Category Archives: 1.4 Prof. Commitment

Bringing Scotland to Dallas

It’s Monday again… but it’s my last Monday with Tracy Locke! I seriously cannot believe I only have a matter of days left here.

Today I did a presentation about my life in Scotland which it seemed like everyone really enjoyed! It was so good to be able to tell them about my life in Scotland and at university and teach them about a variety of things such as education, politics and Scottish culture. I also answered questions that they had. It was so funny seeing their reactions to the fact that we have free health care and university tuition in Scotland as that has never been a thing here and something that they are very envious of!

I really enjoyed doing this and it has helped me professionally. I have been involved in public speaking opportunities since I was quite young throughout high school and a number of opportunities with church but it is something I haven’t done for while. This is something I will have to when I am a teacher at things such as CPD events and staff meetings so this was a very good learning opportunity for me.

From making the presentation I have enhanced my computing skills and from delivering it I have improved my self confidence which I had put at a 2 on my self audit. I have always enjoyed public speaking so I’m glad I was given this opportunity.

I then sat in on a group meeting with the PH team called “status” where the group find out how the work of the previous week has come along and what needs more development. This allowed me to see how many different areas of marketing and advertising there is for just one team in the company and how much work gets done in one week.

This afternoon I am going to be doing a bit of research for some healthcare brands that the company has and then some more work with the Pizza Hut team.

Weekly Reflection 5

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One week to go! I’m so gutted I’ve got such a little amount of time left here.

I have spent the past couple of days helping out with some research for a couple of members of the Samsung team. The sales of tablets, not just with Samsung, have been decreasing over the years. Additionally, the amount of people watching television on an actual television has decreased more and more each year. In particular with young people- aka: people my age. They asked me to do some research and find out why this could be the case.

So to do this, I spent some time googling articles and gaining professionals views. But, I felt that asking people my age was something that would be more beneficial. I asked a couple of groups of friends on group chats if they had a tablet, if so what do they use it for, if they have a television and if they watch live tv and if they watch Netflix what device would this be done on?

In addition to this I put up a couple of twitter polls which each got over 100
votes which I believe is a good number to gain a good insight of how young people watch on-demand tv and if they actually watch TV live on a television or do so in a different way.

I sent this to the two members and the response I got made me feel happy that I’d managed to help them. I met with Aaron who told me the work and research I’d done was utterly fantastic. He’d said that in the past they had hired interns who wouldn’t have produced the standard of work I had so this was a complete confidence boost for myself! I am so glad that the work I had done for them is something that would benefit them for their future work, too.

As stated in my previous post I also did some research for the Pizza Hut team about loyalty schemes which has been able to help other members of the team with their work on developing a loyalty/reward scheme for Pizza Hut customers.

This week I’ve learnt a lot about why we should have loyalty schemes are in marketing and advertising and how this is potentially why PH is falling behind other fast food brands and other pizza companies. I’ve also been able to develop my computer skills. I’ve learn how to research in a fast and effective manner while looking for the correct information.

With regards to the standards I’ve continued to meet the SPRs. In particular professional commitment. I have continued to allow myself to develop my collaborative working techniques as I have been working with a variety of people from the team I’m working on and other teams in order to reach specific research outcomes.

Additionally, I am continuing to meet the standard of integrity by being honest in my work and demonstrating courage through working in this environment that I previously had no knowledge on.

I really cannot believe next week is my last week here. I am going to be presenting to the team and potentially more members of the company about Scotland which I am very much looking forward to. Here’s to next week!

Remaining Loyal

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I have spent the last two days looking at a lot of American company’s loyalty and reward programs to help out the PH team. PH itself does not actually have a loyalty program, but is something that they are working on, so this work will allow them to see what other companies are doing in order to keep their customers and thank them for buying products and food from them. I looked at pizza competitors such as Domino’s but I also looked at quite different food companies such as Qdoba which serves Mexican cuisine to see how they reward their customers for remaming loyal to them. Although it is not pizza, it is fast food which means it is a competitor to PH.

A few of us are taking part in this work from the PH team along with Mary Kotyuk, Group Strategy Director who specialises in shopping activation along with three other members of the PH team. I’ve enjoyed working on this task as it has meant I have worked collaboratively with my colleagues and been able to ask questions when I’ve needed to.

