Tag Archives: primary teaching

End of Module Reflection

Throughout this 1st semester, I have enjoyed the HWB module. It has been good to develop my knowledge & understanding in each of the different areas within HWB and also with some aspects relating to my ongoing thesis, it has enabled me to make connections and hopefully deepen my discussions later.

The module as a whole has enabled me to look further into specific areas which are of interest to me & those I did not have high confidence in delivering within the classroom. Working with others during the inputs has enabled me to further develop my communication skills as well as skills such as listening and empathy. Furthermore, working with others on some of the tasks has made the experience more enjoyable. The motivation & encouragement we provided to each other was invaluable. I feel I have learnt a lot from them as professionals, sharing ideas and thoughts about many different issues – seeing different perspectives and encouraging me to develop my own thinking.

I decided to do the tasks within this blog/portfolio for a variety of reasons. Firstly, we had 3 compulsory ones which had to be completed and thereafter the rest were up to us to make our own choices about which ones we were going to complete. I chose to do the vast majority of the tasks based on what I felt I had an interest in but also, I chose some which I thought would challenge me. For example, the tasks within the areas of Relationships, Sexual Health & Parenthood and Mental Health & Wellbeing. I believe I felt these would challenge me due to not having much experience in the areas, therefore aiding my professional development.

For the most part, these tasks have been enjoyable to complete. It was a continuous process throughout the module with the majority of tasks being completed before the end of October. I feel that by doing them throughout the module it has taken some stress away from the completion of the assignment as a whole. I chose to do this portfolio as a blog on Glow due to feeling like I wanted to make it a bit more interactive rather than just word documents on a USB. In addition, I wanted to again challenge myself but also make a start on building a resource bank/reflection for my future career & professional development. Having this online and on Glow means I will always have access to the information as this is a system teachers continue to utilise in practice. Furthermore, Thorburn (2014:207) also states, that

“teachers are urged to share examples of their practice across the Glow intranet network; an online resource platform designed to help create communities of practice and to offer practitioners new opportunities to share and collaborate”.

Having the opportunity to experience the Glow system before going out into practice, I feel more confident in using it and recognise the advantages of such a tool.

Although it has been good to experience this tool, it has been very time consuming & at times stressful. After completing each individual task and then having to place it on here & edit it to make the blog posts more engaging took a lot longer than I had first anticipated. I hope that the time & effort can be seen throughout.

I remember getting asked whether doing this module has influenced my own health & wellbeing. On reflection of the module, I would say it has – some positive, some negative. The vast amount of information, knowledge and resources which I have gathered has been great in giving me the confidence to go out and teach all aspects of HWB. It has also encouraged me to think about areas, issues & topics I have never really considered due to a lack of opportunities to experience them in university and whilst out on practice. In addition, I feel that it has made me want to continue making positive changes (ie. exercise more, eat better etc.) in my own life. However, uni life does make this slightly difficult at times!!

Unfortunately, it has been a very demanding module at a time when thesis is also very demanding which has been slightly difficult to balance. HWB is such a huge curricular area and there is SO much to learn and take in that it is impossible to know everything. But like any module/assignment, it has been a stressful process to ensure quality & quantity.

I have to admit that completing this portfolio has been quite a challenge and I have taken a lot of time & effort to (hopefully) make it the best it could be! I do feel a sense of pride & achievement after completing this module & portfolio as I believe I have taken myself out of my comfort zone many a times to complete tasks in lectures and also in this portfolio, for example making videos. This is something I still don’t feel completely comfortable with but you’ve got to give something a go at least once! The digital skills that have been developed, from creating the blog to editing videos & uploading files are also going to assist me in my future career & professional development.

The TDT Task Sheet & Assessment Criteria states that a minimum of 30hrs is to be completed out with class. I feel I have far exceeded the 30hrs due to:

completion of set tasks (compulsory/non-compulsory)
extra activities which I believe have been of benefit to me professionally
time taken to create and utilise the blog to make it more engaging to include short reflections, pictures, videos, websites & documents.

Overall, I have enjoyed the module. I just wish there had been more opportunities throughout university to build such a bank of resources as we have only covered small amounts. With HWB
being a responsibility of all, alongside Literacy & Numeracy, I don’t feel that there is such an emphasis on it in university. This is something which I feel should be incorporated more due to many practitioners leaving with very little knowledge/awareness as they may have not chosen it for either their 3rd/4th year elective. I am glad that I made this decision as I now feel more confident in delivering lessons in specific areas which I previously was slightly daunted by.

