Category Archives: Perceptions

Emotional intelligence, MLLC, Perceptions

MLLC – Module 2 Emotional intelligence: Self-evaluation of emotional intelligence

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Global Leadership Foundation Emotional Intelligence Test

The test results are interesting as I felt that I have good relationship management skills but the test showed this as my weakest area. It did confirm my thoughts about my self management skills.

I scored highly in the Social-Awareness category, which is not that surprising given my role as an EAL teacher and Development Officer for International Education. I have worked on building my racial literacy and acknowledge my white privilege. I hope that I use my position to help raise ethnic minorities and make families feel seen and heard in the work I do.

After finishing the test, I went back and reflected on self awareness and discovered that I do exhibit many of the qualities such as:

  • Embrace a growth mindset.
  • Set boundaries.
  • Recognize destructive habits.
  • Get better at anticipating things so you can come up with an action plan.
  • Ask the right questions.

On reflection, these are skills that I have developed as an adult after experiencing Gender Based Violence in a previous relationship and seeking help through supportive agencies and counselling.  While this was a very difficult time in my life, I am a better person and have learned to like myself as a result of the support I have received, from family, friends and colleagues.

 

attitude, Building Racial Literacy, Perceptions, Uncategorized

Building Racial Literacy – Task 2

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Growing a social justice legacy involves looking for ways to disrupt systemic racism. This second task of the Building Racial Literacy programme is meant to deepen some of the learning from webinar 1, focusing on understanding how racism operates on a structural, societal level.

For my score, as a white woman I scored very highly – 97%. I have taken part in this type of privilege test before as part of previous training within my role as an EAL teacher so knew that this score would be high. I feel it is important for white people, especially educators, to be reminded of our privilege and the barriers faced by some of our families. Before undertaken anti-racist work, I didn’t automatically connect white privilege and historic racism. It can be uncomfortable and for me, it helped to change my mindset. Before my anti-racist journey I would have considered white privilege to be along the lines of black youths being more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. I didn’t noticed the small everyday reminders, like only having light skin tone plasters in our first aid box at school.

attitude, bilingual, EAL, Perceptions

Enquiry plan – first draft

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During my research into my equiry plan, I found two diagrams that I liked.

The first is a more traditional and easy to follow flow chart:

 

I like the simplicity of these models and can see them working for teachers as a way of carrying research into a chosen topic.

The second diagram I found is a bit less traditional:

Umbrella of equiry

I like how this one shows all the areas that can be involved in changing your practice.

I am also part of an aspiring middle leadership project and have used their template to formulate my ideas. The link to the working document can be found here:
https://glowscotland-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/gw14mackayclaire_glow_sch_uk/EQPmfwRYY05Fqlrg0HGIVlIBaCrg__8xulR87BY87p_jxA?e=EibxDE

 

bilingual, EAL, mindset, Perceptions, Uncategorized

Update 3

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Since writing the last blog post, I have finalised the staff questionnaire and nine diamond nine for learners. I know that my enquiry will not be over by the time of the final submission for the purposes of this course, and that’s ok. I have allowed myself to not feel pressure to be ‘finish’ and to remember that the impact on the learners and staff is the important part, not the final outcome for our learning festival in June. In fact, I feel that this is an issue that I will revisit and revise each year to ensure the best for my learners and the whole school community.

Questionnaires will be sent out to all the schools in my learning community this week and results will be collated. From that data, I will make an action plan for staff development for each participating school, perhaps even offering different CPD opportunities across the learning community. If you fancy a sneak peek it, you can be accessed here.

Pupil diamond nines and word cloud activities will be implanted over the next few weeks. I am also finalising the plans for our eTwinning Picnic project with teachers in the UK and in Europe. Exciting times ahead…..

Oh and I had a small win – parents night is fast approaching in one of my schools and teachers for the first time didn’t need a prompt to order interpreters to ensure our bilingual families get the best from their meeting. Progess!

bilingual, EAL, Perceptions

What’s already known?

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As an EAL teacher, I use the document, ‘Learning in 2+ Languages’ to ensure the inclusion of my bilingual learners. However I don’t feel that mainstream class teachers are made aware of this policy.

 

It aims to help staff understand better the strengths and development needs of Bilingual learners and to address them more effectively within the mainstream classroom. It states, ‘Inclusion, race equality, cultural diversity, bilingualism and effective additional language provision must be considered by all educational establishments, regardless of their current ethnic composition.’

 

It has checklists and guidance to ensue establishments are providing an inclusion and supportive environment that will benefit all pupils, not just bilingual learners.

You can find the document on the education Scotland website: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/modlang5-learning-in-two-plus-languages.pdf

 

While researching the subject of the perception of EAL learners, I came across a paper entitled ‘Scholarly writers who use English as an Additional Language: What can Goffman’s “Stigma” tell us?’

It highlights the disadvantage EAL writers experience within publishing and explores the idea of stigma (Goffman’s (1959, 1968)). The paper ends by pointing out that EAL writers and English L1 writers should come together to promote an understanding and tolerance of the predicament of the EAL writer.

This is something I try to foster in school: a community and attitude of understanding and cultural awareness. Celebrating our differences rather than letting them alienating.

bilingual, EAL, Perceptions, Play, Uncategorized

Exploring my ‘itch’

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My head is buzzing ideas, some more challenging that others….

1. Playing with your food…..

Recently a colleague and I were discussing play based learning and using multi sensory approaches to help our very young bilingual learners with their phonological awareness and phonetic knowledge. We made a list of things we could use:

shaving foam, paint, mud, pasta…..

At this point my colleague stopped and said “You know one of my nurseries is against using food as a play medium’

At first I was questioning this as I’ve always made play dough with learners, used spaghetti to hide letters, and even jelly to make brains at Halloween! After some further discussion, she told me the head teacher’s reasoning was that in our very deprived area, the children are exposed to food poverty and she thought it sent a bad message. That we, the staff, had so much food, we could afford to play with it.

This made me pause. It made me uncomfortable. I had never even considered this to be a possibility even though I keep spare dinner tickets and biscuits for children who come to school hungry.

I decided this would be my first ‘itch’. I searched twitter and googled.

Play With your Food? Or Not? My Thoughts on Food in Play.

Many of the points raised in the above article are valid and I’m still deciding how I feel about using food, especially from a Learning for sustainability view.

2. Teachers attitudes to bilingual learners……

My second came from my day to day teaching. As an EAL teacher, I know the benefits of being bilingual and the richness a multicultural schools provides for all pupils. However recently, I’ve heard unhelpful comments and some very disappointing statements from class teachers. Does this come from fear of the unknown or pressures to produce and have child on track? How can we make a more welcoming ethos?

So much to think and ponder………