Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

Preparation is Key…….

Now that our first placement is looming and apprehension is creeping in more and more each day it is important that I am on the ball with all the areas within my control. After having some experience within a Primary School prior to coming to University in terms of volunteering one afternoon a week I have a very rough idea of how challenging it will be especially now that I will be in charge of group and whole class lessons.

Growing up one phrase that I always heard, regardless of my surroundings was ‘preparation is key’ and that could not be more true for placement. Planning every aspect in the hope to ensure the whole process runs smoothly. As much as every student wants it to run smoothly and be a success in some shape or form the main key of placement is to get an initial taste of professional life as a teacher.

Aside from the placement ROTR tasks, completing prescribed evaluations and being observed and finally assessed, one thing that is important to focus on right from the word go is personal and professional goals. This is something that I am thinking about now and something that I may have to re-evaluate once I meet my class and become aware of the different needs of every individual within the class. There might come the need to base one of my goals around an individual or group that I am responsible for, this will be something that I will have to monitor each week and use my initiative when out on practice.

It is important that I make my goals:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timely

SMART goals for MA1 placement:

(Behaviour) MANAGEMENT

I want to make sure that I go in from day one as a teacher figure and not as someone who the children view as a friend or a ‘soft touch’. You hear tips from professionals in the profession saying “Don’t crack a smile for the first few months” as the pupils need to know that you are in charge and that you have complete control of the class. In my last smaller scale placement at a primary school the children only saw me for a couple of hours an afternoon and I got the sense that they viewed me as not very authoritative and would try and push the boundaries in terms of their behaviour.

I will make sure that I am familiar with the Behaviour Management Policy and the different procedures that the class teacher has in place regarding discipline and equally appraisal. This will ensure there is consistency and hopefully respect from the pupils.

Engage Learners from the start

Regardless of what stage you have at school it is vital to engage the pupils from the offset. I know myself when I was at school you could almost gauge how your teacher was going to deliver a lesson or introduce a new topic, this became slightly tiresome and the ability to stay focused on what was being taught became tedious. I believe if you fail to capture pupils from the start of the lesson you are doing them an injustice regarding their development as learners as they will want to participate and contribute more if they are interested in what is in front of them.

I intend to use my initiative and make a conscious effort to think of creative ways to introduce any lesson that I will be responsible for. Whether this is thinking of new ways to deliver specific areas of the curriculum or getting the children involved as much as I can so that they can become independent learners.

Getting to know each individual

It is a teachers’ responsibility to cater to every individual in their class whether that is something as simple as knowing their names to more extensive aspects such as knowing the best way they learn regarding their learning style. I found one of the most frustrating things growing up was when your teacher simply didn’t know you as a person.

I want to make sure that I know the children’s’ names from the first few days so that it will make my teaching practices run more smoothly and ensures that I am engaging with a range of pupils when posing questions to the class as opposed to sticking with the same children repeatedly. I want to be aware of any additional needs or children that need extra support within my class so that I can cater to their needs or if I need to go away and read up on any extra resources so that I can fully benefit each and every individual I am responsible for.

Tackle Inequality to Achieve Better Outcomes for Individuals

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Colin Miller. Head of Essential Skills and Progression at West Lothian Council says: “We’re finding that girls who are good at maths and science at school tend to go into the care side of things (doctors and nurses) rather than engineering and construction”. ….This could be due to the fact that engineering and construction occupations in this day and age are seen as a male environment as sites and workshops are predominately male.

This was certainly the case when I was at Primary School and even throughout my time at Secondary school. There was a divide present amongst genders and very much so with the subjects in which we studied. After reading an article in the latest ‘Education Scotland’ it was great to see that this issue is being recognised very publicly and that there have been efforts to overcome this stereotypical feeling. West Lothian College which is near to my home town have brought in attempts to get girls more involved and interested in the ‘STEM’ subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and show them that they have a place in this ‘masculine world’. When I was at school I absolutely loved Physical Education this was due to my passion for being active and keeping fit as well as being involved with a dance club from a very young age. However, this was dampened by the members of my class being predominantly male, I was one of three girls who carried it on until Higher level. However this did not put me off, it made me more determined to show them that there is a place for girls amongst these ‘types’ of subjects.