A brief was given to the team which has allowed me to learn about how other companies keep their clients and it has made me realise that some companies are more successful than others due to the loyalty programs that they have. If someone knows they have to spend a certain amount to gain specific points to earn something free they are very likely to spend the money and keep buying from that specific company. Who doesn’t like free things?!

The brief also gave some really interesting facts that prove how psychological advertising can be on the consumer:

“DID YOU KNOW?

Recognisable logos can trigger responses in the same part of the brain that that controls the relational emotions. For example, if you love your iPhone, seeing the Apple logo can actually ignite the same happiness and warmth that running into an old friend stimulates.

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT?

A logo to a company is like a face to a person – sometimes we struggle to remember names, but we rarely forget a face. This is exactly what the PH Reward program logo should do for Pizza Hut.”

This links back to one of my previous posts about how advertising affects children, and also adults. Companies know that this affect will happen to people so aim to have they logo in as many places as possible.

I also helped the team proof more menus that are going out today. They required at least three people to do this as it is extremely important that there are no mistakes on them for them being officially published to go out into Pizza Hut restaurants across the country.

I want to be part of it. New York, New York.

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Of course after I’d done my work for the day in the office I had to do some sightseeing. This is me in Times Square.

Today I have been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to go to New York City and visit the Tracy Locke office there on Madison Avenue (as previously stated this is known as TLNY).

This have given me a good opportunity to, yet again, to meet more new people and tell them a bit about me and why I am here. A lot of people have been really intrigued that I am actually training to be a primary school teacher and they believe that this placement is a fantastic idea.

I did some work in Wilton this morning where I listened to some conference calls with Mary regarding one of their Chicago clients and arrived in New York at about 2pm.

This afternoon I attended meetings with Stephen regarding finance and accounting, and in particular, for Sony about a few projects that they want TL to do over the next year. Again, this was a good learning experience for myself as it meant I saw the “more boring” side of advertising (according to Stephen!) but also one of the most important parts as without money advertising just wouldn’t exist.

Something I’ve noticed while being in the three offices is the different lay outs. The Dallas office has a huge variety of cubed off areas for teams of people to sit in and also has two floors. When I went into the Wilton office yesterday the different lay out was the first thing I noticed. The office is just one floor but it is like a maze. It is huge. The desks here are in longer, more open areas with a lot more open space. Finally, the New York office also has the long tables but the separate offices and conference rooms all have glass walls meaning that anyone can see in them. I like this as it allows the office to feel more open and have an “open door” kind of vibe.

Madison Avenue is the home of advertising in America and where the TLNY office is based

I think this is an important aspect to have in the classroom too. I truly believe that the layout
of my classroom is going to have a huge influence on how the pupils learn and how they enjoy their learning. And the way it is laid out should be inclusive for each pupil. This is the same with Tracy Locke. As this is a sociable company all the layouts allow people to talk and ask questions (asking questions is something I have been doing a lot since I got here!)

Samsung’s advert in Grand Central Station advertising their new galaxy phone.

Tracy Locke has a variety of clients and their work is everywhere. When walking around New York I saw work for Samsung and T-Mobile. It was really good to be able to see these advertisements and know that it was actually done by people I know and have met over the past few weeks.

T-Mobile’s spot in Times Square.

I am, again, so thankful for all the opportunities this placement is giving me and I am continuing to learn more than I ever thought I could.

Bye for now Dallas!

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This morning Mary and I travelled to New York from Dallas and then up to Wilton in Connecticut to attend meetings in this office to learn about the work that Tracy Locke does for other clients and will head back to Dallas on Thursday evening.

The first thing I was shown was a photo shoot for Heineken for a new type of glass that is going to be released. A lot of shots were taken and finely edited which allowed me to see just how much work goes into getting just one photo for an advert.

After this I sat in an internal review for Red Stripe’s radio adverts and their scripts. There is a meeting with the client tomorrow where they will decide which advert they like best and choose to be put onto national radio stations. There was about five different scripts which had been created. This allowed me to see just how much time and effort workers here put into this. I will be back in Wilton on Thursday so I am looking forward to finding out which advert the client will choose.

