Category Archives: Professional Studies

Self-esteem

Our self-esteem is the confidence we have in our personal worth and different abilities. Self esteem is something we all have, but different people have different levels of it; some people may be lacking in it, and others may have a healthy amount of it.

Having a good positive balance of self esteem is essential as a teacher. We need to have it in order for it to rub off on those around us, especially our pupils. It is also important to us as individuals – we need to be confident in ourselves as well as our teaching.

A person with a healthy self esteem is likely to excel in more things, as they will not have any negative feelings towards their ability. These people are also more likely to pull through difficult times in life easier, or even something as small as trying and conquering something they are not yet competent at.

Someone with a low self esteem will typically, whether they realise it or not, be a very negative person. This may, however, only be towards themselves, as esteem does predominantly affect a person’s own self worth.

Susan Harter measured self esteem in children through asking two different questions:

What do you think you should be like?
What do you actually see yourself to be?

By asking these two questions, she could tell whether or not the children believed they were living up to their own expectations. She came to the conclusion that if they saw themselves as what they thought they should be like – they had a high self esteem. If they did not, there is a need for a support system around them in the form of peers, parents, and us, their teachers.

However, her method is not completely beneficial as there are things she has not accounted for. Just because a child has a loving supportive family surrounding them does not automatically mean they will have a high self esteem. We have no idea, initially, of the pressures said family may be putting on their child to do well. There is also the fact that she states a child with no peer support will have a low self esteem. This is completely not true. Some children thrive being on their own and may just have different ideas of socialising from their peers. Obviously as teachers we need to ensure these children join in, but if a child wants to sit and draw during their free time, I do not feel there is a need to force them into things such as football.

As teachers, we need to ensure the way we communicate with our classes affects our pupil’s self esteem. By simply giving everyone the same feedback to their answer in front of everyone we are not identifying who is excelling and who is necessarily wrong. It is important as children pick up on the language we use. Wall (2004) interviewed some children on how they felt within their class setting. One child responded, “Well if everybody’s got their hand up, he normally first chooses the top two tables… I think it’s because he knows that they will probably get the answer right first time…” It is so important from this didacHtic way of teaching, the way it is mainly teacher focused and is based on the telling of right or wrong answers, that these pupils are getting a good sense of their worth within the classroom. These children who are never getting asked questions, or who are getting them wrong are having their self-esteem knocked down tremendously. It is important that we, as student teachers should learn from things like this, and ensure we give consideration to the self esteem of those within our classroom. We need to identify who needs a little confidence boost, and perhaps a bit more support.

But how do we do this? How do we identify the child’s level of self esteem?

Many people mask their self esteem through an air of false confidence. Children are however not as good at this. A child will generally show signs of defeat much sooner. Through a child’s early childhood, they have a high self esteem; as they have not begun comparing themselves to others and have not had anything to knock them back. When growing throughout their development, they begin to gain a greater sense of self-awareness; and when they are around the age of 7/8 their self-esteem becomes more defined.

As a teacher, we should ensure each child’s goals are specific to them; and most importantly – reasonable. However, they should not be allowed to succeed at everything, they need to experience failure in some way shape or form. If they don’t, it will hit them harder in later life. We should match their work to their ability, give them positive praise, and most importantly, be a role model. As this model, we should ensure we model failure to them. If they see it is ok for us to fail at things we are working towards (and still continue trying) – they too will adopt this attitude.

So yes, we can identify a child’s self esteem. We will be with them for hours on end five days a week, they will not be able to hide all that time. Their true characteristics will be visible to us. We should ensure we give them the chance to have a voice, and also ensure they are involved in their own learning journey; in order to keep up their self-worth and most importantly become confident learners.

What is personality?

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In today’s input by Patricia, I found the aspect of personality very intriguing.

Personality, as quoted in Bee and Boyd (2012, p 218) is “The individual’s enduring patterns of responses to and interaction with others and the environment.”

Personality is a very difficult area to study, as everyone is different.

There are five different dimensions of personality traits:

Extraversion (opposite to introversion)
Agreeableness (warm/compassionate or cold/distant)
Openness (Ability to imagine, be insightful and question things)
Conscientiousness (our impulse control)
Neuroticism (stability/instability of emotions)

An ambivert is someone who is both an introvert and an extrovert. One test of this was by Grant. He assumed that sales persons would be better if hey were extroverts. However, he found that it was actually the ambiverts that were, as extroverts can be too loud, overconfident and come across as cocky.The ambiverts were better as whilst they were confident in themselves and their role, they were also able to be quiet and listen to the needs of customers.

I took an online test to figure out whether I am an introvert, extrovert or an ambivert.

The result (pictured right) is that I am not either introvert or extrovert, I am in fact an ambivert; in-between the two. I totally agree with this, as I am an outgoing person, but at the same time I do like to have some “me-time!”

‘There is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert. Such a person would be in the lunatic asylum.’ – Carl G Jung

This is easy to agree with. Someone who lacks in social skills will not be able to function properly in society. Likewise, someone who is overconfident and overly-clingy will have the opposite problem. I would however not use the term “lunatic asylum”.

