The Orphans Hidden in the Iron Curtain era

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I’ve always been aware that some children do not have such a fortunate upbringing. However, there is nothing I could have done to prepare myself for the shock of the Romanian Orphans upbringings.

Following Will Berry’s input on the physical child, in particular brain development, I decided to follow up his mention of Romanian orphans and read further into the topic.

To my shock, the first thing I came across was pages and pages of articles, all about the deprivation of these orphans. Many being documented articles on individual cases. It is seriously heartbreaking reading what these children went through. They were placed in state-run orphanages, many receiving only minutes of one to one care each day. Growing up in a small empty room, many being restrained to their beds. Understandably, this caused a lot of problems for these children. Most suffered deformities due to a lack of exercise. With a lack of social stimulation, they did not get the opportunity to develop properly. Some as old as teenagers could be mistaken for eight year olds, due to the fact social and emotional deprivation stunts growth. Many children lacked the ability to even walk properly due to being restrained in a crib staring at a blank ceiling for years. It is so clear to see the lack of development through the blank looks in the poor children eyes in the countless photographs online. Many children suffering from various disorders such as anxiety, depression and reactive attachment disorder, the most common being post-traumatic stress. It really says it all.

This issue within Romanian Orphanages prevailed after Nicolae Ceausescu, a Communist Dictator become President. He was worried about the ageing population, and decided to conquer this by banning contraception and abortions. He even passed a law stating women HAD to have five children, infertility was just not tolerated. Unfortunately, many parents could not afford to bring up all these children and had no choice other than to hand them over to the state. This put pressures on the orphanages which simply could not cope with the amount of orphans. It also caused a serious financial struggle, and due to a lack of equipment needles were shared and many blood supplies were contaminated. Due to this, there are still Romanian children today infected with H.I.V and AIDS, still forced to live without important medicines. It was not until Ceausescu was overthrown in 1989 that this disaster was revealed to the rest of the world.

Luckily due to this publicity, many Romanian orphans were then adopted. Rutter et al (2007) followed the lives of adopted Romanian orphans who were adopted by Western families, assessing their development. it is very interesting to find that even after years of neglect and no sensitive care, these children began to show signs of development, despite having attachment issues, especially with adults but also with peers. The findings also showed that children adopted before 6 months of age developed at the same rate as children adopted in Britain. This showed that once adopted, these children do have the opportunity to catch up, but unfortunately after 6 months of age the negative effects brought upon these children from the orphanages are more permanent. 

The effects of being placed in Romanian orphanages are unbearable to think about, but I feel it is important to be aware of what went on and consider the findings of these reports. A lot of these children have a very low IQ after being left to amuse themselves. This just highlights to me how important it is for a child to experience care and social stimulation, especially in their earliest years. It also brings up the issue that not everyone comes from the same walk of life. Some children come from neglectful backgrounds, and we have to be aware of this as teachers. All children deserve an equal chance in life, and especially in education.

Romanian Orphans

Image taken from: http://magazine.nd.edu/news/9873-traveling-mercies/

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.

Brain Development Timeline

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4000 BC

Ancient Sumerian records with the first recorded writing of the brain found. An anonymous writing documenting mind changing sensations caused by ingesting a poppy plant.

2500 BC

The Egyptians come to believe that the heart is the body’s most important organ. They believe the brain is minor and of no importance, discarding it during the process of mummification. Despite this, there is an ancient Egyptian record known as the “Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus” that contains the first written account of the anatomy of the brain. It includes 26 separate cases of brain injury along with recommendations of treatment.

2000 BC

There is evidence from archaeologists that during this time “trepanion”, a form of surgery involving boring a hole through the skull, was practiced widely.

Skulls with evidence pf healing have been recovered suggesting the subjects of these procedure survived. There is no known reason for the high volume of trepanioned skulls but it is suggested it was done for both spiritual reasons. And to treat thins such as headaches, mental illnesses and epilepsy.

