Three weeks in, and I'm still in one piece!

Just a quick update about my teaching placement so far. It's been eventful........

In the last three weeks, I've taught some good lessons, some so-so lessons, and I've had a technological nightmare in another. I've been stunned by the amount of paperwork that has to be completed behind the scenes, and the quality of the IT systems that teachers are supposed to work miracles on. The staff at Neath have been so willing to give me not only their lectures, but their time, advice and survival tips. The students, from the BTEC groups right through to the third year undergraduates have been welcoming and tolerant, for which I am rightfully grateful.

I've had a few lightbulb moments in the BTEC classes, which have left me feeling incredibly fulfilled, and even more determined to pursue this career choice. There's nothing better than a student "getting" something which has previously eluded them, or to make a connection with a student who was struggling to engage - these are the moments that make the hard work worth it.

This journey has only just begun - I still have a lot to learn and more mistakes to make, but I am thoroughly enjoying the bumpy, but rewarding ride thus far.

TEDTalks - Brian Cox

Source - www.telegraph.co.uk

Physics - it amazes, inspires, intimidates and excites me. As a child, I was always fascinated by how things worked, how did we find out how things work, and who was asking the questions in the first place. Physics attempts to answer these questions, and the people who work in the field have my enduring admiration.

Professor Brian Cox is a physicist based at Manchester University. He also works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. Famed for his "rock star" image and his ability to make complex topics accessible to many, Professor Cox has appeared in a range of television programmes, radio shows, and has written a number of books. Patrick Moore and Sir David Attenborough have both hailed Professor Cox as their natural successor - high praise indeed.

I have chosen one of the talks Professor Cox gave on the CERN Supercollider as one which has inspired me. Particle physics can be a mind boggling topic, but somehow, Professor Cox makes it a little easier for the layman to understand. In doing this, he does not, in any way diminish the topic itself, or patronise the listener. Instead, he identifies the complexities involved, and breaks them down, using humour and his own extensive personal knowledge. The listener does not come away with an encyclopedic knowledge of physics, but does have a better understanding of something about which they previously knew nothing.

As a trainee teacher, this ability to explain and inspire is one which I am working to acquire. Professor Cox is engaging, knowledgeable, and accessible - traits which, if developed, can be invaluable in the classroom. It is no wonder that the media have lavished such praise on Professor Cox, and crowned him as the next big thing in science programming on television.

Of course, there are those who see Professor Cox as no more than a media puppet, chosen to spearhead the current movement of scientific programmes being produced to feed the public's newly discovered appetite for physics, astronomy, and science in general. They argue that he merely caters to people with an "interest" in science, rather than those who wish to truly understand, and improve the field. To them, I say that if his media appearances inspire just one child to pursue a career in physics, or one of the other sciences, then surely it is worth it?It only takes one person to make a world changing discovery, and that person could be the one person who was inspired by Professor Cox. There are many people who have inspired me throughout my academic life, and I hope that I can also be the inspiration for a student in the future.

You can find out more about Professor Cox by visiting his website, Apollo's Children. There is also a link to another TEDTalk by Professor Cox entitled "Why we need the explorers", which you can find here.

Tools with potential - the amber lights

Some of the other tools Mandy introduced were interesting, but I felt that they either didn't meet the needs of the learner groups I will be working with on placement, or that there were other issues, such as subscription charges to be paid. That is not to say that they cannot be used in the future - who knows where my teaching adventure will take me?  I will be keeping an open mind for all of them.


Explain Everything is a whiteboard and screencasting tool which allows you to integrate content from myriad sources and incorporate social media for easy sharing. It allows teachers and learners to create multimedia projects to explain concepts, or to illustrate tutorials.

I never got to grips with this app, but I can see the potential, particularly with younger learners.





QR codes - I had seen these, but did not know how they worked. Now I know, they are great for linking to masses of information without diluting the main message on a poster, or page. I found this page, which generates codes which can then be embedded into posters, webpages, blogs, and many other places. I can see this being a useful tool for posting links to articles and websites which may be useful for students to access when researching or completing assignments. QR codes could also be placed on presentation slides to be scanned. You can see some examples of how QR codes can be used here. Although these are primarily marketing examples, the potential for use in other areas can be seen. To read a QR code, you need to download a QR reader, which are free in most app stores.


Phoster is a simple design tool which allow you to create posters, invitations, and cards by using images, QR codes, and other types of media. There are preloaded templates to use, and features such as font select and visual effects to produce a slick and professional looking piece of work. Phoster is limited in what it can do, but can be a great starting point for those who want to use their devices to create posters. As with all such tools, the level of creativity is up to the user. More information on how Phoster works can be found here.




Prezi is a fantastic alternative to Powerpoint. It's a cloud based presentation tool, which uses a single canvas rather than a series of slides to tell a story, or present an idea. Text, images, video clips and other types of media can be used to create a digital, non linear presentation, parts of which can be zoomed in and out of, according to the needs of the audience. I have to say that I adored this tool when I first saw it, particularly the non linear aspect. I can see this being incredibly useful in HE, when in tutorials, or when introducing complex concepts which may require repeated explanations or reinforcements. As with so many excellent tools, there is a subscription fee, which can be a disadvantage. The dynamic nature of the canvas, and the zoom tool can be disconcerting for viewers, and care must be taken not to overuse this feature.There are some great examples of how Prezi has been used to create presentations here and here.