The five big personality traits:

If I was to rate myself on these I would say:

Extraversion – 6
Agreeableness – 9
Openness/intellect – 8
Conscientiousness –7.5
Neuroticism – 7

Since I was a child, I do not feel my personality has changed much. I am still the same outgoing bubbly independent person, who still likes to have time to myself. What I would say is I’ve become more confident in myself and really began to understand my own personality more over the past few years.

However, is personality predetermined by nature?

There are some genetically determined characteristics that we are born with, and differences in personality are termed physiological. There have been some tests with identical twins, which has found they have the same personality traits. This is also the case with normal siblings – even though most of us assume we are completely different to our siblings. There is a dip in the personality expression in terms of physiological processes. Everyone has a stable temperament and disposition from childhood right through to when they become an adult, and the environment plays a part in influencing or modifying how our temperament changes.

What about the other side of the argument, nurture?

Yes, how we are brought up plays a big role in the way we learn how to act. Often our traits are
gained through observations and are termed “learned behaviours”. I believe nurture plays a large role in developing our personalities. If your mother is outgoing, you will subconsciously grow to act the same as her. Another example of this, is you are unlikely to have shy parents who do not communicate well raising a very outgoing child. A shy child in a new situation will show signs of muscle tension, an increased heart rate and dilated pupils. They are born with this disposition towards physiological processes. The cerebral cortex of these shy/anxious children is thicker. Out temperament and disposition become stable, and our experiences shape this.

The behaviourist principles of personality development is a very interesting learning theory. The principles include:

Strengthening behaviour through reinforcement
Reinforcing said behaviour intermittently to result in better learning
If reinforced too often, it will not be effective.

It is important not to reinforce negative behaviours. If they know they will continue to get attention from behaving in a certain way (E.g. badly) they will continue to do it, reinforcing this behaviour.It is also better to reinforce intermittently. Doing it every time will cause them to lack motivation as they will know they don’t need to work to get praise. By praising occasionally, they will be motivated to work harder. This is an interesting lesson for teachers. It takes a while to influence a child’s behaviour so it is important that in the process we are enforcing the correct behaviours.

Bandura’s Social learning theory

Bandura’s Social learning theory is built upon the idea of modelling. Modelling is when we observe someone, and copy their behaviours.

( e.g. If a child grows up in an area where everyone acts the same; such as where people shoplift and vandalise; the child will learn this behaviour through the process of modelling, can be a motivation to learn behaviour.

This “modelling” is when we strengthen our behaviours through constant reinforcement. These reinforcers cause personality to develop through both cognitive and physical factors.

The self-efficiency aspect is when we consider how we feel about ourselves and our own standards. People who are self-efficient are those likely to go right away from a lecture and complete the associated TDT. Those who don’t go away and do this may not do so for reasons such as they are not confident enough, or that “no one else is” – these people have low self-efficiency.

These behaviours are reinforced by parents, who model a child’s “internalised standards”. E.g. a tidy house is a standard of learning.

Bandura’s model is based on a process of observation, imitation and internalisation; along with cognitive, physical and motivational factors.

The four conditions that need to be met are:

Paying attention
Remembering
What can be physically copied
Motivation to imitate

This theory can be analysed whilst considering learning a new sport. You need to be able to pay attention to what you are doing, if you cannot do this you will not know what they are doing in order to move on and develop the next condition. You need the ability to remember a breakdown of the sport and all the different parts of it, in order to piece together what your role in it requires you to do. If you cannot do this, you will be physically poor at the sport- which is the next step. Different things can be copied, the most important being the movements. However by observing a professional it is hoped that we will subconsciously learn their confidence and good techniques. Our motivation to imitate is our initial desire to attempt the sport. If we are not motivated o try, we will have no desire to learn and, therefore, take nothing away from the observation. By only observing, we won’t remember or be able to physically copy what the person is doing.

Freud’s Theory of Personality is initially based on the idea of sexual needs.

I do not agree with the age stages within Freud’s stages of development, as I feel his view that we stop developing at the age of 18 is, well, crazy. I’m only 18 at the moment and I feel, especially in terms of my personality that I have a lot more developing to do. Also, none of his stages are backed up with scientific evidence. In fact, most of his clients were actually middle aged Vietnamese women. Many elements are right, but are difficult to test making this theory very hard to prove or disprove.

Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development

Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development is based on the concept of ego-identity. Erickson states that the successful completion of each stage, leads to a healthy progression into the next one. It also helps create a good personality and very successful social skills. The theory does state that failure of a stage hinders development, which is questionable.

I do not fully agree with this, as things that go wrong can be resolved, and this theory is very hard to prove or disprove due to a lack of scientific testing. The quote “life begins at 40” comes into mind. This makes sense in accordance with this theory, as by 40, we have developed all our personality traits.

I agree with the fact that Erickson’s theory goes right up to the ages of 40+. This is interesting, especially when thinking about the phrase “life begins at 40”. As according to Erickson that we have developed almost all our personality traits by then, maybe this is true?

