This week we discussed at risk behaviours and effects on society. At first, we had a quiz which was to do with the life expectancies of both genders. The average life expectancy of a woman is 81.1 years and a man is 77.1. These can be varied due to behavioural and hereditary reasons. We also discussed the most common reasons of death in adult lives which are diet, smoking, alcohol and inactivity. Poverty can also effect this. We then discussed the need for change. We discussed in groups whether we thought that Scotland was healthy or not. Motor crashes, suicide and unintentional injuries are amongst the most common deaths of young people.
We also read a paper on the ‘Glasgow Effect’. This discusses why equally deprived UK places have different health outcomes. Glasgows main problems are suicide, alcohol and drugs.
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RELIGION, SOCIETY AND DIVERSITY 2 – Unchurched Spirituality
We learned about more aspects of religion and focused on ‘unchurched’ spirituality. Before the lecture, I had never heard of the term ‘unchurched’ spirituality so I was interested in learning more about it. This means a type of spirituality that is not related with an organised religion. We also discussed more on how religion and culture are connected, both positively and negatively. I thought it was interesting to find out different aspects of certain religions, for example, the refusal of medical treatments due to certain beliefs. We also discussed more theorists such as Max Weber, Karl Marx and Bruce Lincoln. To understand the theorists and their findings, I will have to research more and read up on them as I still don’t have a full understanding. I believe this module is expanding my knowledge and giving me a better understanding that there is a larger range of religions and beliefs in the world than I actually know of. This will help me when I become a teacher as I can develop my understanding of religion and have an open mind and non-bias views which is important for teachers in a classroom environment.
Religion, Society and Diversity 1.
The first lecture of Society and Lifestyles really showed me that there is a lot more to society and religion than I know. Although the class was filled with a lot of new information, I was certainly kept engaged throughout. Throughout the day, I gained a lot of new knowledge. We discussed the meaning of religion and sociology which helped me to grasp further information. We also covered different types of religion, some theorists who discuss religion and society in their work and the functions of religion. For a study task, we were to pick a theorist and look more into their work. I picked Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish theorist who was known as the father of anthropology. Malinowski went to Melanesia to study a native culture for many years. When he established his findings, he was known as one of the most important anthropologists of that time. After the lecture, I found out that there are many different types of religion and how close religion and society are connected. Many people around the world have different outlooks on what religion actually is. For example, historians believe that religion is a series of events due to beliefs, or a sociologist sees religion as an agreed way of looking at something. I feel although I party struggled on understanding all the theorists and their beliefs however, with some more research on those, I shall have a better understanding. The lecture has shown me that throughout schools, pupils may not be learning as much about religion as they potentially should be. I do understand how parents may not want their children influenced in schools by teaching religion as it is of course their child’s own decision. However, I do feel that if religion was taught more in schools, there could be more respect shown towards others and their religion. I believe their would be a positive effect as the pupils would be learning more into different cultures and would understand why certain religions do what they do.
Reflections on placement.
I attended Stanley Primary School in Ardrossan for my week placement in BA1. The school has 444 pupils and I was lucky enough to be able to work with a range of ages and pupils from various backgrounds. The school has four main aims: respect, commitment, caring and courage. This was shown to me through the communication of teachers and pupils. The school used more active learning with the junior stages to keep them engaged and to keep the lesson in context, whereas the senior stages were using more textbooks and worksheets which still worked effectively in learning.
Throughout the week, I interacted with colleagues in the classroom and the staffroom. I learned how much planning actually goes into teaching as usually in the staffroom, teachers would discuss their lessons plans or new ways to keep a lesson in context. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to take small groups of pupils from P1, P3 and P7, and work with them, This showed me that as a teacher you need to change your wording with different ages and how to keep pupils focused on their task. In my self-evaluation, I have identified my areas in which I need to work on, such as eye contact.
I believe I had some strengths which I have identified in my self-evaluation. I kept the attention of the pupils by speaking with a loud, clear voice and also having an open body language, whilst making myself seen to all the pupils in the group. For example, whilst I was helping a group of Primary 1 pupils, I had to speak clearly and articulate my words as we were practising phonics and writing the letters. I got the pupils to repeat what I said, to ensure they were listening to me and understanding the work correctly. I also think another strength of mine was being enthusiastic with the younger pupils. I would praise those who answered, for example, my maths questions correctly. If the answer was wrong, I would still keep a positive tone and ask them to rethink their answer. I think this kept the younger pupils motivated, rather than bluntly telling them their answer was wrong.
I identified many areas of improvement throughout my placement. I need to keep all pupils involved, rather than one pupil answering the question each time. I could do so by having the pupils names on sticks and picking them out. This would also keep the pupils listening and engaged as they would always have the chance to answer the questions given. In my peer-assessment, it’s been highlighted that I need to avoid using small ‘filler’ words such as ‘ehm’, ‘like’ etc. This could be distracting to the pupils and make them less focused on the statement that i’m trying to get across. I also have realised that I need to work on eye-contact when I’m teaching pupils. This will also keep them focused on what you’re saying and give them the sense of being more involved.
Overall, I had a great experience being out on placement and learned a lot of new techniques and ways of teaching from staff. Also, I have identified my weaknesses and my strengths. I need to learn to keep all the pupils involved by asking a variety of questions, making sure that everyone is getting the chance to answer questions and share their opinions. I also need to be more authoritative as some of the Primary 7 pupils were quite chatty with me at times, which they would not have been like with their class teacher. I also realised that I can keep the attention of the pupils by having an open body language and speaking with the correct volume.
