Category Archives: 3.4 Prof. Reflection & Commitment

My Initial Thoughts about Early Years!

Third year marks the start of my journey into early Years, concluding with an early years placement. My feelings are a mix of nerves and excitement. During my experience at my local school during high school and my 1^st year placement at University, I have always worked with primary 4/5. This is a whole new experience for me, but one I am looking forward to and aim to make the most of. My experience with younger children is very limited, so my only apprehensions towards this area is the fear of the unknown. Working with early years children will be a vital experience for me and I understand that I will make mistakes, but it is imperative that I use these and learn from them in order to improve.

Early years is such an interesting and exciting area of teaching and it requires so many different skills. Children are at the very start of their school journey and going from a primary 4/5 class who could all read and write to a good enough standard, to children who may not be able to read or write at all will be a definite challenge that I will have to overcome. However, overcoming new challenges and experiences is all part and parcel of teaching. This is where reflection and professional reading will help aid my practice and overall development as a teacher. Teachers also need to adapt to different needs of every child and no day seems to be the same from what I have learned so far. I understand that the level of interaction will be completely different and the type of learning that the children will take part in will be unique and it is something I know I will need to get use to and adapt to in order to give children the best possible learning experiences.

I have always been a firm believer in active learning, where children are engaged and learn through ‘doing’ as well as outdoor learning and believe they are both vital for children’s development. Using exploration and investigation leads to fantastic opportunities for the children to be massively involved in their own learning as well as more importantly, allowing children to be children. I hope to implement all the knowledge and experience I have gained over the last 3 years, as well as my outdoor education placement to make learning as active, interesting and effective as possible.

I hope my understanding of this area will expand over this semester and I plan to do some reading on different aspects of early years to improve and develop my own practice and deepen my understanding in order to become the best teacher I possibly can. I expect this semester to provide fantastic opportunities and I hope to apply all knowledge gained to my placement in a few months.

Overall, this is a huge new experience for me and definitely out of my comfort zone, but I am thoroughly looking forward to learn all about early years and develop my own ideas, thoughts and overall practice.

Topic Work – My Opinions and Experiences!

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We had our first lecture to introduce the ‘developing effective teaching and learning’ module on Monday 17^th September. We were discussing topic work and how it can often be the most memorable sort of work that we did at primary school and how it can be a vital tool for interdisciplinary learning.

Our task was to write a blog post discussing one memorable experience of topic work from primary school. My experience was when we did our World War 2 topic and it still sticks with me even to this day. We looked at events that happened during the war and the way people lived, which led to looking at how that compared to our everyday lives. The way the teacher engaged us using creative tasks and very practical hands on activities always made the lessons fun and interesting. I also think because of the way it was taught made the whole class more motivated and eager to learn more about the war. The teacher used different methods whilst doing this topic with us, we would watch different videos on the war and how people lived, and we would talk and answer questions that included working in pairs and small groups to engage us in discussion.

Doing topic work in general always made me feel excited and I always had a smile on my face whenever we were told that we were going to do it. What I didn’t realise at the time as a pupil, but I do now as a trainee teacher is that it is a perfect opportunity to combine many different subjects in a way which stimulates children’s interests. I think for me it was great as there were no different level groups which is the norm in maths and literacy for instance. It was everyone together having fun and taking part in wonderful learning experiences.

For example, one particular experience that really makes it memorable for me was when we used all of our knowledge and learning to put on a show for the rest of the school and local community which of course involved us combining our topic work with drama. It was all about the war time and my part in the show was to perform the World War 2 song ‘Run Rabbit Run’ by Flanagan and Allen with my friend David. It was such a fun, engaging learning experience for me, as I was able to do something I really enjoyed, whilst learning at the same time. During this show, we invited the local care home also to come along as we thought it would be a great idea to allow them to get all nostalgic about the olden days and their youth. They all loved it and it was a wonderful opportunity to bring together the wider community and open our classroom up and show what we had learned at the same time.

It was also great fun to dress up in clothes from that era, which we did on several occasions, not just for the show.