This Is very relatable and makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways. It is very understandable that trust is built up in the first year of life. Also, that tivities become goal orientated around age 4-5, which I can personally relate to as I see my little sister going through this phase at the moment.

I do however disagree on providing an approximate age scale. Yes, it is good to know where children should be at what age, but even a slightly different wording to “suggested age scale” would make it less stressful for parents who’s children are not quite at the right development for their age (within reason, obviously).

I believe it is important we learn about personality so we can take this knowledge into the
classroom and be able to identify the different personality traits of our pupils. This will allow us to spot signs of slower development and identify poor behaviour styles.

This will have a positive aspect of the child’s development in the classroom as they will get more direction from a teacher who understands their personality. It may even help forming that relationship a little easier.

What standards we should be attaining as student teachers?

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The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) has their own standards for registration. These are split into two parts, The Standards for Provisional Registration (SPR), and The Standard for Full Registration (SFR). These are a series of standards put in place to make clear how teachers should act, and the values they should possess as a professional. For those of us looking forward to when we apply for Provisional Registration, it is good to use as guidance and support.

The SPR lays down what is expected of us as student teachers, and we should use it to shape ourselves into the teachers of the future. It is stated that once you have gained the SPR, and then the SFR, you should continue to develop yourself as a person. These standards are set down to set us up for a “Career of lifelong learning”.

The professional standards we are seeking to attain are vital in shaping us into the best teachers we can be.

It is interesting that the code is essentially the criteria we need to meet to ensure we are fit to teach. I find it very beneficial that the document States the Professional Values and Personal Commitment that I should have as a teacher. These include:

Social Justice
Integrity
Trust and Respect
Professional Commitment

I like how it goes into great depth about which areas we should be knowledgeable about, such as the curriculum, teaching programmes and assessments. It is very helpful that it has a breakdown of the things within education policy (such as laws and legislations), as well as the education system we should be aware of as students.

The standards do however state that we should have high expectations of all learners (3.1.4). Whereas I do feel our expectations should be relatively high, is it not unrealistic to have high expectations of everyone? Not everyone has the same abilities, and expectations should be specific to each individual learner.

Within a separate document, The Student Teacher Code, there are different rules laid down. I didn’t realise that after we gain the SFR, as well as having our PVG’s and by that time tonnes of experience in the classroom, the GTC STILL assess our fitness to teach. I do however understand the seriousness of a criminal conviction, and agree with GTC’s need to investigate any allegations.

I found the “Key Principles of the Student Teacher Code” Very helpful. They state that as a student we should be good role models, make our pupils our main focus, and be respectful of others along with a few others.

When we are working with pupils we should show good moral values. Part 1 of the code is about how we work with pupils. It contains points about us having to keep sensitive information confidential, and that we should be a role model in EVERYTHING we do and say. I like the way they have written this into an easy to read document.

Part 2 is about how us as a student teacher works with others. As I took the Working Together module for my elective, it is nice to see the=is document including the importance of working cooperatively with those in other professions. I also think it is fair that it states you should not comment on other teachers or professionals within the educational community. I can only imagine the damage this could cause and I would not wish it on anyone.

Part 3 is mainly about how we should be honest and show integrity as a student teacher. Whilst
reading this part of the comment, it is very evident that a lot of these points. No matter what profession I could have chosen to go into I would never engage in criminal behaviour. I also find it very upsetting that some serious offences must have taken place in the past for some of these points to be added to this document. The point on social networking stands out a lot. I agree as professionals we should definitely be careful of how we portray ourselves on social media. We do not want our reputation ruined.

Overall, the whole Student-Teacher Code is beneficial in highlighting how we should and should not act as professionals. The importance of equality and diversity are extremely important, especially when considering the Equality Act (2010). I can see how this code coincides with the standards for provisional education, which are both very useful documents.

How do we even teach a child how to read and write?!

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In my previous blog posts, I spoke of language acquisition and the importance of things such as grammar. What is important when teaching a child how to read and write? Well, the most influential factor is their phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability to understand the different rules around the sounds of a language. It also involves having knowledge of the way in which sounds are connected, and how this is represented when put down in writing.

It has been stated that children who are more phonologically aware between the ages of 3 and 5 will be better at reading and writing later in life(Adams, Trieman, & Pressley, 1998). By teaching small children phonological awareness before they start school, their reading skills will be at a higher level that that of their peers who have no phonological awareness.

Children do not have to learn about phonological awareness in early childhood, they can learn in the nursery and the early years. Children will also be more confident if phonologically aware, and may often use invented spelling when attempting to write and spell new words. Although this spelling will be wrong, it is found that they will become better at spelling, reading and writing than their peers later in life. The best way to encourage them to engage in phonics is through fun activities involving “play” styled learning.

Once children begin the basic reading process they begin to learn about the different parts of words (e.g. prefixes and suffixes). This will help them become more efficient in their reading.

The strategies used to teach reading can also be incorporated into helping children learn how to write. For example, when writing there are sound-symbol connections which are also important when learning to spell, but also how to read.

