The Lead Up to Christmas

This blog post is slightly different to the norm. Yes it does contain anecdotes from my last week at school but please read until the end to see my 'Lead Up To Christmas' poem, which formed part of my end of year assessment for the University of Reading.


This was the first week in a while I happened to spend each day at school and this was very much needed. There were a lot of things to bring and take home from school each day including; presents for some of my colleagues (Mentor and Year 6 teachers), cards for pretty much everyone else because without their advice, help during my time at school, showing me where various materials were, and inviting me into observe their lessons, I would not have been able to achieve as much in my first term. As well this I brought some sweets in for both Year 6 classes and was for two reasons:


1. In my class I introduced table points last week as a reward for tidiness, outstanding behaviour and most of all teamwork.
2. In the other Year 6 class I gave a lesson on making Christmas Decorations and said that I would choose 6 winners of the best design.


The decorations were on flat paper that the children had to colour in, add tissue paper to and then slot together to make into 3D. The snowmen and trees looked brilliant and I was proud of each of them giving their own spin on the artwork.


Twice I visited the local church to assist with the Nativity play in which the Year 2's silently acted out the scenes and the Year 6's read out passages from the Bible which linked into each scene. I was asked to lead 3 different processions (for the main characters) around the church in time to each relevant song - Little Donkey for example when Mary and Joseph were heading to Bethlehem. On Friday the entire school descended down to the church and it was literally packed to the rafters with parents, teaching staff and children. Coming from an acting background I know how important being on stage is and all of the children acted beautifully and looked amazing onstage in their final montage. The Year 6's read each passage carefully and at the end of the service also said Merry Christmas in a range of languages to show how diverse we are as a school and church community. My wreath was given to the presiding priest and in the middle I had added a piece of writing with the schools logo, motto, a thank you message, and end line from our school prayer.


Most of the week was full of making things whilst listening to festive songs or watching a film being played on the IWB, this I feel is a great time to be creative and allowed the children to express themselves without any big focus on grades or attainment.


For one of my University tasks, I was asked to send in a 200 word piece of writing to test my Grammar Subject Knowledge. I decided to put forward a poem because in this I am able to show some of my own creative skills whilst ensuring it is full of grammatical phrases and content.


Here it is:


It’s the lead up to Christmas and where to begin? 
I could start with a song but what could I sing?
The Coca Cola advert is out so it must be December:
no wait silly me I must be mistaken because it came out in November.

With so many Christmas parties to attend and lots of people to see,
I’m counting 5 portions of; turkey, parsnips, potatoes and brie.
Every year it’s the same and jumpers are to be worn,
mixed with a game of monopoly, relationships will be torn.


My home is full of candles and each one burns bright like the Nativity Star,
I’d rather be inside keeping warm than driving through the snow in my car.
With 24 spaces on my calendar I am counting down the days,
being an adult doesn’t stop me being a child in any which way.


Spare a thought for those who are far away from loved ones and on their own.
It doesn’t take long to visit those nearby, or even to pick up a phone.
In the lead up to Christmas remember those who are no longer with us –
and those who are around you spread the love and make a lot of fuss.


Now all that remains is to say a very Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year.


PS: In my next post I will concentrate on my recent visit to a SEND school, in which I worked with 7 autistic children and gained some fantastic experience as well as advice from the teaching staff.

2nd Term passed and a lot to look forward to next year

This week is memorable for many reasons. Firstly the Choir sang at the local conference centre alongside many other schools who use the School Music Service, I finished a science project I had been working on for the past two weeks, my tutor has noticed an improvement in my teaching, and it was my last day at University until we all go back in January.

Last week’s reflection was focused on achieving Standard 8, and in particular 8.1, which for some people can be difficult especially as it often requires juggling work and study with something to attend at lunch and after school. Luckily for me I have always been a busy person both in childhood and as an adult by joining the local Scout Organisation, coaching a football team whilst studying my degree, and running with a local running club during the past two years (proudly won their club championship and am also men’s captain).

I had to swap my break duty with a colleague on Tuesday due to a final rehearsal at the centre and this shows interpersonal skills because I need to strike a chord with those I work with and not expect someone to simply cover me because I need it. During the event I assisted the Music Teacher in making sure our students were kept both safe and on task- we were the best behaved in my opinion. If you know me I am all for making friends and did just that by introducing myself to all the other teachers from the other schools. You never know who you could meet at a job interview or on a course and teaching is a small community. One of the schools had a problem with a song that I knew and the teacher was thankful for me briefly singing along.The evening was a huge success and many parents and school friends attended to watch the performance. I felt extremely proud of the students and can’t wait until I am able to organise a choir to go to such an event.

