Monthly Archives: October 2015

The Enquiring Practitioner

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After the input by Nikki Doig on the 27th October, I am going to reflect on being an enquiring practitioner and what this means in a classroom.

Practitioner enquiry is defined on the GTCS website as, ‘ as defined by Menter et al (2011), is a “finding out” or an investigation with a rationale and approach that can be explained or defended. The findings can then be shared so it becomes more than reflection or personal enquiry.’ Being an enquiring practitioner is not about reaching an end point. As we all know, new ideas are constantly emerging and so being an enquiring practitioner is a journey, a process of continually progressing and looking for ways to enhance your practice.

For teachers, it involves reflecting on their current procedures and researching what ways they could improve it. For example, it it could be an investigation of a new resource or approach to see if/how it improves their teaching method in the classroom. If it goes successfully, they then could discuss the results with other teachers to encourage them to use it and give their feedback on it. This will help teachers to better understand their practice and to develop their critical thinking, which is an essential part of being a professional teacher.

There are many benefits to practitioner enquiry. As I noted above, it develops our critical thinking and reflective learning which is important in our professional journey. It enables us to take control of our practice and to research, develop it and try to make it the best it can be. Sharing this knowledge with other colleagues can strengthen the relationships within the workplace as you work together to investigate a new initiative. Other colleagues can also then share what they have found through practitioner enquiry, helping you to gain new ideas and see things from a different perspective. This open-mindedness and adaptation is key in improving your practice. As teachers this all, in turn, means that our pupils will be receiving engaging education through relevant, thought-out, lessons.

Some benefits also listed on the GTCS website are as follows:

žTo empower teachers and encourage them to challenge and transform education

žTo provide a way for teachers to monitor and develop their own practice

žTo investigate new strategies and initiatives

žTo increase their knowledge of teaching and learning thus enabling them to make more professional and autonomous judgements and to enhance their self-esteem and professional identity

However, there are some challenges when it comes to being an enquiring practitioner. Not everything we discover is going to work well, and so it may be tempting to become frustrated if the new methods we have found don’t work. We should the learn from these mistakes and continue trying to improve our practice. Also there is the risk of conflict in the workplace for example, if one teacher thinks an initiative is fantastic but another does not approve of it. This is when we should remember to act professionally and remember that we all have different personalities  and so different things work for different people.

So what does this mean for me as a student teacher? Well, on the GTCS website it says that practitioner enquiry is ‘envisaged to become an integral aspect of the day-to-day practice of teachers and other education professionals’, therefore it is definitely something I should start doing in consideration to my own work. It means that I should keep up to date with teaching initiatives when planning for placement (and for future lessons). I should constantly be reflecting on my ideas and thinking of ways to improve them. I should collaborate with other teachers and think about whether I could adapt any of their methods into my teaching practice. Practitioner enquiry is definitely important to me because it will enable me to always improve my practice, so that I can try to be the best teacher I can be.

Values of a Professional Teacher

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The first value that I believe teachers should have is patience. If you are going to be teaching for a very long time you are going to come into contact with a number of different classes containing children with a wide range of abilities and personalities. It is important that a teacher has patience in particular, when teaching a subject that is second nature to them. It can be easy to get frustrated if a child takes a little while to grasp a topic, and so the teacher should be patient in order to maintain a professional standard and to not intimidate the child. This could also include having the patience to take the time to think about other ways they could explain the topic, or just simply using different wording to explain it. If a teacher is patient it means that the children are not scared of taking time to figure out the answer, and so they are also probably more willing to ask questions. Another reason a professional teacher should have patience is when dealing with disruptive behaviour. It is important that the teacher doesn’t shout all the time, but figures out creative ways to encourage positive behaviour in the class and to discipline the children. Professional teachers should also have patience when in contact with other staff that they may not get along with. It is important that they maintain a professional relationship so that they can work together for the benefit of the school.

I believe professional teachers should also be honest. This is mainly so that they can be an example to their class. I personally think that sometimes if a teacher does not know the answer to a question a pupil raises, they should be honest and tell them that they don’t know, but will find the answer out for them. I think that in doing this is reminds the children that teachers are human beings too and they are allowed to make mistakes too. Hopefully this honesty will also rub off on the class. Honesty is also a good quality to have when socialising with other teachers. Professional teachers should be open to constructive criticism, and so by being honest you can share tips with other teachers to improve their practice.

Another value I believe professional teachers should have is respect. It is important that the teacher is aware of the different skills, religions and ethnicities in their class. The teacher can then help the class to overcome any pre-judgements/stereotypes they may have by teaching them to respect one another. By respecting the kids and not ‘looking down’ on them may also improve their confidence and help them to enjoy school more.

I believe professional teachers should also be kind. I believe that kindness is a fantastic quality and so the opportunity to teach children to be kind is a great one. Kindness is a quality that will shine through the teacher in how they speak to the class , how they treat the class and how they treat each other. This will inspire the children to be kind to one another, and so will improve the atmosphere in the classroom. It can help improve the children’s motivation to learn and make them enjoy school more. It is also important to be kind with your fellow teachers and school staff. It enables teacher to not just be colleagues, but to also be friends, improving the mood in the school environment. When people are kind to one another, they work better together and so kindness is such an important quality when entering the world of education.

