Category Archives: 1.1 Social Justice

A Child’s A-Z Guide

What can you tell from this picture ?

You may agree or disagree with me, but certainly when I think of doing anything to do with children:

look at activities;

plan lessons;

or prepare any task including children what sparks up in my mind first is the HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF A CHILD.

Definitely something which needs to be closely looked upon and reflected.

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/hwb_across_learning_principles_practice_tcm4-540402.pdf

Who plays the most important role in the child’s health and well-being ?

It may be a prime focus for teachers to ensure that the child is in safe environment and nurtures, HOWEVER , there is a much bigger picture which we need to take into consideration.

A child themselves is around a vast number of different people thorough their day and life. Their primary caregiver will undoubtedly have a huge role in providing the child with the basics to health start in life and provide a security net for the child to share their emotions and encourage them throughout their lives.

Thereafter, we can come to friends who will surely have a significant influence on children. As the child grows and by the age of 10 their friendships might only last for 1-1.5 years.

(Headroom, Australia)

This shows that the child is beginning to see how they can trust and who they get on with. They start to build stronger foundations for their emotions and this is a very important aspect for me as a student teacher as I will have to be aware of these, and lots of many other factors which will effect the child and consequently be factors which make them the whole child.

A last little note for for myself and those embarking in this wonderful journey of a primary teacher, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
— Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa

http://db.nelsonmandela.org/speeches/pub_view.asp?pg=item&ItemID=NMS250&txtstr=Mahlam

Creating, Inventing, Implementing

“How you organise your classroom depends on how you believe your children will learn” Arthur et al, Learning to Teach in the Primary School.

Classrooms layout can effect learning, teaching and one of the most influential processes of reflecting.

We have been given a inventive task to design our own versions of what we could like as our classrooms. We’d given the challenge of having 28 students of which only 6 were girls. I thought I have hundreds of ideas before I started but I soon released that I would have to my best and put all of these into one frame.

There have been numerous changes to classroom layouts in previous decades due to the finding of Piaget and his theory behind exploration and discovery. I had always felt quiet intimidated when i saw classrooms with rows facing the front, giving less of an opportunity to work collaboratively and lack of social space.

To start of, I knew that I wanted to have windows which are low down windows so that the children can have an open space to look out to and be able to reflect upon the natural environment around them.

Children will have cushions and bean bags to sit on around the side of the classroom, however after completing my sketch I realized that this will be a disruption to the rest of the class. Instead having a quiet reading corner in place would be more useful and productive areas which will encourage the children to read and stimulate ideas and thought.

The layout of the tables where designed keeping in mind a Socio-constructive manner of learning, including approaches of cooperative leaning and peer work and assessment, Here are a few explanations of why the tablets are placed that way.

“Social constructivists such as Bruner…the ideas of Lev Vygotsky… the role for talking and listening.” Arthur et al, Learning to Teach in the Primary School.

This promotes a range of things:

Dialogic enquiry-using letters, notes or a written form to present their ideas.

Learning through apprenticeship-different models.

According to Arthur et al, Learning to Teach in the Primary School.

I thought it would be a great idea to have a positive behaviour management reinforcement side in the classroom which will include a wall display of the children’s work which they have chosen. this will display work which a child has worked on regardless of it being the child’s best piece ever or it even being complete. it reinforces to the child that their work is appreciated and valued and the teacher has acknowledged their hard work.

Additionally, I have created a large open space in the middle of the classroom to allow children space to engage with each other. To have room to do whole class discussions whilst having everyone on the floor, without any distractions and paying attention.

Exploring the world around us through Science

Science but NOT exactly what its all about.

What about this-

Science can be simply be incorporated into the classes daily or weekly activities. It allows children to be involved and experiment. It allows the children to question.

EXPLORING SCIENCE in the classroom. Well… I was one of many who really dreaded having to face the challenges of this subject.

Science is such a vast topic area and as a student teacher I never knew where to start. I was aware of certain areas of discussion such as Space, Electricity and Biodiversity but I became slightly resentful when it came to exploring areas which could be taught in the classroom.

To try and get id of some of my misconceptions, I went on to read, Primary Science which sparked so many questions in my mind. Dunne et al suggest that science is not about learning facts and having scientific explanations for everything. Instead science is described in a way which is “falsifying” and children should understand that they will learn things and test them, however, there might always be ways in which other people or scientific experiments which will prove them wrong.

“ Children’s misconceptions first must be identified and reasons why they hold them understood” A real challenge for teachers in primary schools. Rutledge explains different areas in which teachers might go wrong. Children are full of ideas and imagination and their minds constructs thoughts of the world around them even if they are scientifically incorrect. There is a justified reason for it in their mind.

When tackling Science in the classroom we should:

– pre- assess ideas

-challenge and test ideas

-consolidate appropriate ideas

According to Rutledge, Teaching the tricky bits.

This book went onto discuss 5 questions which ensure an effective learning context.

Is the context fun ? will it motivate and ensure the learners ?

is the context accessible ? will it make sense to the learners ?

Is the context relevant ? does it provide the learners with a reason to carry out their work ?

Is the context appropriate? Does it support the necessary progression of skills and concepts ?

is the context flexible? Will it support differentiation and a cross curricular approach?

To further my knowledge and understanding of science I have made a SMART target for myself.

Specific-To gain further knowledge of Biodiversity and interdependence and to be able to understand the role of the ecosystems and how it effects the world around us.

Measurable-I will create a 2 A4 plan for as a lesson plan for my class.

Achievable – I will use different sources to gain an insight to the areas.

Relative-I will create a practical experiment or try to organise a trip which is relevant to the learning context.

Timely– I will start teaching this in 1PP1a and continue with the experiment or trip in 1PP1b.

I will relate my learning to the CfE outcome-

I can identify and classify examples of living things, past and present, to help me appreciate their diversity. I can relate physical and behavioural characteristics to their survival or extinction.

SCN 2-01a

Next Steps

-To examine how biodiversity and interdependence impacts of society and the world around us.

-Find relevant media sources to support my findings

-Relevance-Use Animoto as an introductory stimulus to the class. Combine technologies within the learning context by going on to teach the children how to effectively use it.

References

M. & Peacock, A. (2012) Chapter 1: How Science has evolved, in Primary Science: A guide to teaching practice. London: Sage
Rutledge, N. (2010) Primary Science: Teaching the tricky bits. Maidenhead: OUP.

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