I hope that you enjoy reading the posts and that my commitment, time and efforts have been portrayed!

🙂

PS. if the videos don’t play first time, refreshing the page should make them work!

Reference:

Thorburn, M. (2014) ‘Educating for Well-being in Scotland: Policy and Philosophy, Pitfalls and Possibilities’, Oxford Review of Education, 40(2), pp. 206-222.

Mindfulness

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Within the TDT Task booklet there was an activity on Mindfulness. I decided not to complete this task as others were of more interest and I had already completed a number of tasks to make headsp up the 30hrs. However, throughout the module I have been interested in what mindfulness is and thought I would give it a go. I had already downloaded an app ‘Headspace’ ages ago but never actually used so this is the app I decided to try out.

After signing up and creating an account, I began the free trial activities available. It is a set of 10 which you’re encouraged to do on a daily basis. This however proved to be quite challenging to actually do. I felt that when I did it in the morning, it made me more tired and wanting to have a nap so I decided to use it at night, as a wind down from the day. I found this actually helped me drop off to sleep a bit easier, especially as some days were quite busy and stressful & it can take a wee while to switch off! MBSR

This is however something I would like to give another go and try to do it everyday as sometimes I would forget. I would also like to read up about it and if possible see/implement it in practice as I have heard a lot of positive things about doing Mindfulness within the classroom and the benefits it has on children and young people.

🙂

‘Snapshot’ Assignment Feedback

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Write a 250 word assignment (2 hrs)

Using the assignment criteria, write 250 words of your assignment, complete with references and bibliography. You will then write a self-assessment of your short piece of work and include this with your mini snapshot essay. You will then share this with your critical peer and give written feedback to each other on your work.

Evidence: Your written 250 word assessment. In addition you should add in your self-assessment feedback and your peer assessment feedback.

Personal Thoughts:

This was a difficult task to complete. I don’t often share any assignment work I have produced due to my lack of confidence and not wanting to pass on incorrect info or scare someone if they haven’t written about something I have or vice versa. Also, this task was a challenge to try and fit in. When it comes to writing an assignment, I like to lock myself away in my room and just get on with it!

In addition, sharing a piece of approx 250 words, that I felt happy with or that will even be used within the final assignment was a slight challenge. I was fully prepared for this and welcomed some feedback, positive/negative. I gave my justification for choosing this particular section and also what else I was hoping to discuss within the assignment.

I personally found this task very difficult to do – giving someone feedback on their academic work when I don’t feel like I am in a position to do so. For example, I don’t feel qualified enough to do this. I also believe everyone has different ways of writing an assignment, taking a different spin every time which also makes it a challenge to give some constructive criticism/feedback further than “looks good, keep going”. I feel we did manage to give each other something that we may want to look at and work on however this was quite an uncomfortable task to do.

My word count is slightly over due to in text references and not wanting to stop half way through a sentence.

A copy of the 250 words & self/peer feedback can be viewed as a word document –

Assignment Snapshot Task

HWB Presentation

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Develop a Presentation about HWB research; carry out a self-assessment of your work (3 hrs).

Working with a critical friend (peer), each person present five slides (must be pictures) that can be used to summarise a piece of research or a policy focus in the wider area of HWB. The pair should decide and identify the assessment criteria that have to be used. This should be displayed in your e-portfolio. Write up a self-assessment of your presentation before you present it to your critical friend. Present your presentation to your critical friend and collect detailed feedback from your peer.

Think about – are you meeting the agreed assessment criteria, have you practised your presentation, does it have impact, are you getting across the key points.

Evidence: A copy of your PowerPoint presentation. In addition, you should add your self-assessment feedback based on the assessment criteria. A copy of assessment criteria should be added.

Personal Thoughts:

This activity was quite time consuming to do. Thinking of the wider aspect of HWB, I wanted to focus on a policy/research document which hadn’t been considered in class. This led to the presentation focusing on the policy document ‘Achieving Our Potential’ which aims to tackle poverty and income inequality. The issue of poverty is something which we did look at in class however this was more based around the context of the attainment gap. Throughout the presentation, my aim was to:

discuss what poverty is, the causes, how it’s measured whilst giving statistics in relation to Scotland and also consider child poverty
discuss income inequality and its effects, also the notion of ‘working poverty’
discuss the government policy and it’s aims
consider the policy in relation to others, eg. Early Years Framework; early intervention etc.
emphasise there are many strategies/initiatives being implemented to tackle these issues in order for Scotland to become a fairer, healthier, more prosperous place to live – increasing the overall wellbeing of all those living in the nation; one alone will not achieve anything

Before carrying out the presentation, we decided on a criteria which we would self/peer assess against. Looking back, I believe we could have made this more specific however at the time of creating it we were unsure of what we should have. This may have helped develop the presentation further. In terms of practising the presentation, I feel this was something we lacked. Although we felt we knew our topics quite well and given the environment which it was presented (library) in, less reliance on notes may have improved the overall quality. I feel the chosen images, on each slide, were relevant to the current area being discussed – the audience recognised how they related to the topic.

