Ah nursery. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I don't like tea and I like nursery so I'm not sure what it's my cup of.
Hot blackcurrent juice maybe, or coke... though coke should be drunk from the can cause it tastes better.
Anyway! Nursery
What a laugh. I know I'm supposed to be learning hard hitting child development thingies and appreciate how the Curriculum for Excellence fits in and what the role of the adult is and all that jazz but good grief, what I've learned most is how funny children are. And I don't mean intentionally haha funny (though that is the case sometimes) I mean just how their minds work and how they react to things.
This is the goldmine that made me want to become a teacher in the first place.
The dialogue when the teacher asked what a doctor might have in his bag went as follows:
Child 1 "..."
Child 2 "....doctor things."
Child 3 "Doctor things!"
Child 4 "Tetoscope"
Teacher "Yes, a doctor would have a stethoscope which is a big long word. Lets try to say it ST-ETH-O-SCOPE."
Children "..variations of stethoscope.."
Teacher "Now moving on.."
Child 5 "I didn't get a shot!"
Teacher "OK, what do you think the doctor has in his bag."
Child 5 "A puppy!"
And so on. It's comedy gold!
Don't get me wrong. I'm not mocking the children or anything but anyone who works with the early years can appreciate how funny some of the things they come out with can be.
Saying that I had a P6 last year who was reading a news report she'd written about a volcanic eruption and said "And aa [type of lava] lava was running down the side of he volcano destroying houses, burning children and worrying everyone." I encouraged her to use stronger language than worry.
Anyway, this post is simply sharing my joy at working with such young children.
But what's really exciting about working with children is working them grow.
Tuesday 8 November 2011
Wednesday 2 November 2011
Creativity
Wahey! Something related to my course.
I am to write a blog about what creativity means. Well, I don't do anything simple so I'll tell you what I find frustrating when described as creative.
For one, arty farty types who create pieces of art that look like cat sick that is apparently a representation of how the British tax payer is being crushed by the government and blah blah blah.
I went to a play in London that involved the audience moving around a large metal box thing and then watch a man dressed as a Jew move about (on what I'm going to call skates cause I can't think of what they're actually called) through a bath house while a creepy psycho child moved about the rafters. It was absolutely appalling but, I'm sure, represented some form of creativity.
Of course, that just means that my concept of creativity differs from the people who wrote the torture but there you go. Creativity, like beauty, is subjective.
One of my favourite bands, Relient K, wrote a song called "Wit's all been done before." about how "there's nothing new under the sun." My favourite lines being:
Cause creating something new is just recycling,
Wait wit's all been done before,
Yeah we do something to death,
Then we dig it up just to do it some more.
However, such a cynical viewpoint might not be well received in schools so it's safer to accept all sorts of creativity because we teach all sorts of children.
I've created a presentation about creativity that could possibly be rubbish, or you're just note being open-minded to my creative thinking and need to remember that it's subjective.
http://prezi.com/ig3mh99kjmcy/creativity/
I am to write a blog about what creativity means. Well, I don't do anything simple so I'll tell you what I find frustrating when described as creative.
For one, arty farty types who create pieces of art that look like cat sick that is apparently a representation of how the British tax payer is being crushed by the government and blah blah blah.
I went to a play in London that involved the audience moving around a large metal box thing and then watch a man dressed as a Jew move about (on what I'm going to call skates cause I can't think of what they're actually called) through a bath house while a creepy psycho child moved about the rafters. It was absolutely appalling but, I'm sure, represented some form of creativity.
Of course, that just means that my concept of creativity differs from the people who wrote the torture but there you go. Creativity, like beauty, is subjective.
One of my favourite bands, Relient K, wrote a song called "Wit's all been done before." about how "there's nothing new under the sun." My favourite lines being:
Cause creating something new is just recycling,
Wait wit's all been done before,
Yeah we do something to death,
Then we dig it up just to do it some more.
However, such a cynical viewpoint might not be well received in schools so it's safer to accept all sorts of creativity because we teach all sorts of children.