450 BC

An early Greek physician, Alcmaeon, is the very first to use animal dissection as a basis for his theories. From his studies he concluded that the brain is the central organ of sensation and thought, not like the heart which the Egyptians believed. He also suggests that the optic nerves are “light-bearing paths” up to the eyes and brain.

335 BC

Aristotle comes to the conclusion that the heart is the organ of thought and sensation, and that the brain is merely a “radiator designed to cool it”. He believes that the basis of thought cannot be found within the body.

His theories of memory are more successful, correctly surmising that the process of short term memory (“immediate recall”) are different from those involved in long term memory.

1664

An Oxford professor, Thomas Wills wrote a book about the cerebral hemispheres which account for 70% of the human brain. In it he states that they determine thought and action, and are completely different from other parts of the brain that control basic motor skills. In his book he introduces the words; ‘hemisphere,’ ‘pyramid,’ ‘lobe,’ ‘neurology,’ and ‘corpus striatum’ into modern vocabulary. His work is extremely influential in leading future neuroscientists with their studies of the brain

1848

A railroad worker, Phineas Gage, survives a bizarre accident where an iron tod pierces the frontal lobe of his brain during an explosion. Although he recovered, he did experience some mood and behaviour changes. He went from being a quiet, hard worker, to someone who could not complete a job. It has been suggested that key parts of the personality reside in the frontal lobe. This lead to a procedure called lobotomy, which involved removing portions of the frontal lobe in the hope of curing mental illnesses and depression.

1869

Sir Francis Galton published his work called the “Hereditary Genius”. This claimed that intelligence can only be inherited, and high levels of intellectual achievement are passed down through genetics.

He also made the first attempt to measure intelligence by setting up an “anthropometric laboratory”. In here he used visual acuity, auditory accuracy and breathing capacity to assess intelligence levels.

1875

Wilhem Windt sets up the first human behaviour lab in Leipzig, Germany. He suggested that psychology should be regarded as a complementary scientific discipline to physiology and anatomy.

His lab is was known as the Institute for Experimental Psychology. Here student were taught philosopic and psychologic subjects including the studies of attention and sensory processes. The Institute became the model for most psychological laboratories established in Euorpoe thereafter.

1905

Leading French psychologist, Alfred Binet, disputes Galton’s use pf sensory discrimination as an intelligence measure. He believed that individual differences in intelligence could be detected through measures of processes such as imagination, memory, comprehension and attention.

He is appointed to a commission concerned with integrating special needs children into the public school system in Paris. The committee decided a special education programme should be creates, and a system should be designed to identify these slower learning pupils entering school.

He collaborated with Theodore Simon to create a scale which measures higher mental processes such as imagination and memory. To test it, they drew samples from groups of children from schools, orphanages, hospitals and asylums. They carried out various cognitive tests which clearly discriminated between the normal school population and those in need of additional support. They introduced the scale in 1905, stressing it should only assess whether a child is of inferior intelligence and is not designed to identify the psychologically unstable.

1911

A British neuroscientist, Henry Head publishes “Studies in Neurology”. Within it he documents his important students on the neurophysiology of sensory perception in the cerebral cortex. He especially focusses on patients’ spatial perceptions of their own bodies.

1921

The Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach develops the ink blot test, or the Rorschach test as it is now known. This consists of ten standardised ink blots. Half in black and white, and half in colour. The subject is asked to describe what he sees in the “pictures” and his responses are analysed by the test giver on three areas, location, determinants and content.

Many psychiatrists have found animal and human sight to be useful clues to the patient’s psyches. It was used to identify personality traits and disorders, but it now not used so much as it is hard to independently validate the results.

1949

Walter Rudolph Hess wins the Nobel Prize for work regarding the interbrain (hypothalamus, subthalamus and parts of the thalamus). His research indicates that the interbrain is responsible for the coordination of the body’s internal organs.

