Category Archives: 2 Prof. Knowledge & Understanding

Key Features of a Good Science Lesson

There are several elements which a good science lesson should consist of.

The first is that the teacher should have a strong understanding of what they are teaching. Even if they are not confident in delivering science, their lesson should be thoroughly researched so that when they deliver it to the children they seem confident. The reason for this is that if the teacher is not enthusiastic or confident about the science lesson the children may notice and may also feel the same about science.

Science lessons should include less copying notes. Lessons should include a range of opportunities for practical work such as experiments and outdoor learning. This is not only because it is more engaging but it is better for developing skills. Sitting taking notes is beneficial in some cases but in terms of developing transferable skills it is not the most appropriate approach. Experiments and enquiries often use a wide range of numeracy skills as pupils often gather, analyse and present data. The lesson should also involve the children being actively involved in the lesson which means they are taking part and asking questions, investigating for themselves. There should also be opportunity for collaborative working as this will help to develop team working skills as well as gaining many different opinions and ideas to help solve the problem they are faced with.

This however is still not enough to create a good science lesson. There has to be a conceptual understanding of what they are learning which means being able to use what they are learning. This comes with connecting the task to the wider world. It is about connecting to the scientific issues that are present in society so that the pupils understand the purpose of what they are doing. If they have an understanding of what they are doing and are developing skills while doing it they will have the necessary tools to understand the world they live in and if they wish, explore a science related career.

Maths Anxiety

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I do not hate maths however I would not say that I particularly enjoyed it. I view it as something that we just have to do in order to be able to do things in life. I do believe however that maths at primary school is enjoyable.

I always loved maths at primary school. I do not know if this is because my teacher made it fun or just because it was something that I found easy to do. In primary 6 and 7 I had the same teacher and I have I had a vivid memory of the ‘times table pyramid’. This was an ongoing task in our classroom. The way it worked was the numbers from 2 to 12 were positioned in a pyramid on the wall in the classroom, every pupil in the class had their name on individual cards which they were able to stick on. You would position your own card at the times table you knew up to but you had to know all the previous tables as well. Our on going task was to learn the table above the one we were on so that we could move up. If you believed you were ready, you had to stand up and say the times table as well as answering muddled up questions in the table. If you done this successfully you moved up. I remember reaching the 12 times table and being at the top of the pyramid, this filled me with a great confidence in my timetables and I continued to love to do them. My whole class enjoyed this task because there was a sense of challenge to keep climbing the pyramid and getting better which I believe encouraged people to try. This was when I loved maths.

High school for me was when maths became less fun and less enjoyable. It became the same all of the time which was learn a topic, do a test then move on. In 4th year when I was sitting my National 5 maths I had an amazing teacher who helped me a lot. I found it really hard but her methods of learning and her positive attitude that we were able to do it made me achieve the grade that I did. As much as I still did not enjoy maths at this time, I did it all of the time because I wanted to do well. Higher maths is when I really lost all enjoyment of maths as I do not believe I fully understood any of the work that we did. I passed the unit tests but I believe it was because I memorised the process that we followed in the examples to get the answer. There was not any real understanding as when we put the maths we had learned into problem solving questions I did not know what to do. As Haylock mentions it is not about systematically solving problems the same way, it is about finding various solutions to the same problem and understanding why it is that we use these. This is what I did not experience in higher maths.

In relation to maths anxiety, I do hear often young people and many adults say that they hate maths and they cannot do it. I do not think this is the correct way to view it as like we discussed in our inputs maths is required for every day life. I believe that while I do not hate it, I do need to view it in a more positive light as I want the pupils I am teaching to be excited to learn maths and enjoy it.

The Structure of a Drama Lesson

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The video discussing the best way to structure a drama lesson was extremely beneficial for me as I have not got a lot of experience in participating in or leading drama so therefore do not feel as confident in planning and teaching drama lessons as I do in other subjects. This video along with the first workshop has provided me with a range of ideas which would allow me to plan and teach a drama lesson knowing that it would meet the intended outcomes the curriculum suggests.

