I never thought I would be saying this, but at long
last we have begun to do some work! Our class schedule formally began this week
and unfortunately, some of my classes were cancelled due to low numbers, so I
have spent most of the week attending different classes and trying to find ones which are appropriate for my degree.
‘Teaching strategies within Early Childhood education’
is one of the modules I am taking within the education faculty. I have to say,
I was very impressed with this class as the teacher was energetic and vibrant
and her lesson was interactive. She mixed the class into groups and asked us to
discuss and record our thoughts on a reading about Vygotsky. Although I had
previously studied this in Stranmillis, I found that the lecturer’s style of
teaching explained and reinforced Vygotsky’s ideas which enabled me to
understand the concepts much more deeply. The class also showed me that Marisa, Brian
and I are at a great advantage, as the text, which would have taken others in
the group half an hour to read, took us merely five or ten minutes to read! However,
this causes the lecturers to expect more from us unfortunately, but I suppose
that’s fair.
.jpg) |
| Collegium Maius Campus |
Outside of the education faculty, I joined a class
called ‘Acting craft in Polish theatre’. This week we explored the ‘Study of
uninterrupted flow of movement’. The class was practical and the
activities were designed to explore body movements, gestures and facial
expressions. Throughout this lesson I found many links to teaching, as the
activities directly linked to the drama, dance, gymnastics, PDMU and music area
of the Northern Ireland Curriculum. The class has already given me so many
ideas for teaching, especially for P.E class, as this class encouraged us to “use
different parts of the body to explore personal and general space”, “explore, practise and improve body management skills” and evaluate our own “movements
and those of others” (CCEA, 2007). I was actually very shocked how closely it
related to the Northern Ireland curriculum and I hope I can continue attending
this class. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of this but I will try and remember for next week!
‘Social Capital’ was another class I attended this week. I’ll
be honest; I wasn't sure exactly what the class would be about and was worried
it may not be very helpful for my professional development. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I
realised that a large area of this class would be about multiculturism and
issues surrounding this. I am extremely excited to begin studying this topic as just before I came to Poland I had selected this as my
dissertation topic and I hope
it will help me with my literature review and deciding the direction I might go in for my research. Additionally, the
lecturer has assured me that I can design my presentation around multiculturism
within education.
Hopefully by next week I will have a lot more to say about my
professional development as I am starting my first day of placement on Monday!
Until then, Na Razie!
References:
CCEA (2007) available at, http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/
accessed 08/03/13
No comments:
Post a Comment