Friday 3 December 2010

Knowledge and understanding of Minimum Core


Module 2 Task 1: Knowledge and understanding of Minimum Core

For professional formation, all teachers will need to demonstrate personal skills in language/literacy, numeracy and ICT at Level 2 or above (such as GCSE). They are called functional skills and they are considered necessary for everyday life.

Teacher trainers must develop their own knowledge and understanding of language/literacy, numeracy and ICT and use this knowledge and understanding within their subject specific teaching to develop the key skills of their students. Teachers will have to embed these skills into subject specific classroom teaching and show awareness of those skills in their specific subjects.

In my case, as a Maths and Science teacher, level 2 numeracy is embedded in the subjects, so numeracy is checked within the subjects.

Regarding language/literacy and ICT, I am planning to do the following in order to develop and improve my teaching and assessment of learner’s functional skills:

Language/literacy (refers to reading and writing in English language)

-      Check spelling, punctuation and grammar in written work (e.g. small projects or homework). Get students correct themselves or make peer correction.
-      Have an English dictionary in the classroom and encourage them to use it when they have doubts about spelling or meaning.
-      Have quizzes of the meaning of key terms.
-      Get students to make posters of key terms and their definitions and post these around the classroom.
-      Encourage students to read as much as possible and to report back to the group about what they have read.
-      Teach the terms skimming, scanning and close reading and practice these using subject specific materials, such as science news, reports or articles.
-      Widen my own use of vocabulary in my teaching and resources.
-      Teach the term ‘Standard English’ and the potential differences between Standard English and other dialects of English. Be explicit about the political nature of this distinction.

ICT

-      Use the computer (e.g. PowerPoint) when doing presentations in the classroom.
-      Encourage (or require) students to use the computer when doing presentations in the classroom.
-      Let the students use the classroom computer whenever it is necessary and useful in the given situation.
-      Get them present homework and written work in a word-processed program, whenever it is possible.
-      Prepare tasks that involve the use of the internet or computer programs in general.
-      Encourage students to look for information on the internet about a topic that is going to be taught in the following lessons or about a topic that has been taught in class.
-      Play computer games that are related to a specific topic that is interesting for the subject.

30/11/2010 First mentor observation

On Tuesday my mentor observed me for the first time. It was a Physics GCSE lesson about gravity. I should have done it the previous day but the students didn't turn up so I had to do a lesson with a new group.

Overall I'm quite happy with the lesson. My mentor gave me a good feedback. The students were engaged with the lesson most of the time. I did a couple of activities (comment Earth without gravity and why all objects don't fall the same way) that really involved the students. Some positive feedback that the mentor gave me are the following:

- I treat the students with respect and they respect me.
- Good tone of voice and situation in the classroom.
- Enjoyable and appropriate activities for the lesson.
- Very good use of the resources.

My mentor gave me some tips to take into account for the next lessons:

- The font in the presentations should be bigger (about 40).
- I could have included some peer assessment, when talking about the difference between mass and weight.
- Health and Safety: there were two students at the front blocking the exit. Be sure at the beginning of the lesson about health and safety.
- Take time in the slides.
- The video of the feather and ball was quick. Underline it so that students are more focused.
- Use numbers to make W=mg-drag more clear.
- Differentiation. For example I could put in my lesson plan that some questions are for the more able students.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Diagnosis of own strenghts and development points

In the Stage 1 of my Individual Learning Plan I have undertaken a self-diagnosis of my strengths and development needs, which have been discussed with my personal tutor. For this stage I have drawn on feedback from my individual micro-teaching and my first assignment. The feedback was given from my subject and professional practice tutor and also from my peers.

