Rebecca Clarke's Blog

I have finally put my Critical Review and my Professional in an addressed envelope ready to be sent on Monday! I have sent my digital versions into the University so there is no going back now! I am still so anxious but so glad most of it is now completed. How are you guys getting on? I am so sorry I haven't been commenting much.. I found it so difficult to both blog, comment and actually complete the work! It was all a bit much! Onto the presentation now! Has anyone started theirs? I am thinking of doing a PowerPoint Presentation, however, I am working on the day of the presentations and it is my students exams coming up soon! Nightmare!

I'd love to hear you guys ideas for presentations and how you are getting on! If you need any help then let me know :)

Rebecca x

Whilst writing my final Inquiry plan for Module 2, I found it very difficult to really specify the title of my Inquiry. My 'titles' were too broad and therefore would of been too complicated for me to actually carry out an investigation that would give me outcomes of a specific task. With a little help from Alan Durrant, I managed to regain focus and become much more specific. ' Teachers views on teaching Drama: A case study from a girls' private school of students aged 14 to 16' was my decided Inquiry title.

When focusing on the 'Literature' section of my plan, I used google scholar to help me find several pieces of relevant literature. I searched for key words from my title and also from my research questions. This helped me to produce a substantial list of relevant literature to read and conduct reviews,
Cole, Robert W. (1995) 'Educating everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching strategies for Diverse Learners' was one of the first books I received through the post from the aforementioned list. Naturally, I began my literature challenge by Cole's book first. After I finished reading, I looked back at why I had chosen this piece of literature in the first place. Initially, I wanted to use Cole's information to compare the outcome of my Inquiry to. Also, with the use of the words 'Diverse learners' in the title, I thought it may also help to compare, when I am watching teachers who have 'diverse learners' in their classroom, what strategies they put into play for these students and what Cole suggests. I wanted this book to see if it would show any correlation between mine and Cole's inquiries. I still feel this is the correct way in which to use this literature, however, after reading I realized there were still more beneficial uses I could get out of it.

Cole's does not actually specify when talking 'strategies', I was expecting to gain a list of 'proven successful strategies' that would help me to compare my own ideas. However, he was much more general than I expected. By this I mean that he wrote about many different teachers that he had come across and wrote about how they taught and what the outcome was of that class. One particular teacher he described stood out to me. It was an investigation that had taken place in a mixed comprehensive school in North America (he does not give specifics). Learners at the school were from all different backgrounds, mostly 'diverse'. How Cole explained 'diverse learners' was learners who came from backgrounds that differed to traditional middle class, white american backgrounds. Cole said that this specific teacher seemed to favor the children who came from these 'traditional' families (a little old fashioned if you ask me), and seemed to only set tasks that were to benefit these types of pupils. Whilst the other 'diverse' learners in the class struggled to keep up, due to the language barriers and also issues that came from home. One day, this teacher set a very difficult piece of homework for all of her class members, expecting it in for the very next day. All students brought their completed homework back to school. Once marked, the teacher was outraged to see that some of her hispanic learners had had help, from what she could work out, older siblings. All of these pupils had a letter sent home to their parents, explaining the severity of what they had done and put into detention. Little did the teacher know, that all of these hispanic children are brought up to help each other with everything, including school work. When the children had brought their homework home and could not complete it on their own as it was too difficult, they had naturally asked their older siblings for help. Their parents attended the school and explained that this was accepted and highly encouraged in their culture. The teacher would not accept this fact. She believed that all children should learn in the same manner. Even after the Head of the school had apologized to these parents and ensured it would not happen again, the teacher refused to apologize or adapt to this new knowledge.

This is when I gained the most important word from this book, 'ADAPT'. Everybody grows older and may seem 'past it' by younger people, especially teachers by adolescents. Cole states that the best teachers with the best outcomes are the ones who can adapt to new pupils, new technology, just change in general. Every academic year, teachers will have new pupils to teach. Every few years there will be a new piece of technology out or the curriculum might be changed and updated. Students grow and become more aware of themselves, they develop habits and personalities, these are things that a teacher cannot control.. so why try to? Why not embrace the fact that every teaching day is different. Surely this makes the job description more exciting. Granted, it is going to make it a lot more difficult than just teaching the set curriculum but what child just wants to sit there listening to a teacher go on and on. On several occasions I have heard teachers moan 'it goes in one ear and out the other', even about myself, have none of these teachers stopped and thought, why? Why is the information I want these children to obtain going in one ear and out of the other? Is it because of my delivery of the information? Did I not make it clear enough? Did some pupils seem to understand and the others did not?

One of the teachers Cole writes about is a teacher, again from a North American school with similar learners. Cole describes this teacher as successful due to adapting to his pupils. He often splits his class into pairs or small groups and lets them discuss with each other the information he wants them to understand. On other occasions, he might stand in front of the class and deliver the curriculum using a projector for worksheets that the pupils can take notes from. He may use role plays or set them a project to work on. Sometimes, he will just stand at the front of the class talking and asking questions. This way all type of learners seemed to understand what he was teaching and therefore proving he is on his way to becoming a successful teacher.

Cole's reports that teachers who are able to adapt to new and changed circumstances are the most successful teachers. They appear to enjoy their job more than those who do not and pupils seem to understand and enjoy their lessons. Reading Cole's work has given me a very important idea to bare in mind when carrying out my Inquiry, do these teachers adapt to new circumstances that arise in their classrooms and how this may effect the pupils' learning.

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I have recently acquired a new piece of literature that isn't on my list, but was given to me by a friend to help with choosing my future career path in teaching. It mentions lots of different tactics to becoming a successful, professional teacher. It even includes many different ways of arranging pupils' desks and chairs in order to provoke better learning. I will explain more about this later on.