Week+8

In today's lecture I discovered that we are required to keep a portfolio of 3 students work progression throughout our first working year! I had no idea this was a requirement of getting your full VIT membership, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. I think it will be really interesting to keep such records, not only to see how the students have progressed individually as students, but to also see how I will have progressed or developed as a teacher. No doubt I will be doing some things differently in the final term of next year to that which I was doing in the first term. I'm looking forward to finding out about myself a bit more through this process, as well as seeing students progression and learning at a focused level.

The other thing I took away from today's lecture was the 4E's (or are we not meant to call it that now that the government has the 5E's!) Empathy, Energy, Efficacy, and Evidence-based. The two things I relate with most closely are empathy and energy as I believe that having a good understanding or appreciation of where your students perspectives are coming from and how they might be feeling in a situation is extremely important. I think this is important for two reasons, one is that it may help you to better understand why a student is struggling academically or socially, and secondly I think that if you show that you really do care and you really are trying to understand, that student will be much more likely to open up to you and to be more at ease in your classroom. Just breifly, I think having a good positive energy in the classroom is extremely important too. I'm sure this must be hard to keep up at some times throughout the year, as I witnessed a small amount during report writing time during placement, but I think on the whole if we can keep positive and make lessons fun, engaging and energised the students will respond better and learn more readily.

Thanks,  Unlike Laura I lucky enough to come across the 5E's through an activity at one of my school's staff meeting while I was there, but it was interesting to hear where (who) this originated from on Monday. As an aside, personally I am really annoyed when work is not acknowledged. It was interesting to compare the staff meeting to the lecture, some of the teachers loathed having to do the activity, though all of the teachers said this is what we've been doing for XXXXX years. So this reinforces the fact that the 4 or 5 E's summaries what the majority of teachers think is an appropriate way to teach.
 * Laura*

Yeah Laura I was unaware of the work required to obtain VIT registration, but we still have half a year to go so plenty of time to learn about the details of VIT registration, one thing I was told on prac was that this process is up to you to complete, the school nor VIT will 'force' you to do it.

Practicum and energy mmmmmmmmmm my mentor was quite a passionate teacher, but she was honest and upfront about the highs and lows but I didn't really sense a lack of energy during my 4 week stint, so she is probably to be congratulated on that, as it was surely a taxing time. Probably the most notable thing about her lessons was a lack of interdisciplinary work and at times the bright kids were asked to colour in something when they finished their work, so they probably needed something more stimulating to go on with. Interestingly when I was in school I didn't really have to plan the material for my own lessons, my mentor gave me the topic of my lesson and some ideas and then it was up to me to plan in more detail the lesson so this was probably the only drawback. But since i've been back at Uni I've had a lot of stimulating ideas regarding learning blocks and in some ways it is disappointing to think that a lot of each school's curriculum is already in place and teachers are supposed to work with this.

Cheers Matt

I have been thinking about the VIT portfolio requirement in our first year of teacher, and wondering if it is not something we will do in our years of teaching anyway. It seems like a great way to keep a timeline of achievements for the children and their parents, and a nice way to display our successes as teachers. And if we ever want to move schools, surely a portfolio of previous student’s work and examples of lessons would be beneficial. It’s easy to say that now though, when we are actually practising teachers, I can only imagine the workload we will be juggling, but I like the idea and would like to think I could keep some record of children’s work.

It goes without saying that placement was an invaluable experience and such a great way to learn the art of teaching. It was interesting to come away from it with some fantastic ideas, and some other very strong feelings about how I wouldn’t want to teach or operate my classroom. It was also great that I was given the opportunity to observe other grades and other teachers in action, not just my allocated classroom. And amongst all the teachers, there are common traits. I agree with Laura about the 4Es and at this time, relating to Empathy and Energy. No matter what grade level – the need for empathy is constant – to appreciate their ideas, feelings and thoughts, and to respond appropriately. And energy. To maintain a positive frame of mind and an enthusiasm must be challenging at times. I guess it’s a case of, as soon as you step into that classroom, as a teacher you need to respond to the needs of the children. I think it must also be hard to maintain a positive attitude to those children in your class who are just little brats! There was one moment on my placement when my mentor teacher ‘exploded’ at a child. He said to me afterwards, that in hindsight, he wished he hadn’t done it. But I think this is an example of how sometimes human emotions take over and the constant irritation of one child’s behaviour grinds on you. I guess we need to work out our own strategies to get through a circumstance like this, and try to avoid letting yourself down as a teacher.

Emma

Heyall, I agree Emma, i think if you have some pre-prepared strategies for those situations when you feel you might lose it, would be very beneficial. I too thought the 4 E’s was quite clever. Teachers seem to love coming up with these little word lists/acronyms don’t they. But on a serious note, I think those four things are very important things to keep in the back of one’s mind when teaching. In terms of the VIT registration requirement, i was aware of it and i do agree with all of you that it will be a useful process to go through.

I have also been thinking about the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PoLT) which was spoken about at the lecture. Ill list them here and add some personal comments with them.

//1. The learning environment is supportive and productive// - I guess this is REALLY important because without it we aren't going to get far. I suppose it's important to remember that we, as teachers, are part of the learning environment and responsible for creating it...

//2. The learning environment promotes independence, interdependence and self motivation// – I know I enjoyed on rounds encouraging students to do things for themselves, or ask each other questions. Basically I tried to encourage them to use whatever resources were around to answer their questions. Not to the point that I wouldn't tell them the answer to something but i thought it was important to encourage them to "have a go" and be resourceful.

//3. Students' needs, backgrounds, perspectives and interests are reflected in the learning program// - Yep…but there are so many different students! I think already we do think along these lines. Catering to different students needs is so tricky. On rounds i found myself helping or spending time with either those who were struggling or those who needed constant prompting and re-direction back to the task (either because of behaviour or attention issues). But what about all those other students in the classroom? I did my best to spend time with them too but sometimes it just didnt happen.

//4. Students are challenged and supported to develop deep levels of thinking and application// – i think this is really important and needs to start right from beginning of primary school.

//5. Assessment practices are an integral part of teaching and learning// – if we don’t assess, we don’t know if what we are doing is working. I think this also fits into being an evidence based teacher.

//6. Learning connects strongly with communities and practice beyond the classroom// – we are preparing students for the real-world, if we don’t think about the outside world in our classrooms, we are neglecting a huge part our students' education. 

-cat- 