1974

M.E Phelps, E.J Hoffman and M.M TER Pogossian develop the very first Positron Emission Topography (PET) scanner. This provides visual information about the activity of the brain. Patients are given a substance with radioactive atoms that emit positively charged particles (known as positrons). The gamma radiation resulting from this process is sensed by detectors and converted into cross-sectioned images of the brain by the computer. These scans are used to monitor things such as oxygen utilisation in the brain and blood flow.

1990

US President George Bush declares this decade as the “Decade of the Brain”

1997

Stanley B. Prusiner wins Nobel Prize for his discovery of a new genre of infectious agents called prions. Prions normally exist as harmless cellular proteins however they have the capacity to change their structures to configurations that can lead to a formation of harmful particles. Pruisner’s research found that prions can lead to  several brain diseases that can cause dementia in both animals and humans. This has also helped provide important insights into researching other types of illnesses related to dementia, such as Alzheimer’s.

2000

The Nobel Prize is awarded to Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel for their discoveries of signal transduction in the nervous system. This happens when a message is sent from one nerve cell to another through a chemical transmitter. Carlsson, Greengard, and Kandel’s research hones in on signal transduction between nerve cells known as “slow synaptic transmission”. Their discovery has highlighted how disturbances in this can cause neurologic and psychiatric diseases.

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.

Teachers and Showing Professionalism in Teaching

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What makes a teacher who makes a difference?

A teacher who makes a difference needs to be caring and empathetic. They need to have the ability to sympathise with different children’s situations and relate to them. Whilst it is their job to teach the children, I feel they also have a responsibility to connect with the children and makes sure they are okay.

You have to be devoted and always have time to speak to your pupils. You cannot turn them away if they are upset, as it may prevent them from coming to you in future.

To make a difference they should be incorporating team work. If they cannot work well collaborating with parents, co-workers and other professionals they would gain the support they need.Teachers also need to love what they do. If they are passionate and dedicated, this will shine through and in turn motivate students. By going the extra mile they are showing this dedication.

It is important teachers do not stop learning after they graduate. The education system is constantly changing and growing and if a teacher does not have a broad mind to develop with it they will not succeed in their role. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a fantastic way of continuing to learn and developing as a teacher.

I feel the most important aspect is to love what you do and aim to be exceptional. To excel as a teacher and ensure your pupils excel.

Professionalism?

The video “Professionalism (teachers say) on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ychgs3rrdA discusses different views on the professionalism of teachers.

Miss Catherine Long states there is more of a focus on the professionalism of teachers and how they are represented in society. She also highlights the fact there is more of a demand on benchmarking how well students are doing. I definitely agree with this. Parents are becoming more and more knowledgeable about what goes on within the classroom and the role of the teacher is therefore much more well known. Parents are also becoming more demanding in terms of pushing their children to be the best. I think by benchmarking how well children are doing, we are highlighting the attainment gap.

Mrs Nursen Chemmi states that teachers are role models. By both acting and speaking professionally we are setting a good example, which will hopefully “rub off” on children. I think this is a great way to look on our role as a teacher. We are setting an example to our pupils, and if we want them to excel in the world we should be going out of out way to set an excellent example.

Mrs Colleen Walsh speaks of how much times have changed in her 30 years teaching at St Michaels Catholic School. She believes she should also be a good role model to the pupils, in the way she acts and speaks. This is exactly how Mrs Nursen Chemmi felt, and as I agree to it is evident this is a very important factor in being professional. Mrs Walsh also states that it is important we do not judge children because of the homes they come from. From coming from a school with a catchment of a deprived area myself, I understand how important this is. Within a classroom there can be children from a number of different walks of life, and by treating them equally you are giving them all an equal chance at learning.

Words Associated With Being a Professional

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it is very important to be professional, especially in a career such as teaching. How you act reflects back on you, and you want this reflection to be positive, to be professional – you do not want it to be negative in any respects.

