Category Archives: My educational philosophy

Professionalism

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U58EFAwnKpw

What makes a teacher who makes a difference?

I think a teacher that makes a difference is someone who will go above and beyond for their pupils. The teachers in this video are teachers that make a difference as they take it upon themselves to better their teaching styles so that they are the best teachers that they can be. They do this all in their own time as well as hold groups so that they can discuss  different teaching styles. This means that everyone receives the best education that they could because of these amazing teachers. If these teachers had not taken this time, then their pupils would not be getting the best education they could which could harm what they go on to do in the future.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ychgs3rrdA&feature=related

Do you agree with what these teachers call professionalism?

I agree with every point that these teachers make about professionalism. Professionalism is the way you talk and your attitude towards the pupils. It is also about how the pupils see you and how approachable they find you. Pupils should find their teacher to be someone they can go to with they have any problems as well as someone they can look up to. There are also different levels of professionalism. You do not use the same level of professionalism with the pupils as you would with the parents. Communication is also extremely important skill for teachers to have which is mentioned in this video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDf2oLt96O8&feature=related

What is the message here?

The message in this video is who values teachers as professionals? There are two very different talkers in this video.

The first is Chris Christie and he talk about how teachers should be highly valued and should be carried up high within society. He also talks about how teachers should be given what they deserve in pay as they carry our children through the educational system.

The second talker in this video is Karen Lewis. She talks about teachers being “education workers”. I think this view is a very negative view towards teachers and she makes teaching look like it is not that important a career. I think this is funny as Karen is a teacher herself so this shows how she has a negative view of her own profession

Overall, this video shows how different people look upon teaching as a profession. It shows how Chris who is obviously not a teacher thinks teachers should be valued highly within society, and Karen who is a teacher but sees her profession in a negative light and she does not think she is a professional.

How does gender affect childhood?

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I do not remember gender affecting me as a child. I was and still am quite a girly girl and had lots of dolls and Barbie’s. However, I would not say that I was pushed towards certain gender areas with toys or clothing. I played football and other sports with the boys in my neighbourhood and I had a little cabin in the garden that my dad built for me.
My primary school did not have anything that the boys did, but that girls didn’t. We all played sports together in P.E. and had mixed teams for sports day. I thought this was normal but when speaking about this topic with my peers and friends I discovered that every school was different. I was extremely surprised to discover that different primary schools, even ones in the same city as me, were separated for P.E. and sports day. In these sports days they would have ‘boy’s races’ and ‘girl’s races’. I also found out that not only were they separated by gender but they were also separated by age for these races. At my primary school we had mixed sex teams with a couple of people from each primary year.
The difference between all of these primary schools has really surprised me and shown me that whilst I maybe did not have a gender divide at all in my childhood, quite a lot of people did.

You want to be a teacher?! Why?

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I cannot really pinpoint the moment when I wanted to become a teacher. I had amazing teachers in primary and secondary school that supported me and showed me how much a teacher can help a pupil outwith their usual teaching. This inspired me to want to help, teach and support children the way they had helped me.

I have always enjoyed teaching in a way. Before my little brother went to school, I use to sit with him and work through children’s workbooks filled with maths and writing exercises. When he started school I continued these workbooks with him for as long as he would let me. After this I would coerce him and his friends into playing school based games where I was the teacher and they were the pupils. In these games I always made up lesson plans and exercise sheets for them to complete. After these two events I always enjoyed helping and “teaching” anybody that I could. Even in school I would try and help my peers if they did not understand what we were doing.

I realised teaching was what I wanted to do when I went to a primary school for a placement. I loved every single day, from teaching the basic alphabet to the P1’s to taking P4 reading groups and teaching the P7’s fractions. The way the children listen to you and take in the knowledge that you are passing on to them is one of the main reasons I enjoy teaching.

Currently, I do not know what kind of teacher I want to be. I have worked with lots of different teachers throughout my placements and they have all been very different kinds of teachers with differing  teaching styles. I would like to be the kind of teacher that takes on some of these aspects. I think I will discover what kind of teacher I want to be once I start my placements. I will  develop my own style of teaching and see which way that I teach and what works best for me.