I then attended a short meeting about a new Portuguese client who want their new bottles to be advertised. I feel like this was good for me to see as I know how TL will set out their plans when given a brief from a client.Finally, I went to a meeting regarding the design of a banner for Strongbow. Most people in the group decided they weren’t too keen on the design which means that more work will be done on this piece.

Today has been great as I feel it has allowed me to meet even more new people and find out about more clients that Tracy Locke has in other offices across the country. I have also noticed I have come out of my shell a lot more when meeting new people which is great as I have a lot more confidence which I have gained from my experience thus far in Dallas.

As previously stated, Tracy Locke has four offices in North America: Dallas, Wilton, Chicago and New York (known as TLNY) which I will be visiting tomorrow with Stephen Miller (one of the managing partners), and of course, adding in some sightseeing!

It’s Monday Again…

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This morning I sat in on a phone call with Mary in her office who was in a conference call regarding a specific client and their design strategy which is very close to being finished and put out into stores across the country. Their aim is to make shopping more “emotional” rather than just functional which will allow this type of shopping to be fun and desirable.

Mary’s office. There’s always a nice atmosphere and a nice view if you stand at the window

While on the call each person was connected to a PowerPoint from the client who would control when the slides would move in order to prompt discussion about a specific topic. This was good to have as it meant everyone in the call was able to see the same thing even though they were not together and then talk about exactly what was on the screen without the discussion trailing off and changing.

In order to see what the products and shelf designs would look like in reality a “Virtual store fly-through video” was shown. This would, therefore, allow the client to see how the products would look and what improvements could be made before the products and shelves were put together and out to stores across the country.

After this call we connected to people in the Wilton office where Mary and I will be visiting tomorrow. The phone call discussed what had been talked about on the conference call and what work would be done to finish the deck and products.

A photo of the DART train I took while I was going to buy my lunch today

This was another good learning opportunity for me as it allowed me to see how a set of products have developed and the way that they will be advertised. It also allowed me to see how each colleague showed their professionalism. At the beginning of the call a few people had conversations asking about weekends etc before moving on to the task in hand.

A lot of us have also been proofing menus this afternoon. A lot of menus need to be checked before going out to PH so we have been kept busy.

I am traveling to Wilton in Connecticut tomorrow which I am very excited about and will write about tomorrow.

We’re half way there! (Weekly Reflection 3)

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Happy Friday! It’s pretty scary to think that I have just finished my third week with Tracy Locke for my Learning from Life placement. I continually say it but I am so happy I chose to undertake my placement here and in an industry which three weeks ago I was completely clueless on.

This week has been quieter in comparison to the other two, but that does not mean I have not learnt anything new. This week has been beneficial as I have worked with more new people, one of which is not on the Pizza Hut team (Mary). My previous post contains information on the work I did and Mary’s job in the company. This was beneficial for me as it allowed me to see that the work done by Mary was very different to any on the PH team, but it allowed me to understand that someone saying they work in “marketing and advertising” is like an umbrella term as there are so many different types of job opportunities.

Additionally, I have finished putting together my presentation about Scotland and showed it to Lauren and Stephen (The two people in charge of the PH team) who belive it is ready to show to the people at Tracy Locke. They really enjoyed the work I had put together and thought it was very informative.

This week has allowed me to develop my computing skills which I had previously rated at a 2. The work I have done for Mary required a lot of internet searching and developing documents on Microsoft Word which can now be presented to her team. This work has definitely improved my confidence in computing and digital skills and I believe that the work I have done for her has been beneficial.

This week has allowed me to look a lot into two of the SPRs. The first one being integrity. Both teachers and student teachers should “demonstrate honesty, courage and wisdom”. This week I have gone out of my way to work with new people in another area of the advertising and marketing industry that is even newer to me than the work I have been doing with Pizza Hut which I feel demonstrates courage. Not many people would choose to do this type of placement and this work if it was not something they knew much about it. I have previously highlighted my self confidence and I feel that this work with even more new people has developed it greatly and shown my courage and wisdom.