No matter what teachers do, there is always some children that fall behind their peers in literacy. There are connections between poor readers and sound-letter combinations (Agnew, Dorn, & Eden, 2004; Gonzalez & Valle, 2000; Mayringer & Wimmer, 2000). It is also found that children with reading difficulties benefit largely from specific phonic lessons. Teachers need to reflect on the effectiveness of their approach and change it if necessary to fit the individual needs of the students.

Theories of Language Development

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The earliest theories of language were initially based on the “nonsense” idea that imitation is
how children learn a language. It does play a part, but only a small one. Toddlers who copy the way adults speak are the ones who show the most rapid vocabulary development, but only in the first 1/2 years of the language explosion. It doesn’t account for all language acquisition, therefore we cannot say that this is the way children learn. It also doesn’t add up, as it cannot possibly account for a child’s ability to create new words and expressions which they have never heard before.

Skinner’s (1957) reinforcement there argues that parents play a bigger role than just imitation. They are vital in the process of shaping language, gradually improving a child’s speech. However, researchers have found that when parents speak to children, there is no evidence of this shaping, making this a very controversial theory. In contrast to this, (Brown & Hanlon, 1970; Hirsh-Pasek, Trieman, & Schneiderman, 1984), found that parents actually construct children vocabulary in a range of different ways. The most common, when they correct them on the basis of whether they are correct or not.

Developmentalists can tell which children have parents who talk and read to them often, as they use a wider range of vocabulary in their speech. They also tend to begin talking sooner, and developing larger vocabularies quicker. This makes it evident that a child who hears a larger quantity of language is more likely to benefit in this way. Children who don’t hear such a large quantity of language in their early years don’t even appear to catch up in their later years.It has also been found by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, that poor mothers talk and read to their children less and also use much poorer vocabulary and complex sentences. Catherine Snow (1997) found that children at four years of age brought up in poverty, use shorter/less complex sentences than their better-off peers. Obviously there are other contributing factors, but the variety of language a child hears is fundamental in their language development.

Motherese, is the simple language adults use to talk to children. It is now referred to as infant-directed speech. This is done so in a higher-pitched voice and also at a much slower pace. It is believed that babies can tell the difference between people speaking in infant-directed speech and normal speech as early as a few days old. Developmentalists have also found that they prefer to be spoken to in motherese. They like the higher pitch as it catches their attention.

There are a few issues with the theory of language acquisition. Children who hear their own sentence repeated back to them grammatically correct will learn correct grammar sooner, but recastings are actually really rare (and children still acquire complex grammar eventually. Also, mothers do appear in a range of countries and cultures, it is not evident in all. (Better, 1988) also found that motherese is not used very much by mothers suffering from depression. These children still learn the language and grammar, proving that whilst infant-directed speech does play an important role, it is not always necessary.

Nativist Theorists argue that all a child needs to learn language is already within them. Early theorists such as Noam Chomsky were interested in the size of the task of acquiring language, and the similarities in the stages of language development across every language. Another influential nativist is Dan Slobin. He stated that every child is born already having a basic language-making capacity.

The Nativist Theory is discussed very well in this YouTube video:

Constructivist Theorists state that built-in perceptual skills are very important in acquiring language. These build skills guide her attention to specific features of language which she then processes and modifies as and when she receives new information. By doing this, the child develops their own set of rules for both understanding and creating language.

The Eclectic Approach is where theorists draw on all the views of language acquisition, to gain a greater understanding on the environments influences. It is especially important to use both the nativist and cognitive theories. This is as the nativists claim that the ability to process to language is already processed in a child’s brain. This claim is best understood when looked at from a constructivist view of language development.

All these theories are interesting and many have similar ideas, but it is interesting to see the different ideas from different psychologists.

Word Learning

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What are the trends in word learning over the first two years?

Children initially learn words in stages, the first being the pre-linguistic stage. Each singular language, such as English or Italian, has various different dimensions. These are things such as the different uses of language, such as to communicate, the sound patterns each individual language uses and the rules that govern these patterns. These are all known as phonology. Semantics are they ways in which language represents meaning. The rules used to combine words in a language, is the syntax. These terms are all commonly used when describing the development from the early preverbal stage to the stage of linguistic fluency.

This is apparent through observing chimpanzees (Savage-Rumbaugh et al., 1993). They learn to
communicate through sign language and the process of pointing to sequences of symbols. they can do this, and are good at it, but it takes a great deal of effort to teach them to use other expressive forms of language such as symbols signs and sounds that communicate meaning. Any parent will tell you that once you teach a child how to speak, you will never be able to get them to be quiet ever again! This is due to the fact that the process of language development begins months before a baby even utters her/his first word. This period of time within these few months is the prelinguistic phase.

By the time a child reaches around 12 months, they will typically have started using their first word (Fenson et al,. 1994). Within the next six months, children will increase their vocabulary to around 30 words. Early word learning is very slow and requires a lot of repetitions. Ronald Schollon (1976) studied a little girl named Brenda, and found she used a singular specific word for more than one thing. One example of this being the word “nene” for milk, juice AND her bottle.

