Category Archives: 1 Prof. Values & Personal Commitment

Dealing with Maths Anxiety

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Throughout my time in primary and secondary education my opinion of maths changed frequently. This depended on the topic, the teacher, the homework and exams. I feel like many people have gone through the same mindset as me. Having a secondary teacher as a mother resulted in maths being drilled into my brain from the start of secondary school. My mother sat for hours each week helping me improve my maths. At the time this completely put me off of maths as I was getting bored with the repetitive nature of the subject. Looking back on it now I could not be more grateful for the time my mother spent with me as it worked. Although maths didn’t immediately come naturally to me by spending time on it my capability in the subject improved significantly as reflected in my standard grade and higher results.

Maths anxiety is something that is very prevalent in education today. At the beginning of my education maths did create some sort of anxiety for me and continued to at some points of my further education. However by doing my best to improve and consolidate on this topic my maths anxiety was eradicated. I can’t say I’m an expert in maths but I can truthfully say I began to enjoy it. By revising hard and successfully attaining a high grade in my higher maths this has given me a positive attitude towards the subject.

I think that as a teacher it is incredibly important to show a positive attitude towards the subject and treat it with equal importance compared to other subjects. If teachers show a lack of interest in a subject area this could influence the children into adopting the same view.  Furthermore teachers must do their best to make maths interesting. Many hold the view that maths is not a practical subject but that is simply a myth. There are many activities that teachers can prepare which make maths interactive and fun.

Maths should not be something that teachers or pupils should feel anxious about. Everyone has different capabilities within the subject which is the same with any subject. Our job as teachers is to accommodate every individuals needs and also work hard to ensure we are confident within the subject area. Furthermore it is vital that we show enthusiasm and try our best to make our maths lessons interactive and fun in order to eradicate maths anxiety.

 

 

Improving our ePortfolios

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Today’s tdt gave us all the chance to spend some time reading through our peers posts and reflecting on our own. From this I have become motivated to keep my own blog up to date and not only engage with the tdt tasks but write posts on other areas that may interest me.

Scrolling down my blog I have realised that at the beginning I was consistently writing blog posts but as the semester came to an end my focus shifted onto assignments and the VIVA. I think it is incredibly important to create a happy medium. We must engage with the ePortfolios on a regular basis but putting our full attention solely on them is not the best idea.

I have always been interested in looking at other people’s blog posts for a number of reasons. Reading other people’s posts can often spur on ideas and can result in improving our own writing. We can learn a lot by comparing our writing with others. Everyone takes on a blog post in different ways and by reading one another’s we can pick up on this and develop hints and tips which we can put to practice.

One of the many things I picked up on today was that many of my peers include pictures, links and references to further reading within their blogs which is something I want to adopt. By doing this I hope it will make my blog user friendly and attract more attention.

Today has also motivated me to become more involved with my peers posts and comment on the blogs I read. I have realised that the number of blogs I’ve read does not match up with the number of times I’ve left comments which is something I want to change. One of the main purposes edushare provides is enabling us to interact with one another’s posts. I firmly believe that if we do not follow this through we will be missing out no an opportunity to enhance our practice.

Feedback

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In my opinion feedback is an incredibly beneficial tool that if used well can work to everyone’s advantage. It is a two-way street which benefits both the receiver and the giver. Feedback is not only used in the classroom but it is used in day to day life.

We must all use feedback effectively!

I personally enjoyed giving and receiving feedback on the enquiring practitioner tutor directed task. I was able to learn where my strengths were within my post and also discover what I could alter to improve it. Along with this, reading others posts led to me gaining a deeper understanding on the topic area which has been very beneficial.

I am not an expert on giving feedback so initially I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to be useful to every writer and not only highlight areas of their post that were strong but also illuminate areas that could be developed. Feedback is only useful when it is honest. I did find it hard to tell people how they could improve their writing as lots of the posts I read were well-written. When this was the case I suggested other points the writer could bring up which also made me think about how to improve my own.

Throughout university we will all be given feedback in order to improve. This feedback will continue through our placement as we will learn how to improve our teaching styles and how to deal with situations in the correct way.