The other one being professional commitment. Although this week has been quite quiet I have still manged to engage with many parts of professional practice. I have continued t o act in a professional manner at all times through my language and dress code. Additionally, I have been committed to lifelong enquiry and professional development through, again, choosing to work in a different area of advertising to continue to learn so many new skills and . I have continued to go out of my way to ask questions which allow me to learn something new everyday which is making it clear why this placement has been so beneficial so far.

Next week is going to be very busy with travel which I am so excited about. I am going to be going to Wilton, CT, with Mary to visit the TL office there and meet some of the clients that she works with on Tuesday. After this I am going to New York (!!!!!) to meet Stephen Miller from our office in Dallas to go to the NYC office to meet with the team who advertise for Heineken and Budweiser and, of course, see the sights of the city.

Back to Work!

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This weekend I went down to Austin, TX with my Uncle Hugh and Auntie Mary to celebrate their friends’ son’s first birthday. Austin is 217 miles away and it took us 3 and a half hours to get there and a little longer to get back. I’d heard the saying “100 years is not long in Scotland and 100 miles is not far in America, but the other way round for the other country”. To Americans, this journey would be small. So, I am feeling pretty tired today after driving 434 miles in one day! However, the birthday party was lovely and it was great to see more of Texas (even if I am a bit sun burnt!)

But it’s back to the normal Monday here and I’m back at placement. Today I looked at menus with Ashley (Account Supervisor) and helped make her work a little easier by finding all the fonts used for each different type of menu that will be published in the coming weeks and putting them into an email for her future use. I hadn’t worked with Ashley before so this was a good opportunity to develop my own communication skills and allow me to see what her job entails. One of the SPRs that comes under professional commitment states that we should be “engaging with all aspects of professional practice and all members of our educational communities with enthusiasm, adaptability andconstructive criticality.” I feel that this is an SPR which relates closely to the work I have done today. Although it is not an educational community, I undertook the work in a professional manner with good enthusiasm that allowed me to complete the task in a productive way while working with someone new.

I have also done quite a bit of reading about advertising and more on how this affects children and young people which I will reflect on in a later post.

While I was in an Uber recently the driver noticed my accent and complimented it (Being in Dallas with this accent is great. So many people love it!) We were just talking about Scotland and he asked me the question, which I think is quite funny: “Was William Wallace real?” He then

went on to tell me that his favourite film is “Braveheart”. I told him that this film was actually quite historically inaccurate, but a good film nonetheless. This question then prompted me to ask if I could do a presentation about Scotland for the company which I have been working on a lot today. A lot of people are looking forward to this. I am extremely passionate and proud of where I’m from so this is a presentation I am very much looking forward to showing.

I’ve looked back at my audit of skills in section 1 of my folio and I’ve rated my self confidence at a 2. I do have confidence in myself but it is something that I want to build up on this placement. I believe by doing this presentation it will definitely improve my self confidence and allow people from other teams to get to know me a bit better. And most importantly, it will educate the people at Tracy Locke about a fantastic country and hopefully encourage them to come over and visit.

How is Advertising Affecting Our Children?

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One of my main aims from this placement was to see how advertising affects us in our everyday lives and, more importantly, how this advertising affects school pupils. Since starting on the Pizza Hut team over a week ago I’ve been been shown a variety of ways many companies choose to advertise their goods and products and I can see very easily how the courage us to buy more than we planned.

There are small things such as being able to sing along to the jingle of an advert or knowing the company’s tagline. But, advertising definitely leads to “Mum, can I get that?” to which my mum would normally reply “sure, if you have the money,” which I never normally did.

Advertising is not a new phenomenon. It is argued that advertising goes back as far as times in Ancient Rome to advertise things such as property to rent. This then moved forward to the medieval times where the way of something being advertised was done through a town crier shouting in city squares (American Psychological Society, 2017).

Kunkel (2001) argues that children under the age of eight are “cognitively and psychologically defenseless from advertising.” Research has found that the majority of US children have a television in their room. In addition to televisions, children have access to the internet when their parents are not supervising them. From this, there has been a huge increase in adverts directly aimed at children. It has been estimated that $12 billion is spent each year by companies to reach children (Wilcox, B et al, 2004) who are estimated to watch over 40,000 adverts each year (AAP News and Journals, 2007). This is a very important point to consider when looking at the effects of advertising as it really proves that adverts are surrounding children and it something that they cannot get away from. It proves that it will be subconsciously affecting their decisions and what they will ask (some might say nag..) their caregivers for. These statistics are from 2004 and we can only guess that this will have risen.

