October 5, 2018
by
Comments Off on Old ways won’t open new doors
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an introductory session on autism through Elaine Smith from Autism Scotland. This session was organised by the Education Society and proved an extremely valuable experience to learn about a topic that, although I have heard small pockets of information, I had little knowledge of. This wasn’t through intended […] Continue reading
October 5, 2018
by
Comments Off on Maths Anxiety
Maths anxiety is very real. Not only that, but it is very common. During school, I would always hear people saying ‘I hate maths’ , or ‘I’m so confused’ and ‘I can’t do this.’ I was definitely one of those people, and similar to many – maths was the only subject that made me feel […] Continue reading
October 5, 2018
by
Comments Off on Need a hand with maths? You can count on me!
Should children be allowed to use their fingers to help them count? Children are often made to feel silly for using their fingers to count. As a child, I struggled with numbers – they seemed completely alien and frankly they intimidated me. I was told numerous times by numerous teachers to ‘stop using your […] Continue reading
October 4, 2018
by
Comments Off on Society does not define who YOU are
Last week during Derek’s Lecture, we had an important input on on Racism and Patriarchy. We looked very closely at society’s views and got told about the disastrous event of Emmett Till and how he received the brutality of Racism. Emmett was so badly beaten that even his mother decided to leave his casket open […] Continue reading
October 4, 2018
by
Comments Off on A September to remember
Wow, what a month! It’s been a busy Summer preparing for the month just past but I have to say it has been one of the most amazing months. First, its back to the grind with my Second Year at Dundee studying Primary Education, yes you heard right, I passed first year! First year was […] Continue reading
October 3, 2018
by
Comments Off on Maths IS important!
“Is maths important?” my lecturer asked during a recent Discovering Mathematics workshop. My exam driven former self would have explicitly answered no to this question, as I had all sorts of weird and wonderful equations and rules drilled into my head at this point – none of which I have actually implemented within my everyday […] Continue reading
October 2, 2018
by
Comments Off on Can a raise in attainment within mathematics be created and maths anxiety destroyed?
Discovering maths has really opened my mind and has got me thinking about how I want to teach maths in my future classroom and what kind of teacher in maths I want to be. After one of the discovering maths lectures it allowed me to begin to ask myself a series of questions around the […] Continue reading
October 2, 2018
by
Comments Off on Engagement and Motivation: A Guide Written by a Dummie
After a lecture focussed on the use of fieldwork in the teaching of Social Studies I began thinking about the lessons I have taught in previous placements and how they could be improved. The Social Studies Principles and Practices document (Education Scotland n.d) states that skills such as exploring, investigating, discussing and presenting are a […] Continue reading
September 29, 2018
by
Comments Off on the maths and creativity sandwich.
Never would I have imagined that myself or anyone could sandwich together maths and creativity. Yet what a wonderful sandwich it is! Realistically, the majority of people would strongly argue against this opening statement, my self being one of them, however let me tell you that it is more than possible. Like most sandwiches it …
September 28, 2018
by
Comments Off on Maths Ability Groups: Good, Bad or Ugly?
After learning about the cognitive and affective domains with regards to learning in an input in my Discovering Maths module, I have been thinking about how maths groups based on ability and their seemingly neutral names may be affecting the way children feel about mathematics. Do ability groups still have a place in a modern classroom? Are there other options? We should have ability groups because… It is almost […] Continue reading
September 28, 2018
by
Comments Off on RRS Discovery⚓️
Today we had a day off from university, so Jennifer, Beth and I decided to use the time to do an education trip to the RRS Discovery ship in Dundee. Our aim was to learn about the history, geography and science of the exhibition and reflect on the suitability of the exhibition for children and […] Continue reading
September 28, 2018
by
0 comments
Although we tend to use the words interchangeably, fair and equal are not the same. Take this as an example: Three children of varying heights are trying to reach for the sweets that are on the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard. Treating them equally would mean giving all three children a box to stand … Continue reading Why we shouldn’t treat our students equally. → Continue reading
September 28, 2018
by
Comments Off on I think; therefore I am
Walking out of Tuesday’s ‘Values’ module, I felt an ironic sense of negativity that I joked about to my peers. After a two hour lecture on biological discrimination, I felt bad as an atheist, straight Caucasian male. Once I had left the company of human communication, I delved a little into my own thoughts as […] Continue reading
September 28, 2018
by
Comments Off on The Power of Yet
Recently, through an input on math anxiety, I discovered the saying, “the power of yet.” Since this input this saying has really stuck with me. During my first year placement whilst teaching mathematics, specially time, one boy – who was more intelligent than he let on – decided through frustration and panic gave up on … Continue reading The Power of Yet → Continue reading
September 27, 2018
by
Comments Off on The Art of Tessellation
When Jonathan first said the word “tessellation”, I immediately thought what on earth is he on about?! Yet, following this lecture I now understand that tessellation is something that surrounds us. Tessellation is the arrangement of identical shapes that fit together perfectly to create a pattern. These shapes have to fit precisely beside one another, […] Continue reading
September 27, 2018
by
Comments Off on Values Workshop Relection
Tuesday 18th September During this workshop we were divided into small groups with the aim to come up with a resource that a new student would find useful. Each group was giving a brown envelope which had a variety of objects. In my envelope, there was only one pen, one pencil, two sticky notes, two […] Continue reading
September 26, 2018
by
Comments Off on A Different Way to Learn
I love maths. I find the subject to be so challenging yet so satisfying that I was able to enjoy my experiences of maths throughout my education. My love of maths began in my Primary 5 class when my teacher provided myself and my classmates an opportunity to learn maths in a different way, through […] Continue reading
September 26, 2018
by
Comments Off on Maths can be… creative?
Creativity and mathematics are words which I did not associate with one another until recently. I believed that there was no room for creativity in mathematics as, after all, how can it be creative when it involves answering questions and problems which all have a ‘right’ answer? Oh how wrong I was. Maths is all […] Continue reading
September 26, 2018
by
Comments Off on Overlooked Books
Over the last few weeks various lectures and tutor directed tasks have looked at the power of story telling in all aspects of life. I have found it pretty astonishing to discover just how many books there are to help children to understand and cope with the emotions that each and every one of us […] Continue reading
September 26, 2018
by
Comments Off on Social Studies: Intial Thoughts
My experience with social studies in school, has always been a positive one, from what I can remember. After the first few inputs of our social studies elective, I have began to think more about my first statement than I ever have before now. “From what I can remember,” is very telling as to the […] Continue reading
