Although it has been a while since I last engaged with my ePortfolio, I have come back to it to write a new post that focuses on my own learning experiences at school. I believe that in order for successful learning to take place, the teaching must be fun and engaging. If this is achieved then knowledge is much more likely to be retained and these experiences will be memorable for children, even years after.

One of my most memorable experiences from school comes from Primary 5. The topic of Wallace and Bruce is one that is taught across Scotland and has been done for many years, therefore it is very easy for this to become rather boring by simply recycling teaching resources and materials. However, when the time came for my class to tackle this project, my teacher ensured that things were going to be done differently. It is hard to make a topic relevant to children when it happened roughly 700 years ago but my teacher made sure that we could relate to it. The plan was to work through the project, attaining the knowledge of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and pulling in a variety of curricular areas to help us do so as we went, and towards the end we would put on a play for the whole school that would showcase our knowledge and give them an insight into the events of Scotland in those days. Putting on a show was a great way of making this project memorable as well as helping us to summarise what we had learnt over the course of the topic. However, the big hook came in the context of the play. This was not simply going to be a standard Wallace and Bruce play that told the story of these two Scots. The play was to be set in the context of ‘Doctor Who’, whereby the Doctor and his sidekick would travel back in time and meet with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce at famous points of Scottish history, for example The Battle of Stirling Bridge. Given that ‘Doctor Who’ was very popular at this time, this context acted as a great vehicle for ensuring that Wallace and Bruce were more relevant than ever to a class at that time.

Due to the fact that we were tying in a TV show that I loved into our learning, this experience has always stood out for me and is one that I will always remember. The class teacher successfully  ensured that a historical topic was culturally relevant to a group of young children and did so in a way that allowed them to use their imagination, creativity and enthusiasm. We received excellent feedback from other classes, teachers and parents which showed that our hard work throughout the course of the topic paid off  and filled everyone in the class with pride. It is because of all of this that I still remember this learning experience from school…also because my mum has the whole thing on tape and insists on watching it regularly!

Firstly, it is important to establish what is meant by ‘reflection’ in learning. This term essentially refers to considering various solutions to problems and in education, this can be done through evaluation of one’s work and adopting a critical approach towards it. Reflection is often portrayed as a process with multiple stages in which the learner begins by establishing what the task was and what was expected from it. The process then continues and forces the person who is reflecting to consider their feelings towards the task, the positive and negative areas, and what they could have done to improve. This model of reflection is called “The Gibbs Reflective Cycle”, which is adapted from Gibbs, 1988, P.47. One of the most important stages of this process, for us as learners, is developing an ‘Action Plan’, which is essentially a strategy for dealing with this task if it happened again. This is beneficial to learners as it forces them to analyse their own actions during this task and create a new method of approaching it that is constructed of their previous strengths and new revised methods based upon poorer experiences.

There are many ways in which you can reflect on your own work, for example discussing the end product of a task set with a tutor and allowing them to criticise your work and provide feedback on poorer areas and ways in which you could improve them. Learners could also work within a group to analyse their own work and allow their peers to suggest areas for improvement as well as strong areas that can be applied to future work and tasks.

One of the most important things to keep in consideration when reflecting upon your learning is to be honest and critical. If one fails to adopt a truly critical mindset then reflection can be useless and have absolutely no benefit to one’s learning. It is important to admit to weak areas within your work and not blatantly ignore them. If a task is not completed particularly well and the learner fails to identify the areas whereby it did not go well, then there can be no improvement made. It is also important to be open to criticism from different outlooks and not merely ignore them. Criticism from external viewpoints can have a massive effect on the way in which you try to improve your learning and they can also help to introduce areas for improvement that perhaps you did not notice. However, it is also important to pay attention to strong areas within your work as these skills can be applied in future tasks to ensure that the learner produces a high standard of work.

Reflection is a critical process in which the learner is able to take control of their own learning and plan new ways to achieve a higher standard of working.

In my opinion, five of the most crucial virtues of teaching are:

• Patience
• Fairness
• Kindness
• Respect
• Integrity

Patience 

When working with children, patience is absolutely vital. Each pupil will have their strengths and weaknesses and it is up to the teacher to help them in any way possible. Therefore, it is very important to give the pupil all the time that they require in order to allow them to overcome this area where improvement is needed.

Fairness

Fairness is also a crucial characteristic to possess as a teacher. No pupil should be put at a disadvantage and singled out. This can ultimately damage their learning experience and knock their confidence. It is important, as the teacher, to ensure that the classroom is totally equal.

Kindness

In order to welcome children into the classroom and ensure that their learning experience is enjoyable, a teacher should be kind. School can often be a daunting experience for many young children, therefore it is the job of the teacher to be kind in order to allow children to be able to approach them and feel at ease during their time inside the classroom.

Respect

If a teacher is to uphold their authority in the classroom, it is important that they be respected by their pupils. However, the only way to be respected by the children you teach is to respect them in turn. It is also vital to respect every member of staff within the school you work in. Every staff member is part of a team and each member of that team must respect one another. This ensures that everyone can work effectively, essentially bettering the learning experience for every child.

Integrity

Integrity is also a key virtue to have as a teacher. It is important to be honest as a teacher and possess a good set of moral principles as this can effect the teacher’s decision-making in the classroom and ultimately effect the learning experience of pupils. Possessing integrity as a teacher may also suggest a certain level of commitment to the profession which, in my opinion, is vital to being a successful teacher.