The Naming Explosion is another trend that happens between 16-24 months of age which children begin to add new words rapidly. Elizabeth Bates and her colleagues found that a rapid vocabulary growth is not restricted to the language of English, it is the same in other languages. After repeating words a few times, it is easier for children to connect them to different situations. However, other cross-linguist researchers suggest that English speaking parents emphasise nouns more than verbs when reading and speaking to children, compared to Korean-speaking parents who do not. This suggests the noun-before-verb learning pattern may be influenced by different language characteristics as well as the behaviour of the speaker.

Later word learning happens during the pre-school years when children begin adding words at much higher speeds, with a rise of up to 10 words a day (Pinker, 1994). Researchers believe this “speeding up” of the vocabulary learning process is due to a shift in the way children approach words that are new to them.

Once a wide vocabulary is developed, children begin to categorise words. Psychologists use the term fast-mapping to refer to this ability. Children begin to categorise after paying attention to words in whole groups.This can be things such as names of different fruit. By identifying what category a word belong to, the child can envisage “mental slots” for these words.Children initially categories things such as animals. However, they can become confused. An example of this may be a child seeing a cat and saying “see kitty”. We are initially unsure on what the child actually means. Is this kitty a kitty, or does she see it as any other furry animal like a dog? She may even use the word to only describe her OWN cat.

This is when under-extension and over-extension become apparent in speech. Under-extension is when a word is used for one specific object in a singular context. This suggests children believe words can only belong to one thing and is mostly common in the early stages of vocabulary development (before naming explosion). Over-extension is when children grasp the idea of categorising words. However, in this case, they do it inappropriately, such as using the word kitty in relation to all animals. (e.g. using a single word for multiple, unrelated categories).

The development of grammar and pragmatics is important when stringing together words into sentences. In the fist instance, putting two words together, then three – and so on. Children firstly begin stringing together two words around the age of 18-24 months. This is not random, it happens when they develop a vocabulary of around 100-200 words (Fenson et al., 1994).

The holophrase stage is when a toddler begins to combine a single word with a gesture, with a result of creating a “two-word meaning”. This happens before they even use two spoken words together in speech. An example of this is when a child says “cookie” and holds out their hand – indicating they would like one given to them.

The Grammar Explosion stage is when sentences become longer. The vocabulary development is fundamental to this, as children who have a more complex understanding of grammar will develop complex vocabulary much easier. As they now understand how to construct sentences at this age, they will, therefore be able to understand new words better and be able to integrate them into their language much easier. During this stage, their speech becomes “telegraphic”, which according to linguists and psychologists is when two-word speech becomes evident in speech. Within the following few months, plurals, past tenses and auxiliary verbs are added into a child’s speech.

The Inflection stage is when the form of a word is changed, usually the end of it. Children begin adding inflections into predictable sequences. Roger Brown (1973) found that in the process of children learning English, inflection is most noticeable hone children add “ing” to the end of words. Once they get the hang of this, they begin doing it in order.

Children develop a full understanding of the development of language once they begin to
understand social skills. It is important, from birth, that a child can communicate their feelings through facial expressions and gestures. These are simplistic forms of communication but are important in the sense that the baby has not learnt any words yet. This process of word learning is a coherent process of integrated stages, without which, we would not understand where a child is in their development of word learning.

I found by completing the reading and this associated tutor-directed task from Patricia Thomsons’s lecture to be very beneficial in reinforcing what she spoke about. It has helped me become more knowledgeable on the range of different theorists and the vast amount of other reading out there that is avaible to us as students to enhance our knowledge. It also helped me make the connections between thought and language, and the ways in which language is developed.

Feedback

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The term “feedback” means helpful information which is used in ways to either praise or criticize your work. It is important in order to motivate you to continue, and in some instances, try harder. It is also useful is instances of criticism to get someone else’s view (through constructive criticism), to help you identify which areas to improve and how to do so.

The feedback I received was very positive and I took it to be a positive experience. It gave me confidence that what I am doing is right, and that others can relate to it and agree with my thoughts. It was carefully constructed and I could tell the person had taken their time to read my post and really think about it, which is great to think. I agree fully with the feedback I was given, I took my time to ensure I covered all areas of the success criteria, so they fact they picked up on this is very beneficial to my confidence. However so far at this moment in time I have not been picked up on any areas for improvement. I am sure there are many, and I can understand it is not a nice experience to criticise your peers and therefore very easy to accidently avoid doing so…

Initially I felt great giving peer feedback as I know it is a great confidence boost to hear positive things about your work. As I went on though, I began to realise that where my feedback will be making people feel good, it isn’t highlighting to them any areas for them to improve. i then began delving deeper into people’s posts to try and word things in the nicest way possible which made the situation much easier. Most people however had such fantastic posts I was literally sitting with what I would compare to writer’s block!

From carrying out this task I have learned that whilst it is important to highlight where people are going well, it is of equal importance to give constructive criticism. I have also learned it is very hard to tell your peers of the criticisms you have picked up on. This will be applicable further into my studies when I begin working closer with my peers. When it comes to reading over their work, I will definitely consider what I have learned from this when giving them pointers!