The video discussed how the first drama lesson should always begin with a class agreement which the pupils and the teacher agree on. This would be beneficial in terms of the pupils knowing and understanding the goals and expectations of the lesson. The video identified the three C’s; they suggested that if something goes wrong within the lesson that it would be because of a lack of one of three things: communication, co-operation and concentration. These are important to have in mind throughout the planning of the lesson as in order for children to concentrate for example; they have to be engaged which stems from what they are doing. After the agreement has been created it is important to warm-up before the main section of the lesson begins. Warm-ups should aim to get the mind and body ready for the lesson. They can take form in a variety of different ways: vocal warm-up, concentration, team working or active. Some warm ups can be a combination of many things for example; in our drama input we did a variety throughout the beginning of the session. We played a game called ‘Rubber Chicken’ which involved shaking our arms and legs individually in counts of 8, then 4, 2, then 1 and finally all together to create the ‘rubber chicken’. We all counted out loud and were encouraged to be relatively loud to warm our voices up and it was warming our body up as well. This was a combination of an active and vocal warm up. We also worked on the communication aspect of the three C’s discussed above as we also played ‘Line-up’ which is a game where you have to line up without talking in a specific order; examples are height, birthday month and hair colour. This requires the skills of non-verbal communication, team work and also problem solving. By taking part in the workshop and now having watched the video, the warm ups we participated exactly meet the theory of what a warm-up in a drama lesson should consist of as it meets what the video says.

The first task in the main part of the lesson in the video was that they were given an image to act as a stimulus which will be developed upon throughout the lesson. This is a still image which has no life but it is a great starting point for the lesson as it can be developed using a range of tools. The participants in the video stood in a circle and were asked to think about what came to mind when they thought of the image and when tapped on the shoulder had to express thoughts or feeling which came to their head. This links directly to the Curriculum for Excellence’s Experiences and Outcomes for drama as one of the outcomes for early to second level is “Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings”. This outcome is addressed in the experience of participating in this activity however it is not met simply during this one lesson but rather has been addressed. The same activity can be applied using a variety of different stimuli and performed in a variety of different ways which would develop this experience. An example from the workshop I participated in is that a piece of music was played and our tutor vocally gave us a scenario to imagine in our head. One by one we went into the middle creating a tableau. The tutor then tapped some people on the shoulder and they had to express a feeling or thought they had in that moment. This is similar to the activity in the video. This relates the drama convention of space as creating a tableau involves spacial awareness in order to communicate effectively with the audience.

The lesson in the video developed further as they asked the students to think about what they would hear in the situation they are in, they called this ‘sound scaping’. This was then performed out loud they all made the noises they imagined. The lesson then quickly developed into ‘body scaping’ which the video described as the students using a visual picture of the setting they are in and think about how they can use their bodies to create scenery in the visual. They then added both the body movements with the noises that they had thought of previously therefore creating a scene of what is going on. It was then made clear that the students should be given the opportunity to perform what they have created. This also facilitates part of the the learning outcome “I can respond to the experience of drama by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive feedback on my own and others work.” By performing to their peers they can receive positive feedback and also constructive feedback about what could have been better from their peers. By watching the rest of their peers performances they can also evaluate what they think about other people’s performances as well. When teaching drama I would give opportunity for the students to feedback on each others work. The end of the lesson should consist of an evaluation in reference to the directed video which gives the pupils a chance to further facilitate this outcome as it gives them a chance to reflect on what they thought they achieved and what they hope to achieve in the next lesson. It was also suggested that an evaluation is a great way to finish the lesson as it is calming before the pupils then return to the classroom.

One of the teachers in the video related the drama lesson to a literacy lesson by exploring how she could use the drama lesson to explore the fairy tales they were learning about in class. This can also relate to a history project for example if a P6 or 7 class were learning about World War II, the activity which we performed in our workshop would directly relate. This is because the scenario was children getting evacuated from the city where they lived during WWII. After the pupils learned about these events, this activity would be a great way of getting the pupils to visualise what occurred at that time and allow them to think about what it would feel like. This activity can be performed with many different topics to fit into the work pupils are doing in class.

