March 18, 2017
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Comments Off on What a Week!
I can’t believe that’s my first week of placement over already! What a brilliant week it has been! Here are some of the experiences that I have been involved in: Kodaly During the Kodaly sessions, I saw p1 children learning about the foundation elements of music, including rhythm, pitch, and tempo. This learning happens in … Continue reading What a Week! → Continue reading
March 17, 2017
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Comments Off on Reflecting on my first week…
My first week at Tracy Locke has been an absolute whirlwind of new knowledge and meeting so many new people who have made me feel extremely welcome. This has made working in an unfamiliar setting a lot easier. I have taken part in so many things that have been extremely beneficial in contributing to my […] Continue reading
March 14, 2017
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Comments Off on So Much Jargon!
(Written on 13/3/17) Placement officially started today, but because I arrived in Texas on Wednesday I was able to have a soft start kind of day on Friday. (Thursday was a recovery day but I still don’t think I’m over the jet lag yet!) On Friday I got to meet everyone on the team I […] Continue reading
March 13, 2017
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Comments Off on Day 1 at Somerset
Okay. So. Somerset is AMAZING! Arriving at the school this morning was incredible. The campus is so big there are separate gates for pre-prep, junior and high school. I am still overwhelmed at the size of this school and the amount of staff they have for everything. They even have a snake catcher! The beginning […] Continue reading
March 12, 2017
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Comments Off on Placement Jitters
Current mode: panic! No, not really. However, I am feeling very nervous about placement which begins TOMORROW. I say placement but is, in fact, a “prac”. I arrived in Australia Friday just passed and about to undertake a placement in Somerset College, an International Baccalaureate world school in Queensland! As well as all of the […] Continue reading
March 8, 2017
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Comments Off on The Beginning of Learning from Life
As I write this post I am currently sitting in Edinburgh airport waiting for my first flight to Heathrow before connecting onto a flight to Dallas, Texas to undertake my Learning from Life Placement. I have chosen to work with Tracy Locke. They’re a marketing and advertising company whose head offices are located in Dallas. […] Continue reading
March 7, 2017
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Comments Off on Pedagoo Perth
My aim throughout my time as a student is to continue developing my professional practice so that when I graduate then I will already be in the habit. From day one, the University of Dundee have encouraged our use of twitter, twitter chats and blogs to effectively share our experience with others. I can safely […] Continue reading
March 4, 2017
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Comments Off on Pedagoo Perth
Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend PedagooPerth – an event where teachers and education professionals from around the area come together and take part in learning conversations. I joined in with 3 conversations: The wonderful world of lego – how lego can be used to develop a range of skills in primary children. … Continue reading Pedagoo Perth → Continue reading
January 29, 2017
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Comments Off on Maths is Magnificent!
I love mathematics. This is not usually the first line that you read when someone is writing about their feelings towards mathematics. Most are negative, sometimes extreme in their descriptions of dislike. How is it possible that I enjoy and appreciate the flexibility and depth of mathematics as a subject, while others block themselves to […] Continue reading
January 28, 2017
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Comments Off on SMART Targets for Science.
As part of our Science input, we were asked to consider the future and our SMART targets for our development: SPECIFIC, MEASUREABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT, TIME BOUND. I have to be willing to commit to constantly improve my subject knowledge of science. I plan to do this by researching all the main documents for science and […] Continue reading
January 25, 2017
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Comments Off on The Scary Side of Social Media
Over the past weekend, my friends and I watched an interesting film that sparked a critical thought process within me. The film ‘Unfriended’ sees a group of teenage friends get caught up in a horror and revenge plotline over a group Skype call. Although, the film itself was somewhat convoluted and cliché, its premise was […] Continue reading
January 25, 2017
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Comments Off on Why do we need Maths?
I always enjoyed Maths at school, from learning to count in P1 right up to sitting my advanced higher last year. I always liked the continuity of maths, the knowing that those foundations of numbers that I had learnt all those years ago would still be relevant and essential when attempting the most complex of […] Continue reading
January 21, 2017
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Comments Off on Professional Reflection
Trying to reflect back on the whole and individual parts of semester 1 is incredibly hard. September brought about change for me, I became a university student, and moved away from home, into a flat with 12 complete strangers, and began the course that I have always dreamed of doing. However, starting university came with challenges, […] Continue reading
January 21, 2017
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Comments Off on Professional Development in Semester 1
As a student teacher, we are constantly asked to reflect on what has happened so far so we can learn from the past and develop into qualified teachers. I have been asked to reflect on my professional development during semester 1 and one moment stood out for me. During semester 1, we were required to […] Continue reading
January 20, 2017
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Comments Off on An important moment for me in Semester 1
As part of my continual development and professional reflection, I have been asked to choose one particular moment of semester 1 that was important to me as a professional and what I learned from the experience. I have chosen the experience of visiting a school in Dundee for the working together module. The module visits didn’t just involve schools, […] Continue reading
January 20, 2017
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Comments Off on The Importance of Relationships
As practitioners, it is vital for us to always look wider than within a classroom environment. For us to fully comprehend why children behave and respond the way they do, we must firstly understand what triggers their behaviour (which can often stem from their home life and mental development.) Through watching Suzanne Zeedyk and John […] Continue reading
January 20, 2017
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Comments Off on Reflecting on semester 1
Being the first year to complete the ‘Values; self, society and the professions’ module I feel I have been put in a strong position to undertake my first professional placement in April. Previous to this I feel I was very naïve to the impact values had on education. Values are at the heart of every decision […] Continue reading
January 20, 2017
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Comments Off on Reflecting on Semester 1
After receiving my grades and feedback for my first two modules at university, I am able to reflect on my work for last semester and pick out areas for improvement. Overall, I enjoyed the Values and Working Together modules and found that they both made me question the way in which I conduct myself as […] Continue reading
January 17, 2017
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Comments Off on Importance of the first 3 years of child’s life.
After watching videos from John Carnochan and Suzanne Zeedyk explaining the importance of children’s development and more specifically the importance of the first 3-4 years of a child’s life. One of the main reasons for this is due to the fact, children are born earlier than most other species and animals. This is because if […] Continue reading
January 15, 2017
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Comments Off on Dance… love it or hate it?
Friday mornings dance workshop gave me a whole new perspective on the subject I once did anything to avoid. I have no previous experience of dance and always thought it was not for me. This, combined with the fear of making a fool of myself left me ‘hating it’ throughout my childhood. However, after Friday’s workshop […] Continue reading
