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Richard Ledingham Weblog

Thoughts and feelings of a Geography student teacher from Moray House Institute of Education, Edinburgh University.

I have been assigned to the Dunbar Grammar School Geography Department for my first PGDE student placement of the year. I will be at the school for an observation week between 26th – 30th September and then for a more extended period between 31st October – 9th December 2005. This weblog will detail my thoughts, feeling and experiences of being in the classroom for the first time. Please feel free to email me your comments.

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They Think It's All Over........

Richard Ledingham

Thursday 15 June 2006

.......It is now! Having completed my final placement I returned to the relaxing pace of Moray House for the past two weeks. This has given me plenty of time to gather my thoughts and prepare for the future (i.e. buy my first car). Immediately after our final placement the geography students spent a weekend in Kingussie at the university's retreat relaxing and soaking up the wonderful weather with a short walk and cycle ride. Yesterday we gave our final performance at the "course conference" (a day of celebration which is meant to allow us students a chance to show one another what exactly we had done with our year) as we acted out a 15 minute (comedy!) recap. We were easily the best subject (!) and showed our appreciation to subject tutor George Meldrum with a song and later a Hibs shirt signed by us all. It is hard to believe that my years at university have finally come to an end...words cannot describe how happy I am not to be a student anymore (although my wallet may disagree!).

I also found out yesterday that my probation year school will be Kyle Academy, in Ayr. All reports of it are superb and I can't wait to start there in August.

All that is left is to say a big thank you to all the people who have helped to make this year such an enjoyable experience.

P.S. I have put my name forward to keep an NQT blog for the GA so watch this space!

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Sports day and probation placement

Richard Ledingham

Monday 29 May 2006

The last few days have been very hectic. I have attended yet another Parents evening (S1).....always nice to meet the parents and this time to actually give my views on the progress of a class that I have been teaching 3 times a week for the last 5 weeks. Friday also saw the S1 sports day and as my only class was S1 I managed to escape the confines of the school and to my amazement ended up refereeing the girls football competition....in my suit...in an anorak...under an umbrella...in the rain! What a great laugh. This will sound patronising but I was hugely impressed by the level of skill shown by some of the girls...not because of their sex but rather their age!

Having returned to school for the last few minutes of the day I gathered my things and headed out to meet the other students from Boroughmuir High School and the Regent for lunch....It was at this point that one of the students phoned home and discovered that our letters from the GTC had arrived and our destinations for next year were waiting at home on the doormat! After a little period of hesitation we all set off home and I am more than pleased to announce that I will be teaching in sunny South Ayrshire next year....might need to take up golf! Oh dear!

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Eventful few days

Richard Ledingham

Thursday 25 May 2006

To my surprise many different things have happened since my last post. Monday was an Edinburgh holiday (very much appreciated) and yesterday was a full in-service day for all staff. It was nice to see a whole staff approach to the various concerns. Having discussed a school review, workshops began to tackle individual problems (I attached myself to one addressing the provisions for gifted and talented children....naturally). More talks in the afternoon about CPD and PR&D opportunities...some fascinating tales (from hat making to relief work in South Africa). The remainder of the time was spent in departments discussing plans for next year.

The second noteworthy event took place today. Us students were interviewed by HMIE with regards to the placement programme. It was reassuring to hear the same stories from all of the other students. I think the main message that we conveyed was the huge variation in how the system is used by departments, regents and schools. Hopefully our coments will help to further improve the placement structure.

Hopefully by Friday I will know which region I will be teaching in next year...beginning to get restless not knowing. Unfortunately we have no idea when we will actually find out which school we are going to within that region.

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Highs and lows

Richard Ledingham

Thursday 11 May 2006

Yesterday

Well after all that preparation the lessons were....alright, with the exception of one which was a total nightmare! A low ability set of first years on a baking hot day, just after lunch. The class wouldn't settle....and despite the relatively simple tasks and instructions none were prepared to actually listen...they were sitting quietly and looking at me but didn't seem to take in a word I said. Getting them to colour in an area on a contour map was difficult!

