Today, we were looking at how to search accurately and safely on the internet. Here is the presentation I made about searching on the internet.
http://prezi.com/2zs3plhiz1_w/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
I had a science input which has really motivated me to revise what I know about science as it is a key part of the curriculum. I know that I am going to need to know not just what I am teaching, but facts around it as you can never really predict what sorts of questions your pupils will ask! I have had a good science education, but unfortunately most of the science information in my brain has been hidden and so I need to retrieve it by revising some topics. Therefore, I have set myself a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) target;
S- I plan to look specifically at vibrations and waves, in particular, at sound vibrations and light waves
M- I will possibly create a poster or write a blog post to show off what I have learnt and will upload it to my ePortfolio.
A- I know it is attainable as I have learnt this subject before, so I am revising it to bring it to the front of my mind again.
R- It is very relevant as in the curriculum for excellence it says, “Through research on how animals communicate, I can explain how sound vibrations are carried by waves through air, water and other media. SCN 2-11” and “By exploring reflections, the formation of shadows and the mixing of coloured lights, I can use my knowledge of the properties of light to show how it can be used in a creative way. SCN 2-11”.
T- I aim to have this completed before the start of my placement.
Today, I had an introductory tutorial on mathematics; it’s importance in the curriculum, why we need to learn it and the different ways we can involve children in understanding mathematics.
Fortunately for me, mathematics is a subject which comes quite naturally to me and I believe that I am quite good at it. I would even say that I enjoy it! I hope that my enjoyment of mathematics reflects when I am teaching so that my class are motivated to learn it. However, one thing I am worried about is the whole process of having to take a subject which is second nature to me, and to put it into words so that children who are hearing it for the first time can understand. This is something I will have to continuously reflect on and plan effectively.
One thing which really stood out for me in the tutorial is the importance of the support of the teacher and discussion. It is a shame to hear that parents whose skills don’t lie in mathematics assume that it is a genetic thing and so they tell their kids that they won’t be any good at it either. Teachers have to work to beat these barriers, and to make sure every child has the equal opportunity to understand and to thrive in mathematics, regardless of what their family believes. It is important that teachers are flexible to explain a particular aspect of maths in different ways to suit different learner’s needs. I remember when I was doing my AS Level maths in high school, I struggled a lot at the start of the year because even though I enjoyed maths, it was quite a jump from just doing normal maths at GCSE to AS Level. It didn’t help as well that the rest of the class (bar one) had done additional mathematics at GCSE, and so they took to the AS Level maths like a duck to water. This made me feel quite inadequate and frustrated. However, my maths teacher made sure to always check that the other non-add-maths girl and I understood, she explained things over and over again, gave us extra work for practice and even held a class in one of our free periods to go over things. I don’t know if it was the way she explained things, or her enthusiasm and love for maths, or just her belief in us, but as the year went on I understood things a lot better and my maths grades started to improve. I am so proud to say that I went from getting E’s and D’s at the start of the year, to getting a B in my final AS result. I know I couldn’t have done it without the support of my teacher and for how she kept motivating us to keep going through the hard work.
Especially in primary school mathematics, I think that it is so important that teachers bring maths to life. This is done by fully involving children in their learning. Teachers could plan lessons which make the children imitate using maths in everyday life, for example, setting up an imaginary shop and getting the children to count their money. They should use different resources, such as aesthetically pleasing worksheets and practical counters. They could play different mathematical games with their class, so that they are learning but having fun at the same time.
I also noted the importance of discussion in mathematics. Reflecting on my experience through school, I don’t believe enough time was given to discussing mathematics. It is through this that children can describe their methods, and so develop a deeper understanding. They can also see how they went wrong and so learn from their mistakes. By talking to their partner, they can learn from each other. If they both are struggling with something I believe it makes them feel less isolated and so they are less likely to feel as mathematically incompetent if someone else also doesn’t understand. This also may give them the confidence to ask for help, as it can be quite intimidating sticking your hand up in front of a silent class. I have really taken this into account and so when I am a teacher, I want to give my class the time at the end of a maths lesson to discuss with each other what they understood about it and where they struggled. Then they can feedback this back to me, and so I can then decide if a topic needs gone over again or if it is okay to move on.
