Computing within Primary Schools has become a high-quality and engaging cross-curricular subject that equips children to use creative thinking within their learning to understand and change the world around them (DfE, 2013). To engage and enrich children’s learning further, Turvey et al (2015) suggests that children’s capacity for computational thinking can be developed within meaningful contexts, for example; using real-world scenarios to understand coding. I was inspired by this piece of ideology and therefore based my computing lesson around engaging children to think of computing in different ways which were outside the stereotype that ‘computing has to be solely based on technology’

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For my lesson I followed the plan of “My Robotic Friends” (Thinkersmith, 2013) which used a predefined ‘Robot Vocabulary’ that children followed to accomplish a cup stacking task whilst, also progressing their learning in the valuable skill of understanding coding through instructions and how to identify errors through self-assessment. I was allocated forty-five minutes for this lesson which included a full class of 29 pupils in which I divided into groups of three and four.

During the computing lesson pupils responded well in regards with meeting the learning objective. Children were presented with problem solving tasks by creating an algorithm for their chosen ‘robot’ within their group who then had to decode algorithms using only the instructions the ‘programmers’ made. Children had to use their creative train of thought, thinking logically about each instruction they made into their programme and through trial were presented with errors which taught the children the skill of ‘debugging’ in which they could stop their programme and correct the error before the ‘robot’ could continue. Upon reflection I believe by using real-life objects such as the cups allowed the children to adapt their learning skills through different methods and teaching strategies. Turvey at al (2015) builds on the strong emphasis that computational thinking not only has to involve computers but to challenge our pupils with reflecting on algorithms in day-to-day activities which the class met throughout this lesson. The National Curriculum (2013) content for key stage 2 supports this by stating that children must use logical reasoning to explain how algorithms work and be able to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs.

In order for children to fully meet the learning objective to the highest attainment I used a wide range of teaching strategies within my practice to cater to as many learning styles within the time frame. To begin I opened with an interactive discussion with the children sharing life experiences with robotics with a discussion. This encouraged children to use their logical thinking and to learn from a social perspective that benefits children who flourish within a group setting. Following this, I used strategic questioning to influence children’s creative flow of thinking, followed with cooperative learning. Clarke (2005) discusses the need to teach children accordingly by offering opportunities to work cooperatively as this allows children to explore their knowledge with one another, creating improvements to help consolidate their learning. Cooperative learning proved to be a successful strategy as all groups were working in mixed attainment levels which influenced some pupils to be stretched by their peers when constructing their algorithms for this task.

To conclude, I would adapt the strategies I used within this lesson in my own teaching practice by using discussion and feedback throughout the lesson to ensure children are making progress to meeting the learning objective. Through this exercise I have now gained an understanding on how to further enhance children’s learning within computing by making it cross-curricular and interactive.

Word Count: 594

Reference List:

Clarke, S. (Ed.) (2005) Formative assessment in action: weaving the elements together. London: Hodder Education.

Department for Education (DfE) (2013) National Curriculum in England: Primary Computing Curriculum (online) Available: < https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study#key-stage-2 > (Accessed 14th November 2017)

Thinkersmith (2013) Travelling Circuits: Lesson 3, My Robotic Friends. [Online] Available from: https://csedweek.org/files/CSEDrobotics.pdf [accessed 03 November 2017].

Turvey, K., Potter, J. and Burton, J. (2016) Primary Computing and Digital Technologies; Knowledge, Understanding and Practice, London: Sage, Learning Matters.

For this blog I will be discussing the key sensibilities, skills and knowledge around inclusion that teachers need to adopt within their practice. Inclusion is a difficult term to define as it extends beyond SEND and is not just a term that describes the placement of learners who have SEND within mainstream schools but actually about the process that is concerned with everyone (Trussler and Robinson 2015).

From my own experience, I witnessed, what I believed was an excellent display of inclusion within two partnership schools. One day a week, students from a mainstream school would travel to their neighbouring SEN school and participate in an educational lesson which removed stereotypical barriers allowing all to achieve through a varied curriculum. This programme allowed all children to learn and socialise together gaining knowledge from their peers.

In regards to my own beliefs around inclusion, I feel very strongly on this matter, not only in an educational setting but also within society. I studied my undergraduate degree in ‘Learning Disability Studies’ which focused primarily on the importance of all aspects of inclusion. Trussler and Robinson (2015) discuss two models that I am previously familiar with within their report which is the ‘Medical model of disability’ based in the ‘Functional model’ and the ‘Social Model of disability’ within the ‘Transactional model’. As a teacher and a professional I will be planning all my lessons from the social model of disability viewpoint, however, what exactly is the medical and social model?

