Eportfolio…

Eportfolio?

Eportfolio!

Documenting ones personal thoughts, feelings, achievements, work, progress, experiences, and views is a daunting thought. Spelling errors, punctuation flaws, and shawdy sentence structure is just the least of your problems. Someone somewhere might delve into the deepest darkest parts of the internet in who knows how many years to come to reveal the work of a 1st year university student- the thought is terrifying! Can anything ever really be deleted from the internet? The chances are low!

That being said what could be more delightful than a fully qualified teacher looking back at the start of their learning journey, those mix matched scrambled posts that provided the foundation to the career and lifestyle they hold today. The internet their personal scrapbook- that will not wear away or tear but remain embedded in technology, to be produced from its cyber sleep for a pleasurable reminisce.

Having trawled through my peers portfolios I have seen some wonderful pieces about their lives and experiences some I can relate to myself. These pieces of work expose this person but not to criticism or taunt- these posts make them known, they tell their story and we in turn learn. The Eportfolio, a massive portal for all our MA1 course and those outwith to embrace together.

In person you can present the front of who you want to be online you can achieve this ten fold. Folk too shy to engage with a stranger will happily tap out a feedback post for them, sure this isn’t going to automatically create an undying friendship but it does form an unlikely relationship between two people that share the same goal but completely different lives.

What I am trying to say is: although Eportfolio seems like a daunting place where all personal views are read and judged (sometimes positively sometimes not), it can create a relationship between two strangers, it can inform others, it exposes the individual you are and want to be in the simplest form of text.

“The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. it lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, so in a sense it is all about potential.” – Steve Ballmer

Reddit describes itself as the front page of the internet. This is not far from the truth- clicking a link in Reddit will send you to the deepest depths the online world has to offer. Gifs, images, videos, links, posts, questions, streams, polls, surveys, news… all of these can be found in Reddit as well as  so much more.

As teachers and students we can use this online tool to: revolutionise the way we gain information, have our questions answered and share our findings to the world. If you have an unanswerable question Reddit is the place for you- with thousands of questions being answered and debated every day.

Comments and posts are upvoted or downvoted leaving them with a score that can push them up and down a feed, or determine their category: Gilded, Upvoted, Downvoted, and Contraversial to name a few.

Explaining Reddit in a few lines is very challenging as it holds such a vast amount of information in so many ways- the only way you can really understand is if you have a look for yourself…

How did your gender affect you when you were a child?

I can never remember a time where my gender once afflicted me. Having a younger brother my memories of childhood consist of playing princesses with him but also playing pirates, we played both with Barbie and Action Man, and fought over the best Skaletrix car and once even over my ballet dress.

We had the same dinner, the same bed time, the only thing different about us was our appearance and 2 years, but even then only just. We are both loved the same and were granted the same opportunities growing up.

Even in school this ideology hardly swayed- the boys and girls dressed for PE together in the same place and all played together in the playground. Girls played football and boys went to ballet. All the class were invited to birthday parties and when there didn’t split into specific gender group. Everyone played together, sat together, sang together, learnt together.

Obviously on occasion gender would influence the setting for example getting into a line at mealtimes or for assembly, the Christmas play when boys would act in male roles and girls in the female ones- however at the time this wasn’t deemed an issue more a normality.

As a child I was far too innocent to let the issue of gender come into play. It hardly affected me and I believe that’s exactly how it should be.

Teaching isn’t just a job, every single person on this planet is a teacher. Any aspect of knowledge one individual can provide to another is a teaching and a learning experience regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity or profession. However only some of these people dedicate this lifetime of learning to actually teaching others every single day by choice- by profession. These people are teachers, they are considered secondary carers for their pupils and a role model. It is exactly for this reason I love teaching.

Helping a child to gage their learning styles, adapt to social situations, input into discussion, and flourish their knowledge in all topic areas is the most fulfilling and wonderful feeling ever. As a teacher you are shaping minds, creating opportunities, and giving every pupil you reach the chance to become whatever they want to be by providing them with all the tools you can supply.

From my previous experiences in three different learning environments both primary and nursery and my work teaching in the Army Cadet Force I have had my fair share of experience in teaching kids. Its not easy. No one will ever tell you this job is easy, most teachers you will ask can give you a hundred and one reasons why it is such a hard career, but its not about being easy. This job is not for the faint hearted, as a teacher you must be bold, composed and aware at all times- as a teacher you will be tested and pushed to all of your limits- but also as a teacher you will learn every single day from your pupils and co-workers, you will thrive and work of the achievements of your pupils, and you will help every learner you come into contact with in one way or another.

Eventually you as a teacher may have helped 100s of young people to grow, develop, and achieve. Because of you multiple children will have the stepping stones in life to achieve the greatest things.  Think of your favourite celebrity/ athlete/ any person in fact? Almost all of them had a teacher! Now why wouldn’t you want to do that?