Last one!

My thoughts are that certain subjects ( such as history, geography, R.E, etc) should be for children to find out about in their own time, if they are interested in them. I also think that subjects such as Art, music, dance , drama, debating, sport, are very important, and should be catered for with numerous after school clubs, with qualified , responsible staff to run them, children should be encouraged to join these.I think a 21st century curriculum, should see much more communication and partnership between home and school. Parents should be involved in the school much more, and teachers and other staff should really see themselves and parents/carers as partners in their child's education and upbringing, home and school should be seen as interlinked. Parents/carers should encourage children to put into practice what they have learnt at school, for example, helping out at home with chores, budgeting their pocket money, helping with the shopping, keeping their spaces tidy and clean etc. I m sorry to have written so many words about this, but I think any less would nt have done the subject justice! These are my ideas on what a 21st century curriculum should be like, I welcome comments! Please write some!!!

continuing with 21st century curriculum.........

Yes, testing, i think as, much as possible, children should be tested on what they have just learnt, to make sure they have understood it, ongoing assesment, rather than a big formal test at certain times. Children should be frequently reminded of material to make sure they don't forget it. SAT's should be scrapped, they are only there to please adults, and they upset and worry children in general. Possibly GCSE'S and A levels won't exsist in future, they may be replaced with something else, who know, possibly the more practical diploma's , maybe employers and university's will start viewing them as important. My views are that a 21st century curriculum has to move with the times, and I think ICT, personal , social and emotional development, and life skills are going to be most important. Learning how to understand and handle yourself, think of others needs and wishes, and communicate with others. Also, teaching needs to change with the times, maybe from a diadatic methodology (I was paying attention Brian!) to one of a more facilitating one, teachers finding out what their students/pupils already know,(unlike Piaget, who came from a standpoint of looking at what the chil;d couldnt do, had yet to be able to do), then buliding on that, working alongside them, encouraging them to want to learn. More on other subjects and their place in a 21st century curriculum in a minute....

More 21st century curriculum....

I also think it is extremley important to allow children (with senstivity to know when they are just mucking around of course!) to have enough time to finish what they are doing, I have noticed in primary schools they are allowed a certain time to finish their work, and then it's onto the next thing! I m not saying that work doesnt ever get finished because Im sure it does, and sometimes it is the right thing to move on, but generally children need to be able to learn the skills of persevering with what they are doing, and to finish it, otherwise they will learn not to finish things, and leave them halfway through! It is important to learn to finish one thing before you start another, and also to clear one thing away before you get something else out. We need to involve children in caring for the school environment, and to clear up after themselves, to leave things clean and tidy. Also, I think we need to check children have understood something before we go onto the next thing, it's no use carrying on if someone doesnt understand, otherwise, whats's been gained? If most children undersand, but a few don't , they could perhaps be taken by a LSA to go over the material again until they do understand (within reason and time constraints of course). That leads me onto testing .....will have continue in a fresh entry....

21st century curriculum continued...

I think we should concentrate in the afternoon's more on teaching subjects like citizenship, caring for people and respecting people because of who they are. If we don't teach this effectivley at an early age, children may end up getting into trouble for hurting people when they are older. we need to teach children that everyone is unique and special and should be treated with respect because they are a human being. I don't think we should encourage children to learn about other religons neccesarily, people should be treated with respect no matter what their religon.I also think we need to teach children life skills, such as healthy eating, cooking, how to do housework (apprpriate to their age and what they can manage of course), and financial literacy, how to handle money (again, appropriate to their age and stage of course). So many so called 'intelligent' adults come out of school with armfuls of GCSE'S and A-levels, yet they haven't got a clue how to manage a home, money, their time, etc.If we teach children skills like that from an early age, and continue to teach them, they will have that hopefully for life. With that, i think we need to teach children research skills (vitally important, espeically for further study), and how to be independant learners and thinkers. We need to encourage children to be independant as much as possible, plan their own work and targets, and manage their own time, this can be done from an early age! More thoughts in a minute....

21st century curriculum

Well, my thoughts on a 21 st century curriculum are the following..I agree with Claire Grantham about teaching the more 'academic' subjects in the morning. I think school should start earlier to reflect this, I don't think 8 am is unreasonable and I think school should finish around 4 pm. I think English, Maths, Science and ICT should be taught in the morning. I also think ICT should be made a core subject as it is going to be crucial for the way we learn and conduct our lives in future. As for the idea of 'topic' teaching, I think it does have it's merits, and should be done as much as possible, but there will still be times when subjects do have to be split up and taught. My main thoughts are that the curriculum needs to be more practical, there should be a mixture of teachers teaching something, children doing the work on paper, then, if appropriate, there should be a practical exercise to reinforce children's understanding of the concept. For example, taking children shopping to reinforce their knowledge of money, adding, subtracting, and counting change. There need to be more 'real life experiences' within the curriculum. I will be back in a second with more thoughts on this....