I also particularly enjoyed the opportunities it gave me to sit and interact with family as I had to talk to my gran and grandad about their experiences and I found this fascinating to learn about how they lived and what they experienced during that time. I was even lucky enough to borrow my grandad’s ration book to take to school. My grandparents also enjoyed reminiscing and sharing their memories.

Another fantastic topic at school was Falkland Palace and Scottish History, more predominantly, Mary Queen of Scots. This is another experience that I remember very well and again, the practical element of this project made it memorable and for me was a powerful learning experience. The context behind the project was looking at Scottish history and how that impacted our lives as well as looking back at past events and stepping into the shoes of some famous characters of Scottish history including Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox. Some aspects that I remember vividly include having to use our researching skills to discover more information regarding events that occurred, as well as using our literacy skills to try our hand at different writing tasks. These included writing newspaper reports on the murder of Mary Queen of Scots private secretary David Rizzio and writing diary entries and letters as if we were Mary writing home from France to her family. Reflecting on this experience now, I can see how this is an excellent way to practice and improve writing and literacy skills in a stimulating way where the children don’t actually feel as if they are doing ‘proper’ work. As the topic they are writing about is interesting, children will be more motivated to complete the task and to a high standard. We also took part in creative art activities such as making and designing booklets and filling it with information about Scottish history, events, weapons etc.

One of the best opportunities we had during this topic was to visit Falkland Palace for the day. Our journey began with a tour of Falkland learning about the past and were then taken to Falkland Palace where we learned all about Scottish history and the story of Mary Queen of Scots. We also got to dress up like characters from the past which was always great fun. I was Lord Darnley. We really felt like we were experiencing first-hand how the people lived and the use of actors to portray the characters that day really helped spark my imagination. In my opinion, class trips such as this are essential as they can allow children to get out of the classroom environment and really experience something first hand. It could also perhaps result in children who may not flourish in the classroom environment to do so.

This whole experience of this topic made me feel like I was actually there during the time of Mary Queen of Scots and the practical, full on element of the project meant that it was never boring. It really stimulated and challenged me and constantly made me think, whilst providing me with so much learning and knowledge. Something that still stays with me today.

I believe that project work can provide children with fantastic opportunities to learn so much about a certain topic and the element of wonder and surprise during these experiences can be a very powerful learning tool. I particularly like the fact that it can meet the needs of all children and everyone can take part and have fun doing it. It is a very inclusive type of learning and this can only be good for children’s confidence and development. Of course, the effectiveness of this type of work can depend on the approach the school and teachers use, as well as the attitude the teacher has towards topic work. But on the whole, if links can be made across subject areas, creative teaching strategies are undertaken, and the children get to participate in a variety of engaging activities then in my opinion topic work can be one of the most memorable experiences you can have in primary school. I know it certainly was for me.

My personal views about children’s rights. Do teachers have the right to express a moral viewpoint?

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We live in a society where all human beings having rights which must be respected by others. This of course is not always the case however. There are differing opinions about children’s rights. Some people believe that children should have rights just like everyone else, but others believe they are still dependent on teachers and parents so should not be full right bearers. I can see why both arguments could be valid.

There have been two main theories looking at rights, which can be linked directly to children. The choice theory is self-explanatory and discusses how everyone has rights, whereas the interest theory also believes everyone has rights but there must also be an interest group there to protect wellbeing. In my opinion, children should have their rights, but at an early age be given as much support as possible. Children will be able to make choices from very early in their life, but they will have no concept of what that choice could mean for themselves and others around them. Brighthouse and McAvvoy (2010) discuss that children have the potential to improve their skills and personality in such a way that will enable them to deal with the world, physically and socially on their own in the future, without being dependent. Therefore, it is vital for the children to have teachers and parents etc guiding them. The main role for teachers regarding rights for children is to support them in order for them to be independent with their rights in the future.

