Category Archives: My educational philosophy

‘Every kid needs a champion’

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After having a lecture on self-esteem, I had gone home and explained to my Mother about what had been discussed in the lecture. As she is a teacher she was very interested in having a discussion about this with me. She explained to me that she had been on course and was shown this video so I went away and watched it myself.

In the self-esteem lecture we were taught that it was alright to make mistakes in the classroom and explain to the children in the class that you had make a mistake. This emphasises to them that it’s okay to make mistakes in life in order to learn. If you show children that you yourself make mistakes then this will show them that everyone in life makes mistakes too and as long as you learn from them then it is okay to make them.

In the video Rita explains that she gave her class a test and that one child missed every single 18 questions out of a possible 20. When she marked this test she said that she put “2+ and a smiley face” on the paper. The child questioned this as they knew that they had failed the test quite badly but Rita then went on to explain that they were “on a roll.” This was a good way in order to praise the child for their effort and not for their achievement which I think is a good way in order for the child to want to better themselves and try harder the next time. This also can help boost their self-esteem and make them not think that because they didn’t achieve the best grade but they tried their hardest on something anyway.

Another way that I felt was a good way to boost the children’s self-esteem in her class was to tell them that she had the best class and that they were to show off to others that they were so good and should “strut” their stuff in the hallways. I feel that this is a good way in order to boost children’s self-esteem as they may not feel great about themselves but she is explaining to them that they are the best which would make them feel more positively about themselves.

Overall I think that Rita Pierson is an inspiration and this video was very interesting for me to watch.

Gender

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After recently watching ‘The Secret life of 4 year olds’  I have noticed that children of this age are well aware of gender and the differences that they face because of their gender, The children were given a task in which there were to be two teams that would take part. The objective of the game was to put a bean bag on their head and, without touching it or holding it, they were to get from one end of the garden to the other without the bean bag falling off.  The teacher that took these children for this game chose a captain for each group, one boy and one girl. It was interesting to see that the teams were then quickly divided into a boys and a girls team by the children.  Once the game started the girls were adamant on playing by the rules and didn’t want to hold on to the bean bag as they were fully aware of the rules and didn’t want to break them. However, the boys were not concerned for the rules whatsoever. Their objective was to win at any cost. In result of this the girls were slower and more careful with how they moved as they wanted to obey by the rules. Almost every single one of the boys held the bean bag to their head and ran as fast as they could because they were so determined to win.

I found this very interesting how the boys and the girls made a clear choice that they wanted a girls team and a boys team. Which relates back to one of my earlier posts on gender. There is an obvious divide in gender still and boys and girls still do see themselves differently to one another. Also it was interesting to see they way the girls and boys acted in this task given. All of the girls wanted to obey by the rules and the boys were completely focussed on winning that they didn’t care at all about the rules that were in place. I find it extremely interesting how gender had played a part in this task and how differently both genders reacted to the task in hand.

Reflection on the Process of Feedback

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I was really nervous about getting feedback from my peers because I am not extremely confident in my writing yet. When we were given this task to do I wasn’t feeling great about it at all because the thought of other people in my class judging my writing made me feel sick to my stomach. I didn’t really like the idea of people judging me for what I am blogging about. I do enjoy to post things on my blog as I feel that I can get my views across to my peers. For some reason I saw this TDT differently than just posting a blog, I think it’s probably because I knew that people were going to be reading it and making comments on how I need to improve my work. It put into my mind, “why is it not perfect already? What’s wrong with my writing?” Overall, I was extremely nervous about it.

I then recently received my feedback which surprised me a lot. The comments that were made to me were all extremely positive and everyone seemed to like what I had posted. This made me feel great! I was happy to know that I could post a piece of writing on my blog and that people in my class were understanding what I was trying to get across to them. They understood my views on things and had a lot of nice things to say about what I had posted.

