Category Archives: 1.4 Prof. 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.

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.

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.