It has been argued that this kind of advertising often leads to child obesity (I find it ironic that I am writing about this aspect of advertising when the type of advertising I am working on is pizza based…). The food system in America is the second largest advertiser in the American economy who advertise through the use of television, radio, newspapers, magazines and billboards (Story and French, 2004). McNeal (1999) states that brands aim to have a preference with both children and their parents. So marketers are trying extremely hard to develop “brand relationships” with children when they are just toddlers (Zollo, 1999). Companies know that children of a young age have a large purchase influence and can successfully negotiate purchases through what advertisers call the “nag factor” or “pester power” (McNeal, 1999). From this, children will continue to ask, want and get foods that they see on television and around them in supermarkets and, therefore, this will contribute to childhood obesity if parents choose to “give in”.

Therefore, from doing some reading I have found that advertising really does influence and affect children today and has done in the past. I feel as though I have given quite a negative response to advertising in this sense. However, I do believe that advertising is needed and is something which allows companies to prosper and increase sales of their products which will positively impact peoples’ everyday lives.

References:

American Psychological Association (2017) Report of the APA Task Force on Advertising and Children. Available at: http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/advertising-children.aspx (Accessed: 21/3/17)

Kunkel D (2001) “Children and television advertising” Singer DG, Singer JL, eds. Handbook of Children and the Media. 13(4) pp. 375–393

McNeal J (1999) The Kids Market: Myth and Realities. Ithaca: Paramount Market Publishing

Story and French (2004) Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US. Available at: https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-1-3 (Accessed: 21/3/17)

Wilcox, B et al (2004) Report of the APA Task Force on Advertising and Children. Washington DC: American Psychological Association

Zollo P (1999) Wise Up To Teens: Insight into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. 2nd edition. Ithaca: New Strategist Publications, Inc.

Reflecting on my first week…

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My first week at Tracy Locke has been an absolute whirlwind of new knowledge and meeting so many new people who have made me feel extremely welcome. This has made working in an unfamiliar setting a lot easier. I have taken part in so many things that have been extremely beneficial in contributing to my knowledge and understanding of what the world of marketing and advertising is really like.

I have learnt a lot about how companies choose to advertise their products through looking at assignment briefings and decks. From this, it allowed me to realise that advertising is everywhere around us. There were obvious thing like offers at till points and signs above the road (maybe more of an American thing than something we’d see at home). But companies try and reach you through digital aspects such as emails and texts very early in the day to influence your food decisions in the next few hours.

Additionally, this week has shown me how other workplaces use professionalism in their jobs. The dress code here is different to what we would normally wear in the classroom. Most workers wear denim jeans with a blouse/shirt but also a blazer to “smarten” up the look. Professionalism is also used during meetings and phone calls with clients and other colleagues through the use of language addressing the needs of the phone call straight away.

I believe I have met the SPR of integrity this week through the aspect of demonstrating honesty. As previously stated I did not have much knowledge of advertising and marketing and this week I have not been worried to admit this to people and ask questions. Everyone has been so nice anyway so I haven’t been worried when I’ve not known how to do something.

Furthermore, I believe I have addressed the trust and respect section well. The standard states that a teacher should act and behave in ways that develop a culture

of trust and respect. I believe that I have done this as I can tell I am a respected member of the Pizza Hut team. I feel as though this is recognised through little things
such as being invited to go and get lunch or coffee with people. This has also made me feel extremely welcome.

Also, I feel as though I am in the process of meeting the standard of professional commitment as I am committing myself to lifelong learning and adding to my own professional development through working in a different industry where I am choosing to learn new things everyday.

From everything I’ve learnt about advertising this week it has prompted me to look at the CfE Experiences and Outcomes document. Under the Health and Wellbeing (HWB) section there are two Es and Os in the primary section, one in the First level and one in the Second level, which relate to advertising under HWB. HWB 1-37a states: “I am discovering the different ways that advertising and the media can affect my choices”, while HWB 2-37a states: “I can understand how advertising and the media are used to influence consumers”. Progression from the First to Second level is highlighted through the words “discovering” to “understand”. This, therefore, allows me to differentiate lessons between stages and know how much depth to go into in my advertising lessons.