The Importance of Relationships

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Doctor Suzanne Zeedyk and John Carnochan both discussed how important the first three years of a child’s life are. Prior to our health and well-being input and watching both of the assigned videos I was not aware of how much a child’s environment at this age can influence how their brain develops. It was made clear by both speakers the importance of the early years stages of learning. We heard them speak about various examples of how the environments we present to children influence the way that there brain works and therefore the way that children act or behave. One example which was touched on by both individuals was that if a child is being brought up in a stressful environment; one where there is maybe a great deal of conflict, their brain then adapts to help them cope with that particular environment. Doctor Zeedyk makes the interesting connection that if the child is having to worry about the stress of a threatening environment; they are not worrying and exploring the wider environment as they are too busy monitoring threat. John Carnochan expands on this by saying that if children are used to coping in threatening situations they may struggle to assess risk. This may affect them when they go into the school environment as they may close off and view various different aspects of the school a threat whether that is peers, teachers or anyone else. Young people who are experiencing a threatening environment; may see conflict as a way to approach situations as that is what they have had to cope with. This matters a great deal to myself as a future teacher as each day children may come into school having dealt with a variety of different things on that day as well as what they have experienced from their early years. As a teacher you have to take into consideration that what your class have experienced and the way they think and view things may vary greatly across the entire class. This will affect the way I manage and organise my classroom as well as the way I teach lessons depending on which children I am teaching. This is why it is important for me to get to know the children in my class so that a relationship can be developed where the young person trusts me.

Through all of this, the videos are trying to communicate the importance of relationships. John Carnochan makes the statement that we are all human and therefore have the ability to establish and maintain relationships. This shows the importance of human interaction and relationships as children grow up. Young people may be quiet and try isolate themselves; maybe due to a threatening environment or maybe because they just have a shy personality. Other children may be extremely keen to talk to other children and make friends. It is important that as they go through the early years stages that they learn negotiation; this will be done through learning to share toys. It is important children learn to communicate with one another and with other adults. These are essential at this young age to progress through their education as well as into adult life as we all have such a variety of relationships as we progress through life. As a practitioner; it is important to encourage children to talk and discuss tasks therefore throughout my lessons I will incorporate time for discussion. This will not only encourage communication but also help in their ability to problem solve as often talking to others allows solutions to be found.

In our health and well-being input something stood out to me as being important to be aware of. This was that children will make friendships in different ways throughout their primary school journey. Children in the early stages of school will make friends based on what they like and what they want to play with. It was then discussed that as children reach the age of seven they are usually established into same sex friendship groups. Lastly, as children start to go through the transition from P7 to high school they may then find different friendships groups as they meet new people. As a teacher it is important to be aware that as young people change and develop so will their relationships. The example used from the input was that when children reach the age of 6 or 7 friendship starts to mean something and they will have a loyalty to the people they have built up relationships with.

Dance – My Workshop Experience

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My workshop experience in my dance was extremely positive. I have taught dance for many years through being a dance leader at school and I have now moved onto teaching at the studio where I was a student. This means I feel confident in teaching dance; however the workshop introduced various different aspects of dance in the primary school and the experiences of dance that myself as a practitioner has to facilitate.

The lesson that we participated in was suitable for all; as it had such a range of choice in what moves or travelling phrases you were able to choose. This made it fun and engaging as we had to think about what we wanted to do as opposed to just copying a dance that someone created. This will allow young people to be creative in their thinking and have the opportunity to perform their own ideas. There were also opportunities to come up with various solutions which shows that there are multiple possibilities not just one. We were asked to work individually, in partners and in groups which allowed group working and communication with others. Travelling was the focus of this lesson but it was not done in a way that prevented expression of participants own ideas; for example often in my dance classes I have a travelling section within my class but I give the methods of travelling. This works in some of my classes however, it is important to give young people the opportunity to create travelling phrases and short phrases using their own ideas. The lesson was structured in a way that did not make participation uncomfortable as it was built up from everyone doing movements at the same time, to then doing it in big groups to finally presenting to the class in small groups. This facilitates the experience of performing, maybe on a small scale but this was all completed in one lesson, with a serious of lessons these skills could be built on and developed.

There are key ideas which I will take from this workshop into my placement. One idea is that it is a good idea to use videos to explore dance. They can be used to provoke thinking and understanding of different styles of dance. Videos can also be used as a stimulus for the young people to then go away and create a variation on what they have saw. Another idea that I would use during my professional practice placement is that I can do a whole lesson on one skill, a lesson that can be adapted to suit all stages of primary schools. The last key message I will take forward into practice is that dance can be done widely in the classroom and as part of a PE lesson. In the classroom; it can be taking part in videos online – for example; Just Dance videos where the young people and myself take part. Dance in the gym can take part in various forms in terms of building on skills and technique or creating a big class dance.