Monthly Archives: January 2019

Importance of relationships at the early stages on life.

Relationships are key for children at a young age. I watched a video by Suzanne Zeedyk and John Carnocha on the development of the brain in the early stages of a child’s life. This video made me as a practitioner realise how important it is to promote, in my classroom, positive relationships between everyone.

The video was all about the way in which the brain development can be affected by the way in which the child has been brought up. For example if the child has been brought up in an unsafe or hectic environment then this could affect their development due to them stressing about other things at home. Whereas if a child has been brought up in a safe and calming environment they are more likely to be focused and worrying about other things. Also taking these factors into consideration it also affects their communications skills. The child who is in the hectic environment might see such things as domestic abuse and may be frightened to communicate due to being scared of what they have seen. However the child in the calming environment will be less stressed and will be more than confident to communicate with others. The living environment has a massive impact in many ways on how well the child is able to develop and this video highlights this majorly.

For me,  all children go through many things out with school and this may be the reason as to why some children may not be developing as quickly as others. My role as a future primary teacher is to make sure the classroom is a safe, well nurtured and happy place for every child to be in. I will promote positive relationships within the class so that every child feels welcome and involved at school which they might not feel these things at home. These positive and trustworthy relationship will be promoted around the school so that all children are feeling this way.

Mathematics workshop

Today I attended my first mathematics workshop. If I am honest I was quite nervous for this workshop due to my maths not being very good. I feel I lack confidence within this subject as when I was at school I enjoyed maths and didn’t mind going to the classes however now that I have been out of school for a couple of years I feel my maths skills and confidence have weakened majorly. I always had the opinion that I couldn’t do it and always had a negative image of it as so many peoples perception is that they ‘hate’ maths.

Today at the workshop it was all about why we teach maths and the perceptions that everyone has of maths. These perceptions were made a long time ago and have not changed for our generation and this is why the subject has such a negative image. I feel after this workshop I felt a little better about the subject as it was not an intense workshop where you were fired questions and you had to answer. Tara allowed us to discuss the answer and then feedback to the class. It has made me more confident about the subject and my perception on maths has changed as I don’t feel nervous anymore when I have a maths workshop.

This workshop also made me come to a realisation that it is also all about your attitude towards the subject that will be of great benefit to teaching a class. Having a positive attitude towards the subject brings out the best in the children as if they can see you are enthusiastic about the subject they will usually try their best within a lesson.

 

Reflection, why is it important to reflect?

Reflection is one of the most important ways in developing as a future primary school teacher. Reflecting on my work makes me aware of my own strengths and weaknesses. Highlighting your weaknesses allows you to react quickly and improve and progress as a practitioner.

Within the first semester at university, when completely tasks or being involved within discussions I came to the realisation that I had very low confidence. I did not have the confidence in myself to speak out within workshops or lectures or even have the confidence to complete work as I did not think it was good enough. As the semester went on I didn’t gain full confidence but I realised that everyone is different and everyone learns in different ways. If I didn’t speak up then I wasn’t engaging with everyone in my group and this held me back as I wasn’t learning from my peers and my peers didn’t get my view point.

Now I look back on this and I am so glad that I reflected on my confidence when I did because now I am a much more confident person and will now speak out in front of larger groups of people. I have gained the confidence to ask questions to my peers and lecturers if I don’t understand something as no question is a silly question. Reflection within the teaching profession is key for instances like this when it may be one of your weaknesses but reflecting back on it you can make it into a strength by working on it. Within this profession you will have to do a lot of reflection as you will be progressing and learning throughout the whole time of being a teacher, there may be some things you struggling more with but its all about improving.

Dance Workshop

My first input within the module Teaching Across the Curriculum was a dance workshop. The workshop opened my eyes to realise that it not only is an aspect which keeps the children active it also allows them to develop many other aspects of their learning. It allows the children to have fun whilst developing themselves.

Dance as an area within the curriculum is a very important aspect as I realised more after the workshop. Dance can increase the child’s confidence majorly. I feel dance brings out a creative side in everyone and allows the children to be open minded and express themselves. It allows the children to come up with new creative ideas to show everyone. By showing their new ideas to their classmates this allows the children to gain the confidence to stand in front of people and perform. Due to the children being able to be themselves they see this as an opportunity to have fun and its a new exciting way to learn instead of being in the classroom.

I am a dancer myself and the workshop made me realise its not all about making a routine or learning a routine. Dance can be so much more and can actually relate to many areas of the curriculum if you plan the lesson correctly and effectively. For example Numeracy is incorporated within dance as you are always counting to the music. An example which was given at the workshop was R.M.E incorporated into dance, learning about religion on the move. Drama could be incorporated by using movement instead of language to be dramatic. I feel dance can be taught in many ways and can develop many aspects of the curriculum.

Dance also is a very social aspect. It allows the children to get to know each other by working together. This was proven at the workshop when I met more people on my course that I had not spoke to before.  Meeting new people will bring out different characteristics from everyone. It will develop each child’s confidence by seeing all the different characteristics within the group. For example if one child is more confident at performing in front of people than another child, the child can encourage the other child to not be scared to perform and this will be developing the child to be able to do this in the future.

The workshop for me was the perfect insight to see how dance can be taught in many different ways and can meet the curriculum in many other aspects too. I look forward to putting this knowledge into practice when out on placement.