Practical teaching
In my micro-teaching I did an AS Further Maths session about the Method of Induction. I started with a short presentation with directed questioning. Then I showed the learners a short video about the domino effect, which is an analogy of the Method of Induction. Finally, I set a task in which they had to choose the correct definition for the Method of Induction based on the presentation and the video they watched. I did a presentation on PowerPoint and I gave the students a sheet of paper with three definitions where they had to choose the correct one.
Based on feedback from my tutor and peers, the presentation skills were good, the instructions for the tasks were clear and the use of resources was effective. The session was staged coherently and the planning was good.
I used a variety of teaching methods such as a presentation, a discussion and a task. I used different strategies such as individual a group work. I managed the classroom effectively with clear instructions.
The learners were engaged throughout the session. Especially the video and the task after the video were very engaging and the learners participate actively in the tasks.
According to the feedback and my own reflection, the final task was a bit difficult for the age range. Even my peers had problems choosing the correct definition for the Method of Induction. My understanding is that I picked up definitions that were too similar between them.
I took longer than I was expected in my micro-teach. The final task went a bit too long. I let the students debate about which definition was the correct one, which was good in a way, but I should have guided them and given some tips to make it a bit easier for them.

Literacy/Written Communication skills
I did my first assignment, the Values of Education Statement, about empathy.
According to the feedback I was given, the assignment was coherently structured. I showed understanding of some key aspects and theories of teaching and learning. I also showed the potential to devise and sustain arguments and solve problems in practice.
In my following assignments, I should try to develop my arguments more critically and I also need to take care of my grammatical errors by getting people to proof read my assignments.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

01/11/2010

Yesterday I had a GCSE Science lesson. The lesson was from 11 to 12, so I thought I had time to review what I had to teach and make some adjustments to the lesson plan. When I arrived at the college I was told that I had to teach from 9 to 11 too so I didn't have time to prepare the next lesson.

I wasn't happy with the lesson. First of all, the subject teacher was there again. We were going to do a question paper to practice for the exam. I had the impression that the students had already done it because we were going through questions that they knew the answers, so I felt a bit silly. The question paper had a few mistakes too so in one question I said the answer wrong and the students corrected me. A couple of times the teacher intervened and I didn't feel in a good position. I don't know the names yet and that makes the situation a bit awkward.

For the next lesson I am going to try to do the following:

- I am going to speak to the teacher and tell him that I prefer to be alone in the classroom, otherwise I lose authority.
- I am going to learn the names by looking at their pictures.
- I need to study the subject better, because there were a couple of questions that I wasn't able to answer. If I am given a question paper or any other document with an exercise solution, I have to double check it.

Friday 22 October 2010

20/10/2010

Today I did my individual micro-teaching task. It went quite well. I had good feedbacks from the teacher and the students. They didn't tell me any areas of improvement, probably the teacher is going to write something in the evaluation sheet.

The micro-teaching went well because the students were engaged in the activity, the instructions I gave were clear, I did directed and open questions and all worked quite well. However, at the end of the session, when I tried the students to pick up the right definition for the Method of Induction, I found the learners quite confused. A student told me that It was good because it made him think but I think the task was too complicated. The definitions were confusing, quite similar. That made the task a bit abstract.

Next time I am going to put more different definitions, so the students can clearly see the difference between them and pick up the correct choice. I am going to insert some examples as well, so the task is not so abstract.

19/10/2010

Today I had a maths AS level class of 2 hours and a half. In theory the class was divided in two, one hour first, an hour to have lunch and then another hour and a half. Apparently the students decided with the teacher to do the 2.5 hours in a row.
I taught the Method of Induction. I wanted them to work in groups to get the rules by themselves by helping each other. It didn't really work. I told them to work together. They worked with the partner but not in groups. In the end I gave them the rules because I saw them waiting for it and I was running out of time.
I think next time I should do the following:
- 2.5 hours in a row is too much. So even if they ask, I am going to do the lesson as it is on the timetable, that is, split in an hour and an hour and a half.
- I will tell them to sit in groups of 3 or 4 to work together. I will decide the groups myself so I can mix up the students.
- I will tell them that they should try together to get the rules instead of me giving them straight away.
- I will tell them that when they go to Uni and to work they will have to work in groups and that sometimes they will have to discover things by themselves, so this practice is going to help them.

18/10/2010

Today I have done my first hour teaching at the College. The subject was Physics and the level GCSE.
I am happy with the lesson. I had a teacher observing me and told me positive things and also things that I can improve. Among the areas of improvement, the one that I want to reflect is that when I ask questions I should wait more for the answers, instead of picking up the first one and then explain it myself.