However, I then thought about this more. My initial reception to the TDT had changed. At first I really wanted to receive the positive feedback because I was so worried about being judged. I didn’t want to be judged as a person by what I am posting on my blog for university. I then thought about this more and as happy as I was about getting positive feedback, I think I really wanted to points to improve on. There wasn’t really anything that my peers said that I could have improved on which I feel would have benefited me a little more than all of the positive feedback had. I know it is nice to hear that my work is good and that I am doing the right thing, I want to know as well the areas that are maybe not so good.

I think that overall because I don’t really know the people commenting on my blog and they don’t really know me, that giving constructive criticism is a hard thing to achieve. You don’t really want to hurt anyone’s feelings because people take criticism personally when really all it is you are trying to do

What does it mean to be an Enquiring Practitioner?

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What does it mean to be an enquiring practitioner?

Being an enquiring practitioner is important when becoming and being a teacher. It means that we have to be able to work collaboratively and being able to fully commit to working with others. You have to be able to open to new suggestions from your peers and be willing to make changes to teaching and learning styles in which you already have. Making sure that you include all of your pupils within the class and to ensure that all children are able to learn with the teaching style that you have chosen to use. You have to be able to reflect on what you have done in lessons and be open to make changes to things that possibly haven’t worked previously. Being able to be open to suggestion a criticism is key in being an enquiring practitioner as you may have ideas and lessons planned that may not work for some children. Teachers must also make sure that they are sticking to the Curriculum for Excellence.

Being an enquiring practitioner is also important when being a student. In placements we will see so many different teaching styles in which we can adopt if they work or make changes to if you feel that they do not. This will allow us to learn about what kind of teacher that we want to become and will help us to work with our peers in order to succeed.

I think that being an enquring practitioner means that we have to be open to new things and ideas within the classroom, working with our peers in order to achieve and learning new and different teaching styles.

Reflection

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I feel that reflection plays a huge role in teaching. It enables us to progress and possibly change our ways of teaching. Reflecting after lessons is a great way in order to see what you may do differently and what you think is a good way for the pupils of your class to learn. It is also a great way of learning yourself and making changes to the way you learn things.

If there are issues you have had in class, reflection is a good way in order to move on from this. It can help you develop more skills and think about certain things that you need to work on as a teacher and how you can progress and make lessons more interesting and fun for the children in your class.

I reflect on what I have done each day even if it’s just something which isn’t really important. I drove a certain route to university today and it took me longer, maybe there is another route I can take tomorrow in order to avoid traffic and that will get me there quicker. I know that it’s a menial thing but that’s reflection and it is a part of everyday thinking.

I feel that when I start my placements in primary schools I will reflect on what I have learnt and achieved that day and how I can make it better in order for the children to learn more efficiently and to the best of my ability.

Personal vs Professional

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I think that making sure that your personal life maintains personal and does not get involved in your professional practice. One thing that may cause difficulties is social media and the role that it plays in your personal life. Teachers need to make sure that if they have a Facebook or Twitter account that they do not post anything that may endanger their career. I’m not saying that teachers shouldn’t have any sort of social media but I feel that they have to be careful and make whatever they are posting online private and make sure that they do not post anything that can jeopardise their teaching career. Parents and children all have Facebook account these days and they may try to add you as a friend but I feel that this would be an unwise move as you do not want to create relationships with people as this is unprofessional.

I have a Facebook account in which I use daily, it is extremely private and I have changed my name so that no one can find me unless I add them as a friend. I previously worked in a primary school and I did not want parents or pupils to add me as a friend so this is when I changed my name so that they were unable to find me and add me.

What do these terms mean for a teacher?

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Patience – Patience is extremely important as a teacher. They must have the ability to be patient when children may not grasp a concept as quickly as others. They need to understand that all children learn at different paces and that some children may become frustrated if they don’t understand. Being patient is key as the teacher may need to explain something in a slightly different way in order for a child to understand what they mean.