By the end of the presentation, it was made clear that I had given clear and relevant information – focusing on key points – which is what I hoped I would do, enabling the audience to (potentially) learn something new, as I did with theirs. I found it challenging to be critical in my feedback however do feel I gave some constructive criticism to my peer.

The presentation can be viewed as a PowerPoint document –

HWB presentation

A copy of the self/peer assessment feedback sheet has been included –

Interview Opportunity!

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So last night, I was being a very good friend and helping out some fellow teachers do one of their Science Elective module tasks. This involved a group of us debating the issue of: Animal testing for medical purposes. The group was composed of Teaching students, Law students, a Maths student & a Mental Health Nursing student.

Before the debate, myself and few others on the science elective were heading along to the CafeScience event on Space at Avery & Co. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter the event as the venue had reached capacity. This was quite annoying as it was pouring with rain, cold and we had an hour and a half to spare before we said we’d meet for the debate…

Not to worry DUSA to the rescue!!

We headed along to Liar and got dry. Whilst waiting for the others to arrive, I thought this would be a great opportunity to ask my fellow teachers how confident they feel about going out into their probation year and future teaching career in delivering lessons on all areas of HWB. This was very spur of the moment so nobody was prepared, including myself, but it was interesting to get their perspective – especially because they have not undertaken the HWB elective in uni.

Although this was not a task set for the portfolio, I thought it would be interesting to do. Also due to my kindness of taking time out of writing my assignment to help them out, Niall & Laura were up for returning the favour in some way.

The interview can be viewed here and don’t worry, Laura doesn’t always have evil eyes!

Thanks to Laura Glass & Niall Ridgway (budding future scientists & primary teachers) 😀

Some pictures from throughout the debate –

Substance Misuse

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Collect a bag of objects that could be used to introduce a topic on substance misuse in second level CFE. Consider how you could use active teaching strategies and write a lesson outline. (2 hours)

Evidence: Write a lesson outline complete with Learning intentions, success criteria and assessment strategies. Include activities that you would be using during the learning.

Personal Thoughts:

Following the input on this topic, it was interesting to consider how substance misuse could be discussed within the classroom. As this activity is aimed at second level, I believe that a lot of discussion with children can occur. They are at an age where they may/may not know about substances however may come across something and experience it in their life. Ensuring that children and young people are informed of substance misuse, and/or use, enables them to make informed decisions and positive choices.

The attached pictures show the lesson which was prepared:

The mind map picture suggests objects we may be use within a classroom context (real/picture etc.)

Experience & Outcome: I understand the effect that a range of substances including tobacco and alcohol can have on the body. HWB 2-38a

We decided to make this activity active and engaging, getting the children to fully participate in order to develop their knowledge & understanding further. As Education Scotland (n.d) state, ‘Active learning is learning which engages and challenges children and young people’s thinking using real-life and imaginary situations’. This activity through having opportunities to look at and touch real objects therefore enables the activity & learning to have a more ‘real-life’ context.

Through opening up the discussion with children about what they already know about substances enables the teacher to gain an understanding of the pupils’ knowledge and encourages open communication within the classroom. Throughout the activity, the children should be encouraged to discuss what they believe the specific substance (each group has a few) to be, how it may be used and what effect it may have on the body. Following this discussion, the children must collaborate their individual ideas, decide and create a body outline poster stating where & what the effects of each substance may be. This will then enable each group to feedback to their peers.

Once each group has had an opportunity to feedback their ideas, the teacher can then work with the whole class to identify and discuss each substance provided. This can then also be displayed as a body outline poster with all of the discussed substances and their effects being highlighted. As a wee round off to the lesson, a short video clip could be played to highlight that any form of substance misuse doesn’t only affect you as an individual but also your family & those around you – this could then be a link to any following lesson(s) regarding substance misuse.

