16/1/2012. Head of the South Wales centre of teaching Education.
Estyn - An overview. What does Estyn do?
Today we had a guest lecturer of the name Dr Russell Grigg who was the head of the South Wales centre of teaching education. The lecture was very interesting as Dr Grigg explained in great detail the role and expectations of Estyn.
What does Estyn do? Estyn inspects quality and standards in education and training providers in Wales including Nursery, Primary, Secondary, independent and special schools. As a whole they inspect a wide variety of educational settings, those being: pupil referral units, further education, adult community learning, local authority education services for children and young people, teacher education and training, work based learning, career companies and offender learning. Estyn also provides advice to the Welsh Government on quality and standards in education and training in Wales and promotes the spread of good practice in education and training.
There are two types of reports. The first being thermatic reports for the whole of Wales which covers all kinds of learning and the second reports different institutes - schools, prisons etc.
Dr Grigg informed us that the three fold purposes of Estyn are accountability, improvement and development. These purposes can guide and help the inspectors judge the different areas more effectively. As Dr Grigg had inspected schools himself he could give us an honest insight into what happens in the inspections and what the inspector has to comment upon. The inspector must decide for example whether or not certain areas of the school are excellent, good, adequate or unsatisfactory.
The lecture was very informative and Dr. Grigg referred back to the Estyn website which we could all see for ourselves and we saw past reports that had been written in the past. He also portrayed to us that the relationship between the teachers, pupils, parents and governors are highly important when inspecting a school. We were told that Estyn also concentrates on achievement and attainment. Achievement being that of individuals and attainment is the standards against others.
Overall today's lecture has given me a great insight into the Estyn reports and how the inspectors go about inspecting schools today. An Estyn report is very important for a school and can make a difference to us as learners. It enables the school to make improvements and better themselves therefore improving the education of many which enables children to continue learning to their full potential with the positive encouragement of those within the education setting.
References :
http://www.estyn.gov.uk/english/ Retrieved on 23rd of January 2012.
Monday 14 May 2012
Wednesday 2 May 2012
Work placement week :)
This week we were all at our work placements in our chosen schools. I was with year 1 & 2's. Within the classroom I was in there was not a lot of technology used. As it was nearing Christmas the teachers and pupils were preparing for their Christmas play.
On a couple of the mornings I did help the children on the computer draw pictures of their families and print them out for a calender. The Children also made Christmas cards on the computer for their parents using paint on the PC's that were in their classroom. There was a white board in the classroom although it had broken. The teacher used a paper easel and a chalk board. Although I do believe that children should be taught how to use today's technology and become familiar with how it works. For the children that I was with I didn't feel that it was highly important for them to be using technology within their classroom as they were learning to read and write and play with the things they choose to. I assume that the further they continue through school the more technology they will come to use.
I did thoroughly enjoy the week I spend on placement even though I did not come across much technology I found the techniques the teacher used to teach the pupils very helpful and rewarding both for the pupils and the teacher. I am looking forward to next years placement already.
On a couple of the mornings I did help the children on the computer draw pictures of their families and print them out for a calender. The Children also made Christmas cards on the computer for their parents using paint on the PC's that were in their classroom. There was a white board in the classroom although it had broken. The teacher used a paper easel and a chalk board. Although I do believe that children should be taught how to use today's technology and become familiar with how it works. For the children that I was with I didn't feel that it was highly important for them to be using technology within their classroom as they were learning to read and write and play with the things they choose to. I assume that the further they continue through school the more technology they will come to use.
I did thoroughly enjoy the week I spend on placement even though I did not come across much technology I found the techniques the teacher used to teach the pupils very helpful and rewarding both for the pupils and the teacher. I am looking forward to next years placement already.
The scream
Today was our first session of visual communication with Suzie. As a group we looked as a variety of images and talked about what we thought about them and what we thought the artist was trying to portray. We firstly looked at the picture named The Scream.
This painting was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893. We discussed the colours in the painting and the reason behind the man screaming. This session was fun and was a great start to our visual communication lessons.
This painting was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893. We discussed the colours in the painting and the reason behind the man screaming. This session was fun and was a great start to our visual communication lessons.
Visual Communication - collages
Today in class we worked in groups and made a collage with the thought in mind 'sense of place'. We looked through magazines and newspapers and cut out the things we individually liked or gave us a 'sense of place'.
We started the lesson by writing down what we personally felt like our sense of place was. The main similarities between everybody was that we wrote down places where we felt safe, cosy, being with family and friends, holidays and happy family memories. After discussing our sense of place with the whole class we worked in our groups on our collages. From doing this exercise I decided that my sense of place was based around family holidays as we always took family holidays to different places and I always felt safe and happy being away with my family. As a whole the classes collages were very similar with pictures of homes, beds and food.
We started the lesson by writing down what we personally felt like our sense of place was. The main similarities between everybody was that we wrote down places where we felt safe, cosy, being with family and friends, holidays and happy family memories. After discussing our sense of place with the whole class we worked in our groups on our collages. From doing this exercise I decided that my sense of place was based around family holidays as we always took family holidays to different places and I always felt safe and happy being away with my family. As a whole the classes collages were very similar with pictures of homes, beds and food.
Tuesday 24 April 2012
2simple2animate
Today we were asked to create a simple animation using a programme called 2simple2animate. I thouroughly enjoyed this task and found it really fun. We were asked to try and create an animation similar to the ones seen on the TV programme catchphrase. The software had a simple version and an advanced version. It was very easy to navigate and not over complicated to use. I started off doing a simple animation and then tried a more advanced one once I got the hang of it. This is a great programme for children to use in schools and can develop their ICT skills greatly.
I have posted my animation on a seperate blog below.
I have posted my animation on a seperate blog below.
Evaluation of Website.
Our site we used : http://www.loch-ness.org/
My group and I decided to research information on the Loch-Ness Monster and to find a genuine site that told us information on our chosen subject. The site on initial appearance was jam packed full of information, had 'real/fake' arguments throughout, was easy to use and navigate, had a chat room (forum), contact information and link pages to tourist attractions and hotels. Negatives we thought on the site were that the writing was too small, that the layout was not very eyecatching, there was alot of advertisements and no search box.
The website was devoted to nessie information and to the understanding of the loch ness mystery full of facts gathered from past and present and many pictures also.
From using the http://www.easywhois.com/ website we discoved that the site was created on 4th Jan 1999,
My group and I decided to research information on the Loch-Ness Monster and to find a genuine site that told us information on our chosen subject. The site on initial appearance was jam packed full of information, had 'real/fake' arguments throughout, was easy to use and navigate, had a chat room (forum), contact information and link pages to tourist attractions and hotels. Negatives we thought on the site were that the writing was too small, that the layout was not very eyecatching, there was alot of advertisements and no search box.
The website was devoted to nessie information and to the understanding of the loch ness mystery full of facts gathered from past and present and many pictures also.
From using the http://www.easywhois.com/ website we discoved that the site was created on 4th Jan 1999,
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