Monthly Archives: October 2015

Virtues of a Teacher

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Patience

Patience is a very good virtue for a teacher to have as they have to understand that not all children will manage to grasp something instantly. They are learning this for the first time and it needs to go through to their long term memory. Things that we find easy like the alphabet isn’t easy for them. They have just been thrown 26 letters and suddenly there is an order to them. Having patience allows you to take a deep breath and try again. You also have to have patience within the school with fellow teachers and parents. Just because you have asked for something doesn’t mean that they are going to do it straight away. Also not all parents understand the curriculum and what you are trying to teach their children. This means you have to have patience and let parents think about what you are doing and why.

Fairness

“I am strict, but fair” was my Primary 3 teacher’s favourite saying and it was true. Many people were scared of her but our class loved her. She was strict when she needed to be but was also fair in what she said. She didn’t make assumptions and was willing to listen to your side of the story. She was aware of us as individuals and treated us all fairly.

Respect

Teachers should be respected by children but, in return, teacher’s should respect children. They should be treated as individuals and listened too. If you do not respect the children then they are less likely to respect you back. Children will come into the classroom with completely different views and they should all be respected.

Honesty

Being honest helps you to set a good example to children. It helps a trust to develop between the children and the teacher as they feel that they value them by telling them the truth. It helps them feel secure and comfortable with the teacher

Kindness

It is important for teachers to be kind as they act as a role model for children. By being kind, it relaxes the atmosphere and creates a more relaxed environment for the children to learn in.

Enquiring Practitioner

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An enquiring practitioner is someone that engages in research to support their learning and also pupil’s learning. For me being an enquiring practitioner is a really important part of being a teacher as it allows you to expand on your knowledge and develop your practice. It also allows you to evaluate and reflect on your practice.

Being an enquiring practitioner also allows you to work collaboratively with others as you share your experiences and ideas. It also allows the research topic area to be looked at through different perspectives and then the ideas shared to the group; this expands your knowledge even further. There may be challenges when working with others as some practitioners may not want to share their ideas, conflict could occur and ineffective communication. If these challenges occur in your team this could hinder the work completed and you would not be getting the overall experience to share and communicate your ideas.

Being an enquiring practitioner creates an opportunity for you to stop and look at the different ways of working and teaching. By doing this it allows you to adapt the way you teach in order for your pupils to be more engaged in their learning and to get the best possible experiences. People who engage in research have a better understanding of their practice and ways that they could improve it. An enquiring practitioner becomes more aware of their pupils and the difficulties they may have and how they can help them.

I feel that being an enquiring practitioner is important to consider as a student teacher as it allows you to collaboratively work with others. It allows you to develop your knowledge and observe teachers taking lessons and carrying out lesson planning.

There are challenges that could occur as an enquiring practitioner for example some enquiries could simply be to prove the best practice or test the latest initiatives.

Overall being an enquiring practitioner is extremely important and it is definitely something I will be doing as a teacher.

Reflective Writing

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Ever since I started Intermediate 2 English in S3, I have enjoyed doing reflective writing. I feel that it is a great way to reflect on past experiences and the affect they had on you. It allows you to evaluate how the experience has changed you as a person and how it helped other people. I feel that some people find reflective writing difficult because you have to evaluate yourself and it is your own personal thoughts. This makes everyone’s reflective writing completely different.

During 6th year, I did PDA in Youth work. Our final assessment was a reflective portfolio on activities that we conducted. Many people found the reflective part difficult while I was naturally able to write the essays. Through the reflective essays, I was able to see clearly what worked and what I would have done different.

Therefore, I feel that reflective writing is a vital part of the learning process. Through reflective writing, you are able to see what went well and how to improve. Nothing is ever perfect, so there is always things you can do to make the activity better.

Working Co-operatively

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Benefits

I think working co-operatively means that people work together in order to reach the best decision. Benefits of this is they can share ideas. They can develop different skills from others and improve their knowledge. By working with others you can ensure that the best decision is reached by having people from different expertise available. It helps develop communication skills and helps build relationships with other members.

Challenges

Challenges of working co-operatively is that conflicts can arise. This can be due to barriers to communications such as different backgrounds and personalities. Due to these barriers meetings can become difficult to control and can lead to frustration and arguments. It can also lead to some people’s views not being heard. Another challenge is some people being more committed than others, this again can lead to disagreements. It can be difficult to arrange meetings so that everyone can turn up.

 

Social Media

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Personally, I feel that having a personal and professional presences as one on social media can be very beneficial when approached and handled correctly, if not it can be very dangerous. Having the mixed presence means that colleagues would be able to see the less professional side of you and get to know you better. It can also lead to common interests arising.  It can also help you learn more, as you might find a link that a fellow teacher has posted which is helpful for you. A link which you find can be shared to allow shared knowledge.

However, pictures from a night out can be seen by fellow colleagues and this may affect their views of you are a professional. I think you have to think carefully about pictures that go up of you and ask friends to remove any pictures that you think might affect other’s views of you as a professional.

I feel that social media can tie schools and families together. One of the schools I did placement with last year has a twitter account. On the twitter account, letters which are given to the children are posted on here to ensure that all parents are aware of what is going on. Events are also posted on the page. Any confusion can also be ironed out such as if it is come as you please day, etc.

However, there is always a risk. Some parents could comment something inappropriate about teachers or other children. The school would have no control over what is commented onto the page. Even if they deleted it as soon as they saw it, there is still a high chance that other parents have seen it.

I think as teachers we should have a good understanding of social media so that we are able to show children how to be safe online.