From being at Tracy Locke this past week I can very easily see how advertising is used to influence our everyday choices and I am looking forward to what the next few weeks entail to expand my knowledge of marketing and advertising.

So Much Jargon!

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(Written on 13/3/17)

Placement officially started today, but because I arrived in Texas on Wednesday I was able to have a soft start kind of day on Friday. (Thursday was a recovery day but I still don’t think I’m over the jet lag yet!)

On Friday I got to meet everyone on the team I will be working with over the next six weeks. Everyone is so nice and made me feel very welcome. I have been given my own desk with my own laptop, phone and computer to be able to assist with current projects that the team are undertaking.

The team I am working with are advertising for Pizza Hut. On Friday I got to sit in on an “internal”. This is when the digital and creative team meet to discuss final designs before sending them to the client for them to use and distribute to the public.

I was shown the “assignment deck”. This booklet showed me a huge variety of ways that Pizza Hut choose to adervtise their products and specific briefs that Tracy Locke are to follow for the client’s needs.

Today I read over the Pizza Hut account team overview. This allowed me to gain an understanding in what the team are working towards. This morning everyone form the team met to go over what people would be doing throughout the week.

Also today I went to an IR (internal review), one of the many commonly used acronyms, with Kayla (assistant account executive) and the creative team who deals with emails and SMS messages on behalf of Pizza Hut for “Hut Lovers”. An IR happens a week after the email briefing where it is decided what will be included in the email to send out to Pizza Hut customers.

The one big thing I have noticed since coming here is the use of jargon. Because this is an industry I don’t know much about the language they use is all Greek to me. There are many words which are used daily and repeatedly when talking to colleagues and clients which I wouldn’t normally use. However, I am learning and it is definitely not as daunting as it previously was.

In addition to this, there are so many acronyms used between colleagues and Pizza Hut to make communication quicker and easier. However, I know that I will be able to learn the common ones quickly. I’m beginning to feel sorry for those who don’t work in education because we talk to them using our acronyms and just expect them to understand!

So far I am able to see how this placement will help me in my own professional development. I am having to maintain my professionalism as I am working with a number of important people each day. Additionally, I am already reflecting on what I have learnt and I am thinking of ways I can apply this knowledge to my own classroom and teach a variety of lessons for my future classes.

I have had a very good start here at Tracy Locke and I am very much looking forward to see what the next few weeks will teach me.

The Beginning of Learning from Life

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As I write this post I am currently sitting in Edinburgh airport waiting for my first flight to Heathrow before connecting onto a flight to Dallas, Texas to undertake my Learning from Life Placement. I have chosen to work with Tracy Locke. They’re a marketing and advertising company whose head offices are located in Dallas. The reason I have chosen to undertake this placement is because I do not know much about this industry, but, I do know that it is something which influences every one of us everyday. This includes primary school children, and from this I will be able to teach my pupils about the importance influence of advertising in our lives.

My initial feelings:

Right now, I am extremely nervous. This placement is going to be something that is completely out of my comfort zone as it is most definitely not an area of expertise! But that is the reason that I have chosen it. I love learning about new things.

However, I am excited. This is going to be the opportunity of a lifetime and without the encouragement of lecturers to go abroad I don’t think I would have done this.

My portfolio will be displayed as Blog Posts through Glow and you can follow my twitter for everyday updates! @carys_UoD

Thanks for reading and here’s hoping this placement will be something I’ll remember for the rest if my life.

Developing My Understanding of Mathemetics

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Throughout my life I have always been quite anxious about maths. In primary school I was that child who would try and copy other people’s work and would be too scared to ask my teachers for help. Progressing onto secondary school, my confidence in maths was quite still quite low and, although I got the grades I needed, I would have a panic.

When I walked into the maths department on the day of results and told them I got an A in my second attempt at Intermediate 2 all the teachers cheered my favourite teacher, Miss McCutcheon, gave me a big hug. But I think this was because they’d finally be getting rid of me and my Negative Nelly approach to maths!