Finishing my circuit game for a Science Evening that took place during the week was one of my mini-projects althoughI kept experiencing problems with certain parts of the circuit. However, when I added a second battery, it allowed the bulb to become brighter and despite originally wanting to use a buzzer (it’s a game in which you slowly and carefully manoeuvre a looped piece of wire around a windy path from one end to the other). Some of my class helped to put it together and a few were chosen to be Science Ambassadors as well for the event.

2nd Half Term University Observation

Wednesday loomed and I was nervous about teaching in front of my tutor but prepared myself as well as I could. The last Math’s lesson I was observed in, gave me a few things to progress and improve on including; Subject Knowledge, use of assessment, praising appropriately and explaining why, and giving a plenary. I managed to do all of these however didn't give a good plenary and this is something I need to work on. I rushed it and forgot to include the LO although during the lesson I did point out to the class that they had managed to achieve each of the Success Criterion and explained why I moved them around the classroom (recent assessment and also to get year groups working together). With the starter I assessed quickly who grasped the concept of the lesson and didn't move onto the main task until I was confident everyone was ready to do so.

During my last two days at University I helped to deliver a SEND presentation on Down Syndrome and learnt a lot from other presentations who focused on Autism (4 groups), another Down Syndrome, and how Support staff are used in the classroom. Ours was 2^nd to last due to the majority of the group coming from Group C. In hindsight I wish the course would have given the list of topics and said all needed covering so first come first serve. The actual result was a few similar presentations and a lot of us felt it could have been more useful with a group looking at ADHD for example or even someone with Speech and Listening Difficulties.

Two ladies from the a local LEA came to discuss life after training and how to apply for our first teaching job. It is scary to think that in a few months we will be searching for jobs, whether it be our training school, second placement or other. I have been in many interviews although this is going to be one of the most important ones in my life ranking alongside both my University interview and the one I did to get on this course.

I am yet to start thinking about 2015-16 especially with January to come. 

The University is Alive With The Sound Of Music

Yes it's in the title, music was the lesson taught at Reading University this week, and I also joined the School Choir.

Most of you reading this don't know me but I grew up loving music; from singing Scouting songs around a campfire, playing the piano from the age of 11, to singing at every step along my educational path. I found a passion for drama on top of all this and decide to follow a dream of becoming an actor (see previous blog posts to give a more detailed breakdown on my previous career).

Extra-curricular activities
Anyway why did I join the School Choir? Well, the music teacher is teaching the KS2 children some Christmas songs for a concert and I didn't want to miss out on both performing and assisting. This combines fun with learning and it ticks off Standard 8 in the process. The children were surprised that Mr Harte was in the music room and made a bit of fuss but hopefully the novelty will wear off next week. I am using this experience to hopefully assist with the end of school production and also add the responsibility to my teaching repertoire because it will give weight to any interviews in the future. 

Guided Reading
I taught a good lesson using only a picture to get my group to think about how the illustrator gains sympathy from its reader without the use of text. One thing I should have done was to give pen and paper to the children and asked them to write their thoughts and feelings down rather than me asking them and doing it for them.

Marking my 1st set of English papers
The Year 6 were given an English Reading SAT's paper. This I welcomed because it will enable the teachers to see how the cohort has been developing since the start of term. I can also see how my Focus Reader (a University based task) is doing since I started working with him. I wanted to gain experience of marking papers so only did the unambiguous questions which didn't require much thinking.

Year 3 observations
I have literally been all over the school these past few weeks and that is precisely what I should be doing this Autumn Term. I spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning with a class in Year 3 AND I was able to see: a guitar lesson taught by two external music teachers, a topic lesson based on the compass points, Maths lesson looking at subtracting two digit numbers and both a guided reading and English lesson focusing on letters and sending mail. 

i saw some excellent transition tactics being employed. The pace of the lessons meant that for their age, the children didn't spend too much time on their own during the lesson. I can see that for Year 3 it needs to be a gradual process to becoming more independent learning especially so soon after being in Year 2. With 2 TA's in the class as well, both knew their class tasks and all of the adults moved about the different groups to ensure the teacher spent time with as many of the class as she could. This is important because each child feels as if the teacher isn't just concentrating on the lower or higher ability groups.

