First week of placement...

Well first of all I'm really happy to say that my placement is going very well. I have lots to think about, have already delivered a lesson and have a load more to plan - all makes for a very busy and content Sophie!

I think I will be taking over all first year AS Law classes and will be doing some of the A Level classes... one minor issue is that the Law they're studying is all new to me. I've spent the entire evening reading my old textbook on defamation. It was all going so well until I decided to Google it to see what other resources I could come up with... and then I found out that there is a new Defamation Act that came out in 2013 and all the Law I had been teaching myself was effectively out of date. Worst thing is, I don't think the Law teacher on my placement knows about the new Law either. So this should make teaching extra fun this term!

I'm also doing tutorials for 2 students who have only swapped over to the Law course this week and so are 2 months behind on work. I'm really looking forward to these as they're so relaxed and informal - and I can get to know them a bit better too. I suppose we're both helping each other feel more comfortable in the class as we're both new.


I will also be teaching some of the AS and A Level Politics classes - again feel a bit outside my comfort zone but I keep forgetting how simplified their course is compared to a degree.


I'm teaching Welsh Bac to Year 10s and Year 11s. To say that they are a tough class is an understatement. All I'm going to say is pray for me. I need it. I was NOT mentally prepared for teaching under 16s. Think I am going to have to do some serious reading on behaviour management and will most definitely be sitting on my hands to prevent throttling. Not that I condone violence against children, you'd just really have to see this class to understand...

I'm currently working on perfecting this face:

Encouraging Students to Read

A few thoughts from observing one of my mentor's classes this week. 

It was a class/'course' that she had been asked to create for the 'More Able and Talented' (MAT) students. As it isn't an official class, she has been given the opportunity to do whatever she wants/thinks is important.

The main focus of the class is to start thinking about University - the grades to get in, personal statements, extra curricular activities, types of degrees etc. But she also wants to reinforce the idea that as a student, you have to be more than just your grades, you must start to try to develop your person, you must develop other skills and opinions and views - it's pretty much getting them to think about being a more well rounded individual. In the lesson I observed today she was discussing Literature and the importance of reading.

They were given an activity in which the had a list of book titles and they had to pick out the author and match them up. Honestly, I felt quite sad at how little they knew. Some books they had never heard of, let alone had a desire to read them.

The teacher then talked about a new trend/nomination on Facebook, in which you are selected to list your top 10 books that have stayed with you/influenced you.

The students were asked to write down their 10 and they couldn't. When they were asked to do it in a group, they were better - except one group included in their list of Top Ten Most Influential Books, "The Hungry Caterpillar" and "50 Shades of Grey". On the same list. Yep. That is what I am faced with. Even more shockingly, some of these were doing A Level English. Literature students who don't read - seems almost an oxymoron.

Don't get me wrong - there were some students in the class who read an awful lot and gave some excellent answers. But the overwhelming majority did not consider reading enjoyable and I felt the same stigma that I felt when I was at school - it still is not cool to be a book worm. And I think that that is a very sad thing and I don't know how teachers can get around it. I had the MAT class sat before me - students who were performing top of their year and yet they find reading books a chore or a geeky thing to do. Can't help but feel that the education system has got it wrong somewhere as it is producing students who can achieve the top grades but yet have never heard of  the likes of Sylvia Plath, Mark Twain or JD Salinger.

Anyway, I wanted to leave on a positive note: At the end of the class one girl stayed behind and asked us what we would recommend reading and if we had any of those books that she could borrow, she decided to borrow the book, 'Lolita' from my mentor. I guess if her class had an impact on at least 1 student to encourage them to go out and read then it was a success.


And in the interest of encouraging others to read, I have put down my top 10 books that have always stayed with me:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - My absolute favourite. There's a life lesson on every page. Just a beautiful book, I cannot recommend it enough

2) Great Expectations -   Charles Dickens - I studied this for my AS Level English and I just love it, it led me on to reading all the other Dickens novels

3) Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - I was told that I should have read this when I was younger (ideal for an angsty teen apparently) but I still enjoy it now, amazing the power such a short book can have on you

4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling -  I don't care what anyone says, I love the Harry Potter books and I think they're brilliant. Loved the last one especially as it just tied up everything. One of those great, enjoyable reads for me. 

5) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - Studied this for my English GCSE. Some people think that studying something in so much detail can detract from the overall enjoyment of reading the text as a whole and not picking it apart - but for me, I feel I understand a book on a much deeper level whenever I've studied it in detail, the same can be said for this book. 

6) The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald -  Again, is amazing how such a short book can have such a great impact. A brilliant book, one I wish I could have studied and dissected. It's regarded as the greatest American novel.

7) The Time Traveller's Wife Audrey Niffenger - Ok so not one the great classic pieces of literature I know, but I enjoy it and love to revisit it. It's also a lot better than the film. 

8) The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - Another book that I studied for my English A Level, very different from what I normally like but when you study something in so much detail you can't help but find enjoyment in it

9 Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson - Not ashamed to say that I only picked up this book because I love the film Muppet's Treasure Island. Kermit and Gonzo do not make an appearance in the book (sadly) but it's still a fantastic story

10 The Help - Kathryn Stockett - A book set in the 50s/60s about black house maids working for rich white women, there is a film based on the book too, but the book is much better

The value of mobile technology in learning and teaching

The mobile phone is, 'a force to be reckoned with' (Reece & Walker, p156). Nearly every child in the classroom has a smart phone in their pocket. Mobile technology (which includes mobile phones, tablets and iPads etc.) has become so ubiquitous in our society that children have become accustomed to using it so effortlessly that they are completely (and blissfully) ignorant to a life without such technology. I even know of a five year old who had an iPad for Christmas because his mother felt pressure to buy one after learning how heavily they are used in the classroom and because 'all the other children have them'.

Research (Folger, Burke, Waker, Hansen, Randall and Mia Kim - yes, a lot of researchers!) have found close to 300% increase in the use of mobile technology in school children. Project Tomorrow, 2012 found that institutions/schools are specifically looking to recruit staff who can use mobile technology in the classroom and there has been a significant increase in the number of schools investing in iPads.


Considering the heavy reliance and love of such mobile technology, it would seem only logical that teachers beyond Primary school begin to incorporate more mobile technology to further advance the learning achieved. However, there is a danger. We need to ask is this necessary? Does it and can it actually improve teaching and learning? Before using mobile technology in the classroom, Petty (p391) advises us that we ask ourselves whether the use of an iPad will help the teacher deliver the lesson? Will it help you teach what you want the students to learn? It should be clear that mobile technology should not be incorporated simply because it is the current trend.

However, there is an argument to suggest that the use of mobile technology actually reinforces the learning. Gardener's learning cycle involves the learner receiving feedback. Sheng (and others) argue that this speeds up the learning cycle as mobile technology provides instant feedback. Although, there are no figures to verify this theory and I would say that if it is still the teacher who is providing feedback, be it through traditional paper or online via mobile devices, then the feedback is only ever as quick or 'instant' as the teacher is at providing it.

Conversely, Dr. Elliot Solloway puts forth an argument in favour of the developing use of mobile technology (in fact, there are lots of useful videos of him on YouTube):

I think he makes an excellent point - we have  come to depend on our mobile devices everywhere else except in schools. Although, from watching another one of his videos, I am very apprehensive about the way in which he suggests schools should do this. He discusses the Carpe Diem School in Arizona and this is one of their classrooms:

Many would be opposed to this dramatic change in the classroom and a great deal of schools would resist such a change - and perhaps, rightly so. Our education system appears to be working so why would we change it so dramatically? 

I think I would be one of those people to resist this change purely because of my subject. The love and enjoyment I have for Law is borne mostly from watching incredibly articulate and persuasive lawyers, how they construct an argument, their ability to weave their way through a complex debate - being able to posses the most impressive public speaking skills you could ever imagine and just having such a fantastic command of the English language - I think that this would all be lost on a computer. Lawyers do not absolutely need a computer/mobile technology to do their job (of course they use them, but it's not essential) and so I am failing to see how anyone could make it essential in teaching Law.

I think that the value of mobile technology will lie in using it as an external tool outside of the classroom by using it as a means for communication with students and for homework/extra activities. The main advantage of mobile technology is that it is available for, 'anyone, anywhere, anytime and at an affordable cost' (Keengwe and Bhargara, p739). Our responsibility as teachers, though, is ensuring that we are using it correctly and where necessary and not simply for the sake of it.