SpicyNodes - a lovely way to present hierarchical information. Adam, one of my fellow student teachers showed us how to use SpicyNodes in one of our ICT lectures, and it was a very visual and logical way to present information. His presentation is here.
As with Prezi, I can see potential with SpicyNodes, and will be exploring it further.







Glogster is another multimedia tool, which allows you to create interactive posters containing video clips, images, speech, hyperlinks, and text. I used this to create a page on debates for a homework activity, and I thoroughly enjoyed using it. Unfortunately, as with Prezi, it is a subscription based tool, and I created my page using the free trial option. I have posted a screenshot of the page, but the interactive elements are unavailable. There are a huge number of images and themes to choose from, and again, you are only bound by your own imagination. The Glogpedia contain thousands of posters created by users from all over the world which can be interacted with to show the many features available.

It's a real shame that you can't see all the elements I added to the poster. There was an audio clip of the definition of debate in the top right hand corner, a link to a Youtube video, hyperlinks to to other websites in the question mark and the pinboard images, text from other websites on the Post-it notes, and images which expanded as you clicked on them. Glogster is very similar to Explain Everything in many aspects, but the fact that I was able to manipulate Glogster far easier than Explain Everything gives it the edge for me.

What we have learnt so far....... the green lights

I have been waiting to upload this blog post, as I wanted to digest all the information given to us by Mandy during the ICT lectures. I'm going to try and give a brief overview of what we looked at, and how (if at all) I think they would be useful in my teaching practice. An important thing to remember when reading this, is that their relevance to teaching practice is based on my subject, learner group and personal preference - other people will have differing opinions, based on their own requirements.

The Internet Detective tool is an interactive online tutorial which helps the student to identify legitimate and credible sources of information on the web. Research at university level requires higher level skills than those needed for school work or personal research. Critical analysis and synthesis of information are demanded, as well as evidence of the use of a wide range of credible sources.

Source - http://www.vtstutorials.ac.uk

The ability to discern between the various sources is crucial when researching for assignments or dissertations, and being able to avoid the potential pitfalls is the first step to producing work that will not only get good marks, but will instill good research habits for the future. This tutorial provides examples of good and bad sources, information on where to find credible information, as well as interactive exercises, where the student has to analyse examples and assess their authenticity.

I think that this will be a useful activity for a tutorial class with my HE students, many of whom have limited experience of academic research methods, and why they are important. There are still students who use and reference Wikipedia, and don't understand why it is not a suitable source, and this exercise should help them to understand the need to develop a discerning nature when researching online. I dug a little deeper into the vts tutorials website and found a business studies specific tutorial for information sources, which I have already used with the first and second year HND students. They also offer tailored resources for a wide range of other subjects.

Delicious is a free bookmarking tool which allows you to save, organise, and share links you find on the web. As you can imagine, it is incredibly useful when undertaking research for university writing, as all your sources can be kept together for convenient and easy access. Links can be tagged with keywords, which allows them to be found by other users and vice-versa. As with all research, a degree of care must be involved when searching for and using other people's links.

I have already discussed bubbl.us in a previous blog post - you can find that post here.

TodaysMeet is a tool which can be used by teachers to set up online discussion rooms where students can contribute in real time. Rooms can be set up for different lengths of time, and with varying degrees of privacy. Once the discussion is complete, a link to the room can be generated and used to embed the discussion into a webpage, a blog, or a class page.

Todaysmeet is a great way of encouraging student engagement and participation. It does rely on everyone having access to technology, which can be an issue in some establishments, but if it can be used, it can generate some lively discussion and debate. You can find out more about Todaysmeet here.

Pinterest is a tool where you can gather images, links to video clips, and your own documents onto "boards", which are named according to their content. My initial thoughts on Pinterest were that it was a rather pleasant way of keeping track of hobby ideas and that it was what I call a time eater - a way of spending hours on the internet looking at things without having anything to show for it at the end. Oh, was I wrong. 

Pinterest is a fantastic way of not only gathering resources, but can also be used as an alternative to Powerpoint. I first saw this in action when the lovely Dave used it during his first micro teach session. I loved the fact that it was non linear, and that he was able to jump back and forth to different things seamlessly, without the endless click-click-click of Powerpoint. I found it highly engaging, and went on to use it for my second microteach on PEST Analysis. I shall be using it for HE lectures in the future.

You can follow my Pinterest boards by clicking here.

Micro teach - that was never 30 minutes!

Apologies for the seemingly random dates of these posts, but I had so many drafts started and not finished for various things, and I have only just noticed that they need to be completed and posted. This post should have been posted before the one about my observation week, but hey - it keeps you all on your toes!

