Week 11 Professional

During this week we had no scheduled classes but we were given the opportunity to attend extra workshops that would add ECTS to our overall mark for Erasmus.  The workshops were taught by international lecturers from St. Patricks College (Dublin), Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey and Georgia State University in Atlanta.  We had to choose two out of the tree workshops to attend which looked at the topics of Bullying, Educational Disadvantage and Drama. The workshops that we choose to attend were Educational Disadvantage and Bullying which were presented by the lecturers from Ireland and the USA.

On Tuesday we went to the first of three lectures based on Educational Disadvantage.  We were then told that this workshop would look at how The Arts can be used as a technique to help tackle educational disadvantage in primary schools.  The breakdown of the course enabled us to explore the status of The Arts in the different countries and it allowed us to begin to talk about why The Arts may have such a high status in some countries and not in others.  We then talked about how harnessing multiple intelligence profiles can aid in tackling the fear of failure in children.  We were told that by preparing lessons that suits a child’s intelligence profile allows them to succeed in every way.  CCEA (2007, p. 27) states that in Foundation Stage ‘Children’s creative, expressive and physical development is closely linked with all aspects of their learning’ we got to see this when we were showed how children can become creative agents in their own learning as they take full control of their learning in The Arts.  CCEA (2007, p.69) also states that at Key Stage 1 and 2 ‘Art and Design, Drama and Music provide rich opportunities for developing creativity, allowing children to express their ideas, feelings and interpretations of the world in diverse ways”. This was backed up when the lecture gave us information on a recent study that she had completed. Children in her study were presented with the task of designing their dream school and all children were able to come up with an individual idea and present it to the rest of the class. 

The bullying workshop got us to look at the problems of bullying in schools in America and to think about if we have seen any bullying happening during all our different placements.  NVPEP (2009) states that ‘more than 160,000 US students stay home from school each day from fear of being bullied’. We were given a survey to fill in that asked questions about if schools in our home countries had bullying policies and it was very interesting to find that most other countries do not have a bullying policy. The NIABF (2013) states that ‘43% of primary school children perceive that they have been bullied at least once’. After we discussed what bullying means our lectures then gave us a case study on bullying in which we had to work in groups to come up with different solutions to combat the  issue of bullying using Direct and Indirect Punitive responses and Direct and Indirect constructive responses.  The lecture’s finished off by showing us a 7 week scheme of work that address the issue of bulling which enables the teacher to find out places that the children think are safe and unsafe in the school grounds.  This was very interesting to see as the lectures said that by using this map of the school both students and teachers were able to work together to make the school a safer environment for all students.    

This week was very interesting and made me think about my professional career and the different topics and issues that I will have to combat once I become a qualified teacher.

References

CCEA (2007) Northern Ireland Curriculum, Belfast, CCEA.

NevadaPEP (NVPEP) (2009) Bullying Statistics Did you know? Available at: http://www.nvpep.org/bullying/bullyingstatistics.html (accessed 22/04/13)

Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF) (2013) About Bullying available at:  http://niabf.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=5&Itemid=29 (accessed 22/04/13) 

Week 10 Cultural

This week we took part in the ‘Tour to the West’ which is a compulsory component of our Dutch Culture and Society Module.  The ‘Tour to the West’ is a weekend trip that enables us to visit other cities in the West of the Netherlands.  During the trip we would be visiting the cities of Delft, The Hague and the up rooted village of The Zaanse Schans.

The famous Delft Porcelain

On Friday morning we left for the city of Delft, it was here that we would be taking part in a photography challenge that would help us to get to know the city better.  The first piece of information that we found out about Delft is that it is famous for its blue and white pottery.  The blue and white porcelain has been made in the city since the 1600s. There were many souvenir shops selling Delft pottery and around the city there were monuments and bricks made out of this blue and white porcelain.  The day continued with trips to both the Oude Kerk (Old Church) and the Nieuwe Kerk (New church) which included a 356 step climb up a 108.75 metre tower on the New church that gave us an amazing view of the city of Delft. 

Michelle and I on top of the Nieuwe Kerk

On Saturday we travelled to The Hague where we would be taking part in a treasure hunt to help us explore the city.  In The Hague we got to go and visit the ‘working palace’ of the of the Dutch Royal family.  This palace is called Noordeinde Palace and it is the Queen’s workplace and office for all political and affairs.