West Lothian Council have taken it upon themselves to recruit a number of female workers specialising in Engineering and Mathematics to come and teach workshops at the College. This attempt was to highlight to young girls that woman can succeed into such careers and make their mark just as equally as male workers. However, this attempt did not show a large shift in the number of girls entering such career paths it merely showed that it had got more girls talking about it and showing only verbal interest as opposed to fully committing and making that final leap into one of the professions. Another slightly more effective effort adopted by the college has been appointing ambassadors of the ‘STEM’ subjects. These ambassadors continuously undergo talks and lectures about how the teachings of each subject can then be applied in certain professions for example, the use of maths in daily engineering procedures. So just by putting context and relevance behind the teaching of these subjects, that the girls are showing passion for in the first place, has got them thinking of how they could succeed into a career that they once thought was not made for them. These professions suddenly now have purpose and have become very appealing. These efforts have shown great success in the number of girls enrolling in the HNC engineering course as well as open days for such ‘masculine’ subjects being populated mainly by females.

I personally think that the way the curriculum has be set there is no intention for certain areas to be directed at a specific gender. However, due to the old fashioned view which has transported into this day and age, that girls are still very much the stay at home domesticated sex and men are the ‘bread winners’ if you like. I think that this is why there is a great feeling of inequality amongst certain subjects. The effects it can have on young people growing up if they are made to feel like they aren’t intended for a certain subject could be devastating not only for their personal wellbeing but their future career as they could have an unknown niche or talent that will never be discovered.

After reading the efforts of West Lothian College I think there needs to be similar actions taken by other institutions including Primary School as this is when children are most influenced. This ensures that we are supporting every individual in whatever they wish to study or progress into.

‘Let’s get it right for every child’!

Out with the old in with the new……..

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For someone who hasn’t had a lot of experience regarding ‘formal reflection’ in the past I found this whole idea of online blogging a bit daunting. The process of vocalising my thoughts and personal feelings towards a certain subject for all to see was seen as a challenge. I am definitely someone who gathers thoughts in my head and when it comes to putting it down into words I find it slightly uncomfortable. My past blogs on my Eportfolio have seen me sit on the fence and you could say I have adopted a democratic standpoint and went with the general consensus beliefs. However, after reading some of my peers blogs for inspiration I see that they are starting to form very strong independent views which I can only guess will benefit them hugely in their future professional career. They are able to question professional viewpoints and question the world of teaching in terms of why there are certain teaching methods and why some areas of the Curriculum are not as valued as others. It was nice to see the contrast in the posts blogged by peers from topics they liked to ones that they feared. It was reassuring to see that my peers were blogging about topics that they do not feel confident with equally as much as the ones that they feel passionate about as opposed to shying away and becoming complacent.

It was interesting amongst these blogs to also read about topics that go beyond our course, for example one blog I came across was about an issue which is happening down in England regarding children and obesity which is a very common problem all over the United Kingdom. This has spurred me on to really start to engage in reflecting on areas outwith the course for example I love to watch documentaries which could easily relate to problems occurring in the Primary School. I have decided that I am going to make more of an effort to go beyond what is prescribed (TDT tasks and reading tasks) and really make a conscious effort to start forming my own opinion and most importantly writing and reflecting on them afterwards. I have taken it upon myself to buy a notepad which I am going to keep purely for personal reflection. I am going to make an effort to reflect after each input on what were the key points in that lecture/workshop and how do I feel about them. This will hopefully spark more questions in my head and I will be focussed on finding out more by engaging in extra reading and hopefully it will help me come to more of a standpoint which will really mature me as a student.

Values concerning The Teaching Profession

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Just like in any profession there comes the need for values that need to be met and constantly reviewed. This idea to behave or act in a certain manner in which is appropriate to your specific discipline. It is important that I make myself fully aware of the values in the teaching profession if I am to become a future teacher myself.

The values present in the teaching profession are far too vast to be able to explain in depth why they are all individually important. However having considered a large number of these values I have chosen five to discuss that I feel play an integral role in this discipline.