I believe that teachers can express a moral view point however it has become increasingly difficult to do this. This ‘expressing a moral view point’ can be looked at in two ways. If a student makes a decision that the teacher may believe is wrong, the teacher can only express a moral view point in my opinion if there is permission to do so from family and only if they feel the decision being made could have negative consequences on the student. They should never force their viewpoint on the student. If the moral viewpoint concerns what they are teaching in class or how they are being made to teach, this is completely different. Due to teachers lack of freedom and autonomy in the classroom, they have no choice in how and what they teach due to the curriculum and Scottish education compared to other countries. This leads to a lack of motivation from teachers in Scotland.

Teachers do have the right to express a moral viewpoint in terms of children and their rights but only in a way that will not make students feel uncomfortable or that it is being forced upon them. This links back to teachers being the supportive adult for children outside of their home environment. Teachers can give their opinions on matters in children’s lives and convey their view, but at the end of the day if a student is going to engage in any sort of activity, it is irrelevant what a teacher says, as they cannot stop them from doing it.

ICT programming in the Primary Classroom.

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This is a short blog about ICT and programming in primary schools.

On Thursday 11^th January, our workshop was on ICT and more specifically on programming. We were introduced to a variety of different programming applications that can be used in the primary classroom.

The one I will focus on is Textease Turtle. Textease Turtle is a Control Technology program where you can command a turtle to draw shapes on the screen. The turtle can be directed by a controller or by writing instructions. The reason I have chosen this is due to my previous experience of seeing this in my 1^st year placement. It is a terrific way to teach the basic skills of programming to children and can be used for early and mid-primary school level.

Initially to get the children really engaged and motivated by the program, there can be a session introducing programming and how it is used in real life e.g. phone apps and games that the children may use. This will keep the lesson and topic stimulating.

The first steps would be to introduce the program to the children and discuss its purpose and how it works. The controls would be introduced and discussed, with the children copying the teacher to get a feel for the program. The class could then move on to follow instructions set out by the teacher to complete tasks and draw objects and shapes.

Once the children felt confident with the software the children could then get into groups of three. One person would be coming up with instructions for the turtle movements in order to make any sort of shape or picture and the other children in the group would listen and follow the instructions. The aim of this would be for all three children in the group to have the same shape/picture on the screen if steps have been followed correctly.

Now that the pupils have built up knowledge of the basics of programming, they can begin to be more creative and make their own instructions to create a picture to complete and for a partner to try and follow.

The task I witnessed in my placement class was that children were given a maze on their screens with the turtle at the beginning. The children then had to use the program to move the turtle through the maze and out of the other side. Differentiation was used in terms of support for certain children. The pupils were engaged and really enjoyed the task. Extra tasks could then be completed such as the children making their own maze and programming the turtle to navigate through that.

Finding the motivation to write this was tough…

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Today, I had a lecture on Motivation in the Primary Classroom.

We were given the question….How do we motivate learners? Identify and discuss the key features of motivation and strategies to develop motivated children.

There are two types of motivation:

Intrinsic motivation comes from inside yourself while on the other hand, extrinsic motivation comes from external factors. Both types can be engaged in different ways by the teacher. Intrinsic motivation can be triggered by regular feedback, providing activities that the pupils will find interesting and relevant to them and active learning. Extrinsic motivation is different and can be engendered by praise, but more importantly sincere praise. If this is not the case, children will be expecting praise and will potentially stop trying as hard with work.

As teachers, it is vitally important that we have high expectations and that the work we set children offers them a real challenge but at the same time offers children the chance of being successful. There must be a balance and the ability and level must be taken into consideration. Monitoring children’s progress and letting them know constantly how they are doing through feedback can have a big impact on their motivation.

Thoonen (2011) discussed three motivation factors which:

‘*Expectancy components – pupils’ beliefs about their ability to perform a task (academic self-efficacy)

*Value components – pupils’ goals for doing a task, their beliefs about its importance and their interest in the task.

*Affective components – pupils’ feelings or emotional reactions to the task or school in general.