There are many things associated with being professional. Here are some examples of some words and phrases I associate with the term.

  • Experienced
  • Trustworthy
  • Accomplished
  • Trained
  • Educated
  • Skilled
  • Literate
  • Communication
  • Leadership
  • Collaborative
  • Polite
  • Presentable
  • Sympathetic
  • A good Listener

Reflection

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Reflection is a very important aspect of learning. If you cannot reflect, you cannot identify where you have went wrong in order to improve it.

At first I just assumed reflection was about thinking back and seeing how far you have come, but from reading further into it I have realised it is way more complex than that.

To reflect is to have the ability to stand back and look at something from a number of different imagesperspectives. It is the act of thinking about something and analysing those thoughts. When reflecting, it is important to make sure you do so from many perspectives, as doing so from only one may limit understanding.

Reflection is important in order to highlight your weaknesses. By doing this, you then understand exactly what went wrong and you can then improve from there. This is evident within Gibbs Model of Reflection (1988). This model is very useful, with six parts all explaining how to break down your reflection and use it to critically analyse a situation. These points included in the model are:

  • What happened?
  • How did you feel?
  • What went well and what did not?
  • What sense did you make of the situation?
  • What else could have been done?
  • If the situation happened again, what would you do? Would you do anything differently?

I think this model is very useful in reflecting on situations as it highlights everything needed to do so. In future I will certainly refer to this model.

reflect_cartoonReflection is very relevant to teaching. Teachers must be able to look at what they do in their classrooms and question why they are doing it and if it is having a positive impact. It is important for teachers to reflect and realise why lessons went well and why exactly that was. Similarly, it is important to reflect on situations that did not go so well, to make sense of the situation and come to a conclusion on what else could have been done to either prevent or resolve the situation. Then, they will know what they would do differently if a similar situation was to arise.

Reflection can be useful in many different situations. In dancing, it can be hard when you do not place as well as you have done in the past in competitions. Reflection is very beneficial in situations like these. It allows you to reflect on the positives, that you are capable of doing well, as well as the negatives – not everyone can be perfect all of the time. I believe it is very important to always be conscious that things do go wrong and there is always something to improve on. By reflecting, we can identify what has changed (for better and for worse) so we can do something about it. Reflection helps us learn from our experiences. And experience is a very successful way of learning.

Basic Academic Skills

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Throughout school I have always felt comfortable with my academic skills. I always excelled more in English than Mathematics, which definitely helped me across the whole curriculum. I hope this will also continue to benefit me in my academic writing throughout university.

Prior to attempting the online learning units I felt very knowledgeable about my skills and knowledge. I have always been conscious about my punctuation, and whilst I do try to vary my punctuation I tend to steer clear of things I am comfortable with. By reading The Study Skills Book by McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. I feel I have refreshed my memory and the uses of different punctuations have all came flooding back into my brain! I also found the table of “Twenty basic spelling rules” very useful.

Another basic skill I found useful looking over was sentence structure. I briefly remember my English teacher going over this in Fifth Year, but I never actually understood it fully. It is so much more understandable breaking the sentences down into “simple”, “compound” and “complex” sentences and coming to grips what should be in each.

I hope by refreshing my memory my basic skills will be to a standard suitable for university level writing. I also hope it will make me more conscious of my writing style. 

My take on the Allegory of the Cave…

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At school I studied Religious Moral and Philosophical Education, as I hoped it would help me when coming to university and fulfilling the philosophy aspects of this course. However, my teacher had a tendency to focus on religion, so I never gained that insight into Philosophy that I’d essentially hoped for. I have really enjoyed the philosophy inputs, as it is something new to get my head around and I have found it all very interesting!

The philosophy input I enjoyed the most was Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Brendan Knight gave us a very interesting insight into Plato’s theory which has stuck in my mind ever since.