What made this lesson even more distressing was the presence of 3 pupils who I doubt should be in mainstream schooling. Apparently their parents insist that they stay despite warnings that it is not helping their child and is actually dragging the rest of the class down. Inclusion works for some students and it can work extremely well...but for some it will never work and it is unfair on all involved (the pupil, classmates, staff) for them to be kept in that environment.

As I descended into the staff base head in hands wondering why on earth I wanted to be a teacher I sat and stared at the pile of work on my desk. And then, as if by magic, the concert band started to rehearse nextdoor and struck up a fine version of the "Muppet Show" theme tune. A huge smile crept across my face and I got stuck in to the work. Needless to say the lesson from hell helped me to put into perspective the importance of resources and the use of personality. For some reason on this placement I started to hide my personality and thought that wonderful worksheets were the way forward. They're not. Children see worksheets all the time and to be honest don't care if you spent 3 hours the night before making it accurate and attractive. What they appreciate is a chariasmatic and enthusiastic teacher who will have a bit of a laugh and make the work relevant and interesting.

Today

So a change in approach today. Some resources and lots of personality. Much to my relief it had the desired effect. Don't get me wrong they weren't perfect lessons (and I imagine anyone who thinks that they teach a perfect lesson is delusional) but the pupils responded really well to the tasks and worked with me and not for me (and most importantly not against me either!) My first 3rd year class were actually enthusiastic about the coal industry....slightly worrying! Introducing it as relevant due to its importance in where we came from as an industrialsed nation helped. My other 3rd had a decent debate about whether or not people should drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. By supplying the pupils with a top ten list of reasons for and against I was able to entice out of the pupils a coherent debate with some passionate responses. One of the two second year classes were sitting a test (nice and easy...now for the marking) whilst the other set began a mini unit on the Mediterranean.

We were also told by the Regent that HMIE are coming to the school to interview the placement students about the placement scheme...should be interesting!

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The Resource Factory!

Richard Ledingham

Tuesday 09 May 2006

My room has become a hub for inspiration...who'd have thought it? I am really glad with how I have been able to put my stamp on my lessons in my new placement. The first years have been looking at four figure grid references and OS map symbols. I used a couple of tricks that I learnt from Dunbar and Craigmount to complete my best 4 fig GR lesson to date. Every pupil got it and what's more thanks to a little game of battleships on the next day it appears that every pupil has remembered it! I also took inspiration from an excercise I had seen on my last placement and created a rebus story (partially using pictures to tell a story...in this instance OS map symbols embedded in a text).

The second year classes are also going well. My enthusiasm for Hurricanes seems to be paying off as the classes have remained focussed and attentive...most of the time. I used a set of individual facts today (one per pupil) to progress through an introduction to hurricanes. The pupils seemed to enjoy possessing the next piece of the puzzle and came up with some very good questions. Tomorrow they are going to be looking at how hurricanes affect the UK (or not) and who the Hurricane Watch are. Another idea stolen from placement, this time from Ollie, has helped me to create a third task for a Hurricane Katrina case study. Ollie asks pupils to highlight certain exam questions with colouring pencils to show the frequency of certain questions. I have adapted this and have created a fact sheet about Katrina which the pupils will highlight with three different colours looking for the nature of the hurricane, the physical impact and the human impact...hopefully they will then combine these into a coherent set of notes describing what happened. In addition to this I will give them a magazine article which they cannot write on but must use to add to their notes. I am aiming to improve their ability to summarise information. At the moment nearly all the pupils just copy whole chunks of text.

My final spark of creativity is aimed at one of my third year classes and came from watching an episode of the West Wing. I have produced two top ten lists of reasons for and against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. I will give half of the class the reasons for and half the reasons against. Once they have read them they will note which they believe to be best. Then they will swap and this time, stating the facts given on the sheets, say whether or not they have changed their minds.