The Medical Model according to Trussler and Robinson (2015)

• “Focuses on impairment and incapacity of individual”
• “Positions cause of difficulty or disability within learner”
• Focuses on fixing or compensating for impairment”

The social Model according to Trussler and Robinson (2015)

• “Focuses on impact of environment”
• “Removing barriers in environment”
• “Positions cause of difficulty or disability with the complex interaction between individual and environment”

It is clear from this citation that working from a medical model stance as a teacher would not be deemed as inclusive as it looks at changing an individual rather than enhancing the support and environment around a child to fully meet their needs.

From my previous experience I have worked within a classroom that had a diverse range of needs in which the attainment levels within the class were extremely vast which was problematic for whole class teaching. To overcome this the class teacher collaborated with all professionals within the school as well as the parents/carers of the child to fully ensure the child attained as highly as possible. The International Disability and Development Consortium (2013) discusses the implementation of people with disabilities being involved within their educational planning and management. The reason inclusiveness has failed is often due to those who are planning do not have disabilities and usually have no direct experience of working with people with disabilities. I intend to use this approach within my teaching career as it is allowing the individual to be actively involved, respected and valued and will ensure specific requirements and needs are being met.

To conclude I feel that a successful teacher most consider the needs of all children and understand that all children learn in different ways working within a child-centred approach. A teacher must know every learner and plan around all learning styles involving all which reflects with the Equality Act (2010) which highlights the importance of giving everyone the same opportunities regardless of age, disability, race, sex, religion or belief. In the future I will adapt my practice in response to children’s needs to ensure the classroom celebrates diversity.

Word Count: 592

Reference list:

Equality Act 2010 [Online] Available < https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance > [Accessed 30th October 2017].

International Disability and Development Consortium (2013) Teachers for All: Inclusive Teaching for Children with Disabilities Available: < http://www.eenet.org.uk/resources/docs/IDDC_Paper_Teachers_for_all.pdf > [Accessed 30^th October 2017].

Trussler, S. and Robinson, D. (2015) Understanding special educational needs, disability and inclusive education. Inclusive Practice in the Primary School: a guide for teachers. London: Sage.

Within this blog post I will be reflecting upon Goswami’s report on “Children’s cognitive development and learning’. There are two key conclusions that particularly gained my attention which I will stimulate my focus and key discussions around. The first conclusion is: ‘thinking, reasoning and understanding can be enhanced by imaginative or pretend play contexts.” The second conclusion I will discuss is: “language is crucial for development” (Goswami, 2015, p.25).

The first conclusion considers the importance of imaginative and pretend play of a child. Goswami discusses that children embed human behaviour from the situation that is around them which encourages their intentions and emotional responses which through imagination and pretend play can be enriched for the child to develop cognitive learning and development.

From my school experience I have seen class teachers scaffolding their pedagogical practice of imaginative play within their lessons. For example; I observed a class of year 5 pupils role-playing characters from the Shakespearean story ‘Macbeth’ where children used pretend voices for the role of the ‘witches’. This allowed the children to illustrate and demonstrate their use of imaginative play which facilitated symbolic development (Bigelow et al 2004). This type of pretend play demonstrated is known as ‘sociodramatic play’ (Lindsey and Colwell 2013).

From my observation there are many benefits to sociodramatic play. The pupils within the class interacted and built a positive report with their fellow classmates which aided their social skills and allowed the children to get in the mind set and gain a deeper understanding of emotion through role play. The teacher carefully framed this activity in which the children could gain as many opportunities for reflection and development of learning as possible.

The second conclusion I will discuss is the importance of language for learning development. Goswami talks about how language plays a key role in cognitive development and aids conceptual development. From my experience I have witnessed class teachers focusing on four key areas of communication such as; speaking, listening, reading and writing. For example; during an English lesson the class teacher used the strategy of guided reading with the class when reading the story of ‘Macbeth’. At key points during this lesson, the teacher discussed with the class any new vocabulary and the definitions of these words and put these onto a ‘word bank’. The Department for Children, School and Families (2009) discuss the importance of working walls and reading corners as this creates a broad and rich language environment for all children. Once the teacher I was observing had finished with the key words, these were now displayed within the classroom as a visual representation for the children to see a positive reflection on their learning. These words were then used in a later task during the week in which the teacher was able to assess their understanding of the vocabulary learnt.

(Click on image to view in larger format)

The ‘language learner’ diagram shows how much of an impact language has upon the progress children make within their cognitive learning (Department for children, schools and families, 2009).

To conclude, I feel that the conclusions provided by Goswami will have great implications on myself as a teacher as I will ensure my lessons are as interactive as possible to further develop children’s cognitive learning. I will plan my lessons thinking of the language used from myself and the children through listening, speaking, reading and writing which will encourage children’s social, learning and emotional development. I will also use the strategy of asking thought provoking questions and the use of new words which will extend children’s thinking and curiosity (Joan E, et al 2010) and adapt their behaviour to a specific task to achieve the highest attainment possible.