Patience

Patience should come second nature to a teacher for many reasons:

When lesson plans don’t go to accordingly you may have to adapt and compromise.
You class will be full of children with different abilities so you will have to persevere and overcome barriers you may have to face.
Taking into account of different learning abilities, the children will in return grasp the teaching points at different times so you have to be patient and help the ones that are in need.
Class tasks aside you will require patience when working in the school itself whether its with other teaching staff or parents who may try to challenge you over decisions you make concerning their child’s education.

Tolerance

Tolerance very much interlinks with the value I have just discussed above, it is vital in the teaching world for very similar reasons:

Just like being faced with children with different learning abilities/needs you are also going to be challenged with their own opinions and questions. Some of these you might agree with and want to therefore promote in your lessons and some of which you may not fully agree with. However as a professional you need to appear very non biased in your way of thinking so that it does not influence their development.
An example of this may be certain lessons you are having to deal with regarding the religious side of the curriculum. This approach of appearing very neutral in your thought process is crucial. Children in your class are going to have come from different religious backgrounds and in order to make the other children aware of these backgrounds it is essential that you educate them only on the facts of each religion rather than forcing one in particular on them.
Classroom aside, teachers need a great amount of tolerance when dealing with other members involved within a school, especially parents. For example commitments such as parents nights can sometimes cause disputes between a parents opinion of their child compared to a teachers viewpoint. They may not like to hear constructive feedback of areas their child could develop in. Therefore you need to tolerate their side of the dispute and word it in such a way that you can always back up the conclusion that you have come to, from such things as pieces of work or attainment record sheets.

Fairness

Something which is often the case amongst teachers is assumptions, they are often made without realising it, regarding the children in their class. These assumptions are often based upon factors such as the child’s background, their language bracket and the way their appear at school. As a professional this is completely forbidden, you have to be very fair as a teacher and treat every child/colleague/parent as an equal and be very open minded when working with them.
As a teacher you need to be aware of every individual in your class and flag up any problems that may arise amongst them. Such problems may require further action, as a professional you need to distinguish the area of work that may need to step in to help. It would only be an injustice to your pupils that you are essentially responsible for if you did not look at them in an holistic approach and cater to all their needs.

Respect

Working in any establishment, there comes a degree of respect needed. In a school there is no difference, there are different contributors within a school ranging from support staff to parent helpers. But the main shared goal within a school is the well-being of the children, this is reinforced through the approach of GIRFEC. This idea of everyone within a school working collaboratively in order to achieve the best towards the development of the children present. Therefore this need for respect concerns many areas such as being able to cooperate successfully with everyone, be open minded, listen to others, build a trusting community and all share the main ethos of the school itself.
Respect also needs to be present throughout the teaching practices within a school. Often a school has a vision statement or set in stone aims. This requires teachers to create and plan certain lessons to promote this so that the school can have a wholesome community feel where everyone is working together to achieve the same outcomes.

Compassion

In the teaching profession as like in many others there needs to be a great deal of compassion felt. I think this feeling of passion towards your chosen discipline really rubs off on other colleagues or in this instance the pupils in which the teacher is in contact with. If you have this love for you profession then I feel like you can engage with it further and go that extra mile. This approach of making lessons more exciting or promoting new ways of learning that perhaps haven’t even been considered by someone who only does enough for their practices and no more.
I know myself as a pupil back at school I enjoyed going to the subjects that the teacher showed an extent of compassion for. They were as a result more upbeat which really made an impact on my development as I wanted to do well.

My understanding of Reflection

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Reflection is a daily aspect of our lives whether we are fully aware we are doing it or not. This general idea of thoughts or consideration concerning a certain topic or a certain past experience that we have underwent. There are different types of reflection some in more formal circumstances where we have to be more critical in our thoughts and some more informal regarding how we simply feel about something.

Reflection is so much more than just thinking back about a past experience and remembering how you felt in that moment or following through the certain steps you took to get somewhere or achieve something. Especially in the profession that I am entering I believe that reflection plays a vital role for both the teacher and the pupil.

A teacher can reflect on circumstances in a more critical way for example lessons that you may have taught, you can reflect back on your planing and they way your lesson actually went in relation to this plan. This analyse can really highlight the points that worked well and the points which didn’t seem to go as smoothly. Therefore this use of evaluation can set you up for future lessons and act as a guidance tool. It can also act as a great confidence boost as you can gather up all this information and be sure with what your future steps should be and what things you want to stay the same and therefore build on your repertoire.

