Category Archives: 3.1 Teaching & Learning

Improving through our peers

1 Reply

I have always enjoyed using other people’s work to improve and influence my own. Not only can we learn lots from our peers but we also learn lots about ourselves by comparing writing and learning styles. I am really glad that today we were encouraged to view other’s blogs, read and comment on posts that we particularly enjoyed. I found myself learning and reading things which I had perhaps not even thought about before and feel that I have learned lots of new tips and ways to improve my writing.

I was really interested by one blog in particular which used a game to simulate and create a classroom layout. I had never thought of using so much imagination in relation to my own blog! I also found that referencing throughout a post allows others to see exactly where you got your information from but also gives you the opportunity to easily revisit sites and books which influenced your post. This is definitely something which I plan on doing in future posts.

Some bloggers posted things which weren’t necessarily related to teaching but managed to link their understanding of the original concept and related it to their teaching practice very well. I feel like this is something I could begin to do. I often notice videos or newspaper articles about children or interesting topics but don’t blog them as they don’t relate to what we have been asked to post. Through my peers I have learned that there is no limit to blogging and although something may first seem irrelevant links to education often begin to arise. I hope to continue to post TDTs and now to also post anything interesting I discover and give my opinion on matters. I will definitely be revisiting other sites as I feel that I learned so much in the past hour!

What it means to be an enquiring practitioner

2 Replies

An enquiring practitioner conducts research to find out valuable information. The practitioner then shares this information with colleagues. Working together is vital to being an effective practitioner however group work can pose may challenges. Ineffective communication can be a major problem when working in partnership and could cause breakdowns in relationship and misunderstandings. Conflict between team members hinders the amount of work completed and lowers the group moral. It could also isolate members and cause them to show a lack of focus and non-contribution.

There are many benefits associated with group work. Working in groups can raise an individual’s confidence. It also creates opportunities to share and develop ideas, allowing individuals to gain knowledge from their peers. Increased efficiency is also associated with successful group work, tasks and workloads can be shared and any problems can be discussed and solved quickly.

I believe that being an enquiring practitioner is important to consider as a student teacher. Acting as an enquiring practitioner allows student teachers to effectively work with colleagues to plan and develop lessons. Group discussions also highlight areas of improvement, and as a student teacher it is important to recognise weaknesses and learn how to improve on these areas. Working with colleagues in the school environment can also give you the opportunity to observe how other teachers take lessons and perhaps you can use their techniques and incorporate them into your own lessons. Being able to research issues and share your findings is valuable as it creates the ability to learn new ideas, new solutions and ways to enforce your findings. Practitioner enquiry gives teachers confidence to challenge and improve the curriculum. Donaldson states:

“…if we are to achieve the aspiration of teachers being leaders of educational improvement, they need to develop expertise in using research, inquiry and reflection as part of their daily skill set.’”(Donaldson, 2011:4)

In conclusion being an enquiring practitioner can develop our teaching skills and professional attributes. It is important as a student teacher to research and then reflect on research. Student’s can gain confidence and knowledge from working with qualified teachers and should value their opinions as professionals. Working with others helps us improve a number of skills including our teaching technique.

RSA Animate

Leave a reply

I found this video extremely interesting and took several notes whilst watching. I am in total shock at how fast the rate of ADHD is rising and how highly medicated children are becoming, I also find it shocking that as standardised testing increase, the amount of children with ADHD increases. Although this may not be a convincing argument to get rid of testing, I believe that maybe we should begin to take the effect of testing more seriously. This video raises many concerns about how we teach children in the twenty-first century. It discusses the view that we teach children in batches, and perhaps this is not the correct way. Children have different needs and different mentalities, it is important to consider this when planning a lesson. The fact that divergent thinking decreases with age is also very eye-opening. I feel that this is because children are taught what is right and wrong and that for subjects like Maths and Science there can only be one answer. This could potentially narrow a child’s imagination.

In reflection, this video implies that our educational system is not keeping up with the ever growing demands of our children. The system does not change with time and children are suffering. Many children are at a disadvantage through age streaming as they are not as mentally developed as others their age. We need to escape from categorising people due to their ability to pass tests. Instead of basing education on the image of industrialisation, why can’t we base it on the needs of the public?