When starting my first year placement the thought of teaching maths to a P7 class petrified me. Of course I’d know how to do the maths that I’d be teaching them, but it was the panic of “how am I going to teach these children something that would have taken me so long to grasp when I was their age?!” But I learnt almost instantly that the more confident I was in front of them the more confident they were and with links to real life it made the lessons a lot more understandable.

I remember one lesson in particular and it was about nets of 3D shapes. I brought in tissue boxes and a Toblerone box and it was funny how engaged they were with such basic shapes. But being able to see real life examples proves the importance of maths and that we use it all the time.

This leads me on to say that the teaching of maths is more than just adding and knowing your times tables. It is about making it relatable to real life, engaging and fun and through studying and working through this elective I have seen such a huge variety of real life examples of maths.

Liping Ma (1999) also helps us understand the importance of having a Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics (PUFM). She had four concepts that she believed that “elementary” teachers should have. She titled them basic ideas, longitudinal coherence, multiple perspectives and interconnectedness. (Ma, 1999, pp.122)

She explains basic ideas as the idea of being able to appreciate the more simple, but impressive, forms of mathematics. This is vital in teaching maths to children as although it might be straightforward, it will be something which will help expand their understanding of other topics.

In my opinion, longitudinal coherence is the most important property Ma found. This is when a teacher knows that their pupils have a good understanding of a specific topic when they’re ready to rather than knowing it by a certain age. I feel that so many people are concerned about pupils passing and knowing how to do aspects of maths for statistics and league tables and not having pupils who are happy and confident in their understanding of maths.

Ma explains multiple perspectives as teachers and pupils being able to see that there can be a variety of ways of reaching a solution with advantages and disadvantages to them. This is something I noticed on placement as I needed to teach pupils how to understand different concepts in a different way than I’d previously explained and that there is usually more than one way to an answer.

Finally, she explains interconnectedness as topics within in maths and outwith maths being related. Through studying this elective I have seen this clearly with subjects like art, music and science and this allows me to develop lessons to allow them to relate to more than just one subject.

Studying Ma’s theory throughout this Discovering Mathematics elective has allowed me to see the importance of having a PUFM. As I previously stated, maths is more than adding and Ma’s theory clearly shows this. This is most definitely something I will apply to my professional development and I can safely say that my maths anxiety is something of the past.

Feedback

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According to google, the term ‘feedback’ is information about reactions to a product, a person’s performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.

The use of feedback in University is necessary, but it is as equally important in the teaching profession and there are positive and negative aspects to feedback.

In university we are given feedback on where we can improve, but recently in my Politics essay I was told that the structure of my essay was very good and I was able to use the referencing system well. This boosted my self esteem for the next essay I wrote for the subject. I felt a sense of confidence I do not usually have when writing an academic piece. I feel that this highlights the positive aspect of feedback. But there was obviously negative feedback too. However, it was helpful and I knew what I needed to do for next time.

While on placement it is vital that we receive feedback. We must be told where we can improve or possibly change our teaching styles. But, also told if we dealt with a certain situation in the correct manner.

As teachers: we must feedback to our pupils in order for them to understand how to improve, but more importantly, also how well they have done in certain aspects of the task. I feel it is so important to tell children where they have done well as it can allow their self esteem to grow and allow them to keep working hard towards specific goals.

Therefore, I feel that feedback is essential and so important in the role of a student teacher and as a qualified teacher.

What it means to be an Enquiring Practitioner

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Being an enquiring practitioner is extremely important when being a teacher. It means being open to so many new ideas and being willing to change teaching and learning styles which is so important as during your career you will meet so many different types of pupils who may choose to learn in a different style to other pupils. A benefit to it is that it will make us as student teachers, and professional teachers in four years time, question our own educational beliefs which will allow us to think outside of the box and be a positive influence on our pupils because we will want to challenge and help change education.

However, a challenge of this may be that teachers who have been in the profession may not be willing to continually change their ideas whenever the curriculum changes.

Being an enquiring practitioner is so important when being a student. We need to understand that there are so many different learning styles and learn how we can adapt the one we feel most comformtable with. It will also allow us to also increase our knowledge of learning too.

Therefore, being an enquiring practitioner means to be open to new ideas and willing to continue to learn which is extremely beneficial in the role of being a teacher.