Firstly, in order to be able to understand the benefits of active learning, it is important to understand the key meaning of the term and the main ideas that surround it. Active learning is essentially a learning model that makes the learner take responsibility for their own learning. It is also important to realise that active learning is considered to be more than merely passively reading a piece of text from a textbook or copying notes out straight from a lecture presentation. In order to be an active learner, you have to go the extra mile and try to develop notes that you take in a lecture or add in your own thoughts when reading a piece of text. There are various ways to participate actively in one’s learning, some of which are highlighted in the video below in Benjamin Bloom’s catalogue of methods.

Active learning can produce various benefits, one of which is capability to allow students to look a particular issue from different critical viewpoints. This can help to widen their knowledge on this issue and allow them to have a more balanced understanding and overview on this particular issue. This newly acquired understanding can then work to help them build a stronger argument when faced with a critical analysis task on the particular issue. Active learning is also a massively effective way of granting students ownership over their own learning and allows them to essentially take the driving seat in their education. This in turn can motivate them more and help them achieve success as they feel more motivated by responsibility. Another benefit of active learning is that it forces students to relate one topic with another that has been previously covered in lessons or lectures. This gives way to connections being built within a student’s education and can help them establish the wider picture whereby they consider how this contributes to the learning objectives of their learning.

Working co-operatively can present many benefits not only for the individual, but also for the group itself. One of the main benefits is that it allows each member of the group to develop their own understanding of a particular issue through sharing and exchanging ideas within the group. Each member of a group has something to offer but also something they can take away. Working in a team can also provide guidance and assistance if required as you have the opportunity to seek help or ask questions to fellow members of the group. Working co-operatively can also generate healthy debate on a certain subject matter whereby ideas from different perspectives are being expressed, thus helping work towards the common goal of achieving the task but with a more balanced approach towards it. Within the teaching profession, it is important to embrace co-operative work as this can help develop relationships with fellow colleagues, therefore leading to ideas being shared which can better the learning experience for children.

Social media; helping to connect people with mutual interests all around the world and providing a gateway for people to learn, discuss and share. In today’s society it plays a massive role in almost everybody’s lives and yet, if misused, it can be fatal. In the teaching profession, being careful on social media is a critical part of being professional. Social media can present both challenges and opportunities for a teacher and each is left to form their own opinions on the matter.

In order to be professional, teachers must abide by the GTC Scotland’s code of conduct. Although the GTC acknowledge and respect the private lives of teachers, it is still vital to consider how personal behaviour on social media can impact and essentially damage one’s fitness to teach. When considering the online presence of a professional teacher it is important to try to highlight opportunities that this can present and not just focus on challenges it can cause. However in order to seize these opportunities it is likely that the teacher will either have to find an equal balance between professional and personal online activity or set up a totally separate account that can be used for professional purposes. An example of an opportunity that social media can bring to the classroom is the idea of being able to share the work of your pupils around the world with various other schools and classes via the internet. Social media can provide an online space where schools, pupils and teachers are able to connect with each other and in turn share, learn and form global relationships. Social media can essentially be transformed into a global classroom if used properly. This link via social media can also allow children to form global friendships through a “pen pal” system. In my own experience I have seen this done and become a huge success. This idea of the teacher using social media as a method for children to discuss their learning and school life with another child from a different part of the world is only one of the amazing opportunities that can be brought about it.

Not only can social media be used to develop communication on a global level, it can be used a much smaller scale and essentially just be used for classmates to communicate with each other. For example, when children are conducting research for group projects they can use social media to share their finding with peers within their group thus creating a much more efficient method of sharing and learning. As well as this, children will also be able to share this information by sending it to their class teacher thus allowing the teacher to watch over the pupils’ work online. By using social media in a classroom, this will also provide children with the online experience and develop their computing skills. This new understanding of social media and the type of etiquette expected when using it will benefit children as social media is ever growing and is playing a much bigger part in society every day.

On the other hand, social media can be temperamental and cause some issues when used in education. Firstly, it is important to understand that once something has been posted online it is on there forever, even if the post is deleted. As a teacher this fact must be kept in mind at all times as well as the GTC’s code when online, especially on social media. One potential problem for teachers using social media is that of their personal life being discovered by pupils. Although it is important for a teacher to be friendly and approachable to children, it is important that boundaries are kept and the teachers’ privacy remains separate from their professional life. Curious children may search for their teacher on social media sites and possibly try to communicate with them via this form. Any form of communication between teacher and pupil is not permitted unless in an appropriate school space. However, there are measures that can be taken to minimise the risk of this type of issue. Making all social media accounts private will help reduce the chances of pupils discovering a teacher’s private life online. Also, the account could be set up using a nickname or middle name in order to make it harder for children to trace their teachers on social media.

There can also be potential risks when using social media with a classroom environment as well as privately. The world of social media is vast with all sorts of things being posted on it. Unfortunately, there is material online that is in no way suitable for children and the classroom. Therefore when using social media, teachers run the potential risk of accidentally accessing some of this content. All it takes is an accidental click on the wrong link or webpage and a teacher’s career can be put on the line. Unfortunately, for this reason, social media can bring potential danger to the classroom and is considered by some to be left outside of this environment.

Overall, I feel that with society advancing and developing every day it is important for teachers to keep up with these changes to ensure that a child’s learning experience is up-to-date and therefore fully beneficial. With social media being a key component in this everyday advancement I feel that it is important for teacher’s to have a positive attitude towards online activity and try to fully embrace social media and all of the useful resources that it brings. Having said this, it is also equally important to always bear in mind the potential dangers of the Internet and ensure that the necessary precautions are taken to ensure not only the safety of children, but also that of the teacher themselves. However, teachers should not let these hypothetical risks scare them away from using the Internet. If utilised fully and properly, social media can be a powerful learning tool that can benefit both pupil and teacher.