Wow!

Hey everyone! The title refers to the fact i haven't written this since August! I can't beleive it! Well, as you all now know, I am transferring to Queens University in Belfast next year to do the rest of the course, it will be nerve wracking but exciting!! I will miss everyone though, we will have to keep in touch, thats one thing technology is a god send for, I am so glad to have it! I now have a work placement at St Mary's primary school in Hinckley on a Monday, I do enjoy it, year 1 and and 2 are lovely the staff are great too. I didnt get any work from the agency, the paperwork took too long to come through unfortunatley. Mum now has a kitten, 12 weeks old called Cat. She is a bundle of energy, a very friendly little thing. I am glad to be back to college, all the work we have to do sounds interesting, I will enjoy doing it. Year 2 seems to be more practical, though perhaps more work than last year. I am currently thinking of a curriculum model for the 21st century, I m not sure wether we have to talk about a particular model, or the subjects that we think should be included, or both, what does everyone else think? replies on a postcard please!!! (only kidding! replies on here will be fine!) . Anyway, must go, from Nicola x

Change

Hi everyone, well, the past month has been a real revelation, things have changed a lot in one area of my life, which is going to have a dramatic effect on the rest of my life, I will explain about this when I get back to college. Also, my room is done and looks good, the carpet has been cleaned and it is tidy (at the moment), I have nt yet done any observations on my target child, her mum and dad are getting married in a couple of weeks, which they are very stressed about, so I think i d better leave it till we are back at college if I can, I may just do a baseline assesment and a family history. I signed up with the childcare agency, but all the paperwork has taken ages to come through, so hopefully I will get a few weeks work out of them before we start back to college. Mum has yet another new dog, called Scamp, he seems very sweet, we will see how it goes....I will sign off for now, hope everyone is nt too bored, I will see you all on September the 29th, I miss everyone loads!! Love Nicola xxx

Hellooo!!

Hey everyone, well, it's well into the hols now, my room is nearly finished (Thank God), I have signed up with a childcare agency to find me work with children over the summer, which will be fab. I still have to start my child dev project, but have a child and permission from the child's parents, and I also need to do that research into dogs. Am very bored, on facebook far too much, so the sooner I find a job the better really! In college tomorrow to find oput exam results, oo er!! Hope we ve all passed, am sure we have! Will see evryone tomorrow, byee, love from Nicola :)

Catching up

Hi everyone, don't know if anyone is still reading these but I will write anyway. Well, exams are over, hurrah!!!, Max has been sent back to the dogs home (mum said he was too young for her, he kept trying to escape, and she has a dodgy knee, so she couldn't catch him if he did escape). I have to say she has a point. He did play with the pink ball in the end. Still interested in wether dogs can see in colour or not, if anyone has any info on this would be interested to hear it. I will have to do my own research. Well, not much to do except watch my room being redecorated, planning for Sundays (sunday school), looking for something to do over the summer (a job) and starting my child development project. I think thats enough, don't you? Well, I will see all first and probably some second years on the 9th of July for exam results day!! See you, love Nicola x

Doggie days

Hey everyone, my mum's new dog, which has had several different names since she got him, but is now called Max. made me think earlier. He is a 16 month old very sweet Jack russell. Mum had bought him a ball with a bell inside for him to play with. It is pink, and he played with it a little bit and then refused to play with it again. He prefers and old yellow tennis ball. I have heard dogs can only see in black and white, wether this is true or not I don' t know, but I wonder....is he not playing with it because it's pink, or some other reason? I will leave you with that, I have to revise Gender now, funnily enough!!! See you, love from Nicola xx

Revision, Revision, Revision!!

You can tell what I ve been doing by the title of this post can't you? (wry smile) . It's gone ok, is going ok, I can remember Maslow, Erikson, etc. Honestly, I feel sorry for Erikson, fancy calling a child Erik Erikson, it's cruel! lol. What you can't tell fromn the title is that I m finally on facebook!!! (Big cheer!!!) It's great, I can see why everyone is addicted to it! Well, it's midnight, I'd best be off to bed, I m childminding, dog sitting (yes, you did read correctly there), church going and revising tomorrow, so it's a busy day (Im not doing all these things at once, I hasten to add, that would be a bit much!!!) See you all after exams (groan!!), love Nicola xx

Revision!!!