Plato, who was an Ancient Greek Philosopher is from Athens , born in 423 B.C.E. Plato was prevented from a career in politics due to the aftermath of a war with Sparta, which brought a group of wealthy men into power known as the 30 tyrants. Plato instead became a pupil of the philosopher Socrates.

Socrates however was executed for heresy in 399 B.C.E, after which Plato began to write and teach with many of his philosophical works in the form of dialogues. The main character in all these being his old teacher Socrates, who would debate questions such as “what is life”.

In the seventh book of the republic Plato chose to focus on the differences between what seems to be real, and what actually is real. This is what is known as the Allegory of Cave, a short story highlighting these differences.

In Brendan’s lecture he spoke of the term “experience”. To understand this, he asked us – what if we grew up inside a cinema? We see life through the films we watch, without ever leaving… and this is our only experience of the world outside the cinema…

Plato’s theory of the Cave is very similar to this. He pictures three people born in a cave. They are chained up and facing away from the entrance; they never see what is actually happening out with the cave – only reflections of the outside world reflected on the wall in front of them. They can hear what is going on, but they cannot see it. The cave and the shadows on the wall in front of them is their only experience of existence.

One day, one of the three escapes their chains. At fist they are very weary, and scared to proceed. But the thought of a new experience encourages them to keep going. At first, he is blinded by the light, and very frightened. But he decides to proceed. His eyes eventually adjust to the light and for the first time he experiences life outside the cave. To him, it is a revelation. Something new, something he has never before experienced.

His first instinct to return to his cave, to what is familiar to him. However, he eventually decides to explain this new experience to the two others in the cave, He explains that they HAVE to experience this new world, the beautiful views and all the new sights and senses. They think this is absurd, and assume he is crazy. They are only used to life in the cave though – right?

The man simply cannot persuade them. He leaves to experience this new world out with the cave in which he is used to; the thought of something new being just too interesting for him to leave behind for the four walls of a cave. The message behind this is; “The men in the cave can only understand what they experience, nothing more”, whereas this man who has escaped, has had a taste of a new world. He has educated himself that there is more to life than the shadows on the caves wall. He realises than this outside world represents the true form of a world – that to him was previously only seen as a shadow projected on a wall.

This brings us to the “theory of forms”. What is justice? Well, many people see justice as equality. As an important characteristic in human life. Plato believed a human’s true form was their “psyche”, otherwise referred to as their soul – justice, is the characteristic that forms this.

Just. What is just? Justice is the ability to be a good person, and follow good morals. It IS possible to become more just, and to do so, Plato believed; all people had to do was educate themselves as philosophers.

Until they look into these philosopher’s views, new views of life that had previously not been considered, they are limiting their selves – essentially living in a cave. Without considering others views, they are limiting their intelligence and only viewing a distorted view of the world such as the three men inside the cave – who could not see the whole picture.

To become more just, all you need to do is educate yourself, believes Plato. The men who came from the cave have no experience of education. The only things they understand is from experience. This makes them ignorant, even though it is not their fault. Unlike the other man, they are not educated on the outside world, in what true forms actually are. They do not know that this world of the cave is not the only one that exists. They need to realise that their true form is actually their soul, and their justice comes from an upbringing of nurturing and caring.

Plato considered many forms of education, music, physical education and mathematics. All of which follow common themes – justice, responsibility and morals.

Plato concludes that everything in life has a form. By educating ourselves as philosophers, we are educating ourselves to identify these true forms. Plato believes the true form of a human is fundamentally their soul – and the only way to protect and nourish it is to act and think justly, which will in turn achieve true happiness.

Social Media

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•What challenges/opportunities you may be faced with when marrying the personal vs the professional presence on social media?

I do not feel I will be faced with too many challenges, hopefully, as I constantly make sure my social media is acceptable and portrays me in the way I want to be seen. 

