Category Archives: 2 Prof. Knowledge & Understanding

Maths

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‘Mathematics Explained for Primary School Teachers’ by Haylock was a book recommend by one of my lectures. I read the first three chapters and I found them extremely interesting. I had no idea about the number of teachers that have insecurities about teaching maths. It was made clear that many trainee teachers have anxiety about teaching maths and most of their anxiety was based on their experience of being taught maths. It was stated that in order to come away from this feeling we need to teach children how to understand maths and explain maths to them. This got me thinking about how I was Maths icontaught at primary school. Maths was never explained to me, I was just taught how to do things and that was it. I believe that in order for children to enjoy and appreciate maths it needs to be explained to them and they need to have an understanding of why they are doing it.

The importance of relating maths to everyday life is extremely beneficial to the children as the children can see what they have learned being put into a different contexts. Maths as a subject is extremely important and every child should learn maths in primary school. Maths contributes to everyday life and without children learning maths they will not be able to: read bus time tables, tell the time, solve problems. Maths contributes to children’s intellectual development and the more that develops the more ready they will be for secondary school. With maths being taught effectively children will enjoy it.

Maths nowadays is taught differently and I feel that it is taught more successfully now. For example more resources are used to help children with their counting, ICT facilities are available, children are given the opportunity to talk about maths to their peers, show me boards are used and maths games are encouraged to teach children. The list of ways in which children can be taught maths is endless.

Maths is linked to other areas of the curriculum and can be taught with other subjects. This allows children to use skills they have to help them in another subject which shows them there skill can be used in a variety of ways. Instead of children learning something and trying to remember it for example the times table. Children are taught to connect the times table to help them understand it better.

Collaboration

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As my elective I chose the Working Together module. I have really enjoyed this module so far and have noticed how it could be used in practice already. The term collaboration comes up a lot in the lectures and we were given as essay to write on the term.

I have always been intrigued to find out more about collaboration so I did some research. I found that collaboration is when a group of people work together to complete a task and there are two types of collaboration:

– Synchronous collaboration- people meet at the same time for example in a room together or on Skype

– Asynchronous collaboration- not everyone is available so work is discussed by uploading documents or discussions online (aiim, 2005).

I noticed from research that there are various theories on collaboration: Huxham and Vangen (2005) and Frost. Frost identifies four different ways of working together and has identified them in levels. The theory I found most interesting was Huxham and Vangen (2005) as I could really relate and see their ideas in practice. Huxham and Vangen (2005) developed a theory of collaborative practice. They developed a ‘trust building loop’ which aimed to get everyone that was involved in collaboration to trust each other in order to initiate the collaboration. However they also stated that trust can take a while to develop.

Since reading into collaboration I can see that it is everywhere. As part of this module we are split into peer learning groups and in these groups we collaborate. We share ideas and develop each others. Out of the two types of collaboration we use both as we meet everyone Monday to work on our essays and tasks that have to be completed. We also have a facebook chat where we communicate with each other regarding information needed for our essays. I feel that we collaborate effectively as we all work well together. Everyone has a say in the group and disputes are always resolved.

Sources used

aiim (2015) What is Collaboration? Available online at: http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Collaboration (Accessed: 29th November 2015).

Huxham, C. and Vangen, S. (2005) Managing to Collaborate: The Theory and Practice of Collaborative Advantage. London: Routledge.

Student Teacher Code?

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The Student Teacher Code was something that I was not aware of before. After reading this I believe that this code is extremely beneficial to student teachers as it establishes guidance for you as a student. The code also provides support and helps you as a student build a professional foundation which leads to a successful career as a teacher. It also contains information that student teachers need to be aware of before becoming a fully qualified teacher.

There was some content within the code that really caught my eye. I never realised that the GTC Scotland go into great depth to make sure you are fit to teach. I knew that a PVG check would be carried out but I was not aware that when you register with the GTC they look at the professional standards and principles. I strongly believe that this is a great thing for GTC to do as it makes sure that the teacher is fit to teach. The different parts of the code really help to define how you should work with others and pupils. You can see how the code links into the Code of Professionalism and Conduct as it mentions things that relate to how you should act as a professional.

 

Feedback

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As part of a tutor directed we were asked to give feedback on peers blogs. I found writing positive feedback easy as I was able to pick out the positive aspects in their work. When it came to writing constructive criticism I found this quite hard as I did not want to offend the person. I struggled with trying to put what I wanted to say in the best possible way that would not hurt the person’s feelings. However I managed to be constructive in the criticism as I believe I was positive and suggested how the improvement could be made.

By carrying out this task I feel that I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned more about my strengths and what is good in my blog but also what needs to be improved and how this could be improved. It has also allowed me to look at other students work and get ideas of different ways of writing. It has also given me ideas to start adding videos and pictures to my blogs.

The feedback I received on my blog was very helpful and highlighted improvements that could be made that I did not notice, for example breaking my sentences up so they are not as long. The feedback given was very positive and the improvements were written in a positive way that was not offending. Looking at the feedback made me read over my blog again. By reading over it again and with the improvements in my head I was able to understand what they meant and how it could be adapted.

This process of peer review has been extremely beneficial.

Active Learning

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Active learning is seen in many schools and in the curriculum. It is learning that challenges and engages children in their thinking using imaginary and real-life situations. Active learning is said to develop children’s skills, knowledge and opportunities. It also allows children to have a positive view on their learning. Active learning is about children being actively involved in their learning for example physically doing activities to help them learn.

Active learning is seen in the four capacities of the curriculum:

Successful learners- Active learning is seen as children use their imagination and creativity. Active learning also takes place when children have new experiences and learn from them.

Confident individuals- Active learning is seen when children succeed from doing activities and are satisfied after completing a task.

Responsible citizens- Active learning is seen here as children see the world in different ways and learn to share their ideas. Also active learning is seen when children learn to respect each other and themselves. Also as children learn to share this is seen as active learning.

Effective contributors- Active learning is seen when children play/communicate together, tackle problems and take part in thinking and talking.

How did your gender affect you when you were a child?

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As a child in primary school I never seen gender as affecting me or other children, I never seen the split between male and female. Now when I think back I can see it, I can see the split that was made in various ways. We were told to line up in to separate lines one for girls and one for boys. Girls always went first for lunch. When playing outside boys would play football and the girls would play horses. For sports day the races would be split into boys races and girl races. Boys would also get in more trouble than girls even if it was for the same thing. These things never affected me as a child however I feel that if we were mixed boys and girls for these then we would have the experience of mixing more with the boys and have the opportunity to develop friendships with them. Do not get me wrong there were opportunities for boys and girls to mix for example when put into your ability groups for maths and spelling. I do feel that that was not enough and we would have benefited from a more social aspect of boys and girls mixing for example the boys and girls going for lunch at the same time.