Being an ex-Reading citizen, (I lived there from age of 6-11 and also went to two of the local primary schools) and now studying at the University, it felt as though the great circle of life had ascended down on me - cue Disney's 'The Lion King'.
I had to think back to 2005 at Coventry University when I last did any real student work, although in a lot of my jobs there seemed to have been an element of studying that took place. My 2:2 was not purely coincidental, I did indeed not enjoy a lot of my time at Uni, I am sad to say. Growing up, I was destined to end up at a University of some sort. My parents didn't mind what I did as long as I had something to fall back on should my dreams of becoming a TV/film/stage star didn't materialise. I am fortunate to say that since leaving 'The Midland's', I amassed a huge wealth of experience not only in the performing industry but many other working sectors, and all of these have helped shape the person I am today.
So why didn't I enjoy my time at Uni, you might ask? Well I thought it would be just as easy as my previous BTEC Performing Arts course at college and that I would be a social butterfly and make 'friends' quicker than I could sing the theme tune. I was an open book and should have kept myself to myself, or at least slowly allowed my fellow students to get to know me rather than be 'hey look at me'. This wasn't the only reason but it certainly didn't help; friendship groups were made quickly, this impacted on who people chose to work with, collaborative work was harder due to less choice of colleagues, tutors were not always supportive (apart from Micheal Fry), many drank way too much and smoked a lot as well.
I also had a part-time job working at many places including: the Golden Arches ,a nightclub, B&Q, and a pub, to help support my student loan. Yes my fees were not high compared to what they are today but accommodation didn't leave a lot in the bank balance. These two jobs plus taking on the coaching role at a junior Sunday League football team, to give something back to the local community, all hindered my relationship with my fellow students.
Of course I can't just blame it all on that, I should have taken control of my studies and said to myself 'Yes you need to earn and enjoy football, but you came here to learn and leave with a degree'. This is exactly what I am now having to say to myself. I don't have any extra jobs apart from the teaching one, but I am an avid runner and I need to balance the schedule so that it doesn't impact on my work life. Saying that if I don't keep some part of my active social life 'alive', I won't be doing my life any favours. So I need to strike the right balance.
Right, where was I? Oh yes, I was meant to be focusing on the future and not the past. Last week I enrolled at the University of Reading, at their Whiteknights Campus, met all of the other trainee teachers, and spent the 5 days looking at what being a teacher is all about.
In a recent blog I mentioned some of the things we covered and I shall now go into a little bit more detail and mention what I got out of it.
Monday
Mentorship - this was a chance for my mentor to hear about the basics of School Direct training, reflective practice, responsibilities and expectations. A lot of interesting information arose from this session and I will need to apply this into my weekly mentor meetings.
Registration: - sounds obvious but this also includes a meeting with the Union rep's. I am now officially a student again. Still need my NUS card though to get a freebie at McD's.
Tuesday
Behaviour Management- does exactly what it says on the tin, except more, and I wish I had seen this session before entering a school environment because the guest lecturer was brill. There is another session on this later on so will be good to see how I cope in my classroom up until then.
The role of the teacher- management and organisation. What we think being a teacher is all about and what the children might come to expect of us. I had a great analogy about teachers being gardeners because; the children are like seeds we sow and not only do we watch them grow but we nurture and feed them knowledge and even prop them up when they grow up too fast or start to droop.
Wednesday
Tutorial: A chance to see what was expected from a reflective journal. This blog is not going to contain some of the more sensitive issues. Also on the agenda was: how to keep track of files and what to store in each one, weekly mentor meetings, being observed and half termly reviews. I am usually an organised person but this is going to require some forward planning.
Learning Hub: This is an impressive place that any school would be proud of to call their library. I was amazed at the resources and glad that it's close where I live and teach.
The structure of a lesson: How to consider planning and evaluating. This included a lovely YouTube clip of a Yr 3 Geography class out on a field trip in the woods. Being in a Yr 6 class, I will adapt some of the ways in which the teacher interacted with the class. She clearly knows each of her pupils well and had planned her lesson meticulously.