Noordeinde Palace

Sunday we left our hostel and travelled towards the Dutch heritage museum called Zaanse Schans.  The Zaanse Schans is a replicate village that shows how a typical Zaanse village would have looked like in the 17^th and the 18^th century; however it is still a functioning hamlet in which people live in. Our tour guide referred to the village as “the perfect way to view the historical heritage of The Netherlands”. 

Zaanse Schans

Trying on Green clogs

During our visit to the Zaans Schans village we were given a demonstration on how to make cheese and how to make wooden clogs.  I was really interested to see how clogs were made as they are something that I would consider ‘typically Dutch’.  The website Iamsterdam (2013) states that “clogs have even been certified by the European Union as safety shoes as they can withstand sharp and heavy objects and concentrated acids”. At the beginning I found this quite hard to believe but after the demonstration I was able to witness the strength of a clog.  During the demonstration it was fascinating to see all the different clogs that would have been used for different circumstances e.g. farming, family functions and even clogs for kids.  I also learnt that brides carved their own wedding clogs to make them individual and that they would wear them for the first time on their wedding day. During the demonstration we were told that it would take two hours to carve a pair of clogs by hand but now with the help of modern technology a pair of clogs can be created in under five minutes.

First Albert Heijn Grocery Store

After this we also got to see the first  ever ‘Albert Heijn’ grocery store , this was very fascinating to see as Albert Heijn at the moment the biggest supermarket chain in the Netherlands and it was very interesting to see where it all had originated.

Overall I had a great weekend at the ‘Tour to the West’, both night and day was filled with fun and adventure and it was a fantastic way to get to learn more about the culture and history of The Netherlands. 

References

Iamsterdam (2013) Clogs – Traditional Hand Crafted wooden shoes available at: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/experience/about-amsterdam/history-and-society/clogs accessed (15/04/13) 

Week 9 Professional

In school this week my teacher showed me how she plans what the children will be doing each week.  She explained to me that the school promotes independent learning throughout all the different age groups but that they also teach children time management and how to schedule their day.  She highlighted that this was particularly important for group eight (my class) as next year they will be attending secondary school and there they will need to be able to plan when to do homework and assignments for all the different classes that they will have.

The picture above shows the type of plan that my teacher and my class use each week.  The children get a plan like this every Thursday.  From the picture you can see that each day has a specific colour e.g. Vriidag (Friday) is orange.  You can see from the plan there are set lessons to be completed on certain days e.g. On Wednesday (Woensdag, Blue) the children have to do Rekenen pages 98 + 99 (Math), when the children complete this lesson they colour in the box beside Rekenen blue.  However you can see that some tasks do not have a colour beside it and that both boxes are white.  This means that the children can choose on what day they would like to complete these lessons.  The children have to think about what they will be able to achieve on that day and when would be the best time for them to do their extra work.  To allow the children to think carefully about their planning they get a special amount of time each week called ‘Blokuur’ which means ‘planning time’.  This type of development prepares the children for planning their homework and helps them think about time management and scheduling.

The GTCNI (2008) (competence number 13) states that “Teachers will plan and evaluate lessons that enable all pupils, including those with special education needs, to meet learning objectives/outcomes /intentions showing expectations and an awareness of potential areas of difficulty.”

I believe that this type of planning allows the teacher to enable all students to meet the learning objectives as the children will be working at their own pace and completing their extra work during a time that they have decided on themselves.  They still have to complete certain tasks that the teacher selects but by allowing the children to choose when they would like to complete work encourages them to be independent and think about their own level of ability.  Armathwaite Community School (2013) States that “asking children to plan and review what they do involves them purposefully in their own learning”.

Here in The Netherlands there is no curriculum that primary schools have to follow.  The teacher is able to choose what the children will learn and what type of books he/she would like to use to help the children learn.  My class learn Language (Taal) and Math (Rekenen) but the rest of the time they work on a specific project that the teacher would like to teach them.  Projects that the children have been working on since I have arrived are ‘Southern European Countries’ and they are currently working on ‘The Dutch Golden age’ (De Gouden Eeuw).  