Feedback is essential within the teaching profession. We will need to provide not only positive but also constructive feedback to our pupils so they can develop their learning. Although it is important to give your thoughts on weaker areas of pupils work, we must also remember to give them praise where it is due as this will in turn build their self-esteem. This will then motivate pupils to do even better in their next piece of work as well as push them to achieve other set goals.

To conclude I believe that feedback is essential both as a student and qualified teacher.

What is professionalism?

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The video ‘Professionalism (teachers say)’ on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ychgs3rrdA discusses different views on the professionalism of teachers. The documentary gives us an insight into the views of several teachers on what it means to be a professional. Although they don’t go into great detail on the subject matter I do agree with what they have to say. 

Miss Catherine Long begins the video by discussing how there is a need for a greater focus on the professionalism of teachers and how they are represented in today’s world. She later goes onto talk about the current demand for benchmarking how well students are doing which I do agree with. However as parents are becoming more knowledgeable on the current education system and how classrooms are run there is an increasing pressure on teachers to provide the best learning environment for every individual pupil. I think this highlights that parents today are becoming more involved in their child’s learning which in a way is a good thing but this does add pressure on teachers. There has been cases where parents are quick to blame the teacher if their child is not doing as well as they expected in a specific area of the curriculum. This scenario illuminates the need for teachers to act in a professional manner to deal with the situation correctly.

Mrs Nursen Chemmi is the next teacher featured in this video. She raises the view that teachers are role models which I could not agree with more. Being a role model for pupils to me is a crucial part of professionalism. Children are easily influenced especially at the primary school age and as a teacher we are one of the main adults in their life so we should be setting a good example from the beginning. By acting professionally and displaying good morals we are automatically setting an example to pupils which they will hopefully adopt. In acting in this manner we are teaching children how to become well-rounded, responsible citizens which is a very important part of professionalism.

Mrs Colleen Walsh begins to talk about the changes that she has seen in education over the past 30 years. She underlines the point that it is vital we do not judge children because of their upbringing or the area in which they live in. We have to understand as a professional that children come from a range of different areas with differing family incomes, morals and opportunities. As a professional our job is to give all of these children an equal chance at learning and support them in every way possible.

This video on professionalism has certainly made me think about what it is to be a professional. I think each teacher takes a different outlook on professionalism but it is clear that they collectively share the same view in that they all want to do their best for their pupils which I think is a key part of professionalism.

 

Private vs Professional

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There is no denying that in this day and age the majority of people have access to social media. However social media’s uses differ depending on your stage in life; for a teenager social media is a method of keeping in touch with friends and for acquiring an array of information. For an adult, it is much the same except from the raised level of maturity during use. For a teacher I feel that this level of maturity is once again higher as we need to adhere to the GTCS Code of Professionalism and Conduct.

In the way of professionalism social media such as Facebook offers teachers the ability to remain in contact with colleagues at all times and hence share professional opinions and advice on a range of topics. Methods of teaching and help with resources may also be discussed confidentially through this tool. From personal experience the use of closed groups on Facebook such as the group I am a member of ‘Staffroom – resources and websites’ stand as proof that social media can be beneficial in a professional educational environment.

However on the other hand social media does not go without it’s faults. As teachers the risk of breaking the GTCS Codes of Professionalism and Conduct is always prominent and therefore we  are required to take sufficient measures to avoid this from happening. I personally think there should be very little crossover between private and professional uses of social media. Teachers face many challenges when having social media accounts in the 21st century as it does not require a great deal of effort to search the name of an individual. This highlights the importance of managing privacy account settings and using them to their full potential so that their private life is kept fully confidential. By doing this the risk of merging your professional and social life is lowered significantly.

Overall social media is a great tool in a professional environment when used appropriately furthermore it is also useful when used privately to deal in personal affairs. However allowing your private life to interfere with your profession is not acceptable which is why there are means of keeping the two separate. By doing this we allow both to coexist and meet the GTCS Code of Professionalism and Conduct.