Word Count: 608

Reference List:

• Bigelow, A. E., MacLean, K. and Proctor, J. (2004) The role of joint attention in development of infants’ play with objects. Developmental science. Vol. 7, No. 4: 419-421.
• Department for Children, School and Families (2009) Developing language in the primary school: Literacy and primary languages, London: DfE
• Goswami, U. (2015) Children’s cognitive development and learning; Report for the Cambridge Primary Review Trust [online]. Available: <http://cprtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/COMPLETE-REPORT-Goswami-Childrens-Cognitive-Development-and-Learning.pdf> [Accessed 22^nd October 2017].
• Lindsey, E., & Colwell, M. (2013). Pretend and physical play: links to preschoolers’ affective social competence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 59(3), 330-360. Available: <http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.nd.edu/journals/merrill-palmer_quarterly/v059/59.3.lindsey.html (link is external)> [Accessed 23^rd October 2017].
• Test, J. E., Cunningham, D. D. and Lee, A. C. (2010) Talking With Young Children: How Teachers Encourage Learning. Dimensions of early childhood. Vol. 38, No. 3: 3-14.

Effective behaviour management strategies imparted by the teacher is essential for the success of a classroom. On September 21^st I participated in a university based lecture with Paul Woodward who is a behavioral specialist and focused on the importance of pivotal practice which focuses on structuring your approach of teaching by working effectively with 95% of your class which will have a positive impact on the remaining 5% to promote constructive aspects of behaviour management in the classroom.

The key aims behind successful behaviour management strategies stems from the head teacher stimulating measures within their schools behavioral policy which aims to promote good behaviour, respect and self-discipline (DfE 2016). According to DfE (2016) good behaviour is encouraged through the schools ethos which focuses on the discipline and mutual respect between staff and pupils.

The success of teachers who manage behaviour well, falls within the habits that they use in the classroom. Woordward (2017) explains this through different stages within behaviour management called “Five Pillars of Pivotal Practice”. These are as follows:

• Pillar One: Consistent, calm adult behaviour
• Pillar Two: First Attention to best conduct
• Pillar Three: Relentless routines
• Pillar Four: Scripting difficult interventions
• Pillar Five: Restorative conversations

Pillar One: Consistent, calm adult behaviour is an extremely useful tool to implement effective behaviour management strategies within the classroom. From my own perspective through experience I am a firm believer that emotions are ‘contagious’ and through different strategies we, as teachers, can control our emotions to model good behaviour for children. Woodward (2017) discussed how teachers should verbalise the behaviour you want to see and make it explicit through words and actions or through positive notices around the classroom reflects success from pupils. This idea is emphasised in Leo (2012) whereby she argues that to promote good behaviour you should encourage positive wellbeing for the child.

Pillar Two implies that as teachers, a successful strategy is to focus on praising good behaviour rather than criticising a child. An example of this could be from the teacher using subtle reflective praise to a child by asking: “Tell me why I am so pleased with this work?” which creates a sense of positive reinforcement and acknowledgment for the child.

From my own experience, I will also discuss the effectiveness of ‘Pillar Three: Relentless routines.” What I found difficult to manage within schools was the changeover between learning on the floor as a group within guided reading to then transitioning to individual work on their tables and the transition between ‘in and out of seat’ as this created a level of disruptiveness within the classroom which was difficult to manage.

A strategy that I introduced as a TA which eliminated the level of disruption was making the transition fun and inclusive for the children. I set clear instructions for children to move back to their table groups only when I called out their particular eye colour. This technique allowed the children to stay focused with my voice and the instructions given which intrigued the children to listen for their own individual eye colour and made the process personal to them in which I found effective for the transition and removed any element of disruption.

To summarise, Harper (2014) states that effective behaviour management strategies which are used within the classroom underpins the success of teaching and learning which compliments results from DfE (2016) that primary schools with good or outstanding behaviour have been found on average to have a higher percentage of pupils with a better outcome in Maths and English compared to schools with satisfactory or inadequate behaviour judgements.

References:

• Department for Education (2016) Behaviour and discipline in schools, London: DfE
• Harper, A. and Martin, K. (Eds.) (2014) Managing behaviour in the Primary Classroom. (2nd ed.) Berkshire: National Foundation for Educational Research.
• Leo, P. (Ed.) (2007) Connection Parenting: Parenting Through Connection Instead of Coercion, Through Love Instead of Fear. (2nd ed.) Oregon: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
• Pivotal Education Lecture with Paul Woodward (2017) University of Brighton, September 21^st.