A short clip which could be used:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/ztmxfg8

Reference:

Education Scotland (no date) About Active Learning. Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/approaches/activelearning/about/what.asp (Accessed: 08 November 2015)

Closing the Attainment Gap

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Design a poster (3 hrs)

Design a poster on closing the attainment gap and how HWB can contribute to this. This poster should be of a high quality with typed print and pictures on A 3 sized paper. Posters will be shared with the class. For the portfolio, take a picture of the poster and include a bibliography.

Evidence: A photograph of your poster and a completed reference list.

Personal Thoughts:

For this task it required some background reading to be undertaken to inform ourselves about the attainment gap in Scotland. We then discussed what we had found out and how we think we should complete the task. We deliberated a variety of ideas and had a few plans however we soon realised that we had so many ideas about what is being done to close the gap, this would be what we displayed. After discussing how we felt HWB contributed, we acknowledged that it is like an umbrella; everything done is in relation to HWB. With HWB being a responsibility of all, closing the attainment gap is also viewed in this way. For the gap to close, everyone must work together to achieve the ambition of the government. The introduction of Policy is a major influence in closing the gap however, for it to be successful, teachers and schools need to be informed about ways in which they can implement effective strategies into their practice.

On reflection of the final product, I feel it could have been more engaging; with more colour and images & being less wordy. However due to working as a small group time was an issue for some. I do feel I could have potentially been more persistent in suggesting using my own resources (printer etc.) to enable this to be achieved however I recognise that working in a group, compromises have to made.

This was an enjoyable activity as it is an area of great interest to myself. I found that those I worked with had little/no knowledge of what the attainment gap is and what is being done to reduce it; this was therefore beneficial in allowing an opportunity to discuss the issue whilst informing others at the same time.

References:

The attached document is a reference list which was used in the initial research of ‘Closing the Attainment Gap’ before producing the poster –

Poster References

The Equality Game

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Learn to play ‘The Equality Game’ and organise a game with other members of the wider MA programme. Consider how you could use this in the classroom to promote fairness and build relationships. You will find more information about the game via the weblink below. Reflect on the appropriateness of this activity and decide how it links to HWB.

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jan/28/teach-students-equality-smarties

Evidence: Take some photos of your volunteer group and write a reflection on how this could be used in the classroom and impact it could have. Evaluate the enjoyment, effectiveness and impact of using this game using feedback from your volunteer group.

The Equality Game

This game is designed to ‘further critical discussion about the nature of equality, fair treatment, and who gets to define such standards.’

The attached video is just a short extract of the full game; later we also split the group into children & adults and added the concept of using money to pay for the sweets. Similar themes to those identified in the article by Arnold-Foster (2015) were raised in our discussion these included the idea that: equal happiness may not be the same as equal distribution. If you have earned your money you deserve to be rewarded for your hard work, however it might be hard to know whether a person has worked hard. Some people start off with more or less money depending on birth and this has nothing to do with hard work. Although our discussion did not reach this point, Arnold-Foster (2015) suggests that further discussion might lead to the idea that:

‘Smarties should still be shared out equally, irrespective of spending power.’ ‘Or perhaps there should be a minimum that everyone receives, with the lucky few being able to supplement his or her supply by buying extra?’

A lesson based around the game and the following experiences and outcomes could lead to further discussions, lessons and activities relating to money, poverty and social justice. For older children (upper school) current political topics such as the distribution of wealth or the cutting of tax credits and benefits could connect this game to a real-life context.

On reflection of our own experience of playing the game we felt that it could be an enjoyable and effective way to introduce topics such as fairness and wealth distribution. We felt that this activity could be used in a lesson built around the following experiences & outcomes from HWB:

Through contributing my views, time and talents, I play a part in bringing about positive change in my school and wider community. HWB 0-13a / HWB 1-13a / HWB 2-13a / HWB 3-13a / HWB 4-13a
As I explore the rights to which I and others are entitled, I am able to exercise these rights appropriately and accept the responsibilities that go with them. I show respect for the rights of others. HWB 0-09a / HWB 1-09a / HWB 2-09a / HWB 3-09a / HWB 4-09a

Personal Thoughts:

This was an interesting activity to try out. Unfortunately due to time constraints, at the time of writing this post, I was unable to get a volunteer group together to test it out. This therefore had implications on the results of the activity however a few of us improvised and did it together to gain some experience of it. The smarties were also replaced with minstrels however I don’t believe this influenced the activity itself.