I conclusion, I believe that maths is a vital subject for our children to learn, and so it is up to us as teachers to beat the myths and anxiety surrounding it. I could not summarise it better than this quote from ‘Mathematics explained for Primary Teachers’ by Derek Haylock and Ralph Manning;
“Learning experiences for children in mathematics should ensure that children enjoy learning mathematics, by providing opportunities to: (a) experience the sense of pleasure that comes from solving a problem or a mathematical puzzle: (b) have their curiousity stimulated by formulating their own questions and investigating mathematical situations; (c) play small-group games that draw on mathematical skills and concepts; (d) experiment with pattern in numbers and shapes and discover relationships for themselves; and (e) have some beautiful moments in mathematics where they are surprised, delighted or intrigued.”
Today I was reflecting on the importance of animation in the classroom. I was taught how to use programs such as Pivot Animate and ZU3D, programs which can make lessons more interactive and engaging for the pupils. I used these programs to create a short film with my peer, Polly, which you can view below. I really got to see how useful these programs can be, as you can use them to help children develop their understanding of other areas of the curriculum, while at the same time, develop their ICT skills. For example, you could ask the children to write a very short story in groups based on a history topic that they are learning and get them to act it out. Then let them either animate it using Pivot Animate software or film it with plasticine figures, Lego models etc. on the ZU3D program and then they could review each other’s work. If it seems appropriate you could teach them how to add sounds, subtitles etc.
Of course, to be able to do this, it is important that I as a future teacher, am aware and up-to-date on the programs that are available to do this. Today’s workshop has really motivated me to search around for the different software that I could use in the classroom. Fortunately, I feel that the programs we used today were quite easy to get the hang of and so I definitely believe I will use them in the classroom in the future.
I believe that animation does link in to the GTCS Technologies Experiences and Outcomes as it states that children should explore and enhance their knowledge of software, they should be able to use these electronic sources to support and enrich their learning in different contexts. Using animation will develop their imagination, creativity, team work skills and in some cases, their time management. Even a simple half an hour lesson on how to use these programmes can lay down the foundations for their skills in ICT.
Here is the film I made with Polly today using the ZU3D software.
The song in the background is Nellie the Elephant – Instrumental with Lyrics – Karaoke
I was recommended to watch ‘Find Me a Family’, a programme on BBC1 which followed seven children around Northern Ireland’s care system as they tried to find new families.
One of the girls, called Shannon, was 18 and so was coming out of the foster-care system. She was on a residence order which meant that when she turned 18, her residency with the people she was staying with was over and she had to move out. While being interviewed she commented that she felt like she didn’t belong to anyone. I immediately started questioning what must this poor girl’s self esteem be like? I believe that this would all potentially have a permanent damaging effect on her confidence and her self worth.
It also broke my heart to hear on the show that when a ten year old, William, went to meet his birth mother she sat on her phone for most of the time. I can’t even begin to comprehend what sort of person would treat their own child like that, but I am not here to judge others.
Reflecting on last week’s lectures on personality, self concept and self esteem, I started to think about the role of teachers the lives of children who have been through things like Shannon and William. In my teaching career there is a very high possibility that I will be working with kids like Shannon and William and so I believe it is therefore my duty to be a role model to them. I want to create an environment of trust and safety in my classroom so that all my pupils will be comfortable. I want to develop trusting relationships with all my pupils so that they know I am always there for them and they can tell me anything. I will listen to them, treat them with dignity and respect to try to promote the self-esteem of all my class. I will encourage my pupils to treat everyone equally and be kind to each other.
I am sure there are more things I could do to promote my pupils’ self esteem, if anyone has any suggestions please comment them below!
The link to ‘Find Me a Family’ is below (only the second episode is available on iPlayer on the date I write this post- 13/11/2015) :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06kxp2w/find-me-a-family-episode-2
As part of the online unit I decided to watch ’24 Hours in Police Custody’ and I believe in a strange way it was a real learning experience for me. It has really shown me how important professionalism is across a range of different professions, not just primary teaching. I just felt that there was so much to write about, that so many aspects of a professional were shown in the programme that I should write a blog post about it.
