Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

Its a science thing…

For our first science input we had been asked to prepare a short science demonstration to share among our peers. Personally, I had not studied science since I had been in 2nd year, so the thought of this task made me slightly anxious. After researching ideas for topics for science projects, that could be done within the classroom, I realised there were LOADS of ideas that could easily be done, and explained, without a major background in science. I decided that I was going to make a lava lamp to show my group, as it demonstrated how different chemical compounds don’t mix- i.e. water and oil. The water and oil don’t mix ,and naturally separate from one another, due to water having a higher density to the oil. This also allowed me to make a simple, yet fun experiment, which would be possible to be recreated within the classroom. To demonstrate this process I constructed a poster which also displayed to process of an actual lava lamp and how the heat source causes the wax to rise and then as it cools the wax falls only for the process to start again.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised about this task. It allowed me to see that although I didn’t know much about science as a topic I was able to find enjoyment while doing this. It has also made me want to bring these tasks into the classroom on placement and share this excitement with the children working with.

Online Unit: 3a

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Words relating to being a professional

– standards

– career

– experienced

– qualified

– delegation

– position

-workload

Online Unit: 2

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Reflection

Reflecting upon our work is important in order to allow us to pick up on the things we have done well on as well as highlighting the areas we may need to work on. Taking the time to look back over past work we have done will help us to progress as learners as it will show us our strengths and weaknesses. It is beneficial for us to try and learn from our mistakes in order for us to improve and therefore not replicate these errors in further work we do. As teachers it is crucial for us to always endeavour work to the best of our ability in order to set a standard for the children we are teaching. Although we must accept that not everything we do is going to be flawless and 100% correct; we must always strive to perfect any glitches we come across in our work so that the information we are providing is accurate and the example we are setting is one we are proud of. It must be remembered that we going to be the main source of information to these children and so buy providing them with false facts or an improper way of doing things we are letting them down.

However, making sure we take the positive aspects of our work into consideration is also vital for our progress too. By also taking your strong points into consideration this helps your confidence in your work grow; giving you assurance that you are on the right track and have the ability to produce work of the same quality again. The reassurance of knowing that they are on the right track may be what some people need who lack confidence in order to prevent them from holding back from producing work in the future. Therefore, I believe that reflection is vital in allowing our work to mature as it allows us to identify where we thrive and struggle. Where some people struggle to point out their strengths and weaknesses this is where comments from peers come in handy. Sometimes having an outsiders prospective on your work allows you to evaluate your work more clearly and so gives you a better outline on where you may need to improve or even strengths that you can continue to build on.

Online Unit: 1c

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What do you see as the main benefits of working co-operatively?

– There are many benefits to working co-operatively. One of these being that it allows you to get an insight into professions or areas of the job which you may never of had the chance to look into before. For instance, as a teacher you will more than likely have to work with children who do not have English as their first language. As a result of this you will have to work co-operatively with an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher who will come into the classroom to support and train the teachers in order to provide them with strategies to support the children who do not have English as a first language. Another benefit to working co- operatively is that you will be able to give support easier to the different areas. As you will be working together it would be hoped that this would result in a positive working relationship. This would benefit anyone who was struggling with a particular area out with their expertise in order to be able to come forward and seek advice within the group. Working together co-operatively will also help to take a holistic approach to the child’s needs. For instance, by having teachers, social workers and CLD workers all coming together, this will ensure that all aspects of the child’s life is taken into consideration. An example of when this may happen is if the child was seen to be struggling at school and a board of people were brought together to discuss the reason why. By bringing all these professions together it will help there to be a more rounded view of the problem as each the professions have a different relationship with the child and see them in different settings.

What are the challenges to working co-operatively?

– Some challenges facing working co-operatively is that not everyone will share the same opinions so people may not be willing to take on other points of view. Due to a lack of willingness to take on others inputs this will hinder the groups working ability resulting in a delay in the task being completed. Another challenge to working co-operatively would be that not everyone has an understanding of different professions so wouldn’t know how to approach them. This can lead to people putting up barriers around themselves and so stops them from gong out and seeking advice from other areas of expertise who could help them get a more rounded and knowledgeable view on a matter.

Enquiring Practitioner

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What does it mean to be an enquiring practitioner?

I believe an enquiring practitioner to be someone who is always keen to seek the answer of something which has a logical explanation and can be defined. They would always go out to find the solution which has the most solid evidence.

What does this imply for us as a student teacher?

It is important for us to be enquiring practitioners as student teachers due to this helping us to ensure that we striving to always give our students the correct facts. By ensuring that the information we are supplying to our children is backed up we then guarantee that they are receiving genuine materials. When children come to school there is an expectation that they will leave with a bounty of palpable knowledge that they can build on through life. We, as teachers, would be letting the children down if the information we taught them wasn’t based on fact; hadn’t been researched or couldn’t be proved. It is highly important we supply them with an assortment of knowledge to make sure that they have a diverse insight into many areas of the curriculum. I believe by providing the young people with as much of a rounded understanding as possible this will help discourage ignorance due to them gaining a knowledge of things they may never have come into contact with or be aware of in their normal environment.