References 

Armathwaite Community School (2013) Introduction: What is child Initiated Independent learning? Available at: http://www.armathwaite.cumbria.sch.uk/index.php?category_id=18 (accessed 06/04/13)

GTCNI Competences (2008). Professional Competences. Available at : http://www.gtcni.org.uk//index.cfm/area/information/page/ProfStandard (accessed 06/04/13)

Week Eight – Cultural

As we were off for our Easter break we decided to use this as an opportunity to go travelling.  After discussing about the different places that we could visit, our group all agreed that we would like to travel to Germany and see the capital of Berlin.

Map of the many wind farms across Germany

As I love to travel I was very excited that we would be getting to go and visit another country.  We set off on Thursday morning to the bus station where we would be getting on the first of many buses to Berlin.  I had no idea what to expect from Berlin but travelling with Darren and Sarah who are history nerds I got a brief history of Berlin during the 11 hours we travelled so I was well and truly educated by the time I arrived.  

The first thing I noticed when we entered Germany was the wind turbines.  According to Natural Geographic (1996) “Germany has the most installed wind energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States, India, and Denmark”.   This was easy to see as every mile or so we would drive past a field that had around 10 wind turbines in it. It was incredible to see the amount of wind turbines across the landscape and it made me think about how some people back home would argue that it ruins the landscape but that in fact it is a great source of renewable energy.

Brandenburg gate

We arrived in Berlin late on Thursday night so we decided to have an early night to prepare for the adventure that would occur the next day.  We got up early on Friday morning and got the bus into the centre of Berlin, this is where the fun began.  We had to get hold of a map and figure out in what direction we would have to travel in to get to our first destination of the Brandenburg Gate.  It was when we arrived at the Brandenburg gate that it hit me that I was finally in Germany.   It was an amazing experience to stand at the gate and see the vast amount of people that crowded around it.  

Holocaust Memorial 

Dinosaurs at National History Museum

We then went on to visit the Reichstag, the Jewish Holocaust memorial, the contemporary art museum, the natural History museum, the Berlin Wall and the Berlin Wall museum. 

Memorial at the Berlin Wall

It was at the Berlin Wall that the history of Berlin really hit home for me.  There was a memorial of some of the people who had died at the wall and pictures of their faces.  It was seeing the faces of people who had died trying to get a better life that really made me think about the devastation that happened.  In the Berlin Wall museum we got to read about the history of the wall and about stories of people who had died trying to get over the wall including some children.  Some stories were very difficult to read about and also some of the videos that they were showing were hard to watch.  However it was an amazing experience and I learnt a lot from the stories and the different items that were on display.

"No man's land" between the East and the West

On Friday we visited a museum that showed 800 years of Berlin history from medieval times to the history of both world wars.  The amount of items from the different time periods that the museum had preserved was mind-blowing and it was incredible to see how Berlin had grown as a city.  Even though we spent two hours in the museum we didn't get to finish it as we also had to visit the Jewish museum, the Atle Nationalgalerie museum and Checkpoint Charlie that very same day.

Famous photograph

At Checkpoint Charlie I saw a famous photograph which I completely fell in love with.  It is a picture of an East German soldier leaning across a barrier talking to a small boy.  My first thoughts were what was the soldier doing and why was he talking to the young child.  I later found out that the history behind this picture was that young boy had spent the night with friends and found himself the next morning on the opposite side of the wall to his family.  The soldier is glancing around to see if it is safe to let the young boy pass through the barrier back to his family.  However the communist government had ordered the soldiers not to let anyone pass through the barriers so that explains the soldier’s apprehensive look.  The soldier was seen by his superior officer and was immediately detached from his unit.  The inscription beneath the photo reads that “No one knows what became of him” referring to the soldier.  Reed (2009) talks about the picture and states that “Only the most despicable tyrants could punish a man for letting a child get to his loved one but in the Evil Empire, that and much worse happened all the time” .

Berlin was an amazing experience for me and although we only got to stay there for four days I learned so much and got to experience so much of the German history and culture.  I would advise everyone if they had the opportunity to visit Berlin to take it as it is a breath taking and beautiful city. 

References

Natural Geographic (1996) Wind Power available at: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/wind-power-profile/ (accessed 29/03/13)

Reed, L. (2009) Berlin, August 1961: An Anniversary We Should Never Forget available at: http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/berlin-august-1961-an-anniversary-we-should-never-forget (accessed 29/03/13)