I've created a presentation about creativity that could possibly be rubbish, or you're just note being open-minded to my creative thinking and need to remember that it's subjective.
http://prezi.com/ig3mh99kjmcy/creativity/
Tuesday 1 November 2011
When cousins come to cook
I have still yet to enter anything related to the course I am studying and the whole purpose of this blog so I'll shortly mention this mornings tutorial involving my context board and then move on to the theatre that happened in my kitchen tonight.
I learnt that it helps to attend lectures about context boards to understand that quality tutors are looking for. I now feel the desperate urge for a laminator and constant visitation of the sparklebox website to be a successful teacher with a pretty context board. I'm still thoroughly attached to my hand painted volcano and trees crafted out of paper and pipe cleaner. Any one can print and laminate from google images...
But anyway, cooking. My cousin promised he'd make dinner for my family one day and came tonight to do us the honours. He made us beautiful balmoral chicken stuffed with haggis and wrapped with bacon and it was delicious. What was really funny was the comments coming from the kitchen. He managed to forget the benefits of oven gloves frequently and somehow managed to throw a roast potato at a cupboard. What I found most amusing was the story about his career as an opera singer in which is played King Duncan in Macbeth. This was not any old MacBeth, for all the characters were not humans but Baboons.
This short and hilarious story has encouraged me to continue this blog in the knowledge that whatever I write will always be better than a Shakespearan opera involving baboons.
Monday 31 October 2011
What I have learned this week...
So... I've to write about what I've learned this week and stating that I've learned how to create a blog seems like a bit of a cop out (especially since I created one for another module in first year). So based on the wonderfully overused saying "every day is a school day" I'm simply going to refer back to my diary and give a day by day account since last Monday on what I've learnt.
Monday: I learnt that I still really like Monster Munch pickled onion flavoured crisps whilst playing a board game called Catan. (In other words, Monday was a slow day for leanring.)
Tuesday: I learnt how to play snooker. I also learnt I'm not very good at it.
Wednesday: I learnt about how mental nurseries are and how much like unpaid babysitting they can be, but I still really enjoyed placement. I also learned that I will do a really boring and pointless course through my work (McDonalds) all for £100.
Thursday: I learnt about how angry one guest speaker in a lecture can make me. It is safe to say that it's hypocritical to preach about open-mindedness when what is actually meant is that you have a closed mind to the more accepted point of view. Silly people.
Friday: I learnt that I will shout at my manager if they are being out of order because I can do their job better than them.
Saturday: I learnt that babysitting is not only an excellent insight into children from a teachers point of view but also a bit of training to be a mum. In one night I handled 5 tempter tantrums, I cooked the dinner, I diplomatically set one thing on the TV to watch, I found a lost panda and I put three children to bed.
Sunday: I learned that I can pull a maths context board out the hat when pushed to do so. Thank goodness for that cause it looks awesome!
So overall you as a reader can learn a few things about me: I work in McDonalds, I'm clearly opinionated, Im training to be a primary sschool and I can write a lot.
Thank you for your time :)
Monday: I learnt that I still really like Monster Munch pickled onion flavoured crisps whilst playing a board game called Catan. (In other words, Monday was a slow day for leanring.)
Tuesday: I learnt how to play snooker. I also learnt I'm not very good at it.
Wednesday: I learnt about how mental nurseries are and how much like unpaid babysitting they can be, but I still really enjoyed placement. I also learned that I will do a really boring and pointless course through my work (McDonalds) all for £100.
Thursday: I learnt about how angry one guest speaker in a lecture can make me. It is safe to say that it's hypocritical to preach about open-mindedness when what is actually meant is that you have a closed mind to the more accepted point of view. Silly people.
Friday: I learnt that I will shout at my manager if they are being out of order because I can do their job better than them.
Saturday: I learnt that babysitting is not only an excellent insight into children from a teachers point of view but also a bit of training to be a mum. In one night I handled 5 tempter tantrums, I cooked the dinner, I diplomatically set one thing on the TV to watch, I found a lost panda and I put three children to bed.
Sunday: I learned that I can pull a maths context board out the hat when pushed to do so. Thank goodness for that cause it looks awesome!
So overall you as a reader can learn a few things about me: I work in McDonalds, I'm clearly opinionated, Im training to be a primary sschool and I can write a lot.
Thank you for your time :)
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