I know many people who are teachers or work with young people and have deleted everyone under the age of 16 from their social media accounts. I think this is a good example to be setting, especially as your pupils may be mutual friends with these people and you do not want your posts to appear on their feeds. 

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) states that they acknowledge teachers have private lives, but it is important to think about how this may reflect on your professionalism and fitness to teach. I agree with this, it is important to stay sociable and communicate through websites such as Twitter and Facebook. However, I also feel it is important when becoming a teacher to be more wary about what you are posting and who you associating yourself with online.

My accounts online were already private prior to coming to university, but after the social media inputs I went on to check the privacy settings. It is amazing the loopholes that you can miss, with things such as pictures still being visible to people you are not friends with. I know teachers who have their accounts set so you can only add them if you are a mutual friend, which I feel is a very good idea. This will hopefully stop pupils and parents being able to request you as a friend or contact you. 

The GTCS codes highlight the impacts that acting unprofessionally online can cause, with things as serious as criminal convictions. They state that you should not compromise your integrity or personal identity by behaving unprofessionally online. One example of this is a group of primary school teachers who went out to let their hair down, and later published pictures online of their antics. As their accounts were not private everyone could see them, and the daily mail even published an article about them http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1389292/Disgrace-drinking-pole-dancing-primary-school-teachers-published-pictures-Facebook.html. This brings to mind another of the GTCS’ codes that you should think very carefully when writing a post before publishing it. They also state you should never post things when you are angry as you may be caught up in the heat and write something you normally wouldn’t. It is much better to save a draft and come back to it later, you will thank yourself in the long run.

I feel teachers are very vulnerable when it comes to the digital space online and they need to be more careful than others to ensure they are still viewed as a professional. Reading the advice on various sites such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, http://www.net-aware.org.uk/# and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, http://ceop.police.uk/, it has really hit home how unsafe the internet can be.

 

•How are the challenges/opportunities afforded by social media framed? How will you frame things – positive or deficit viewpoint?

Many of the challenges of social media are framed by a deficit view. You always hear about the negative impacts and the horror stories, never the positive side or the opportunities it can bring.

As a teacher I will frame social media with a positive viewpoint. I think it is important, especially with the development of technology in this, in the 21st century, to stay in the digital space. Everything these days is online, even most libraries now have hundreds of e-books instead of paper copies! And it’s not just books, even CD’s and DVD ROMS are on the way out, with many companies such as Apple not even putting disk drives into their newest models. 

Almost everyone these day is on social media. It is a great way to stay in touch with your friends and family, especially those who stay far away, sharing your photos and achievements for them to see. Even most schools now have their own Twitter accounts, which is an excellent way of keeping pupils informed as they are in this space every day.

I will however ensure I teach them of the dangers online, in a way appropriate to their age. Children are vulnerable to a range of different things online, and it is important they know what they are getting themselves in to and how to get out of these risky situations. 

Social media can and is a positive thing, but it is important to realise there are very negative consequences.

How can we support one another during our study?

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I believe we can support one another by motivating each other to get things done, and done well. There is nothing worse than being unable to continue studying as you just feel you are getting nowhere. With motivation from your peers it makes it a whole lot easier.

We can support each other by reading over anything someone in unsure of and giving them the best advice we can offer. We can also help by giving them praise when we feel they have done something well, as it will really boost their confidence.

We can offer support when someone just cannot concentrate, by offering to study with them it will stop them from procrastinating. It will also allow you to bring different viewpoints to any discussions that may arise, allowing you to share ideas and allowing you to develop new study skills from each other.

I like to study alone, as it gives me the opportunity to concentrate as I get distracted really easily when with friends. However I do like to collaborate with others and fins out how they are getting on with tasks and how much they have done, as it helps keep me on track and lets me know I am (hopefully) doing things right! I like to regurgitate what I have learned and teach it to others. I think just being able to do this makes you feel so much more confident in what you are speaking about and this subconsciously makes me feel so much comfortable with those subjects!

