However, when looking at the way you educate children methods cannot all be the same. This would not be giving each child an equal chance to achieve. Here’s an example; teaching an English lesson exactly the same to every child is equality but not taking into consideration those in the class whose first language is not English means these children do not have a fair chance at achieving what the rest will. I want to ensure that throughout my career I stick by my value of equity and not only does every child have an equal opportunity to be educated but that all children have a truly equal chance to achieve. The picture below describes these concepts well…

Equality Versus Equity

There are also other values that I see as fundamental to me personally and in my professional career such as honesty, openness, wisdom and team work. Each of these are vital in teaching and I know my values and skill set will be exercised in this profession unlike others. Finally, the value sharing is very important to me; the sharing of knowledge.

Described above are my personal values yet it has been shown these can all be used in a professional setting. As I consider this more I am finding that within teaching there is a very thin line between personal and professional values. Obvious personal values such as religious views or stereotypical beliefs cannot be discussed within the classroom however the GTCS Standards For Registration outline the core values in teaching and much of these are personal. They include: Social justice, Integrity, Trust and Respect and Professional Commitment. This demonstrates that personal values are extremely important within teaching and I must continue to reflect on my own throughout my studies and career.

Moving on from this the final task brought everything together and asked me to look back on my weaker skills I identified in unit 1. I was then asked to make a personal commitment to developing these marking the beginning of my CPD (Continual Professional Development).

My commitment is to develop my academic skills mainly my reflective writing, spelling and punctuation skills. I plan on doing this by reading continuously especially reflective pieces and essay writing skills books. I look forward to re- evaluating this a year from now and making another commitment.

Identifying my Skills and Abilities- Online unit 1

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After completing Activity 1 and 2 I feel I have a better understanding of my strengths and the areas I need to work on. The completed activities can be found in my  Personal audit and transferable skills page located along the top of the blog.

The discussion task ‘What would you say are the most important skills/attributes/qualities we need to develop for successful academic study, and why?’  helped me realise the different ways in which I can use my skills.

Here is what I wrote…

Setting personal goals: I believe this is key to academic study. By setting your own goals you are able to deal with a large amount of tasks in a more organised approach and become motivated to achieve them to a high standard. It also helps you keep good time for example when working towards an assignment submission.

Building social networks: I see this as a useful tool in academic study as it allows you to learn out with your lectures. By making friends and talking with others on your course you are able to share knowledge and opinions on subjects. This skill is also useful when working within groups during your academic study.

Take notes: This is an important skill during academic study at university. Not only does taking notes give you the opportunity to refer back to a subject area it also helps you retain the information more  than just listening does. There are also many useful pieces of information said during a lecture that are not on the Power Point Slides. Having the ability to listen for this and take notes will widen your knowledge.

Evaluate information: In assignments or any piece of academic writing it is not enough to simply state knowledge you must be able to evaluate this to gain higher marks. For example demonstrating how the information/ knowledge is useful or relevant to the question.

Participate in discussions: I believe this final skill is key to successful academic study as it allows you to broaden your knowledge. By participating in discussions you are able to get others view points on your opinions and this can be very useful to use in your writing. Contributing in discussions will also help to consolidate your learning on the subject. If you are able to discuss it this shows your understand it.

Overall I feel this task has been very useful and I know I will refer back to it throughout my academic study.

 

GIRFEC – The debate on the Named Person

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In this evaluative post I am hoping to reflect on Thursday’s class debate and come to my own conclusion on the issue.

GIRFEC (Getting it right for every child) is built on 3 main aspects. The wellbeing wheel, The Named Person and the Child Plan. While I could sit and talk about GIRFEC all day there is one key area I will be focussing on….Is the Named Person a positive or are there too many negatives???

If you would like to find out more information about GIRFEC follow this link – http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/gettingitright/what-is-girfec

Before evaluating the positives and negatives it is important to understand the Named Persons role. Every child in Scotland up to the age of 18 is to have a Named Person who they have regular contact with. From the age of 0-5 this is usually the child’s health visitor and once the child starts school it becomes a Guidance or Head Teacher. The Named Person is to be the first point of contact for anyone, including the child, who has any worries or concerns about the child. The Named Person is also there to provide advice to parents or children and help them get into contact with other services if needed. Finally they have the important role of getting into contact with the Lead Professional to put into place the ‘Child Plan’ if there are serious concerns about the child’s wellbeing.  Many welcome this introduction and have no problem with it but on the other hand a large amount of people have found various negatives and fail to support it.