This is also relevant to the classroom. Children do not want to be bombarded with corrections as it is likely to defeat them and cause them to lose all hope with their learning. As a pupil at primary, my teachers always used “two stars and a wish” on my word. This is an effective strategy of peer feedback which ensures both praise is given and constructive criticism. There are also other methods similar to this that I was unaware of. One which struck me to be very interesting is “plus, minus, and what is next?”, involving a praise, a criticism, and a pointer of what to do to improve further. There are so many strategies for feedback it is amazing the amount of different ways you can give it.

Overall I find feedback a seriously effective strategy. I feel it is important to give praise in order to motivate pupils, but it is also important to give constructive criticism. Without giving someone a pointer of how to improve, what is the point of the initial feedback in the first place? (Obviously apart from the obvious motivational purposes.) Everyone wants to know how to improve in one way or another.

A little more insight into feedback in the classroom…

Other Professionals: 24 Hours in Police Custody

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For the Developing Professional Skills and Abilities unit on Blackboard, I chose to watch 24 Hours in Police Custody. The serious nature of the issues within this programme really highlighted the professionalism required of the police involved.

In relation to the first part of this unit, I found a lot of the words I had associated with professionalism were evident within this police force. In the first instances, the police officers had to be well informed. Before arriving at the house, they had the responsibility to gather information on why they were going to arrest this person, and gather factual background information to give him reasons for his arrest. It is also important they are skilful in their specific job. For example when they are tracking IP address on this programme to find out who has been accessing the child pornography.

The police’s skills were most noticeable when initially interviewing those in custody. It is very clear that they have to use their patience in order to get answers from suspects. Not everyone is willing to tell the truth right away. They also have to be very knowledgeable on different behaviours. It may be clear from the way a person is acting whether they are telling the truth or not. For example, lying can be noticed when people cannot hold eye contact, or use little to none hand gestures when talking.

The police however did not act professional when the man in question takes a break and leaves the interview room with his lawyer. They express their annoyance to the man who is only replying with “no comment”, by slouching right back in their seats and both throwing their arms over their heads – in such way to express defeat. The woman then jokes with the male interviewer about how he is not wearing a t-shirt under his jumper. This is very unprofessional as the interview recording is still rolling, not to mention the fact they could have used these few minutes in a more effective way – such as discussing any suspicious behaviour or their own thoughts on the situation.

Their professional behaviour had a positive effect on the safety of his child. When he is first released, they put into action certain plans; including that he cannot return to stay at his own home, and he is not allowed to see his child unsupervised. By using their professional behaviour to consider the safety of others, they have essentially prevented any further issues that may have arisen.

Their professional behaviour had an initial negative effect on the suspect. By using their developed abilities they were able to find out the sick things he was looking up within his own home. The man, a DOCTOR, would never have expected to have been caught, and as the voiceover on this video says; “someone’s world is about to be turned upside down”. This is only however negative to the suspect as it is not what he wanted – to be caught. But it IS very positive for everyone else; for those around him, and the wider community – especially his patients.

The dress code of our police force is very important. It is an easily recognisable way of identifying the power of those who wear it, which can be helpful if you need help quick in a busy place and do not know who to turn to. It is also stated within the law that a police officer must be in uniform to use certain powers; however they do not have to wear a hat to warrant an arrest which I have always been brought to believe. I think what they wear is important but they should wear what is relevant to the situation they are in. When undercover and trying to obtain information, it is important they are not recognisable as it has been found the well known uniforms cause people to act indifferently. However, when at an event policing it and ensuring it is safe it is extremely important they are identifiable so people know who to go to in order to seek help.

If I was asked to develop a degree to train police, I would use the following training methods:

Lectures. – I would ensure all prospective police officers attend lectures, similar to us as primary teachers, to learn how to act as professionals as well
as developing their professional views.
Background reading. – I would incorporate a list into the programme of essential reading for these officers to read. It would be relevant to their career, helping develop their understanding of what is expected of them as well as making them more well-informed of their role.
Work-based training. – I would send these officers on “work-based training” as part of the degree I’d develop. During this training they would take on the role of the specials – where they shadow fully qualified police officers but do not yet have the same levels of responsibility.

From this activity I have learned that professionalism can be seen in way more aspects of a person’s career (such as the police) than initially thought. In order to be an effective professional, we should develop knowledge on how we should act in all areas of our career, such as when we are not at work but still identifiable – continuing to live up to our professional expectations in our behaviours, attitudes and actions.

I will apply this to my own learning and development by ensuring I live up to my professional expectations ALL of the time. I will continue to participate in further reading in order to widen my knowledge and understandings of teaching. By doing so, I will become a positive role model to those around me, hopefully influencing others to take their professionalism just as seriously.

Practitioner Enquiry

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Practitioner enquiry an important support system for teachers to get them more engaged in supportive research that will aid both their pupils and themselves.