Kindness – A teacher needs to be kind towards all the pupils in the school, even the ones that may not be in their class. This makes a teacher more approachable and respected. It is important that they are kind as there may be children who are having a difficult time inside/outside of school and if a teacher is kind towards them the children are more likely to be able to speak to them about issues that they are having. Similar to being patient, a teacher has to be kind as some children may not grasp things as quickly as others and being kind about that and helping those in a kind way may boost a child’s confidence.

Fairness – Being fair as a teacher is huge. You need to be able to speak to all children in the same manner and not favourite children as this may result in some children feeling excluded. This could also result in the children not performing to their best abilities as they do not feel as if they will get the same response from the teacher as others do.

Empathy – This is highly important to in being a teacher as different children may be going through difficult situations outside of school and they must make sure that they are understanding towards this.

Self-control – Self-control may be a hard thing for a teacher as they may be going through difficult personal situations but need to keep that to themselves and not take out any emotions that they are feeling on their pupils. Also when it comes to parents’ nights the teacher must have self-control in order to speak calmly to parents who may become agitated and angry towards them as they may be unhappy with something. Keeping your personal life and work life separate is extremely important.

How did your gender affect you when you were a child?

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How did my gender affect me as a child? That’s a difficult question to answer because it feels like a lifetime ago. The more that I think about it, gender didn’t affect me at all at school as far as I can remember. The only thing that I remember about gender roles was when we did sports day. The girls would be separated from the boys and the boys did different races from the girls. I remember quite clearly a boy in my class saying to me “it’s because the boys are faster than the girls!” when I had questioned it to my teacher. I also can remember the teacher explaining to me that it would be fairer if the girls did separate races from the boys. I couldn’t understand this because I knew that I was just as fast as the boys in these races and that I could beat them fair and square. In the playground at break and lunch time, the girls would play with the girls and the boys would play with the boys. Which, at the time, I didn’t question because that’s just what we did. I would now question as to why we did that. Working in a primary school for two years I can now see a change in all of these things. Girls and boys play together and the sports days are mixed with boys and girls races. It seems that since I was at school things are progressing with gender and how it shouldn’t affect a child’s learning and opportunities

“Are you mad?”

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I was given the opportunity to work in a Primary school office in 2013. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me and I couldn’t believe how quickly I fitted in and started to feel as I was “part of the family.” When I was working in the office I was also at college studying accounting, which I soon discovered wasn’t for me. In fact, I hated it. After a year of working in the school I was asked if I would help out in the classroom working with children with additional support needs. I’d never thought about doing this before but I thought that it would be a good opportunity to work more closely with the children. I would take small groups of children to do writing and numbers and I thought that this was going to be challenging and I was definitely right but it was more challenging than I thought. Once I got to know the group of children more, I could start to see their strengths and weaknesses. They worked hard as they wanted to achieve their best and when they would understand a concept or get an answer right you could see their faces light up. This was extremely rewarding for me as I felt that I was actually helping them to learn something new every day.

I was then asked if I would like to take over some after school clubs within the school and now that I had the experience working with the children I jumped at the opportunity. So I took on a girls Boxing Club and a P2 Science Club. This experience was brilliant as I got to take children for different subjects rather than just numeracy and literacy. In the Boxing club we began each session with a circuit and each week the children would take part in the circuit and it helped me to see how much they progressing with their fitness as every time they would be able to do more than the previous week. Which again was really rewarding as you could see that they were achieving.

These are the main reasons as to why I want to be a teacher as I want to be able to help children learn as it is extremely rewarding. When the teachers at the school found out I was leaving to become a teacher they all had the same response, “are you mad?” and I think I must be. But I can’t wait to get started.

So now the question is, what kind of teacher do I want to be? Which I feel is an extremely difficult question to answer. As I have worked with many different teachers who all have completely different teaching styles. I want to be able to different elements of their teaching styles and work them into what I will be doing. However, I think over the course of the 4 years at university I think I will discover what kind of teacher I want to be and that I will become.