So, here we go… I’ll begin by summarising some of the negative aspects I found.

  • The child may not like or want to speak to their Named Person therefore problems still could go unnoticed. There is no element of choice for the child, the Named Person should be someone the child chooses and that they are comfortable with. If this were the case it could be argued some problems could be identified and acted on quicker as the child would be more likely to report them.
  • In a primary school of 300+ children It will be very difficult for the Named Person (usually Head Teacher) to know every child well enough to be able to identify problems especially with quiet children. It is also a lot of work for the Head Teacher who already has various tasks and some argue they cannot do the job properly when they are so busy.
  • The are many gaps in the scheme. For example children who move around a lot can be without a Named Person for sometime until they are settled and even then they may find it hard to build a relationship with them. Also when a young person leaves school – which they can at 16- they are left with no Named Person and this can be very vulnerable time for them.

However there are positives…

  • The named person is someone the child is able to speak to about problems at home if they are unable to speak to family. This reduces the chances of problems at home going unnoticed.
  • Some also argue the child and the Named Person do not always need to be friends it is simply an extra person watching over them.

Overall it is obvious the negatives out weigh the positive but this does not mean the Named Person scheme is not a good idea, it simply means it needs improving. Having an extra person aside from parents to look after every child is never going to be a bad thing. In practice it should mean problems are identified quicker and solved sooner. However it cannot be fully effective until the negatives listed above are addressed.

 

Workshop- Values: Self,Society and The Professions

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This workshop was one of my first therefore I was apprehensive about what to expect. Not long after we had sat down we were back up again and split into groups; I was in group 3. Each group was given an envelope with materials in it and we were told to make a product for a university student. I thought to myself, I’ve done this before, it’s just another team building exercise, nothing new. Oh I was wrong….

Each group was asked to present a brief to the class of what they were going to make and explain the resources they were given. I decided to take the plunge and present my group’s brief to the class; a scary but beneficial move. As my confidence grew throughout the talk I was glad I did it.

After all the groups had presented it came to light that two groups (1&2) had far more resources than the remaining groups (3&4). I did begin to wonder why…Until I realised we only had 15 minutes left to create something exciting out of 3 bits of paper, some blue tac and a pen!

We knew we weren’t doing well, we could feel the disappointment of our lecturer. While other groups received praise we went unnoticed and began to loose motivation. We observed group 1 receive encouragement and positive comments on their wide variety of materials while group 4 were discouraged and told they were limited in what they could achieve. After a frantic 15 minutes the exercise came to an end and it was time to present our masterpieces.

Group 1 & 2 received smiles, attention and positive comments about their projects while 3&4 received the opposite. After my group had presented we were simply told to sit down with no feedback. It then came to group 4 who weren’t even given attention, never mind feedback! Our lecturer was checking her watching and gazing out the window throughout their whole presentation.

Anyways ; Surprise, surprise, group 1 were the winners.

It was obvious by this point it was deliberate the way the groups had been treated and the resources they were given. It was to teach us about inequality in todays society and how it can feel when you are in direct competition with those who have so much more than you. It was also to demonstrate how important and valuable encouragement can be. I found myself thankful I was in one of the disadvantaged groups, I was able to experience and reflect on how this felt first hand. I realised; We’re university students and we still got grumpy and a little upset at the way we are treated for that hour workshop; therefore its hard to imagine how a child who faces that everyday must feel.

This workshop taught me a valuable lesson that I will carry for the rest of my Career. Inequality, in most cases, reduces motivation to achieve yet motivation is key to escaping inequality. Therefore by doing your best to treat everyone equally this motivation could be increased. This rule is extremely important in the class room. No matter the child’s background I will strive to ensure every child has the motivation to achieve; whatever this may mean for them as an individual.