Here is video footage of the galleries on the second floor of the British Museum. Sorry, about the quality!
May post a summary of the day later… (to be continued)
As SE1 comes to it’s end, I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I am happy that it’s finally over but quite sad that I’ve left (never thought I’d ever be saying that!).
My major target was to build up my confidence during this placement, and I can report that I have definitely achieved that.
I have left on an absolute high! My final observation with Year 13 this week, teaching Core 4, went very well (graded 1, 1, 2 respectively). And the feedback was moving.
I am going to miss the school and staff, especially our mentor and professional tutor. The maths department have been FANTASTIC!
How to plot a graph of linear equation
M.J. McDermott is speaking about the current state of math education, as a private citizen
The presenter goes through a variety of different algorithms to tackle general arithmetic and briefly discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Even though this video is targeted at an U.S. audience, it’s really interesting.
Topic: Cubic solids
Group: Year 8
Evaluation
To what extent did pupils acheive their learning outcome? how do you know they acheived them?
Pupils learnt how to:
During the lesson I went round monitoring pupils progress. By the end of the lesson, all pupils were able to draw cuboids (3-D) on isometric papar aswell as calculating there volumes.
I made sure learning was possible for everyone via direct teaching and demonstration of examples on board. Followed by monitoring each pupils progress, and assisting pupils as required.
Additional points to follow up in next lesson.
Pupils move onto calculating the surface area for each cuboid.
General comments:
The lesson went well although their was a lot more chatting between pupils than usual… and by the end of the lesson pupils met the learning objective.
Negatives:
Positives:
Improvements:
Personal targets and subject specific tasks / knowledge to develop as a result of this lesson:
This video shows students how to add fractions with different denominators.
I don’t have time to upload all my teaching resources at the moment. They should be up during half-term, Insha-allah.
In the meantime, I will be uploading lesson plans upon request. So if you want a lesson plan just request it below.
Finally, it’s almost time. All initial teacher training programmes at my institution (excluding the Primary PGCE, which I think has already commenced) start tomorrow. As usual, the first week will be a general induction week for all trainees.
We have been set a task prior to the first PGCE Core session on Tuesday. The task is to make a list of about 10 qualities/characteristics that help make an effective teacher.
As with most students’ these days, I first turned to the internet for research. The first relevant article I came across was entitled ‘The Good Teacher‘ on times.com, the official web site of TIME Magazine, which listed the following 12 characteristics:
1. A friendly attitude
2. Consideration for the individual
3. Patience
4. Wide interests
5. Good manners
6. Fairness
7. Sense of humour
8. Good disposition
9. Interest in the individual
10. Flexibility
11. Generosity
12. Skill
The second article was entitled ‘What makes the ideal teacher‘, which lists the following definitions that make a good teacher according to to pupils aged 12 and 13.
They said a good teacher…
is kind
is generous
listens to you
encourages you
has faith in you
keeps confidences
likes teaching children
likes teaching their subject
takes time to explain things
helps you when you’re stuck
tells you how you are doing
allows you to have your say
doesn’t give up on you
cares for your opinion
makes you feel clever
treats people equally
stands up for you
makes allowances
tells the truth
is forgiving.
I think that should be enough. Now, all I have to do is ponder on these points.
We’re now into the last ten days of August but because of the weather it seems more like late November. Anyway, on the PGCE front:
Before I begin the course, I need to brush up on my numeracy and literacy skills and start practicing past papers for GCSE Mathematics. At the moment, I am worried about my writing skills because it’s awful, but they are going to be critical for the coming year.
Key Stage 2 Experience
I have just arranged a 3 day placement with a Key Stage 2, Year 6, class at my local primary school. According to my University, it is a TDA requirement for all PGCE Secondary trainees to be aware of what happens in the stage before children join secondary schools. This means all trainees have to make arrangements with a primary school in order to spend a few days (only one for GTPs) observing a class in Year 6. The aim, of this, is for us to understand what knowledge and skills children bring with them from primary into secondary schools.
In all honesty, I’m not looking forward to this. But atleast it’s only for 4 days.