October 11, 2016
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Comments Off on We’re all going on a family holiday?
October time brings about the Halloween half term for children all across the UK. This, for many children, means a chance to go away on holiday and spend time with their families. However, where should we stand, as teachers, regarding children leaving the class during term time for holidays? Families in England have been fined […] Continue reading
October 11, 2016
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Comments Off on Islamic Tilings
(Islamic Tiles Pattern) Who knew maths could be so pretty and creative? Symmetry has to be the most significant and elegant connection between the boundaries of art, science and maths. These patterns create a visual language expressing order and generating appealing, fascinating compositions and it’s my favourite part of maths as it often surprises people! […] Continue reading
October 11, 2016
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Comments Off on Quelle est le date ton anniversair
This song pretty much sums up my memory of learning a modern foreign language (MFL) at primary school. We learned it until we were blue in the face, and then … Continue reading → Continue reading
October 10, 2016
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Comments Off on Prehistoric Mathematics and the Ishango bone
(One of the oldest surviving fragments of Euclid’s Elements, dated to circa AD 100) Prehistoric Mathematics. Sounds boring, right? Wrong. Now I’m not one for history but after our workshop last week on the origin of number systems, I decided to look into the history of maths and number systems a bit more. If you […] Continue reading
October 10, 2016
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Comments Off on Maths is More Than Meets the Eye
Since starting the Discovering Mathematics module I have been completely shocked and amazed at how interesting and relevant to real life the subject actually is! For one of our tutor directed tasks we were asked to take a look at Liping Ma’s Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics chapter 5. This chapter really made it clear […] Continue reading
October 10, 2016
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Comments Off on Why Choose Maths?
When we were given the opportunity to pick our elective for MA2 I can easily say it was a tough decision for me. Throughout my time at high school I never really excelled in one particular subject, I feel as though this was mainly due to a general lack of enthusiasm, people are always saying […] Continue reading
October 10, 2016
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Comments Off on The complex matter of Gender
Gender. Not too long ago, all over the world, the answer to “What is gender?” would without a doubt be ‘Male and Female’. To this day, for many people, the terms ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ are used interchangeably, and thus incorrectly. As we have come to learn, the issue goes way beyond these two boxes. So […] Continue reading
October 9, 2016
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Comments Off on The lives of children in New Zealand.
For my learning from life placement next year, I have chosen to go to Thorrington Primary School in Christchurch, New Zealand to get an insight into a foreign education system, allowing me to compare this to my experience with the Scottish education system. I got the inspiration to go to New Zealand as this is […] Continue reading
October 9, 2016
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Comments Off on First day of #UoDTransitionEY
Last Wednesday marked my first day going into a nursery placement. During this year at the University of Dundee I and a 7 other training teachers have been given the opportunity to go out into a nursery setting in Dundee prior to our formal placement this coming March. This is for a research project proposed by 3 of […] Continue reading
October 8, 2016
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Comments Off on Can horses count?
Having been around horses most of my life, it never occurred to me that they may or may not be able to count. During a recent workshop, we were asked if animals could count and it got me thinking about my horses. When I was younger, I had a pony who would knock his leg […] Continue reading
October 8, 2016
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Comments Off on Education ?
This post is really in response to a comment left on my previous blog post Comenius to John Swinney and all that in between.(thanks Richard, glad someone reads them !) It really got me thinking about the deeper meaning behind education … Continue reading → Continue reading
October 7, 2016
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Comments Off on National Online Maths Assessment (NOMA)
A few days ago, I undertook the National Online Maths Assessment (NOMA). I was quite apprehensive at first, nevertheless I decided to give it an attempt. Anyway, I went to the library, logged onto a computer and put in my earphones. The reason I went to the library is so I could familiarise myself with […] Continue reading
October 7, 2016
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Comments Off on Comenius to John Swinney and all that in between!
Having had a break from blogging for quite a few months, mainly due to time constraints and most certainly not for the lack of things to blog about. I felt that now would be a good time to restart. There … Continue reading → Continue reading
October 7, 2016
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Comments Off on My modern language
I recently had a lecture all about modern language in the primary school. This got me thinking about my experience of modern languages. I started learning modern languages in upper years in primary. I don’t really associate good memories with modern languages. I wasn’t given any choice in which language I learnt. It was quite […] Continue reading
October 7, 2016
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Comments Off on ‘Kind and Caring’
Yesterday on This Morning was broadcast an interview with Lucy Alexander – the mother of 17-year-old Felix who, in April of this year, was driven to suicide by continual bullying. She decided to take action and wrote an open letter to not only the bullies, but also teachers and other parents who might find themselves in […] Continue reading
October 7, 2016
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Comments Off on First day at Nursery!
On Wednesday, as my previous blog post stated, I was off for my first day of nursery for part of my Transition Project at university. The nerves this morning were there a little bit but not as much as the night before. The minute I walked into the school, I was greeted by a lovely receptionist …
October 6, 2016
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Comments Off on Twitter for teacher CPD and STEM teaching in primary
As a teacher educator I’m really interested in the potential of social media for CPD. The way colleagues and students have engaged with this especially this year has been amazing. Recently I have been reading a PhD thesis on this very topic by Tim Jefferis. I was made aware of Tim’s work through my own […]
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October 6, 2016
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A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my first experience with the ‘NOMA’, it is safe to say that I was not at all pleased with the result that I got. Therefore, this week I decided that I would give it another go. This time however my surroundings were much different, I was […] Continue reading
October 6, 2016
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Comments Off on Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics
To be honest, I hadn’t heard of PUFM (profound understanding of mathematics) until my first workshop for the math’s elective. I couldn’t even tell you one of the principles let alone four. However, now that I have done reading into Liping Ma’s research, it all makes sense. PUFM is essential if we as teachers are […] Continue reading
October 6, 2016
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Comments Off on Appreciate and Evaluate a Dance Piece or Show (Dance 3H)
Tchaikovsky’s story of The Nutcracker was the dance piece that I decided to evaluate as it is one that I personally enjoy.However, it would be very difficult to evaluate the whole performance, so the excerpt which I have chosen is from 8:28 to 23:22. My Evaluation Choreography Staging Lighting Sound Costume Continue reading
