October 22, 2015
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Comments Off on Inspiration
This video of Joseph Lekuton which was linked within the online unit has filled me with such admiration and has inspired me considerably. Listening to him tell the story of the blind man and the man with no legs was incredible. It made me think and link it to lots of different ideas I have but […] Continue reading
October 22, 2015
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Comments Off on Our importance in the Physical Child
We have learnt that we, as teachers, mainly focus on cognitive development due to being conscious of role expectations. However, physical and cognitive functioning are closely linked. However, this factor is not always appreciated with young children. We, as teachers, need to consider all aspects of a child’s development as we look at the children […] Continue reading
October 22, 2015
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Comments Off on The Nature/Nurture Debate
For several years, there has been a debate over nature/nurture and which has the biggest influence in our brain development. We know that the brain is a complex and astonishing organ of the human body. Without the brain, we simply could not live. Genes are critical in creating humans as individuals – they create varying […] Continue reading
October 22, 2015
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Comments Off on Differences Between Sweden and UK
Photo taken from Google Images – www.ucl.ac.uk A few weeks ago we had an input where we discussed comparative education. We mainly focused on the differences between Sweden and the UK and the different perspectives they had on learning in the early years. The Swedish School system contrasts with the UK school system in so many ways. The first one being […] Continue reading
October 22, 2015
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Comments Off on Being an enquiring practitioner
As stated on the GTC Scotland website, being an enquiring practitioner is becoming a foremost important aspect in becoming a successful practitioner. A professional enquiry is an investigation with a rationale that can be explained or defended, this information is then shared amongst likeminded colleagues to enhance knowledge creation. Professional enquiry’s help professionals gain multiple viewpoints upon […] Continue reading
October 22, 2015
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Comments Off on Improvement without reflection?
Reflection, in its simplest form, is recalling what you have done and is an essential part of learning. There are different levels of reflection that can take many forms. A reflective model I am encouraged to use in my social work module is Stephen Brookfield’s Four Lenses: autobiographical, peer (student), that of or fellow professionals […] Continue reading
October 21, 2015
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Comments Off on Spanish TDT
We recently had a tutorial on teaching Spanish to children. From this tutorial I learned that we can tell if a child is understanding listening activities by their use of facial expressions or their responses. It is also important to remember that the children can respond in English but they can also respond in Spanish […] Continue reading
October 20, 2015
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Comments Off on I Hate Maths
“I hate maths.” I’ve heard it a hundred times before. In fact if you’re a parent or teacher or have anything to do with children, you’ve probably heard it too. But why? What is it about mathematics we find so dislikeable? To me, the answer is simple. We are not teaching maths. Of course, there […] Continue reading
October 20, 2015
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Comments Off on Remembering, Forgetting and Getting Confused.
Based upon lecture by John Baldacchino. Greek philosophy on learning focuses on the soul and the body. The body in ‘contingent’ and the soul is ‘necessary’. The soul is said to be omniscient and knows the grand knowledge of the world. When we are born our soul holds this information. However the soul then comes […] Continue reading
October 20, 2015
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Comments Off on Plato’s Cave
I thoroughly enjoyed the guest lecture by Brendan Knight on Plato’s Cave. The story of Plato’s cave is that there are men bound to the cave facing the back wall. The light coming in from the entrance causes shadows to be displayed on the wall. These shadows are caused by things in the outside world […] Continue reading
October 19, 2015
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Comments Off on The Virtues of Teaching
Teachers need to have the ability to display a variety of different virtues and ethics all the time within their professional career. I have chosen to focus on five main traits, which I have went into more detail about below. However, I am not saying that these are any more important than other traits. It […] Continue reading
October 18, 2015
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Comments Off on Modern Languages – Isolated or integrated approach?
If I am honest, I have always felt more comfortable with the thought of a specialist language teacher delivering the modern language curriculum to my class. My justification for this was that these teachers have specialist knowledge and understanding of the language which would allow them to teach the language more effectively than I could. The […] Continue reading
October 17, 2015
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Comments Off on My French Phobia
As a teacher I probably shouldn’t be as worried about as many subjects as I am. Maths, French, English… However, in French I have always had a big phobia. I remember missing my first few lessons of French in primary six and forever feeling permanently behind since then. I have never really known the French […] Continue reading
October 16, 2015
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Comments Off on The Curriculum for Excellence: A comparison between our own curriculum and the Scandinavian Approach
The Curriculum for Excellence was introduced by the Scottish Government in 2010 – 2011 and was meant to revolutionise education in Scotland by providing children and young people between the ages of 3-18 a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum (Education Scotland, undated). In addition, the curriculum includes the totality of experiences which are planned for children and […] Continue reading
October 16, 2015
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Comments Off on Reflection as a Student and a Teacher
Reflection is a serious thought about something you or others have done. We reflect everyday and don’t even realise it, by asking ourselves what went well? What didn’t go well? How do I feel after that? Reflection in learning is really important part to being at university, college and school. You must reflect on the work […] Continue reading
October 16, 2015
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Comments Off on The benefits of active learning and co-operative working
To me, active learning is a skill we should all be working on to improve. It is one thing taking notes in lectures but for me, and I’m sure many others would agree, the information doesn’t always go into my head and stay there by the time the lecture has finished. An effective way to […] Continue reading
October 16, 2015
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Comments Off on The benefits of active learning and co-operative working
To me, active learning is a skill we should all be working on to improve. It is one thing taking notes in lectures but for me, and I’m sure many others would agree, the information doesn’t always go into my head and stay there by the time the lecture has finished. An effective way to […] Continue reading
October 16, 2015
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Comments Off on Reflecting on reflection
It is obvious to me that the ability to reflect effectively is essential when it comes to both teaching and learning. In the past, I may have thought about reflection as being a fairly passive, ‘wishy-washy’ type of exercise. To me it only concerned those who were thinkers and not do-ers, however through reading and research I […] Continue reading
October 15, 2015
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Comments Off on Active Learning
Active learning is defined as “a process whereby students engage in activities, such as reading, writing, discussion, or problem solving that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of class content.” As a student at University, active learning is something I need to become more aware of. I always write notes in lectures and tutorials, which is […] Continue reading
October 15, 2015
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Comments Off on 1+ 2 = ?
Compulsory education in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) has been high on my list of desired movements within Scottish Education for several years now. So it comes with no surprise that I was overwhelmed with joy when Scottish Government announced the upcoming 1+2 language policy in 2011. The 1+2 policy, proposed to come into place in […] Continue reading