One other motivation theory was Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Maslow had the idea that there were 5 stages of motivation and each one needed to be completed to move on to the next stage of the pyramid. The 5 stages discussed were: Physiological needs, Safety and Security, Love and Belonging, Self Esteem and Self Actualisation. As a teacher, I feel that I can be responsible for meeting some of these needs such as the child feeling safe and secure in the classroom environment and the feeling of belonging the children will have in the class. This can be built up supporting children’s self esteem. Bartlett and Burton (2012, p206) had the idea that to develop a child’s self esteem, children need to be ‘listened to and empowered to make decisions about their own learning’.

Children must be given feedback to show how they are progressing. This in turn will motivate them to keep going and continue progressing.

Getting to know your children in the class is of vital importance for any teacher and building up a good relationship with the pupils can motivate both yourself and the class. There must be mutual respect and you must be modelling your behaviour as a teacher to motivate the class to behave in a positive way.

Hayes (2006, p23) found that children liked teachers:

who like them
who are confident and in control
who provide well prepared lessons
who make an effort to make content interesting.

Ultimately being a teacher who children like, no matter how simple that idea sounds, is one of the most important aspects that will lead to a class who are motivated and a classroom with a positive ethos.

One final thing I would like to mention is 5 powerful motivators that Gonzalez (2016) wrote about and they included: positive relationships with teachers, choice, rewards not being a good idea when tasks ‘involve creativity and persistence’ as this may ‘hamper motivation’, students having the belief that they can complete tasks and finally, relevance to children’s life’s outside of school.

Motivation is a huge factor that all teachers must consider every day. This can not only help develop children’s understanding, knowledge and skills if they are motivated to be learning but it can also give a teacher a better chance of being successful. A motivated class can create a positive ethos and give children a purpose for doing the work they have been given and through positive relationships, learning that is relevant to children and their interests and methods of teaching that engages children and really makes them think will ensure that motivation will be at the highest levels.

Rerefences:

Thoonen, E.E.J., Sleegers, P.J.C. , Peetsma, T.T.D. and Oort, F.J. (2011). Can teachers motivate students to learn? Educational Studies, vol. 37(3), pp.345-360.

Maslow, A. (1943). ‘A theory of human motivation Psychological Review’ 50(4): pp 370-396

Bartlett, S. and Burton, D.M. (2012) Introduction to education studies. London : SAGE

Gonzalez, J. (2016) 5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Unmotivated Students. Available at: http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/student-motivation/

My Experiences of Music.

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music

Ever since I was in P5, I was always very musical. I started playing the clarinet in P5 when the opportunity arose to take up an instrument. This really excited me and was raring to go. I continued to play clarinet and take part in many school concerts and music festivals until 6th year when I was forced to hand my clarinet back to the school. My experiences of musical tuition have been very positive, I always got on with the instructors. Their methods for teaching all differed but were all very effective in helping me learn and develop my skills. In primary school music for me was usually taught by listening to different music and trying to learn to play different songs on the recorder. I feel, although learning music in school was positive, it still needs a bigger part in the curriculum in my opinion. In primary school, I also played several lead roles in musical concerts and musicals, such as Toad in ‘Wind in the Willows’, Joseph in ‘Joseph and his amazing techni-coloured dream coat’ and Oliver Twist in ‘Oliver’.

clarinet oliver-twist joseph windi

I achieved A’s in National 5 and Higher music. Studying music in high school was different in the way that it was more in depth and was not just playing instruments. It involved listening to different music and learning to recognise musical concepts as well as making our own music. Due to my musical background, I feel as though my music reading is of a good standard.

I have always been very passionate about music, be it playing instruments, singing or learning about music and also just in general, listening to music. Whenever I can, I will always be listening to music. It could be new modern dance or pop songs, or classic songs from years ago. I have always loved music, but the reason I like older music from the 80’s etc. could be due to the fact my dad was a DJ in Spain in the 80’s and still volunteers for a hospital radio station in Kirkcaldy. I grew up listening to older songs, because of my dad’s obsession for music and I am still undecided if that was a blessing or not. My music taste is varied and I will listen to any song, given of course that it is a good song.

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I believe that the experiences and skills I gained throughout those years has lead to me being quite confident in my ability in teaching music in the primary school setting.