Thursday
How children learn: It was about exploring the ways in which we as trainee teachers define learning. Behaviourism, Constructivism, Social Constructivism, the Zone of Proximal Development, and the Bruner Scaffolding Theory, were all mentioned and discussed. I still need to read up on these theories but at least I can think about why children learn and what makes them want to learn.
English activities: This was led by Liz Howe and we were asked to work in small groups to create 3 sentences to open a story. We had to agree on what our 3 sentences would be.
The stimulus we had to use was a hiding place among the University grounds. My group found an location that was covered in ivy, contained wheelie bin and a plastic spatula. We based our story on some children who were playing and came across a newspaper article.
'Ben, Ben, come and have a look at this'
Ben ran over to Emily and Vicki who were in the enclosed space, entwined in ivy, containing a wheelie-bin, spatula and a piece of newspaper. It read 'ESCAPED'
Suddenly, they hear a creak and turn around to see the bin-lid slowly opening....
The stimulus we had to use was a hiding place among the University grounds. My group found an location that was covered in ivy, contained wheelie bin and a plastic spatula. We based our story on some children who were playing and came across a newspaper article.
'Ben, Ben, come and have a look at this'
Ben ran over to Emily and Vicki who were in the enclosed space, entwined in ivy, containing a wheelie-bin, spatula and a piece of newspaper. It read 'ESCAPED'
Suddenly, they hear a creak and turn around to see the bin-lid slowly opening....
Liz asked the groups to reflect on this session and below are some comments.
Literacy Skills Used: Speaking and listening, imagination, description, punctuation, WOW words, editing work, using suspense and creative writing.
Aspects of Tasks Facilitated:Teamwork, negotiation, discussion and collaboration.
The effect Joint Writing have in the thinking process: Child initiated learning, expanding on ideas, power of persuasion, its also non level dependent and improves and develops vocab.
Scaffolding Differently (what we could have done differently): storyboard, props, pictures as well of or instead of writing, use of a camera, swap groups to come up with different sentence after the first 3
This was an excellent session in which I can adapt in a lot of different lesson plans.
Science activities: We were told its OK not to know everything about Science. A few of my fellow trainees are very despondent when it comes to teaching this lesson. Our main role is to guide the class and adapt to the children's needs.
Maths activities: This was similar to Science, in which that some of the group don't feel at ease with teaching it. We were given a group activity to complete all about averages and asked to describe how we came to the logical outcome.
'How many apples are eaten each week in the UK?'
'A traffic jam is a mile long- how many cars are stuck in the jam?'
Now this required an element of investigating and asking each other for opinions. We based answers on who ate apples on our table, how many a week and how many people live in the UK.
For the other question we looked at the average length of a car and imagined they were quite close to each other in traffic.
Yet again Math's is going to be one of those subjects that will get easier to teach with practice. The more you teach, the more you learn.
Literacy Skills Used: Speaking and listening, imagination, description, punctuation, WOW words, editing work, using suspense and creative writing.
Aspects of Tasks Facilitated:Teamwork, negotiation, discussion and collaboration.
The effect Joint Writing have in the thinking process: Child initiated learning, expanding on ideas, power of persuasion, its also non level dependent and improves and develops vocab.
Scaffolding Differently (what we could have done differently): storyboard, props, pictures as well of or instead of writing, use of a camera, swap groups to come up with different sentence after the first 3
This was an excellent session in which I can adapt in a lot of different lesson plans.
Science activities: We were told its OK not to know everything about Science. A few of my fellow trainees are very despondent when it comes to teaching this lesson. Our main role is to guide the class and adapt to the children's needs.
- Science should be hands on, a lot of listening, lots of looking and a bit of talking.
- Always TEST before TEACH. There is nothing worse than doing an experiment in class that looks great on YouTube but fails in front of the children.
- Teaching Science is like a magic show. It should provide an element of suprise.
- Science is the study of nature. Nature is full of suprises.
We were asked to think back to our childhood memories of science lessons. Mine were of the hydrogen/oxygen bottle experiment, putting a finger over a flame without it burning, and watching chemical reactions when placed in water.