The micro teach week was intense, enlightening, and ultimately, triumphant for many of us. Technical hurdles were overcome, nerves were defeated, and learning objectives were met all day, every day. The diversity of subjects covered, the styles in which they were delivered, and the support each and every one of us received was truly inspiring. From psychology to music technology, and public services to beauty therapy, each lesson taught me something, many of them in a most entertaining way. I feel privileged to be among so many talented individuals. Nestled in amongst the brave ones who went on the first day was a little presentation on SWOT Analysis, which you can see below.

I knew beforehand that my lesson was maybe a little heavy on the "chalk and talk" approach, but I was struggling to balance the need to deliver the appropriate amount of theory in order to do the activity successfully, and getting people to do activities early on. The feedback from Natalie was spot on, and gave me constructive advice on where I need to improve. Peer feedback was also constructive, and, at the same time very encouraging. I sat down, knowing I have things I need to work on, but happy that there was enough positives about the lesson to keep me motivated and moving forward. Choosing to be one of the first to present meant that I had the task done and out of the way, but also that I spent the rest of the week thinking "I wish I'd done that.", or "Why didn't I do it like that?". The main thing is to have learnt from the experience, and to come away with a credible plan of action which I can implement over the next few months. All in all, it has been the most interesting and informative week.

A different perspective......

Today was the final day of my observation week at Neath College Business School, and it's been a full and thought provoking week. It was wonderful to see my old tutors without the spectre of assignment deadlines hovering over us as we spoke, but it was strange to be returning as a trainee teacher, there to work alongside them. I was looking forward to the challenge of sitting in a classroom, and concentrating my attention on the style of delivery, as opposed to the content, as was the case when I was a student.

The majority of my teaching time will be in HE on the HND and Foundation Degree courses, where I will be teaching Strategy, Enterprise Management, Business Communications, and Information Management. I will also be working with students who are undertaking the Live Project module, a year long research task, which culminates in a mini dissertation and a presentation. This module is going to give me ample opportunity to pass on some of the tips and tools I have acquired in ICT with Mandy, and it will be interesting to see how they are incorporated by different students. My final HE module is Employability and Professional Development, a module which involves self audit and personal development, where I hope to utilise some of the theories and ideas introduced by Natalie in the PPT module.

I was fortunate enough to be able to observe a wide range of teaching styles and courses, not only in the classes I will be working in, but in A Levels, BTEC, and Welsh Baccalaureate classes. Although I won't be teaching A Levels, the opportunity to see the different tutors working was invaluable, and one I could not pass up. I am hoping to continue to observe these classes, in order to gain as much knowledge as I can. After Christmas, I hope to be involved in teaching on some of the BTEC and Welsh Baccalaureate classes, if the opportunity arises. If this remains unfeasible, I have offered to go in as additional support, so I can continue observations whilst making a practical contribution to the class.

There is one aspect of my placement which is giving me cause for concern, and that is the temperamental nature of the IT equipment. Many of the tutors reported frequent struggles with whiteboards unwilling to cooperate, projector bulbs inexplicably blowing, and computers which took longer to warm up and run programs than a teenage boy would take to get out of bed on a Sunday morning. As an ex-student, I can testify that this is an all too familiar issue, and appreciate that I will need to be creative in my lesson planning, to accommodate any such problems when they occur. The positive side is that the tutors at Neath have developed some excellent strategies to counter these drawbacks, which I have seen being successfully implemented.

I am beyond happy with the opportunities I have been given, not only to teach others, but to learn myself whilst at Neath College. The staff team there have my undying gratitude for being so generous with their time when answering my numerous questions, and for their willingness to allow me to sit in on their lessons and see how they teach and manage their diverse learner groups. With this level of expertise and support around me, I can only move onwards and upwards with my professional development.

The eternal struggle......

The recent lectures with Mandy, and the visit of Simon Pridham, which extolled the benefits of technology in the classroom led me to reflect on my own attitude towards technology and how my children interact with it at home. Whilst I fully support and understand the development of technology for learning in the classroom paradigm,  I have a ongoing battle with my conscience over the use of games consoles and mobile devices in my house. Part of me understands and accepts that my children are full blown digital natives, and that it would be foolish not to relax and allow the inexorable tide of technology to wash over us. Another part of me is constantly analysing how much time they spend doing other activities - am I getting the balance right? Are screens a convenient substitute for my attention? Do they get enough exercise and fresh air?

 The bottom line is that no matter what the situation is, as a parent, I will always feel that I should be doing better. It is the nature of things. The reality is that my children are healthy and active boys, who have been lucky enough to grow up in a rural setting which encourages outdoor activities. More often that not, they will choose to go out rather than sit in front of a screen, disappearing out of the door armed with a football or a bike, only returning for food and clean clothes.

Maybe this battle is magnified in my own mind. They certainly appear to have found a natural balance between technology and traditional leisure activities, which allows them to be digitally literate and physically healthy.  I think that as a parent, as long as you maintain a sense of perspective, and accept that technology can be your friend, things do pan out.

I found a blog which is written by an American mother of four, who encapsulates the dilemma rather well. She, like many of us on this course, is straddling the line between what I like to call "technofear" and "technojoy".

You can read her post here.