This wheel taken from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)’s website was very useful in coming to terms with what practitioner enquiry actually is.

http://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-update/practitioner-enquiry/what-is-practitioner-enquiry.aspx

Practitioner enquiry involves engaging with teaching from a different approach. It is an investigative approach where practitioners (teachers) have a professional responsibility to further their own personal knowledge through their own research. They can then reflect on what they have found and share it with other professionals. It does not just involve a little bit of research though, it involves having the ability to question findings, strengthening the teachers understanding of professional practice.

There are some main areas of focus within practitioner enquiry. These involve clarifying the teacher’s aims, in order to challenge them for discussion. It is important it becomes a daily occurrence for professionals to aid them with their work and own professional development. It should also be used at all levels within education, not just by classroom teachers.

However, what actually is an enquiring practitioner? An enquiring practitioner is someone who has profound knowledge and understanding of their profession whilst still obtaining the ability to critique it. They should then ensure they use their voice to share it with like-minded professionals. They should be clear on the impact of their findings and be able to evidence it, investigating further any points of interest.

Reflective teachers are important as they have the ability to consider what has happened in their lesson, both what went good and what did not, so they can then come up with solutions to improve their lessons in the future. This allows these lessons to be more concrete with the teacher having clear ideas of what she wants to achieve from them, essentially shaping them to be more effective. These reflective practitioners are the most valuable practitioners, as they can use their reflection to aid them in their profession.

With being an enquiring practitioner, comes the fact we need to work in collaboration with others. By sharing ideas and experiences with those from other areas, we are gaining a wider understanding of those topic areas. This is extremely beneficial to us as teachers to see things from a different perspective. It is also useful as it allows us to gain an insight to where we can gain new sources and what is currently of interest in the education sector.

There are some challenges with practitioner enquiry. Teachers already have a lot of responsibility and it is sometimes hard to constantly do extra work on top of everything. There are also those occasions where those we are collaborating with are not forthcoming and do not appear to be interested. This is very detrimental to a person’s motivation when someone they are working with appears to be disinterested.

As student teachers, we have agreed to be “lifelong” learners. Practitioner enquiry is a great beneficial way of doing so. It means we can develop professional opinions whilst constantly questioning them to ensure we have the best quality of knowledge. As a student teacher I can use this to gain new insights into the latest educational theories. This will then allow me to use them in the near future and within my studies. It will encourage me to keep up to date with our constantly changing education system, and remind me of the importance to continue developing my further knowledge of education.

Values

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Our professional values are our beliefs and principles which guide us in our chosen career as teachers. They are a reflection of what we believe is morally right, such as standards, ethics and practices. These are very similar to our personal values, which also reflect our morals, but are more central to our individual needs.

My personal values played a big part in my decision to come in to teaching. It is important that children are comfortable with their teacher in order to learn and want to come to school every day. I believe my kindness is one of the most important values I have and will be essential to me as a teacher. A kind teacher is someone a child can learn to trust, and hopefully enjoy learning from five days a week. I have been brought up to be a respectful person. These will also be beneficial to me as a teacher, as I know I will find it easy to respect my colleagues and my pupils.

When making my decision on which career I wanted to go into, I knew it had to be something that I would not only enjoy, but I would grow from. In relation to my personal values, teaching is perfect. It will give me the chance to portray my love for the subjects I have a real passion for, and allow me to grow as a person learning more about those I have not done as much. I have very good ethical values, and I believe they will be well applied in teaching. When I think back to both primary and secondary school, the teachers that had the biggest impacts on me were always the ones I found to be kind. I want to be that person, that teacher.

Words Associated With Professionalism

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The Physical Child

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As teachers, we naturally focus on a child’s cognitive development due to many people’s expectations of our role. This means we tend to hone in on the development of their information processing, learning of language and aspects of brain development.

However, with a class full of developing children, there is more than one way to ensure healthy development. It has been found in countries such as Sweden who do not introduce formal education until around the age of 7 that educational achievement standards are considerably high compared to the UK, who, apart from Northern Ireland, have one of the youngest ages in which compulsory education begins. There are thought to many reasons for this and many people believe it is due to a lack of social skills formed at an early age through things such as family interaction.

In their first seven years, children are experiencing the most rapid period of growth in their life. Physical development is important in its own right, but it is also extremely important children develop things such as body awareness, coordination and control. This growth ensures that new behaviours will be possible, and essentially determines the future experiences of the child.

Throughout their lives, children are compared to national norms. As teachers, we need to be aware of what stages children should be at in certain periods of their life. This can be things such as knowing language should start becoming more fluent at age 4, and between the ages of 6 and 8 fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination should increase. We also have to be aware that not all children are the same, and some will develop much faster than others.

There are many debates out there about the pace of development of children. The Maturational Viewpoint Debate argues that a success in a new behavioural task at a certain age is linked to the maturation of a new region within the brain. The Experiential hypothesis agrees with “A Theory of Experience” by Dewey (1938); whom agrees that practice is fundamental and there is very little need for any theory. The Dynamic Systems theory emphasises the boundaries that we believe to be fixed within development, but are actually just poorly defined.