The final value I am going to discuss is fairness. It is important to be fair and to teach the kids what is right and what is wrong. A teacher should treat all the children in their class as equals regardless of their social class, background, ethnicity, gender, religion and so on.  It is easy for a teacher to have ‘favourites’ however it is so important that they discipline and treat all their pupils in the same way. From personal experience, I know that when a teacher has a select few ‘favourites’, not being included in this group is destructive to self-confidence and faith in the teacher. Fairness goes hand in hand with respect and so by treating the class fairly will in turn teach them to treat each other with respect.

The ‘hidden curriculum’ is an unavoidable element of teaching, and so it is very beneficial if a teacher has these values I have discussed, in order to influence the class to be positive pupils with good attributes.

Reflection

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Reflection is an essential part of the primary teaching profession. It is through reflection that we grow and improve as teachers. So what is reflection?

I believe that true reflection involves standing back and seriously thinking about an event. It involves looking at the event from different perspectives. This also means being willing to criticise yourself and to accept constructive criticism from others. It includes drawing on previous knowledge from other events and apply this to present/ future events.

Most importantly, to be truly reflective it involves action. After considering the event and taking other people’s opinions into consideration, you should think of ways in which to improve. This could be applied when planning lessons, writing assignments or preparing presentations.

As I continue to go through my course I hope to engage in my learning and to get the most out of it. I will do this by being reflective on what I have been taught/ what I will teach and by always looking for ways to improve.

Online Unit 2B Reflection

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Having read pages 230-280 of ‘The Study Skills Book Third Edition’ by Kathleen McMillan and Jonathan Weyers, I have been made aware of particular areas of my grammar that I need to improve.

In pages 259-265 it discussed punctuation. This was a topic that I took for granted and just assumed that I knew everything. However, after reading this part it made me realise that there were some rules of punctuation that I had forgotten, for example, the difference between single quotation marks and double quotation marks. Now that I am aware of these rules, I will be aware to make sure that I am using the correct versions.

In pages 252-258 it discussed common grammatical errors. As I read these pages I realised that there were some grammatical terms e.g. indirect object, direct object, pronouns and relative pronouns which I had forgotten. In teaching it is essential that I know and understand the different grammatical terms so that I can teach my class about them, and so this topic helped to reinforce my memory of these terms.

In conclusion, reading pages 246-280 of the Study Skills book was so helpful as it revised the things that I had learnt in primary school those many years ago. I will take into account what I have learnt from reading it when writing assignments and planning lessons.

Social Media in the classroom

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Even in my short lifetime, the use of social media seems to have exploded over the past few years, bringing with it many benefits but also many dangers.

In my lecture today, I realised how teachers are so vulnerable to scrutiny, in particular from the press and media. Instead of focusing on what positive things education does, if a teacher makes one small mistake it will be front page news. Therefore it is so important that the GTCS have set out guidance so that I can maintain a standard of professionalism and understand how to address certain issues should they appear.  This is particularly relevant with regards to the growing world of social media. I personally have many different accounts on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest (to name a few), however I am going to keep these private, but still at a high professional standard in order to follow the professional guidelines set out by the GTCS.

I find it hard to believe that primary school kids nowadays are using social media. However, after a story from my lecturer about his daughter’s own troubling experience on the internet, I now see how important it is to be aware of the engagement of pupils on social media as we cannot just ignore the impact is has on our class. Teachers should use social media to enhance their lessons, as the GTCS puts it, ” introducing their pupils to new tools and delivering the curriculum in innovative and engaging ways.” (GTCS Professional Guidance on the Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media) This is a positive way in which the class can be engaged with the world around them, so that the methods of teaching don’t seem outdated.

Whilst using social media and the internet in the classroom, it is crucial to teach the pupils about the dangers of communicating online. I remember internet safety was introduced to me when I was in the second half of my time at primary school through a series of cartoon videos. These were simple but effective videos and from then on I have always remembered to never add people I don’t know on social media sites, arrange to meet up with people I don’t know, and so on. When I become a teacher I want to make sure that my class are aware of the tips I received about communicating online, so that hopefully they themselves will agree and will stay safe. I will recommend to them that they don’t join any social media sites until they reach the minimum age requirement, however I am aware that there are ways around the minimum age requirement for younger children. Therefore, it is essential to teach children about using the internet properly and how to protect themselves online.

I conclusion, I don’t want my class to be afraid of the internet, just to understand the ways to stay safe. I want them to see that social media and the internet can be used for good, and for them to adopt this positive interaction. I will do everything I can to set an example for them, and to raise any concerns I may have about their use of the internet.

Also, I have decided to include some links below to helpful websites for anyone wanting to find out more about what kind of social media sites there are, the ways to stay safe on the internet and what to do about any online issues they may have.

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

http://www.net-aware.org.uk/

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/share-aware/

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

http://ceop.police.uk/

Homepage

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/myexperiencesandoutcomes/technologies/index.asp