To familiarise myself with the nature of the activity, I read the article which was provided (link above). I found this quite an easy read as it was simple to understand and clearly set out – due to the way in which newspaper articles are produced. After reading the article, I discussed the activity with a peer of mine to ensure we had both understood it clearly.

Following a discussion with some others in the module class, we decided that we would give it a go to enable us to experience the activity, even though it was not a blind volunteer group. I feel that due to this we were all aware of what the aim of the activity was and therefore almost knew the type of thing to say/outcome – influencing the discussion/end result.

With this taken in to consideration, I believe that if ‘The Equality Game’ was implemented in a classroom environment, with children, the response would’ve been very different. I would anticipate that there would have been much more discussion and disputes among the group about what they believe is fair. In relation to the effectiveness, I believe this type of activity encourages the children to have a voice and argue their point of view. It would also enable children to develop an understanding of other people’s viewpoints and formulate their own ideas. Encouraging healthy debates, in a controlled manner, enables each individual to develop many skills including communication, reasoning and acknowledgement of different perspectives.

I believe that this type of activity would be effective with any age group whom you may be working with. For example, if done with younger children it may challenge them slightly more due to them still being quite egocentric in their thinking. However, if done with older children, or even adults, the discussion may go more in depth and raise points about why they believe they are more worthy of more – eg. their job, money, status etc.

Participating in this activity myself was quite fun! However, knowing it was being filmed took me out of my comfort zone and I feel if it had not been getting filmed, I may have gotten more involved in debating the issue. This is something I quite enjoy; expressing my own opinion whilst engaging in quality dialogue with others offering differing viewpoints. Considering the other participants I feel that they may have been in a similar position.

I am hoping that I will be able to carry this activity out again BUT with a group of individuals who are unaware of the activity and therefore give a better insight to the effectiveness/impact. If possible, I hope to do this before the assignment hand-in date, however it is definitely something I would like to try out in my future career or even whilst out on my upcoming practice if possible/appropriate.

A short, edited, video clip of the activity can be viewed. The sound quality is quite poor due to the iPad being placed quite far away from the group –

Reference

Arnold-Foster, A. (2015) How I Teach Students About Equality: Only Smarties Have the Answer. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jan/28/teach-students-equality-smarties (Accessed: 05 November 2015)

Class Energisers

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Learn to do three class energisers (1 hour)

Energisers are a good technique for using during health and wellbeing lessons. Learn three energisers.

Reading: The Gamesters Handbook

Hard copies available in the library and online at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rPxz9BaBfDIC&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Evidence: Collect copies of your energisers and reflect on how you could use these effectively within the classroom

Personal Thoughts:

This activity was quite good fun to do as we were able to participate and try the activities out for ourselves. It provided us with an opportunity to have a wee break from just thinking and writing up tasks and actually have some ‘time-out’. There are a vast amount of activities which practitioners can use in order to engage children and young people. One activity came after going along to the ‘Chat Happy’ workshop and discussing different ways of aiding children & young people’s mental wellbeing – we felt this would be a good one to use as we all love a good laugh sometimes!

We decided on 3 activities and wrote them up, however came across some other ones which we thought were really good and active/engaging. Instead of writing these up we have attached links to them in the word document and also videoed one to show we gave it a go! This was quite a challenge for myself. I am very uncoordinated, have no sense of rhythm and struggle to do more than 1 thing at once BUT … I persevered and eventually managed to get the whole of it right (not caught on camera) but an almost perfect one was captioned! Whilst looking through the numerous videos, some of the expressions provided some humour; therefore a short clip has been produced to show the bumpy process we went through before finally feeling a huge sense of achievement in the activity! I think from the look on our faces at the end give an indication of how we felt …

The task can be viewed as a word document –

Energiser Activities

Bim Bum Fun!

Our attempt –

Captions from the making process –

Restorative Approaches 2

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Restorative approaches (2 hours)

Plan:

A series of three linked lessons to explore the concept of conflict and conflict resolution with a Primary 2 class.

Evidence – Write up a curriculum plan and identify learning intentions, success criteria, assessment, activities and resources.

Personal Thoughts:

This task was quite challenging as it was specific to early years and therefore the way in which it is carried out would have to be quite simple/easy vocab etc. However I feel through discussing all our ideas we began to form a better understanding of what we hoped the children would learn and then how. We recognised that in order for the children to achieve what we wanted them to learn (LI) it would be best to have the same LI for all 3 lessons. Again due to lack of experience in observing such a lesson being discussed/delivered whilst out on practice we found it slightly difficult.

The task can be viewed as a word document –

Restorative Approaches 2