Today we started to learn about the ways in which we could teach algebra in the classroom, and I must admit, this was an area that had surprised me at first as I had not expected this to come up until at least secondary school as it had for me. However, the methods we were being taught gave me a fresh insight into how maths has developed in primary schools since i left it 8 years ago and how it continues to branch out at a younger age, showing the progress made. In the workshop, we also did symmetry which I must admit was never a strong point of my own when I was growing up and is an area that I still struggle with to some extent today. However I plan to go away and research the topic so I can have a better understanding of what it is that I will be going out and teaching, as it remains a key area in the curriculum today.
Month: January 2017
Digital technologies week beginning 23/1/17
Today we began to see how the use of basic programming through the use of bee bot allows for us to not only teach basic areas in the curriculum for excellence for technology, but also allows for us to combine it with other important areas of the curriculum such as maths and literacy so that the learning process is not only being taught in two separate areas, but also in a fun and interactive way that has children working with another to be creative. I hope to continue to plan on how to use bee bot and other basic programming areas in order to make my lessons more fun and interactive but also get across the important teaching points at the same time. This is shown in TCH-0-09a as it says that in the learning outcomes pupils should be able developing problem-solving strategies and navigation skills as they learn to play with the programmable toys that they are being provided. Also, toys have a very large influence in young children growing up, and according to Bethany Koby “It shapes and moulds some of the most important early years of people’s lives through education, play and new experiences…toys should be able to prepare and empower kids, they should help to shape their futures”. Although it must be said that we must not take away from the importance that other toys have in a kids life (such as a toy mobile phone) as these can help build social skills from an early age.
French week one 9/1/17
Today we started a new topic in French which was to do with new topic about professions and the many different types of professions, and it allowed me to reflect upon how far we had come as a class. This was due to the fact that we had started at the beginning of the year and how quickly we have managed to progress through the course as the weeks have went on.
Society and Lifestyles week one 9/1/17
Today was started our new module which is all about how society and lifestyles and how we view its impact. This allowed me to reflect upon how we view religion in society and how it can be viewed as both as a good thing and a negative thing, as it depends on how it affects us in our everyday lives. I felt that i could research the theorists views further as I was not as clear upon their aspect of the lecture as i was on the other areas of it. I will continue to read further into the theories and try and interpret them to gain a better understanding of what it is that I am being asked.
Digital technologies Week one 9/1/17
We began the new module Digital Technologies earlier today, and started off by asking what did the term really represent. This allowed me to reflect upon the many different forms that we use not only around a classroom when teaching, but in everyday aspects of life and how we take most of them for granted. In the first half of the lesson we began to establish the reflective glow blogs which I feel are an effective way to allow us to communicate how we feel about the progress we are making as we continue to work through the weeks. It is also important to comment on the fact that literacy is not all about deciphering the lines and scribbles that we can make on a page, but rather about the social acts of meaning, where meanings and practices vary extremely depending on the circumstances in which they take place (Barton and Hamilton 1998, Local literacies: reading and writing in one community). In the second half of the lesson we moved on to practicing using the active inspire. This was a good way for me to think about how it was used when i was in primary school’s not only as a child, but as a volunteer and on my own placement, and how I can use this to plan for future lessons that I will be participating in. It also allows us to think about how we can move away from older ideologies and focus more upon the idea that technology can be used as a different form of teaching the same lesson, rather than it being a visual aid for a child’s learning.