Hi everyone!! Well, that's it all coursework finished! Cannot believe how quickly this year has gone, only one more before we go to Warwick(aaaghhhh!!!). Am really chuffed with how well we all did on Christine's essays and presentations, it was great! Revision to do now then exams. I also have to look for a summer job, preferably working with children, arrange a work placement for september and arrange to start my maths GCSE! I m exhausted just thinking about it! Still, it will all come to pass and work out well, I know it, God is giving me favour and energy, two things I need at present. Well, will write again soon, keep calm and carry on, love from Nicola xx

Happy Easter!!!

Hi Everyone just wanted to say Happy Easter! I know it's a bit late, but never mind. Hope you've not eaten too much chocolate! Also, wanted to put a picture on here (See left) that I found on someone's blog on this site-hope I'm not breaking any rules by putting it on my blog, but I agree with the quote very much, so it's a must really! See y'all after easter hols, love Nicola x

Check out the audio clip

Hey evryone, just a quick note to say check out the audio clip, as I have now changed it, as I will from time to time, it's awesome!!! It's quite long, so give it a chance, it's worth it! love Nicola x

Tell me about it!!

Hey everyone, am at the library printing off Lin's witness statement for the study skills folder, when I thought I'd update my blog. The title tell me about it, is because I sympathise with the two Clare's about work, I have nearly finished my Study Skills folder, but I still have Brian and Christine's essay's to do!! Have done Christine's presentation, that's on my memory stick, ready to go. I really need to get my head down, I can be a lazy blighter when I want.At least I'm not waking up panicking about essay's (at the moment anyway!!!), which I was during Lin's! I have re contacted an old friend who's also doing childcare, and had a chat with her on the bus. When she said "Did you think the level 2 course was hard?", I just laughed and said "No, that was like finger painting compared to a degree", which was possibly a bit harsh. She is doing the foundation award in childcare. Well, must dash now, as Blogger is being updated in a bit, and I don't want to get chucked out. Will write again soon, Nicola x

Finished-finally!!!

Hi everyone. Was reading earlier when I decided I want to update my blog, so here I am! As you can tell from the title, I have finally finished Lin's essay!!! Hooray!!! Will hand it in Wednesday, just have to do ref's and bib now, then it's done. I will have a rest, then straight onto Brian's. I must say, I agree with Clare Gale, Brian's does look a lot more straightforward than Christine's. We'll see when I start doing it. I am looking forward to going to work with year 1 for the day tomorrow, should be really good. Also, I have been asked by the pastor at my church to look after the children on Sunday, as her daughter normally does it but she is getting married and leaving soon. We will see how it goes and if I like it, hopefully, that will be my new job!!Well, I will go and get some food now, and type out my questions for tomorrow. See you again, love Nicola x

General

Hi everyone! Am at the library with lots of books to plow through for research for Lin's essay, so I thought I'd update my blog while I was about it. Well, I had my birthday, which was good, I'm now 31. I will get used to it in time. I though Christine's session yesterday was really good, she captured my attention for the whole of the lesson. Considering sometimes I don't have a very long attention span, this was good! The programme on channel 4 last night on large families was very good, very interesting. My personal view is that if you have the capacity for lots of children (mental, emotional, financial and practical) and you have lots of support then it's fine. I won't keep people in suspense any longer. My book is going to be Christian young adult fiction. It is going to be called Faith Letters and is about two 14 year old christian girls. One of them moves away and goes off the rails somewhat. The other one keeps writing to her (hence the title) and praying for her, and eventually she comes round to the fact that she needs to recommit her life to God and start living his way. It's going to be really good and sell really well. Well, that's it for now, I have lots of books to read and work to do, so I will go. Love Nicola x

Lots of jobs!

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments, have updated my profile, so have look, especially the audio link. Well, Christine's lesson was really good yesterday, i was surprised by what we could do after the degree, loads of different jobs! Great to have Christine back too. Need to get started on Lin's essay now, i know i'm doing the first question, would like to get a high 2:1 this time, will try my best. It is my birthday next Tuesday, am excited, I love Birthdays. Well, that's it for now, will write more another day, thanks for the compliment Clare, have always loved writing, and am good at it. I have begun writing my first book. Will say more about that another time, keep you ion supense!!! Love Nicola x

Finally-I have a blog!!!

Hi everyone-I can't beleive it-I finally have a blog!!! I will try to make it useful and interesting and not to ramble on too much. I used to keep a diary when I was a child/teenager, but then life got in the way, I suppose this is just an online version. I will mainly be putting stuff about colllege on here, but poss also stuff about big events that happen to me-hopefully there will be some of those!! Have an interesting article to bring to Brian's lesson with me tomorrow-all about the government nationalising failing private schools-was in the guardian-v interesting.Bye for now, Nicola x