Likewise a child can use reflection in their daily life especially when it comes to taking charge of their own learning Much like a teacher a child can take responsibility for what they felt they did well and what they feel are their weak areas and want to in time improve on. This will allow them to engage more with their work and their understanding of where they perhaps went wrong. A great task that schools use commonly is the approach of ‘two stars and a wish’. This idea that after carrying out a piece of work or dealing with learning points they have to state two things they felt they did well or went well in general. Followed by a wish which entails an area that they want to improve on. This acts as an informal way of critical thinking. It is getting them to acknowledge their strong points but then making them go that one bit further in identifying areas that they need to develop in, which will get them thinking about future goals.

Taking all of this into account reflection is just as important than anything else we do in our day to day lives. As a firm believer in; you learn from past experiences and the actual doing of something. I feel that it is always important to cement what you already know and then work and plan from that.

Co-operative Working

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There are many advantages in my eyes regarding Co-operative working; working as a team or a group to achieve a shared end goal or quite simply understand or engage with learning itself. Working alongside others acts as a great support system to build confidence either within your own ideas or for you to help other individuals develop and reassure them on their proposed ideas. I know for myself as an individual I tend to lack confidence when it comes to my own work. So this reassurance and support from group members whether it is a positive comment about what I am suggesting or someone coming up with a similar idea just allows me to know that I am on the right line of thought.

What is great about working in a group is you are surrounded by different individuals who bring different ideas and diverse ways of thinking. Therefore you are forced to think outside the box and see things from different angles which I never think is a bad thing. Especially in the profession that I am entering where there will be ongoing changes to the curriculum and the way lessons can be taught and the way in which you teach them to different individuals.

I also think that working together brings on your academic development as you are constantly hearing opinions being discussed and ideas being vocalised. You will be able to pick up on useful phrases that you can later use too enhance you own work or simply share research you have found or useful resources to bring more depth to your understanding and learning.

Alongside these positive points about working as a group there are many drawbacks also. An example of these could be every individual may not take responsibility and contribute as much as others which can become very frustrating and bring an ill feeling to the group dynamic. On the other hand you might get people who take too much control and become very dominating which will result in this feeling of everybody being equal in the group being lost. There needs to be shared respect amongst everyone however some people can become very ignorant in their way of thinking and not take on board the role of listening to everybody’s view and not remaining open minded that other’s views have value even if you do not agree with the individuals opinion.

In every group there needs to be set out rules and conditions in how you would like to work collaboratively. There are bound to be ups and downs but as a whole I think that if you are using the ups to your advantage and reflecting on the low points or barriers that you had to face and knowing how to overcome them in similar future situations then this practice can be successful and very effective.

Benefits of Active Learning

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I personally am a big fan of the concept of Active Learning, this idea of taking a mature approach to engage with your learning. I have always felt that sitting in class whether it was at school or in a lecture now at University is clearly not enough. I have to take in what is being taught and then go home and put in the extra work to get down to the bottom of the subject in hand and why we are learning about it. I have always been told that I question everything or I am known as the one that always asks why. This is because I like to know why we have to do something and the purpose of it in order to stay motivated and therefore focused on completing the task in hand.

Staying active in your learning by carrying out related activities is vital to stay positive in your line of work, and in the long run develop on your ability at a skill or promote attainment. As mentioned above staying active with my learning keeps me focused and also gives me a sense of worth as I am stepping up and taking control of my own work/learning.This control requires me to be very disciplined with my time away from lectures and workshops in the form of managing my time carefully.

Such tasks which help me engage with my learning at University include:

Colour coordinating my work so that I know exactly what lectures relate to each other so I can see a development in them and stay motivated to where the learning is going.
I like to come away from lectures and type up the notes along with getting on with the reading required straight away whilst it is all still fresh in my mind and I can completely relate to what is being discussed.
I am a very visual person so I make word clouds at every opportunity to get my head around the new lingo that we are learning about and which i may need to engage with one day in my chosen profession.
I also use my favourite coloured pens to record some of the topics that I am either struggling with or becoming a bit disheartened with to almost act as a positive mental stimulus to try and change this negative opinion on.

