Category Archives: Professional Studies

Should schools promote Scottish tradition and culture?

Having been in different primary schools, I believe that although Scottish history is taught in primary school often Scottish tradition is not thoroughly explored. Scottish Culture lies at the centre of life in Scotland (Scottish Government, p.3). Scottish culture is very well known about and respected in other countries and is why Scotland is an extremely popular tourist destination (Scottish Government, p.3).

Whilst I was in Canada, I volunteered for a week in a local elementary school. I observed the strong sense of national pride. Every morning, the national anthem was played and the children were made to stand whilst it was played. The school also had the Canadian Flag flying prominently in its grounds. The children took great pride in their country and spoke very openly about being Canadian, even though Canada is a relatively new country and many of its occupants migrated just a few generations ago.

Many families in Scotland have lived here for generations and this in turn means that many children’s ancestors have been involved in historic battles. However, often this is not portrayed to children and they are unable to see how events of the past shape their lives today.

I believe that although children are often taught “O Flower of Scotland”, Scotland’s unofficial national anthem, they are not taught the meaning of the song. The songs explores the strength of Scots in the Wars of Independence (BBC News, 2015). Therefore, often children are unable to make a connection between the importance of the wars of independence and how different their lives would be now had the outcome been different. Instead they can recite the song off by heart but have no true understanding of the words that they sing.

It is important when teaching social studies that you start in the present and relate all learning to the lives of the individual child making it relevant to them. It is important to teach local geography and history and relate learning to culture and tradition which is still in place today.

There are examples of attempts to reintroduce the importance of Scottish culture and tradition to children today. Scottish Opera have announced that they are currently touring with the play “The Tale o’ Tam o’ Shanter” which is based on ‘Tam O’Shanter’, a traditional Scottish poem by Robert Burns. They aim to re-introduce the works of the famous poet to children in Scotland in a fun and productive way (Scottish Opera, 2016, p.1). They hope this will allow children to explore the Scottish culture, identity and language (Scottish Opera, 2016, p.1).

The Burns’ Supper is also often celebrated in schools to introduce Scottish traditions. Often children are made to memorise and recite poems with no understanding of what the poem means or what it is about. Instead online resources, such as the one created by Carol Magee (nd) expresses different ways in which teachers can teach children about Scottish culture and tradition in a way which allows children to explore and identify the changes in Scottish culture. This also allows teachers to integrate literacy within social studies as the children learn to analyse and interpret the poem.

References

BBC News (2015) Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-31927575 (accessed on 15/10/17).

Magee, C (nd) A Burns supper with Liz Lochhead Scottish Book Trust. Available at: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/files/liz_lochhead_resource.pdf (last accessed on 14/10/17).

Scottish Opera (2016) Scottish Opera’s Primary Schools Tour Explores Robert Burns’ Classic Available at: https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/media/1563/tale-o-tam-press-release.pdf (last accessed on 14/10/17).

My reflection on Feedback

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Personally, I feel that feedback is very beneficial. Feedback is given to improve you as a person and ensure that you can do the job to the best of your ability. I am a dancer and a horse rider and both these sports involve a lot of feedback. You should not feel embarrassed by negative feedback as it is only being given to make you better. Both in horse riding and dancing, I have had private lessons during which I was given a lot of feedback and criticism to take on board. I have learnt not to be offended by it as my teacher only wants me to be the best that I can. Also in group lessons and classes, we learnt to give feedback to each other to ensure that we were all kept safe and that our group could come out on top and win competitions.

The benefits of feedback is that it helps you grow as a group. It makes you feel that you can rely on others and that they will help you when needed. It also helps you to improve your skills and allows you to identify where more work is needed. Also sometimes, having another person’s perspective changes your view on something and allows you to develop a deeper understanding of the topic. However, a disadvantage of peer feedback is that it could be used incorrectly. Sometimes, people respond harshly when they originally didn’t intend to which can led to disagreements and frustration.

I have found that receiving postive feedback makes me feel more confident in my work. Any negative feedback I receive makes me even more determined to work harder to ensure that I do not make the same mistake again. I feel that when you are given feedback, it encourages you to work harder due to the confidence boost and also because you want to prove to the person that you have taken their views on board and have improved.

When given feedback, I find it easy to give positive feedback but I find it more difficult to express the negative feedback. I have learnt that if you word it in a certain way it comes across better. For example – maybe next time, you should think more about…

Feedback is something which is used throughout life and as a teacher it is important to give feedback to pupils and fellow teachers. As a student teacher, I will be receiving a lot of feedback from lectures and teachers on my placement and I understand that not all of it is going to be positive but I know that it will make me even more determined to succeed and try harder.

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.