It was time to do an experiment and it included the 'ooo' factor. Placing water in a tray, cutting small pieces of paper to float on top, dip finger in washing up liquid and then into the water. This disrupts the 'water tension' and causes the boats to pull to the other side.
After some more things to consider when teaching science and how to plan effectively, the lecturer gave us the following to remember:
Science is a body of existing knowledge.
Science is something you do whether it be to explore, model. theorise or create an experiment.
Maths activities: This was similar to Science, in which that some of the group don't feel at ease with teaching it. We were given a group activity to complete all about averages and asked to describe how we came to the logical outcome.
'How many apples are eaten each week in the UK?'
'A traffic jam is a mile long- how many cars are stuck in the jam?'
Now this required an element of investigating and asking each other for opinions. We based answers on who ate apples on our table, how many a week and how many people live in the UK.
For the other question we looked at the average length of a car and imagined they were quite close to each other in traffic.
Yet again Math's is going to be one of those subjects that will get easier to teach with practice. The more you teach, the more you learn.
Friday
Use of voice: This was a brilliant session in how to use or even not use your voice. Simple warm up exercises, knowing which level use in class depending on the situation, how to prevent sore throat and possible risk of injuring vocal chords, were all covered.
It was less of a written session and more of a practical one. Taking a couple of deep breaths before teaching is recommended as it stimulates the brain. I will be doing this no doubt more often.
It was less of a written session and more of a practical one. Taking a couple of deep breaths before teaching is recommended as it stimulates the brain. I will be doing this no doubt more often.
Observing teachers and children: This session covered; Why is observation so important?, Why is observation so difficult?, Classroom arrangement and classroom Management, Classroom Talk and Teacher Talk.
Not all of the time will we be observing teachers, some of the time we need to focus on the class and how they respond to learning.
Not all of the time will we be observing teachers, some of the time we need to focus on the class and how they respond to learning.
The National Curriculum: Finally, a session on why we have the National Curriculum (NC) and why it has recently changed. We have it because in 1976 it was decided that there should be a centralised approach to teaching.
The NC does not apply to Academies, Free Schools or Independents. They do however have to follow a school curriculum.
In the session we spoke about what we remembered at school. With such a big age gap between the youngest and oldest of us, the results varied but mine included: Sports Day, PE, varied curriculum, incentives for doing well, school plays and being able to use a computer for the first time.
The children of today may have a different outlook and could say: Sports, assemblies, going to 11+ tutoring, Levels drummed into them.
Our role is to improve maths and literacy but also respond to the needs of those we teach.
More foundation subjects are being considered or revamped, adults need the courage to teach unknown subjects and not to be afraid to ask for help from peers.
Of course that's just a small slither of what our job is but you get the gist. After a full mind-boggling week at University I have come away feeling challenged but not lost. I have fellow trainee students to call on for help and there is a social network page to use as well.
Being a 'mature' student, I hope I will learn from past mistakes and inject a new lease of life into my learning. After all it's not just about me now, it's about the lives of the next generation
The NC does not apply to Academies, Free Schools or Independents. They do however have to follow a school curriculum.
In the session we spoke about what we remembered at school. With such a big age gap between the youngest and oldest of us, the results varied but mine included: Sports Day, PE, varied curriculum, incentives for doing well, school plays and being able to use a computer for the first time.
The children of today may have a different outlook and could say: Sports, assemblies, going to 11+ tutoring, Levels drummed into them.
Our role is to improve maths and literacy but also respond to the needs of those we teach.
More foundation subjects are being considered or revamped, adults need the courage to teach unknown subjects and not to be afraid to ask for help from peers.
Of course that's just a small slither of what our job is but you get the gist. After a full mind-boggling week at University I have come away feeling challenged but not lost. I have fellow trainee students to call on for help and there is a social network page to use as well.
Being a 'mature' student, I hope I will learn from past mistakes and inject a new lease of life into my learning. After all it's not just about me now, it's about the lives of the next generation
.
No comments:
Post a Comment