Reflecting...

Bonjour!

This post is about 3 weeks late, but I still wanted to make note of it through the blog! I wanted to just reflect over my experiences at Uni so far and my initial thoughts of the BEd course and also share some feelings about a visit to a new and local 'Free School'.

I'm really enjoying Uni so far, although it is very much like being back at 6th Form College, but it'll just take some more getting used to I reckon! I'm really enjoying meeting new and interesting people, not only peers and collegues, but the lectures and staff too. :-).

Throughout the 3 weeks so far, there's been a big emphasis on 'reflecting' and 'critical thinking', which as a teacher is going to be a very important skill. On Day 2 of 'Fresher's Week' our ICT specialist group took a trip to a developing 'Free School' in the city centre that do things a little bit differently! They currently only have a Reception, Year 1 and a joint Year 2/3 class in the Primary School and only Year 7 in the Secondary School. Their focus for learning is intrinsic motivation and incorporation of technology to help and encourage creative learning. Now, being an ICT and Computing specialist, this was a great way for us not only to see the different environments they work in but the types of technology they use and how they use it effectively in the classroom.

The way they do things at this school is very different to what we're used to in traditional classrooms. They call their classrooms 'studios' and they may have two or three lessons going on simultaneously. Although to us it seemed chaotic and difficult to concentrate, results show that the children learn very well.

In Year 2/3 a group were using iPad's as tool to assist their learning. They'd taken photographs of pages in a story book and were using these photo's to zoom in on detail of illustrations and spend a longer amount of time studying aspects. This then assisted their own creative writing, inspired by the detail in the illustrator's drawings. The Year 7 groip consisted of 97 students across two 'studio's. These children, possibly do to their age, seemed even more engaged in their learning through the use of technology. Some were using iPad's to watch Spanish video's as part of a language lesson and some were at the other end of the room carrying out various tasks in Geography.

A key teaching method which I found very interesting was the 'do it yourself' attitude they seemed to have. The teachers act more as mentors to the children who drive their own learning. The teacher used 'QR' codes to direct the children to a webpage or a blog that explained the activity or task for the lesson and the rest was left up to the children. I also noticed no desks, or tables. There were computers around the outside of the room and the floor space consisted of cushions and beanbags for the children to work on and feel more comfortable and relaxed.

I really enjoyed this visit to the school and picked up on some things that I would like to take on-board throughout my future teaching career. I was really inspired by the way they took a different approach to engaging the children and highlighted the importance of the individual's learning through their intrinsic motivation, and adapting methods of teaching to suit each child.

I would love to go back soon!

That's all for now folks.

Jess xo