What are the most important skills/attributes/qualities we need to develop for successful academic study?

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Many skills and attributes are important to be successful in academic study, but some are more profound than others. I believe some of the main ones are organisation, time management, reading skills, note taking ability and good communication skills.

Organisation is definitely up there with the most important. I feel more at ease when all my noes have been taken down neatly and are put away in order in a folder. This makes it so much easier to look back over them, making studying less hassle.

Time management is also very important. The ability to manage your time can literally be life orstress-cartoon death when it comes to getting things done. There are only so many hours in a week and you need to make sure you can make all your lectures and tutorials, make time for extra reading, save time for studying, whilst still looking after yourself and having a life outside of study. You also need to make sure you know how long you have until assignments are due, so you don’t end up running around at the last minute.

Without the ability to read university would be almost impossible. Saying this, you need to make sure you are taking in what you are reading, and also that you are reading relevant materials.

Note taking is definitely important when it comes to lectures. I believe by taking notes we are not only taking in what is being said, but we are recording it too. This is beneficial when it comes to reflecting on what was brought up in lectures, as having what was discussed in front of you saves so much time remembering. it is also useful when it comes to revision, as these can then form part of your reading materials.

Megaphone-CartoonLastly I feel the ability to communicate well is definitely important for academic study. Especially on a course such as education where we are learning to work within a profession, we need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively from early on. This is also helpful when it comes to studying in groups, as it aids discussing making it so much easier.

By combining all of these factors, and using them in the hope they develop over the course of our study we are driving ourselves to become better learners.

What do you see as the main benefits of working co-operatively? Are there any challenges?

2 Replies

Working “co-operatively” is fundamentally working well together as a team. Teamwork is essential within any community of practice and certainly brings about many benefits. It sa1_collaborateincreases motivation by working with peers and helps make learning more enjoyable. It also develops oral communication skills through the dialogue needed to communicate. Also, with all the listening and conversing involved with the communicating, these skills will also develop.

There are also some challenges with working co-operatively. Some people within the group may be more dominant than others, causing some to be outspoken and others to not even get a chance to speak. There is also the problem that some people may sit back quiet allowing the others to do all the work, which is unfair and not a fair devolving of tasks.

Working co-operatively is essential for teachers, as they have so many other professionals involved in their school communities such as Social Carers, Community Learning and Development Workers, Police Officers and various others who have to work with teachers in some instances. 

Personal and Interpersonal Skills and Abilities: Online Unit

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A. Identifying Skills and Abilities

Activity 1

  1. (1=Not very well developed; 3=very well developed)
Skills and Abilities 1 2 3
Goal Setting X
Team Work X
Time Management X
Listening Skills X
Computing Skills X  
Problem Solving X
Taking Responsibility X

 

Activity 2

Recognition Reflection Action
Skills already developed How I will use these How do I know (evidence)**
Goal Setting I will use my skill of goal setting to set specific goals to work towards. This will ensure I know exactly what I am aiming for and allow me to use it as motivation. I have always set very high goals for myself and it has always helped by giving me motivation to work harder towards them. For example, at school, although not expectation to do amazing, I still aimed high and managed to come away with straight A’s at higher. If I had aimed for C’s, I don’t think I’d have got results close to what I did.
Team Work I will use my experience with team work to work effectively with fellow students and also when working alongside teachers and pupils on placement. I know I work well in a team from spending most of my summers as part of a team in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The teamwork skills gained from spending so much time with a group of people is so amazing, from how to negotiate, keep each other motivated, share ideas to improve dances and generally how to work well together.
Listening Skills I will use my listening skills to make sure I listen intently in lectures and do not miss anything. I will also use them to make sure I am communicating effectively. I have always been a good listener. I was a buddy at school, and from this I understand how important it is to fully engage and listen properly. Without developed listening skills, I may have come across as uninterested or rude, whereas by listening properly I was able to communicate effectively and understand/sympathise with the pupils I was working with.
Taking Responsibility I will take responsibility for my learning and ensure I do everything to the best of my ability. I will also take seriously any responsibility put on me throughout the course. I had a great deal of responsibility as Deputy Head Girl at school. I always took full responsibility, ensuring everything was done properly. If anything was not to go to plan, I would have also taken full responsibility for it.

