Matt Payne

Week 12

The week started as usual with History. The main theme of the lesson was the question; ‘what do we mean by society?’ We started this by looking at culture and the environment, we explored the evidence there is of people coming together to form societies, whether it be on religious grounds, trade, or something similar. The planet itself has seen very little change in the past 10,000 years, any major changes which have happened have been man made. We then went on to look at how societies could stabilise themselves through the use of farm lands. Originally farming was used and the community would move on, but as they developed they learnt to re-use the land, this meant they could stay in the same place and grow as a population.
We decided as a group what was needed for a civilisation to become a civilisation, these were:
• System of trade
• Hierarchy of authority
• Transportation links
• Education
• Communication
• Vital resources, water etc
• Defences, walls, armies etc

After we done this we looked at a brief overview of societies throughout time:

3500BC Masapataniums
3100BC Egyptians
2500BC Indus people
2000BC Minoan Cultures
1500BC Stone Hedge
1400BC Ancient Greece

For children we must break down societies in more tangible ways. An example of one way this can be done is the aboriginal societies, we can learn a lot about their culture by looking at aboriginal art. This can then make it easier for children to grasp the certain concepts of communities.
The lesson then ended with a quick look at caring for society. This was where we looked at the ways in which we can care for our community, these were:
• Care for the young/old
• Make sure people behave
• Spirituality
• Providing for basic/social/spiritual needs.

Just as the lesson finished we were told how when looking at culture it is always important to make sure you are politically correct and in no way seem to condescend other groups of people.
That afternoon we moved on to Geography, this is where we looked at how we should start a lesson, by having a recap. By recapping the last lesson it will remind the children about what they learned the lesson before and get them focused on the topic at hand. After the recap has finished we can say what will be learnt during the course of the lesson, so the children have got aims for the lesson.
After this we went through an activity we demonstrated how we have got different options to have ‘enrichment activities,’ these are lessons that are seemingly fun but are really all about learning, and when the children may actually learn the most. One of the examples used was hot-seating. This is when the children can role play a character and questions can be asked to get all the children thinking and learning. Another option is timelines, but with timelines they cannot be too boring, children won’t concentrate if it’s just a list of dates, use pictures and other things to make it more exciting.
Tuesday is ICT day. In the morning lecture we were told that it would be important to find out who is in charge of child protection whenever we go into a school, this is usually the head teacher but not always so it is worth finding out.
After we heard about internet safety and different options available to keep children safe, such as filters, this will mean that children can work without having inappropriate material or anything that may distract them. One thing to also always remember is that what is on the screen may not always be true, such as Wikipedia, so things must be checked to make sure the children aren’t misinformed.
In the afternoon we had a lesson in which we got the chance to finish our videos (which I done on my phone at the bus stop) and after we all created igoogle accounts.
The next lesson we had was English. We started by going back to story telling and practised telling our stories to each other, by using different voices and plenty of body language. After this we looked through picture books and discussed the importance of them. We talked about how the pictures can add depth to the tale and get the children involved and imaginative.
We also explored how stories can raise questions in the classroom, for example we looked at the book piggy book, we then decided that it could raise questions such as ‘what do you do at home?’ of questions about cooking or cleaning.
The last lesson of the week was primary education in context, the central theme of this lesson was ‘what makes a good teacher?’ This started with the highlighting of 2 major points, the first being that a good teacher must be there in the morning for when the children arrive, so the teacher is there to talk to the children when they come through in the morning. The second was that it is important to not take your work home with you, but instead do it all at the school. This is because working in a school can get stressful, so rather than taking stressful work back to the home stay in school for as long as it takes to get it done in the working environment. That way when you do go home you can relax.
We talked about the point that 40% of children who start school come from split families. This is something important to bear in mind as it means that some children may have different home lives and others may have emotional baggage that is important to remember.
We then went on to talk about recount writing. This can be done in 4 steps.
1. Establish a purpose and context for writing (talk for writing).
2. Shared writing. Still talking and discussing things at this stage we demonstrate how to recount write.
3. Scaffolding writing. There are variances on this depending on the child, if the child is not very able then it can be more guided, if the child is more capable then it can be more independent.
4. Key outcomes. This is what eventually comes from the exercise.