Our role as teachers is to encourage development, not only within the classroom. Being passionate about sport and physical education, I believe physical education to be of extreme importance. If a child does not get the chance to experience something such as hand-eye coordination when they are younger, they will struggle when it comes to raquet games later in their life. By experiencing this at a young age, they are more likely to be successful in these areas when they are older.

Young children’s develop is cephalocaudal, meaning they learn to use their upper limbs before their lower limbs. This is noticeable as babies are fans of grasping onto things tightly, such as fingers! After this, they begin to develop movement in their lower extremities, such as learning to coordinate crawling. Locomotor skills are the basic ways in which we move. Not all children are physically ready when starting primary school, some start not having developed their locomotor skills as well as their peers, which is important to consider especially when teaching early years. I believe as teachers we have a duty to try and improve this, through basic physical education, to involve them in activities that will encourage the development of both their fine and gross motor skills. We, as adults, have an important role to help these children become aware of their body and the way it works.

I believe it is important teachers are aware of the normal course of physical development, ensuring their class are not lacking in this essential part of development. This specific area influences other aspects of children’s development affecting it in a positive way, so the emphasis on it is obviously important. Therefore, we should not only focus on a child’s cognitive development which expected and also important, but we should also consider the development of “the whole child”, not just one or two areas.

Do we ever stop learning?

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The brain never stops absorbing information. It is constantly processing thought and controlling our bodies, right through to our old age.

At birth, we already have all the brain cells we need along with billions of interconnected neurons. By age three, our brains have made almost 1000 trillion connections.

Many of these neuronal connections have to be cut back, and this process is called pruning. The rate of this, and what is cut back, depends on your environment and what you are interested in.

Our brains “plasticity”, is its ability to continually change and adapt to and from different circumstances. This sets up our brains for lifelong learning.

However, in terms of learning our brains are most receptive in our early years. It is like a muscle, and it will degrades as and when it is not used. Therefore we are in prime shape to learn and absorb lots of information when we are younger. So, we do not stop learning, we simply begin to take longer to learn. This in turn can be frustrating and cause a lot of people to give up learning, but it certainly does not mean we are incapable.

Genetics and Brain Development

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Is genetics enough for brain development to occur?

Our genes are at the center of everything that makes us human. They do everything from determining the colour of our eyes to our skin colour to our height. Every celling our body is made up of exactly the same genes, but not all are active. At least one third of 20,000 different genes are active within the brain. These are influential to the development and function of the brain.

The project named the Human Genome project is now complete, but there is still so much we don’t know about our DNA and what it does. There are some scientists that have began making genetic maps of the brain searching for certain genes that play a key role in brain development. We know our genes do play a role as there has been many comparisons made between our genes and those of other species. There are different patterns in which decide whether a gene will be active or inactive, and by studying these, scientists can gain a more insightful view.

However our genes are not the only thing that effects our brain development. Combined with the environment we have grown up in and in what respect we have been raised our brains will develop differently. For example, a person locked in an empty cell with the bare minimum to survive, will not develop at the same rate as someone in a caring and nourishing environment will. This has been tested with rats. Some were locked in a cage with only food, and the others were put in a different cave with the addition of wheels and toys – effectively stimuli. When they were released back into their natural habitat the rats in which were brought up with thee addition of stimuli excelled, whereas the others seriously struggled highlighting their lack of development. From this study is clear to see that environmental stimulation has an impact.

The Construction of the Professional

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Many different things reflect on the role a teacher plays in the classroom and their role as a professional. I believe these 5 terms in particular are important in doing this:

Integrity

The word itself means to be honest, and to have strong moral principles. Children are not born with integrity, they develop it as they grow up and learn how to behave. As children learn most of their behaviours they will need in later life such as honesty, respect and social responsibility in the classroom, it is important we show them integrity so they too can pick it up and learn how to be moral citizens.

Compassion

To be compassionate, is to show sympathy and concern for others. By showing compassion to our pupils, it shows we care. It shows we are paying attention to them and acknowledging them. By being compassionate we are passing this trait on to out pupils. It is important they too learn to be compassionate to succeed in later life.

Patience

Different children will learn at different paces, and it is important to realise some children will take a lot more time to grasp concepts than others. So whilst we will have to have patience with everyone, some pupils will require even more. It is important as a teacher to have this skill, as learning from someone who is impatient is frustrating as nothing will be broken down and explained slowly enough until understood.

Kindness

Kindness is important in teaching as it reflects on who you are as a person. Children do not want to learn from someone they are scared of. A kind teacher is approachable and their pupils are more likely engage in lessons and ask questions. Kindness is a characteristic of being friendly. Even though we are not in the classroom to be friends with our pupils, it is important they see us as a kind approachable adult they can trust to learn from.

Fairness

Fairness in the classroom is important to ensure all the pupils are treated equally. It would be unfair to only praise one person when everyone else has done that same thing well too. This would cause upset and even de-motivate some pupils. Everyone in this world wants to be treated equally, and by being fair in the classroom you are portraying to your pupils that equality is important and that you should not favour certain people.

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