Maths Test for all of Year 5/6
On Thursday another SAT's paper was sat except this time covering Year 5 as well. This is because we stream in 5 classes and this will give a chance to see not only what needs teaching but also whether some children need moving around the classes. We have had a few new students and despite a few bits on informal assessment, I feel a test will show the real ability of a student. That is just my opinion but with something like Math's it is vital each teacher knows that what they are teaching matches their students' level of learning. 

Yet again I am pleased this has happened because my Focus Math's student is in my class and I can quickly see what she needs immediate help with.

Second Guided Reading Session
Picking up from what I noted on Monday, I ensured my group had pen and paper to convey any thoughts they had by simply looking at a second image I showed them. Some of the vocab learnt in the last lesson was remembered and my Focus reader came out with an amazing metaphor saying 'the people on the top deck of the ship were huddled around like penguins trying to keep warm'. 

Plans for next week
I spoke to my mentor about how my two lessons went and how I adapted my teaching strategy. We spoke about a pending Science lesson that I am planning based on Light and how it travels in a straight line. She wants me to think how to challenge the Gifted and Talented children in my questioning.
In my Personal Learning Profile, I added that I will be focusing on Year 1 Phonics over the next two weeks and she gave advice on which classes to observe and for what I should be looking out for. As well as this I will be getting a day's worth of Phonics Training at University so it will consist of a lot of new learning.
One thing she did like a lot was that I have been updating a personal calendar on the schools Public Data drive and ensuring everyone can see what classes I am observing in, when I am teaching and what meeting I have planned. This will be beneficial across the whole school. 

In just one day I learnt how to teach a terms worth of music
It does sound extreme but on my University Centralised Training day it was spent with the lovely Jay Deeble, who has been teaching Music for many years and even assisted with the first ever National Curriculum when it was introduced in the 1980's.
To start with we looked at the Universal words for reading music, Ta and Ti. This system allows the value of each note to be clearly represented no matter its placement within the beat/measure. The folk song lyric "This Old Man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb, with a knick-knack paddy whack, give my dog a bone, this old man came rolling home" would be said, "titi ta titi ta titi titi titi ti-tiri titi tiriti tiritiri ta titi titi titi ta".

In our tutor group we worked on some exercises that included clapping a rhythm or the pulse. The teacher is expected to distinguish for the children to help less able.  
We built on this by working as two big groups then three groups to make a canon (same song being sung but at different start times). It progressed into even smaller groups and finally a big challenge where everyone went solo. 
LO: To maintain a tune.
SC: I can add/find rhythm. I can clap the pulse I can work in a group, pair or solo

The tradition SO, MI RAY, DOE and La were then introduced as a way of remembering the different pitch of a song. These are familiar to me from The Sound of Music.
We were given a few songs to practice on Xylophones, Metalaphones or Glockenspiels and asked to come up with different ways of playing the song. Changes could include; the pitch, tempo, playing in octaves, two songs at same time, or even different notes, 

Teaching music in KS2 will vary from school to school and indeed cohort. Some classes will pick it up quickly whereas elsewhere only a handful would have any musical experience. By gradually increasing the difficulty of the lesson, each child should feel as if they have made progress. 

To appraise a music unit, we were given the Mnemonic  CLASP.
C- Composing: Creating a piece of music
L - Literature studies: looking at the background of music
A - Audience: Listening and giving feedback
S - Skills: Oral/Aural, Technical and Notating
P - Play: Performing

The National Curriculum literally has two parts.
1 - Performing and Composing
2 - Listening and appreciation

When analysing, students should be thinking about a variety of questions:
Concepts - What was understood and what was needed to understand?
Attitudes - What did you demonstrate and what was the attitude to the performance?
Skill - What did you do and what did/could you do better?
Knowledge - What did you know and what did you need to know?

Music can be linked right across the curriculum but it rarely is. A story or poem could be used for composition plus it could even be linked to Geography or Science. 

Summary of the week
Yet again, this week I have a lot to think about. I look forward to teaching much music and will adapt the things learnt today.
Marking my first sets of tests was tough because it made me realise even more that the future of others in my hands and I have to be thorough and fair in everything I do.