However, despite this, I am also of the opinion that you don’t have to be musically talented or naturally musical to be an influential, successful music teacher, and I agree with Mills (2009, p6) who stated that ‘Their advantage is that they already have musical self-esteem‘. This is a vital element that teachers have that can help them be as successful as possible in the classroom.

I believe that music should have a more prominent purpose in the curriculum as it engages children in an activity that can broaden their horizons and give them vital skills for now and later in life. It allows children to enjoy learning and challenge them to critically think about and learn a variety of different music genres, some they may have never heard before.

Overall, I feel quietly confident about teaching music due to my positive experiences and musical backgrounds. There will obviously be struggles along the way and difficulties to overcome, but I believe that by gaining even more understanding and knowledge and further developing skills throughout my course, I have the best chance of being a successful teacher of primary school music.

References:

Mills, J. (2009). Music in the primary school. England: Oxford University Press

An important moment for me in Semester 1

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As part of my continual development and professional reflection, I have been asked to choose one particular moment of semester 1 that was important to me as a professional and what I learned from the experience.

I have chosen the experience of visiting a school in Dundee for the working together module. The module visits didn’t just involve schools, but I found the visit to an actual school very beneficial for my own personal development and it proved to be a very positive experience.

I learned all about the ways in which the school worked together in general, and specifically ‘the toast room’ which was for children to come during lunch to relax and talk to the support workers if they had any issues to discuss, or if they just wanted company and a chat. I also began to experience how the school worked collaboratively with outside agencies as well as how they cooperate with social workers and CLD workers to provide children with the best help and support. This links perfectly with the ‘Getting it Right for Every Child’ or ‘GIRFEC’ approach which is at the centre of everything schools and teachers do and is vital in the development of children.

It was clear by the enjoyment and development of the children that the impact of the work being done was huge and, although it sounds cliché, it made me want to be a teacher even more.

I felt this experience has helped me broaden my understanding of the working together and cooperative aspect of the profession and it has improved my knowledge and developing my thinking further of just how important it is.

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I have started to gauge how important and essential being an reflective practitioner is and how it can improve your chances of being a successful teacher.

It is crucial for teachers to be constantly reflecting on their practice to always be able to improve. There is always something to improve and if you can’t find anything to improve on then you’re probably in the wrong profession. It will not only improve your practice but it supports the development of the children in your class and the education profession in general. If every teacher shows professional commitment in order to reflect on the profession and their individual practice, it can only bring positive outcomes.

When I was at Baldragon Academy on my visit, we learned the importance of reflection as they looked at the ways they attempted to support children and realised some problems that may be affecting the support that they were offering. One area which was highlighted was that during ‘team around the child meetings’ there was too many adults associated with one child, which created fear and intimidation for the child so they reflected on this and now there is only a small group or even 1 or 2 adults who talk to children about issues they may have. This has improved the support available for children and is a positive example of reflection.

I believe that during my placements and thereafter in my career as a primary school teacher, being reflective constantly will aid my professional development and will help me grow as a person and a professional. I will be able to improve all the time, and will always be learning, in order to give myself and my children a better chance of being successful in school and during adulthood in the future.

We have to reflect on every experience, good or bad, to see what went well and why, and what needs improved upon and how we can do that.

Let’s Reflect….on Reflection!

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Reflection overall can help us look at experiences we have had and evaluate exactly what happened and we can learn a lot from them through evaluation. We can also consider why events happened, what caused it to happen and how we can make changes to stop it from happening again. Overall it can help us develop and move forward our understanding.

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Reflection is massively important in life, especially in professions such as teaching. You have to be a reflective practitioner if you are to continually improve yourself as a person, a teacher and as a professional. As professionals, we are always reflecting. We will most likely have to reflect every day as teachers about lessons, children’s individual behaviour and collaborative working with colleagues and other agencies. For example, if you have taught your class and you realise your pupils are not understanding what you are teaching them or just not picking it up as fast as you thought they would, you then have to reflect on certain things: what is the reason for them not understanding: was your teaching of the lesson too difficult for your students to understand? Is it just the kids who need extra support that haven’t quite grasped the concept? If it is your teaching, how can you make changes to improve the children’s learning and understanding? The reason that you have to ask yourself these types of questions is because reflection can’t just be from one person’s perspective. It must be from varying opinions and viewpoints from everyone involved as this will ensure that your reflections have the best chance at making a difference.