Overall I think that active learning occurs in some shape or form in everybody’s day to day life and I am a firm believer in the thought process of ‘you get out what you put in.’

Social Media and the struggle between the Personal and Professional world

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Social media is now the main form by which we find out what is happening in the world, it’s the way people share their thoughts, look for guidance or advice from friends, share their ideas and gain creativity or simply find out how to get by in day to day tasks. It has many advantages as just mentioned however there is also a great stigma surrounding social media.

There is a consensus that the older generation are very opposed to using social media perhaps because they are not as educated with it or not in the habit of using it on a daily basis. The continuous coverage of the negative uses of social media may also add to this view point regarding inappropriate use of personal sites by professional individuals or the issue of cyber bullying amongst youngsters is also a huge talking point.

This goes on nicely to discuss can you really differentiate the use of social media between the personal and professional world. As a twenty-three year I use social media on a daily basis and have done for many years, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat are amongst a few. I find them a great way to stay in touch with friends who have moved away to live at University much like myself this year it allows me to stay in the loop of what is going on back home. I also use it as a guilty pleasure to keep up to date with the so called Celeb world. By following celebrities on twitter you are able to keep up with the latest trends and on goings. Even as someone who enjoys social media and favours it there are still parts of it which I don’t like and i can sympathise with this stigma felt by many. I think some people use it as a shield to hide behind when venting their frustrations concerning their jobs or feelings towards others. This impulse reaction of how they are feeling at that very moment in time is then up for the rest of the world to see and saved in the online universe as it were, this sadly could result in consequences in their future career paths and opportunities.

The way in which I use social media sites will definitely differ ever so slightly due to now progressing into the respectful profession of teaching. I think that in any discipline of work that deals with communities of people you have to be very aware of what you are sharing or posting. With this professional role that you are carrying out comes a lot of responsibility and values to be met. You should appear diplomatic and PG and be able to account for everything that has your stamp on it no matter the topic you are discussing. Saying this I am not insinuating that you can’t challenge others views or have an opinion yourself but you should always ask yourself what is the purpose of posting this blog/status and can I back it up in an appropriate manner.

If social media is treated in this way I believe and favour the use of it within the professional world. Especially within the area of work I am entering, I feel that it is an excellent way of stimulating children’s education. So may schools now a days have a Twitter page to highlight the school’s attainment this allows parents to gain immediate feedback about what their children are doing and highlights positive behaviour and achievement amongst individuals or class groups. It can also act as a great way in which schools or communities can share their practices and spark new ideas in organisations who are maybe lacking creativity and wanting to change things up a little. I think it sparks up communication and discussion amongst teachers and educators of all stages and is a great way in connecting different schools from all around the world. I only hope that it escalates in a positive way to benefit children’s experiences throughout their school life.

Online Unit – Managing my learning

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Recognition/Reflection	Action
What helps my learning?	How can I utilize this?
I am a very visual learning and it helps if i take an active approach o my learning.	I am going to start printing off my lecture power point slides before class so that i can physically write notes on the slides and be more engaged with the information being taught during the lecture.
Feeling supported at all times.	I am going to make use of the workshops offered during the week of the 19th October having been away from education from a few years i know the workshops in essay writing and referencing will be hugely beneficial.
Being organised and planning ahead.	As i work through each lecture i am keeping a note of any extra reading i do highlighting facts i can use as references later on so that when it comes to writing my assignments i don’t feel bombarded with the workload. Having the assignment titles at this early stage i am already making up essay plans so i can add to them gradually over the first semester so i do not forget to add any information from early lectures in.

Recognition/Reflection	Action
What hinders my learning?	How can I address this factors?
I struggle to stay on task at times.	I am going to try and read up on lecture slides before class so that i can pick up on the main points about to be discussed so that i can take relevant notes relating to what i consider links with the main points and i don’t go off into a tangent.
I am easily distracted.	Take time alone to study myself in quiet area so that i can fully concentrate and make best use of my time.
self discipline	I am making a conscious effort to make myself attempt the online Maths and English assessment weekly. I know because it is not necessarily compulsory I might become complacent and put off doing them on a regular basis.