 

Recognition Reflection Action
Skills to be developed How I will develop these How do I know (evidence) **
Time Management I will develop my time management skills by writing down when and where I need to be in a diary. I will also use it to record when assignments are due, so I know when to begin working on them in order to meet deadlines. Up until this last year I have always relied on other people to tell me where I need to be and what I need to do. I now fully understand it is my responsibility to know these things and make sure I am organised and in the right place at the same time.
Problem Solving I will develop my problem solving skills by focussing on a solution instead of worrying about the prevailing problem. I will keep an open mind to any possible solutions and try not to over-complicate any issues. If a problem ever arose back at school, I would always try and come up with a solution. However, I usually panic and over-complicate the situation, when there is actually a simpler solution. I will develop this by being more realistic and staying calm in these situations.
Computing Skills I will develop my computing skills by engaging more with the digital community. I will start working from my laptop than on paper and share my experiences on my e-portfolio. I do feel confident working electronically and using computers, but there are some things I just cannot get my head around. I have never blogged before in my life, and I hope I can use my e-Portfolio to give me experience sharing my learning.

 

B. Managing My Learning

Activity 1

Recognition/ Reflection Action
What helps my learning? How can I utilise this?
Example: “Discussing the topic with others”
  • Set up a study group of like-minded peers
  • Engage with the online community
Note Taking
  • Writing notes neatly so I can read back over them and reflect
  • Keep all my notes organised so I know where to find them
Group Studying
  • Collaborating and discussing my work and my ideas with my peers.
  • Stay focussed on task and get work done quicker in a more relaxed environment such as a group study zone.
Background Reading
  • Sourcing relevant books and reading more in-depth into the topics discussed in our lectures.
Studying Alone
  • By studying alone in the quiet I can give all my attention to my work and not be distracted by others going off-topic.
Goal-Setting
  • By setting goals, I know exactly what I need to do to fulfil them, so I do not end up overworking, or not doing enough work.
Study in different ways
  • By varying my study, such as reading one day, note taking another, jotting down mind maps and watching educational videos, I am getting in to a good routine of keeping myself interested. This will keep me motivated and more willing to learn.
Recognition/Reflection Action
What hinders my learning? How can I address this factor?
Example: “I’m easily distracted”
  • Study in a place where distractions are minimal·
  • Read lecture notes before the lecture and then take notes lectures to keep me focused
I try to get everything done at once
  • ·Set goals of what I want to achieve in each study session I plan.
  • Know when it is appropriate to stop and take a break.
I get easily distracted
  • ·Turn off my phone and any notifications on my laptop so I can stay focussed.
  • Study away from other people so I do not get distracted by their conversations.
  • Try to refrain from tidying things up or rearranging things when I should be reading.
My surroundings
  • ·Study somewhere I can focus, such as my room or in a classroom – communal areas will just cause me to go off-task and “finish it another night”.
Illness
  •  Instead of battling through and trying to get stuff done, I will firstly get my health in order so I can then study when I am feeling better. This will ensure I am not wasting time revising half alive when I am never going to remember any of it.
Not feeling good enough
  • When I hear others speak about their work and what they have done, my natural instinct is to panic. I am going to address this by working to the best of my ability, and if someone has done something I haven’t done – I won’t panic, as I will have bene organised enough to get everything done I was supposed to…
Lack of sleep
  • ·No one works well when they haven’t had enough sleep, and your mind doesn’t work well either. I will ensure I am getting enough sleep, so when I do come around to working, I will be fully attentive and put all my mind towards it.