The creation of these resources is hugely time-consuming but very rewarding... especially when 1/3 of my week's lessons are done by the end of Monday afternoon! (5 out of 15).

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The third first day

Richard Ledingham

Tuesday 02 May 2006

As I walked into my new school for the first time this morning it was strange to think that 5 weeks of hard work were all that I had left before a lifelong career of enjoyment...and hard work! With this truly happy thought in mind I practically bounced into placement number three.

Seven other students from Moray House are accompanying me in Boroughmuir High School. Most of us with stories from friends who had been there previously...all good I must add. Indeed right from the introductory meeting with the regent I gained a good feeling about this placement. The department are very friendly and helpful...keen to show me the ropes and, like myself, to get me teaching. My first lesson will be on Thursday (3rd year environmental issues....river/sea pollution). After this we will be looking at a case study of the oil pipeline that runs through Alaska and discussing the idea of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge....all I know about this contentious issue so far is what I have learnt from "The West Wing". All joking aside as I sat there today I realised what a brilliant resource the short scenes in The West Wing were. Whilst it is not possible to show them this placement I am sure I will find time during the probation year. The divide between Democrat and Republican views would form a good debate platform for the pros and cons of drilling in such an area. Likewise other scenes offer thought provoking ideas...such as the Mercator Map versus the Peters Projection Map, the eurocentrality of our maps and the notion of swapping the northern (top) and southern (bottom) hemispheres!

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Congratulations

Richard Ledingham

Saturday 29 April 2006

Firstly let me say congratulations to both Knox Academy and Dunbar Grammar. Knox are the only Scottish school to have won a place on the BBC's School Question Time Challenge. A superb opportunity for experiencial learning and another way of including the theme of citizenship. Secondly, congratulations to Dunbar Grammar who have been identified as a school worthy of the Scottish Executive's 'Schools of Ambition' programme.

My only other news from this week is the location of my third and final placement school....Boroughmuir High School. We had one student from Moray House placed there during the first placement and she loved every minute of it so I am really looking forward to starting there on Tuesday.

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The past week

Richard Ledingham

Monday 24 April 2006

Due to technical difficulties I haven't been able to update the weblog for a little while. Since the last post I have handed in my professional project...and it feels good to have done it. We still don't know where we are going next week on placement but hopefully that will be made clear tomorrow. This morning saw a useful lecture on the McCrone Report which pointed out the holes in the probation year scheme and the initial teacher training some of which are stiil apparent.

I am currently co-producing a higher unit decriptor with another student (Rural Higher). All students are undertaking such a task so that all students will leave this summer with a complete set of higher information. I am also collecting orders for PGDE clothing as a number of people have expressed an interest in rugby tops and hoodies.

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Final term already? Surely that can't be right?

Richard Ledingham

Tuesday 18 April 2006

In the words of Lesley Nielson...."it is right and please don't call me Shirley". I have no idea what happened to the Easter holiday...I finished my professional project a couple of days ago and am ready to present it tomorrow at the MD workshop. I am pleased with the final result but cannot believe how long it has taken to put it all together.

My final few weeks at Moray House will start tomorrow. Two weeks back, 5 weeks on placement and then three more weeks and thats it! Hopefully we will find out about where we are going on placement sometime soon!? We already know that one student is going to Kinlochbervie....just south of Cape Wrath. Well at least its summertime...sort of!

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SAGT Student Conference and the zoo

Richard Ledingham

Wednesday 29 March 2006

On Friday I attended the SAGT student conference for higher geography along with several other PGDE students from Moray House. We all decided that this was a great event which not only educated but inspired us with regards to teaching topics that we were slightly worried about. Many thanks to all who took part for making it such a good day.

Despite being on holiday I spent yesterday at Edinburgh Zoo with 40 pupils from Musselbrough Grammar School. The teachers there had asked for four of the PGDE students to go along and help. It was a great day, the children were well behaved and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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