April 20, 2017
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Comments Off on Religious Instruction
Moulsford, as with many other schools across England prides itself in being a Church of England school. This means that during assembly the boys are expected to pray, sing religious hymns and uphold christian values. I have myself observed this in practice and remember prayers and assembly singing, well from my own school days in […] Continue reading
April 20, 2017
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Comments Off on Inset Day – Purple Pens and Labelling Lads
Yesterday’s inset day was a lovely relaxing first day back for the teachers before the madness of the children arriving! Moulsford had booked a local teacher to talk to us from a private school in Oxford who are changing their curriculum, like Moulsford, to a more skills based curriculum. As he started I already liked […] Continue reading
April 18, 2017
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Comments Off on Week 2 – Reflection
Each week on this placement, I must right a short reflection on my time at Moulsford and link it to the GTCS Scottish Standards for Provisional Registration. It was the last week of the Spring term before they boys go off on their Easter break and there was a lot of random days and lessons […] Continue reading
April 17, 2017
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Comments Off on Bringing Scotland to Dallas
It’s Monday again… but it’s my last Monday with Tracy Locke! I seriously cannot believe I only have a matter of days left here. Today I did a presentation about my life in Scotland which it seemed like everyone really enjoyed! It was so good to be able to tell them about my life in […] Continue reading
March 27, 2017
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Comments Off on Back to Work!
This weekend I went down to Austin, TX with my Uncle Hugh and Auntie Mary to celebrate their friends’ son’s first birthday. Austin is 217 miles away and it took us 3 and a half hours to get there and a little longer to get back. I’d heard the saying “100 years is not long […] Continue reading
March 23, 2017
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Comments Off on Learning for Support and Support for Learning
I want to learn about schools from all aspects from the kitchen to the classroom If you are keeping up to date with my blog and reading it daily, you will be familiar with my third goal for this placement quoted above. Today’s main learning focus for myself was Learning Support in my fantastic placement […] Continue reading
March 21, 2017
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Comments Off on First Time at Phonics
Phonics at Moulsford has become part of the curriculum from pre-prep up to Year 5 over the past couple of years. For those of you reading this who are unsure of what phonics are, they are the first strategy that children should be taught to help them learn to read by using words that are […] Continue reading
March 20, 2017
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Comments Off on Musical Madness at Moulsford
With over 75% of boys at Moulsford learning at least one musical instrument, 2 choirs (involving over 120 boys) and an orchestra it is needless to say that Moulsford Preparatory School is a fantastic place to go if you’re interested in music! Today was a fantastic (although slightly mad) day at the school as it […] Continue reading
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 16, 2017
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Comments Off on Cognita De Vita
Learning From Life… The title of this post is written in Latin as I am writing today about my first ever experience going into a Latin lesson. It was extremely interesting going into a classroom being totally unaware of what the children were learning about and saying. The teacher was extremely helpful by asking the […] Continue reading
March 14, 2017
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Comments Off on The Moulsford Forest School Experience
I am so lucky to have today visited a forest school with the pre-prep year groups from Moulsford. It was a new experience entirely for me and having bought wellies in preparation, everyone knew how excited I was to be given this opportunity. Outdoor education is something I tend to miss out of teaching because […] 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 13, 2017
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Comments Off on Learning from Life – First Day Nerves
Needless to say this morning before my first day at Moulsford Boys Prep and Boarding School I was extremely nervous and could not wait to just get there and started. I’m extremely lucky and grateful to be living with family only 25 minutes away from the school itself and I have my car to travel […] Continue reading
March 12, 2017
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Comments Off on Music for Learning
As I prepare for the beginning of my Learning from Life placement (tomorrow!) I’ve been doing some reading about music education and the value and impact it can have on children. There have been many studies which have investigated the benefits of music education. Standley (2008) and Hallam (2010) report that well planned music activities … Continue reading Music for Learning → 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 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
March 1, 2017
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Comments Off on First Ever Lesson
So, today I taught my first ever lesson in a school. Although only a group lesson, it was just as nerve wracking. We were learning about maths, in particular calculations using money. Now, when students hear “get out your maths jotters”, the majority never seem to excited by it. Obviously this is then our job […] Continue reading
February 23, 2017
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Comments Off on Design Technology – MA1
The Design technology inputs have been very interesting this year in semester 2 of MA1. The first one involved simple manipulative skills such as using scissors and making a ladybird which could be done in many different age groups and classes. For each ladybird to be different the child can make their own templates which then […] Continue reading
February 15, 2017
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Comments Off on I am an atheist
I am a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods. I never got brought up this way, I have always been told to have an open mind and that I should never say never. I have many reasons for disbelieving in a God or gods, and until I started …
