Category Archives: 2.2 Education Systems & Prof. Responsibilities

ePortfolio Reflection

At first I did not see the point in doing an eportfolio. As a result of this I didn’t post regularly and when I did it was only my TDTs that I was posting about. The class were encouraged to read and reflect on other student’s posts. Looking at my fellow student’s posts was an eye opener for me and it made me see how little I was posting. This gave me the kick I was needing. I want to start posting more on my blog about things that I have read, watched and heard about education. Once I read all of the posts made by my fellow students it has really encouraged me to want to post, comment and reflect more on my professional practice. The other students have gone into so much depth and detail about certain things that it has made me want to go on and read more about these subjects. In their posts they have used images and videos which made me more interested in what it was they were writing about. Putting these into their posts made them more eye catching and more likely to read.

Most of the posts that other students have posted are not all TDTs, but were topics in education which they found interesting and has made me go online to gain further knowledge about these topics. They provide a lot of useful information and even topics that I did not know much about myself. They have inspired me to post more and make my blog more interesting by adding visuals and hyperlinks in my posts so that others can look at my blog. I hope that by posting more on my blog about topics that interest me, it will inspire my fellow students to do the same. I also hope that by reading my posts that they will want to research further into the issues that I raised. If other students do this then I hope that they will post comments on my blog which will encourage me to research further.

Drama

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Drama

After watching the drama video about structuring a drama lesson. It is clear how the lesson is structured:

A Drama contract is created
Warm up
Focus
Development
Visualisation
Soundscaping
Bodyscaping
Thought tracking
Evaluation

The drama contract is created with the class to set clear rules that they must follow in the lesson. This is a great way to make sure that all of the children understand what is expected of them. In the video the contract is placed on the wall so that they can has a visual of what they must do. The use the 3 C’s – Communication, cooperation and concentration. This is also a guide for the teacher to see if there are any problems in the class and where the children may have gone wrong and why.

The warm up is a great way in order for the class to prepare themselves for the lesson that they are about to undertake. The warm up gets the mind and the body active and engaged ready for their next task. The teacher can prepare a vocal, concentration or active warm up which is a great way in preparing the children for the drama lesson. It will also make them feel at ease as they will all be undertaking the same tasks and make them feel more confident is participating in drama.

The teachers then created a focus for the class in which they were given a stimulus. In the video the focus was a photograph but it could also be a piece of music, a story or a video. This can be linked to the topic that they are working on in class, for example WW2 or the amazon. This will give the class a better understanding of their topic whilst learning in a fun way. It will also give them a focus as they will generate ideas for the lesson.

They then go on to develop their ideas on the stimulus given, in the video the focus was some photographs which they discussed what they saw and what they thought was happening in each photo and why. This engages discussion amoungst the class, developing ideas and knowledge.

Visualisation is where the teacher will set a scene for the children to visualize giving them more knowledge on the topic that they are looking at. Once all focused, the teacher taps them on the shoulder asking them what they see, hear, smell and feel in this situation created. This also will show the teacher how creative the child is and how engaged they are with the topic.

The next thing the video looks at is the soundscape. They ask all of the children about all of the things that they would hear in the scene that is set for them then going on the create the sounds with the voice or hands. They will ask the children to make suggestions and think about how they would make these sounds.

Bodyscaping which is similar to soundscaping where they ask the children to create something with their body that is in the scene given. This gives them a visual of what they think that the setting would look like and how they would create this scene. The teaching is trying to make the children think creatively but only using their bodies to create the scene.

Once they have done this, the children will put the sounds and the movements all together creating a performance. Then the teacher uses a technique called thought tracking. As the children are creating their scene, the teacher will tap each individual on the shoulder and the child will have to vocalize what their character is feeling. This is a great way to engage the children with the topic that they are covering, giving them more insight in the topic.

Finally, the last thing that they do in this structured lesson is an evaluation. This is where the children can talk about what they have learnt from this drama lesson and what they want to achieve in the next lesson.

This is a great way to structure a drama lesson. If the children are doing a drama lesson on the topic they are learning about in class, it will give them a more creative way in learning about this topic. It is also a great way to get the children to communicate with one another and using their bodies in different ways.

ICT Animation

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The first day back at the university was great and much better than expected. After a long Christmas holiday I was dreading coming back to uni and getting back in the way of studying again (mainly because I thought that I had forgotten everything I had learned – This wasn’t the case)

The first day back my first lesson that I had was ICT and we did a lesson about animation. At first we were told to draw a small drawing in a piece of paper in which we would make a flip book animation. My first attempt was not the best as it didn’t really look like my image was moving. We were then told the correct way in which to do this and after my second attempt, my image did look like it was moving. Although this is a good way to explain animation to children in a class, it is also a fun creative activity that the children can do in an art lesson.

The second part of the lesson we used a program called Pivot Animator which is a simple stick figure animation program. We were played the song “Let it go” from the film Frozen as a stimulus for what we would make the stick figure on the screen do. This program is a great way for children to create stories using a stimulus such as a piece of music or even a script. It also is a great way for younger children to engage with technology.

Finally the last part of the lesson we used Zu3d which is again a computer program that children can use for animation. We used Plasticine characters and had to create a story and then go on to produce an animation. Firstly my group set up the first scene and we had to take a series of photos. Then the group had to move the characters slightly and take another series of photos. We had to repeat this process over to create a final animation. It took my group the whole hour of our Tdt time to create roughly a minute of work! This is a great program for children as it lets them get creative using a number of different resources. It can also link to literacy as they can create a story and then produce an animation to go along with it. It can also be interdisciplinary as it can be linked to an art lesson when it comes to creating the Plasticine characters for the animation.

I really enjoyed this lesson and it was a great way to start the new semester! I definitely see myself using these programs either on placements and when I become a fully qualified teacher.