It’s all Greek to
me:WC 9th
March
This
week consisted of teaching decimals and rounding in Maths; planning an
eggs-periment in Science (yes it was all about eggs); how to be a persuasive
Viking leader in Topic; and recounting the myth of Icarus: The boy who flew too
close to the sun.
Life
as a primary school teacher has meant that I have to be versatile in many
different lessons, knowledgeable to some extent, and convey across to 32
children that learning is fun, engaging and worthwhile. Hopefully I manage it
on a daily basis and have inspired the children to one day use the many skills
learnt and to apply them in a whole manner of life situations.
Luckily
for me, last term I observed a year 4 class, at my main placement, carrying out
the observation lesson for the science experiment I was to teach. Little did I
know back then, that that one hour would provide me with enough information to
confidently take on the planning and turn it into my own words and
differentiate it for my own classes needs. I did ask the class teacher last
week, whilst visiting for the Oscars ceremony, where she has kept some of the
resources, and was pleased to find it all filed away in the specific subject
folder. This is one trait I wish to develop myself as it will enable other
teachers to find resources and adapt them where required.
The
eggs in question were placed in 6 different liquids and will be kept in tightly
closed jars for one week until the observation lesson. This will help show the
children how the shell of an egg reacts similarly to the enamel of teeth and
that certain liquids will damage the shell more than others.
As
for persuading a Viking leader – this was a good way for the children to use
persuasive techniques. Later on this term I will be moving onto the DAFOREST
method of remembering what is needed to be persuasive but this week’s lesson
concentrated on Viking settlers, what they did as well as invade villages, and
what makes a good Viking leader. All of this was put into a poster and the
class were shown various examples including the ‘We Need You’ Lord Kitchener
posters.
The
English topic looked Greek myths and after looking at the story of Pandora’s
Box, we concentrated on Icarus and his father Deadalus. This really excited the
class because everyone dreams of flying and after showing them two different
stories plus a video clip, they could see that a myth can change ever so
slightly but have different parts changed to suit the storyteller and audience.
At the end of the week a recount was created for their Extended Writing, and
some of the pieces really showed how much had been taken on board including the
spellings of challenging Greek names.
A long wait to
decide my fate: WC 16th
March
On
Monday the observation part of the experiment was completed and it was amazing
to see all of my class as scientists pondering the question as to which liquid
did the most damage to the eggs. It was tricky because although the coca cola
and coffee hadn’t seemed to do much damage, it had however stained the egg.
This was hard to see at first for some children who though no damage had been
made.
The
vinegar and orange juice were the worst offenders and it was deemed that the
sugar inside the juice and acid in the vinegar slowly eroded the egg shell
within a week. The egg in orange juice was totally clear of shell and the smell
was disgusting. Seeing the children’s faces when looking at the eggs via the
visualiser created the ‘wow factor’ I had hoped for. Each group when given an
egg to examine, did so carefully and wrote their thoughts on smell, touch and
sight. I look forward to doing this again and possibly next time plan even further in advance with some eggs being inside the liquids for a couple of weeks if not a month.
For two days this week I had to be observed by not only my tutor (for his 4th visit) and then my teaching interview at my main placement school in front of both the head and deputy. I was not sure of which one I would be more worried about. The person who keeps a check on me every few months and is slowly grading me toward Good/Excellent or the two at the top of the very school I wish to work at.
Firstly
let’s settle the matter of the tutor observation. He hadn’t seen me at this
school before and also not in this year group. I decided to go slightly outside
of my observation comfort zone and teach a creative drama lesson in which the
entire class was split into 12 groups to act out the 12 Labours of Hercules. It
was only yesterday that they had started to look at this myth and I wanted to
improve on their recount skills from the Icarus story of last week.
In
the lesson I had tried to ensure the children were evenly split by the acting
skills I had seen during their play scripts lessons last term and also
attempted to balance those less able students with more able whilst at the same
time keeping overpowering children away from each other in case of a ‘too many
cooks’ situation. It proved to be a success however whilst each group was
showing their performances off, I didn’t fully explain to the rest of the class
that they were to watch attentively and give a star or wish to their peers
performances. This meant a few were sitting around doing nothing waiting for
their turn. My tutor did commend my bravery for this lesson especially as it
got everyone involved in the acting process and genuinely helped the entire
class remember some if not most of the Labours.
On
Friday was the ‘big one’, I was given the task of teaching a year 6 class from
my main placement, on the subject of the Ten Commandments, during an RE lesson.
This was something quite new to me because I am usually at University on a
Friday, or was used for PPA time both schools. Being a Christian is something I
value and this is one of the areas I had a little bit of knowledge in plus I
had dinner with some good friends both of whom are regular church members and
gave me some very good advice.
The
lesson being taught was to consider ‘How the Commandments fit in with modern
day society’ and so I posed this question to the class and had a nice debate
running on which of the Commandments was most important and why plus should any
of them be kept, removed or simply amended to suit the religions of today. It
was more pupil led than teacher led and hopefully that came across in the
lesson.
Afterwards
I had to wait a full 90 minutes until the phone call and am pleased to say that
it was a success. Being a
trainee teacher already based at the school; having a good relationship with
both the children and teachers; knowing the schools layout; their non-negotiables;
and finally showing some promise during my time at the school, on top of the interview and lesson – they feel I am
the right man for the job. I am not sure which year group I will be placed in
but it will be in either years 3, 4 or 5.
Second
School Placement completed with lots of tears WC
23rd March
This
week was the last of 5 full teaching weeks and 7 at St Peter’s. It has been a
busy process especially with planning, marking, parents evening, assessments,
dealing with parents, and learning a whole new set
of rules and timetables.
I
was very pleased that the final week’s English was based around creating a
collaborative Hogwarts School Prospectus. Being a body-double on the set of
Harry Potter I have fond memories of the films and this was a chance to link my
past career with my new one. Some of the children had read a lot of the books
and this made creating groups a lot easier. Initially I went down the list
based on Writing Ability and delegated the first 8 students as ‘leaders’ of
their foursome. Using the persuasive techniques learnt in a previous lesson
plus the DAFOREST mnemonic, I gave the class 8 different ways to persuade in
their writing. The end result was pretty good and I can comfortably say that
they will be using their new skills in future work.
The final day for me was Thursday despite school not ending until Friday. It was very emotional and whilst I was out during PPA the children had made some cards and I was presented with a lot of goodbyes plus a Q&A session was held with the children asking me what I had enjoyed doing during my time at the school. I had a great experience, learnt so much about a one-form entry school, planned more than I could have imagined, taught some truly inspirational children and wish them all the best of luck.
Away from school I was very lucky to meet and listen to Andrew Pollard talk about his Reflective Teaching Book. He is someone who has gone from being a primary school teacher in the 70's to helping to create policies for teaching and researching into what makes children tick. I can see a lot of what he said about his younger self in myself and I wonder what the future holds for me.
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