The teacher gave us the example of a rugby match. It was taped and brought in and shown to the children, as well as newspaper clippings and articles about the game. This is because the children need the experience in order to write about it.

Also this week I read:

Horrible Histories: The Stormin’ Normans by Terry Deary.
And
Peepa Pig Sports Day (a picture book).

This is the video created by myself, Nathan Jones and Becky Holland for our I.C.T class. The entire video was filmed and edited on my Nokia N95 mobile phone.

Featured music:
Guns 'N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
and
Linkin Park/Jay-Z - Numb/Encore

Week 11 Reflective Diary Entry

At the start of the week we looked at History. Within this lesson we learnt about concepts of time and how it can be related to Children, I good example used was a clock, if every minute on a clock was the equivalent to a century then the first human was about 7 hours ago. We talked about how this might not always be the most specific analogy as it may not be so good with short term events children are more familiar with but when trying to look back it breaks down a concept that can be quiet complex.
After talking about time we went through how societies evolved, 1.9 million years ago shows the first signs of humans using tools to catch meat and eat it. If we think back to the first homed fossils were found 4.5 millions years ago, then 1.9 million years ago they started to use tools, and then through to how society has changed in the past few centuries we see how the exponential growth is phenomenal.
We finished the lesson by talking about Lindow Man. This was the body of a man that was found preserved in Cheshire, England, the body tells us he was of some sort of status, such as a Druid, and his death indicates he may have been killed as part of a ritualistic killing. This shows that dating back as far as 2000 years ago in Britain there was some what tribe like of maybe religious communities.
Geography was the next lesson and we looked at the local area in a bit more detail. We looked at a town called Princetown, in Dartmoor, and how it originated. We looked at how the town started as a play to keep prisoners of war, but as the prison grew so did the community, so they expanded and eventually became the town it was today. We looked at maps and talked about how we could get children to look at maps to find places in the area and get an understanding of what their surroundings are like.
ICT was next on the agenda; we started with a lecture in which the importance of ICT in such a digital age was discussed. Points were made such as English now not being just spelling and handwriting but also the use of new technology, such as typing.
During the lecture it was also said that the average primary school teacher saves themselves about 2.5 hours a week all thanks to the use of ICT.
ICT is empowering was also brought up, this was then backed up by the fact that ICT is expanding itself into all subjects, such as using search engines and the internet to research history, or typing up a story.
There was some important points brought up as to why ICT can be useful:
• Displays
• Planning
• Time saving
• Editing
• Reports
• Record-keeping
• Communications
• Collaborating
• Shared planning

All these thing could either not be done with ICT or would be much harder to do without it. They are all key for any Primary teacher so the amount of help ICT can be as an aid is incredible. We were then told how ICT can be used to improve a child’s development of language, through composing, presenting, reading and transforming texts, and exploring information.
After the lecture we had a practical lesson, this involved taking out cameras and making film clips that we could use to put together a short video. This exercise was designed to show us how we could record things in a classroom and simply put them together for the children to see, although we have yet to put the clips together, that will happen next week.
The last part of the week was Primary Education in Context. This is a lesson that focuses on a child’s learning and how they learn. The main point emphasised throughout the lesson was that for a child to learn best they must feel ownership of a lesson; this will lead them to feel responsible for their learning and will give them the motivation they need to stay concentrating and paying attention.
The key points brought up in the lesson were:
• The child is at the centre of the learning
• Learning is key
• Reflection and evaluation
• ECM

Brain gym was something brought up, it is just simple exercises that get the brain working and motivated, doing brain gym every day will lead to improved concentration. It is also very good to let children use their imagination and to be creative whilst learning.
As teachers we should also always make sure to include the parents or guardians, these are the people who know the children best and as teachers will help us to get to know the children as individuals to improve our teaching techniques.
It is vital to remember that we should never tell a child off if we lose our tempers. Discipline is very important and we need to make sure children behave, if they don’t then we should tell them off but not if we have lost our tempers, the child will pick up on this.
At the end of the lesson we went through some learning objectives to help us when we are teaching. The first we learnt was W.A.L.T. This stands for We Are Learning To… at the start of the day of lesson we as teachers can give the ‘W.A.L.T’ so there is an objective or aim set for the end of day or lesson. The second is:
Must ================= Every Child
Should ================= What most children should do
Could ================= What they go on to do