The police officers showed many professional characteristics. For example, they remained calm throughout the arrest/interviewing process despite knowing what pressure was on them and how they had turned someone’s world upside down. They were very organised in their arrest and worked really well together as a team. They supported one another throughout the interview process, for example, when one policewoman admitted that she wasn’t as good at laying into the suspect, another policewoman offered to help her. This point really showed how they all brought their different strengths to the team and how they all respected the fact that they all have weaknesses. As you never really know what a suspect will respond, the police officers showed great flexibility in adapting their questions to respond to the suspect’s comments and also adapted them to suit when they were questioning a child. Two particular characteristics of the police officers which really stood out for me were how polite and respectful they were. They introduced themselves at the door before entering the house to make an arrest instead of just storming in. In the first house, they were considerate of the fact that a child was upstairs sleeping and so were careful to not wake them up. I even appreciated the fact that they simply wiped their feet on the doormat before entering the house. The way that the police officers spoke to suspects, their families etc was just very respectful, calm and collected. Even though the crimes that the suspects were accused of were just awful, they treated everyone as a person of dignity and did not talk down to anyone. They even simply offered the suspects a cup of tea/coffee and a blanket. In some ways, they went above and beyond what I personally would have expected them to do and so I have great respect for them because of this.
However, there were two points in the programme that I believe the professionals did not act professionally. At one point, in private to another policeman, a policewoman called the first suspect ‘an idiot’. I don’t believe that this was very professional as it showed a lack of respect for the suspect who hadn’t even been proven guilty yet. I agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and yes I agree that the man’s actions were awful, but I believe that the policewoman should have been more careful as to not call him an idiot on TV. Also, in the interview with the second suspect, one of the policewoman’s tone of voice and body language came across as a little judgemental and disgusted. However, I can completely understand why given the context, and it did not seem to stop the suspect from continuing on with answering the questions.
The police officers’ professional behaviour had an impact on the people they dealt with. Firstly, the professional respect and support they had for each other enabled them all to work cooperatively together. The respect and calmness they showed, I believe, meant that the family members and suspects were not angry or aggressive.
When out arresting people the policemen and women wore their police uniforms. I think that this is important as it reinforced their power and authority and probably boosted the confidence of those wearing the uniform. However, whilst back at the station, the policemen and women were dressed quite casually. I think that this is fine as long as they are dressed modestly. This may help them to appear less intimidating during interviews, and so suspects may feel more comfortable and willing to answer questions.
If I was asked to develop a course for police officers I would have them attend lectures for probably around 50% of the time. I would have them do background reading for around 20% of the time. I would have them go to practical skills based training for the remaining 30% of the time. After this course, since it is such a practical, ‘hands on’ job, I would then send them on a probationary work based learning year.
After watching and reflecting on this programme, I have realised how important it is to treat everyone with respect. This is particularly important in teaching as I will come into contact with many other people, from the pupils to parents, other teachers, social workers and headmasters, to name a few. I will make a conscious effort to be respectful and polite in how I speak to everyone, and to treat everyone with dignity. This will also be important in motivating my pupils to learn and to help them to achieve their best. I felt on the show that at points the police officers went above and beyond what was expected of them. I want to be the best teacher that I can be and so I am going to try to go above and beyond what is expected. Although this is probably easier said than done.
Since the Wordle website would not work on my laptop, I decided to create a mind map with all the words relating to being a professional/professionalism that I could think of.
I believe that peer review/ feedback is an essential part of teaching, and so it is something that I should definitely get used to doing!
If I’m honest I don’t really feel like I have ever really gone through the process of giving/receiving genuine feedback. The few times I was involved in peer review in high school I think that everyone was too scared to criticise others, and so the feedback I received was filled with only compliments! Therefore, the lectures/tdts on the enquiring practitioner and peer review were very helpful as it enabled me to properly go through this process. It can be intimidating at first- no one really enjoys being criticised- however, it is good to remember that people are commenting to help you improve your work/practice, not to be mean. I appreciated the fact that everyone was honest with each other as this is definitely more helpful than continuous compliments! In my comment section I received some very helpful advice: someone pointed out that I had made some silly grammatical errors which I was able to then read over and fix.
The peer review process was a positive one because I received some advice which I will remember and apply when writing posts in the future. It developed my confidence to criticise constructively and enabled me to be more open minded to other people’s opinions. This is so vital in teaching, in particular as being an enquiring practitioner, as it is necessary for you to listen to other people’s advice to improve your practice. It is important that we constantly are updating and developing our practice, and so having other people review and criticise what we do is so helpful in order to make our lessons better and learn from our mistakes.
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:
To empower teachers and encourage them to challenge and transform education
To provide a way for teachers to monitor and develop their own practice
To investigate new strategies and initiatives
To 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.
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.