We have to reflect in order to make children and young people’s school experience as enjoyable as possible. This will give them a better chance of achieving their potential. This can only be done if we reflect in order to make sure the whole class is learning in the correct way for them personally so that they can engage in learning more effectively.

My Understanding of Academic Skills…

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One of the biggest things I have started to understand about academic skills is that they are completely different from skills that were required for essays in school for example. A much higher quality is expected from you and in order to get good grades in University assignments, it is essential to get the basics right. You have to be able to improve certain aspects of academic skills, these are:

Punctuation; spelling and enhancing your vocabulary; punctuation and grammar and shaping your texts: sentences and paragraphs. Each have equal importance and are all vital in making your academic writing as fluent as it can be and to the best quality.

Punctuation can have your reader understand exactly the message you are trying to convey but it can easily mislead them if you use any punctuation incorrectly. Examples of this can be if certain punctuation marks are inserted in the wrong place in sentences, it will completely change the meaning of the sentence and can make it ambiguous.

Spelling is such a simple concept but it is so important. If you completely misspell a word in your assignment then you will be marked down, irrespective of whether your essay was very good. Also, if you spell a word wrong such as ‘ your’ which has a couple of different spellings, it will change the meaning, which could lead to it not making sense anymore.

spellcheck

As you are a University student, you are expected to show the maturity of one. One of the ways to do this is to ensure your vocabulary is ever expanding. Thesauruses are always handy when writing an essay, to make sure it is at the required academic level. Never insert bigger words all the way through the essay just to sound better. It will become obvious that none of the words are your own.

Grammar is essential when you are a student and are writing assignments. McMillan and Weyers (2012) state that “it is an integral and expected component of academic writing” and “without it your writing may be nonsensical, illogical or ambiguous”.

Shaping your paragraphs and sentences together is the basis of writing academically for University. They ensure that your whole essay links together and flows smoothly throughout. This will give your marker an easier job and will allow them to easily understand what message you’re trying to convey through your essay.

Overall, I feel that the academic skills are vitally important in giving you the best chance of success in essays and assignments. Master the basics and you will be well on your way to writing an essay that will achieve a high mark.

The benefits of collaborative working!

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There are many benefits of working co-operatively and can be very varied. For example, lots of different ideas can be generated from different perspectives which can deepen the group’s understanding and knowledge of the area that is being worked on. The task can be made easier and can potentially be completed quicker by sharing resources. In addition to this, a wider set of skills can be used effectively during tasks as different members or professionals will have different expertise. As well as this, the group can share different ways of completing tasks to help and support their fellow group members in future challenges they may face. By working collaboratively, you will be able to hear and listen to other people’s opinions and viewpoints. It is vital you acknowledge these as they can widen and develop your own understanding.

For professionals, collaborative working is vital. On the General Teaching Council for Scotland website (find link below text) in the ‘Model of professional learning’ section it states that “collaborative practices underpin models of professional learning”. It is also mentioned many times in the 3 standards of teaching on the same website: Standards for Registration, Standards for Career-Long Professional Learning and Standards for Leadership and Management.

http://www.gtcs.org.uk/

For professionals, the most important aspect of collaborative working is that they have the best interests of the child at the centre of their work. Information will be able to be shared which will give professionals a bigger picture of what they are doing. Ideas can be passed on to different agencies if needed, for example to give a child the most effective help and support possible.

For our professions, collaboration is essential between members of our own professions and the different agencies and this all depends on effective communication. This will ensure that we can change the world of so many children to make it possible for them to achieve their potential, no matter who they are.

Sharing the same visions and turning them into reality is what will transform lives for the better.