Monthly Archives: January 2017

Reflective Practice

One of  the most important moments in semester one for me was preparing with my peer learning group for our collaborative practice enquiry visit. In preparing for the visit we had to create the questions and examples we would like the professionals to answer that would help us to create a final presentation that would fulfil the specified criteria. This was an important of semester one as it was critical that our group worked together to form the questions which would allow us to be successful in completing the module assessment. Had the group not worked collaboratively and understood the different perspective each of the 3 professions then it would have been very difficult to produce questions that would have covered all the aspects that needed to be cover. This was a key moment in my professional development as it showed me how essential it is to take into consideration the views of all three professions so that the best decisions can be made for a child or young person.

The process of reflection is becoming more prominent to me. Reflecting on the collaborative practice enquiry and the work we completed as a group is the reason why I have realised the importance of taking into consideration of all 3 of the professionals views so that the best decision is made for a child and their overall wellbeing. From this I have started to understand the importance of refection in order to understand the reasons for things I will come across in practice. Using the theories provided by theorist like Dewey and Schon, I will be able to come to a greater understanding of reflection and its importance within my practice in order to help me improve myself as a practitioner. Using this information to help me continuously improve is therefore going to help me become a more successful practitioner.

Expressive Dance

On Friday I took part in my first expressive dance workshop and I was really excited. I have danced since I was 8 and still attend dance classes at this current time. Dance has always been a big part of my life and I feel its something all children should do.

After the workshop we were directed to read a bit of Get Scotland Dancing: A Literature Review and I was quite surprised by some of the figures outlined in the text, especially those about the uptake of dance in Dundee as they were much lower than I expected. This made me realise that dance isn’t as widely thought of and used as much as it could be and it has really inspired me to incorporate as much expressive dance into my teaching as I can.

Having a good background in and passion for dance will really help me in the future when I carry out my own expressive dance lessons as I will have lots of previous knowledge to bring to the lesson. I also have a little experience in taking some dance class which too should help me when carrying out my lessons and hopefully give me some more confidence when delivering the dance curriculum. However I know I will be slightly apprehensive about the size of space available and where about in the school it will be because I have always danced in dance studios and I will worry that I am disturbing other classes. Also I worry that I have a class that do not enjoy dancing and feel I am over-enthusiastic about it.

To overcome my challenges I have set myself a personal development goal. I am going to find the balance between showing my passion and enthusiasm for dance and making sure I have a lesson the children will enjoy fully.

The Importance of the Early Years

Our health and wellbeing tdt for this week was to watch 2 videos that explained why the first 4 years in a child’s life are the most important. Both videos showed that human babies are actually born prematurely compared to all other mammals due the ever-growing size of their brain. For the babies this means that their brains are still developing when they entre the human world and are influenced by the environment around them. In both videos the speakers talked about the importance of the environment around a baby and this is because brains develop as consequence to relationship. An example given in both videos was about the effects of a child being brought up in a family in which there is domestic abuse. It could be seen that this causes the brain to look for threatening behaviour in all situations and causes very high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, to surround the brain.

Both videos emphasised the importance of children having a significant other during their early years. Children need consistency in other environments they are in, such as school, as they may have a hectic and inconsistent home life. Therefore, if they had consistency within nursery or school then the brains development will allow the child to have a more successful adulthood as they had a consistent environment in which a significant other showed them care and protection helping their brain to develop in a more positive way.

After watching both videos I am beginning to understand some of the importance of myself as a primary practitioner in a child’s development. These videos have shown me how important it is to have a consistent classroom in which the pupils can feel welcome and cared for, they feel encouraged and supported and most importantly it should be a place where they can be themselves and not have to worry about anything. Providing this environment should help with brain development, especially in the early stages, and help the children to reach their full potential.