Online Unit: 1a

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Activity 1

Skills and Abilities	1	2	3
Share Opinions Confidently			X
Converse confidently			X
Be creative		X
Organise and plan		X
Act as a leader		X
Computer skills	X
Take notes			X

Activity 2

Recognition	Reflection	Action
Skills already developed	How will I use these	How do I know (evidence)**
Share opinions confidently	– In class when asked to contribute in discussions on points raised in the lecture.-When commenting on my peer’s blogs on their e-portfolio’s as I wont be afraid to give my opinion even if it is conflicting. However, I must do so in such a way that I don’t offend the other person and respect that they have a different opinion than me.	– In a psychology lecture where we were discussing the ‘Nature vs Nurture’ debate we were encouraged to turn around to the row behind in order to discuss our views. In doing this we were able to openly voice our opinions with one another and also in turn got to hear different views on the subject and why they thought this.
Converse confidently	– To socialise with my peers in tasks when advised in order to help each other through the work set.-To enable me to make friendships with people in my course by having the ability to approach them in order the make conversation	– When participating in tutorials by conversing confidently I am able to complete the tasks set efficiently and contribute to the group discussion such as when we had our workshop on ‘the standards for registration’.
Be creative	– To make wall displays exciting to the eye in order to make people interested in the work you are displaying.- To enable me to document my notes in more interesting ways, such as by using mind maps and colour, which will help me to study better when it comes to assessments.	– I am a class representative and we were given the task of designing the Education information board. By doing this I was able to show my creative side. We updated the board through the use of boarders and by adding glitter to the dividers which separate all the different year’s information.
Organise and plan	– To organise myself efficiently in order to get myself to lectures on time.-By planning ahead I will be able to be more prepared for tasks and lessons and so be ready for the task/lesson ahead.	– To keep myself organised I store all my notes for the different modules in separate areas so that I clearly know where everything is. By keeping my notebook organised this will help me when it comes to assignments.
Act as a leader	– To lead a team efficiently to reach their goals- Be a leader who inspires confidence in her team and so helps her team to be at ease with the task being carried out	– An example of when I acted as a leader was when I took charge during a section of the QR hunt. I helped lead my group to the next section and in doing so I believe I demonstrated the key attributes that are essential to being a leader such as being a good listener; being respectful to my fellow team mates and being able to pick out my team members key strengths in order to get the task done efficiently and to a high standard.
Take notes	– When recording information from lecturers so that I have substantial notes to look back over for when it comes to revising for assessments.- If there is important points being made at a class representative board meeting I can take notes to then be able to relate it back to my peers effectively	– I take notes every lecture on either my laptop or notepad. I try to take as detailed noted as possible in the time given in order to give myself adequate resources when it comes to looking back over what it is I’ve learnt in the lecture/tutorial/workshop.

Recognition	Reflection	Action
Skills not yet developed	How will I develop these	How do I know (evidence)**
Computer Skills	– By paying more attention during the ICT workshops and trying to take myself out of my comfort zone. Despite being very interested in certain technology, i.e. my mobile phone, I’ve never seemed to gain the same ease when using a laptop/computer. Through increasing my use of computers I can then in time develop my level of skill	– When participating in the ICT sessions I often found myself struggling to keep up with everyone else. I found that this was partly due to the fact I got confused with following the directions set to us and also because I kept experiencing difficulties trying to log onto my blog.

You learn something new everyday

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What made me want to be a teacher? I cant say there was one single defining moment that made me think that this profession was for me; I would say I had many. Being the eldest of five siblings and many cousins I have grown up since the age of six with children around me and have always loved helping out with them where I could. The first time I considered that teaching could be for me was when my brother, Ewan, was given a white board at the age of three. My dad suggested I help him write his name and so for the next half hour or so that is exactly what I did. Despite the slight frustration when he couldn’t replicate the letters without dot to dot aid, we got there. Seeing the joy in his face when he realized what he had accomplished was priceless and gave me a buzz I had never experienced before. I didn’t start to seriously consider that teaching was for me till I was sitting my exams in 4th year. After discovering I had nearly three weeks off for study leave once exams had finished I decided to take that time to explore further and go work in schools. It was during this time that I received what I believe to be my confirmation that this was what I was meant to do. I was working with a group of children who were in need of extra support doing comprehensive skills. It was coming to the end of the session and I was still working with one boy. Despite getting through a decent chunk of his work he hadn’t completed it and I was worried his teacher would be displeased I hadn’t been able to help him finish it all. I couldn’t have been more wrong. On going up to the teacher to present his work she was stunned. Even though he had only finished 7/12 pages I was told this was double the amount of work the boy was usually doing and she couldn’t believe I had been able to get him to that stage in the time given. The buzz I received was amazing. I had such an immense feeling of pride that I had helped this child to push himself to his full potential and exceed his teachers expectations of him. It was at that point I knew I had to pursue this further.

It was through working in a range of different schools that I realized the kind of teacher I want to be. The school I went to, St John’s RC Academy, was a campus school which had nursery through to secondary within it and so made it really easy for me to access work experience within the primary classroom environment. During my 5th year study leave I had been sitting in the lunch hall revising when the primary had been sent out for their lunch break. Sitting at the edge of the hall I was able to take in all that was going on around me when I noticed a young boy being excluded. He had been sent to sit on his own as punishment for misbehaving in the queue and was being questioned by a classroom assistant as to why he thought his behavior would’ve of been acceptable? She asked him if he thought that, as he was a primary 6, did he think that he could continue this sort of behavior as he continued to go up in the school as an example to the younger pupils? His answer stunned me. ‘I don’t care. I’m just going to the jail anyway. That’s what my dad done, so, so what if I don’t do well here?’ What got to me most was that he believed that he was a product of his parents mistakes and so had to follow in their footsteps. I believe that despite where you come from or what circumstances you live in, its down to you to write your own future. I want to be the kind of teacher who shows boys like him that you aren’t your parents. I want the be the kind of teacher that shows children that despite whatever barriers life throws at you if you want something you can get there. I want to be the kind of teacher that fills children with hope about their future and helps them see that they can be someone. I hope by the end of my four years at Dundee University that I can keep this dream alive and put it into practice.