Mapping my field of practice
My Professional Practice
Over the past six years I have taught English and Drama in Thailand. My experience abroad was absolutely incredible and life changing. It opened my eyes to new cultures and religions and I made many strong relationships along the way.
I was lucky to land an amazing job at an international school based in Chiang Mai. Myself and other teachers enjoyed putting on shows for the children every month based on childrens literature, such as 'The Gruffalo', 'The Lorax' and 'Room on the Broom' (which was rather hilarious). Teaching Drama to bilingual children was challenging but also uplifting. Playing drama games, learning lines and singing songs helped the children learn English quickly and gave them the confidence to use the English language, rather than use their mother tongue, which of course is much easier. Children are like little sponges, absorbing information and developing their knowledge at an impressive rate.
I'm currently working for a performing arts school which teaches children singing, dancing and acting. I am fortunate to work with people from different backgrounds and amazing families who want their children to thrive and build up their confidence. I enjoy connecting with children but also their families who appreciate updates on their childs progress or how they have behaved in class.
Teaching Method
My teaching method is based on constructivism. This means the student constructs their own undertsanding of the world. Students are expected to build on the knowledge they already have by making observations, colloborating and being pro-active in inquiry based activities. The teacher acts as the facilatator and is responsible for making sure the learning environment is designed to suit the childrens needs and interests.
Mind Map
I have created a mind map on my feild of practice including ethical considerations. I believe this will develop throughtout the BAPP course and continue to progress and grow with my career. Here is a photo of what I have come up with so far:
For me I wanted to highlight the fact that as a teacher you a responsible for many things, but most importantly a childs well-being. Teachers must provide a safe and supportive environment where children can be nutured and tended to for their own individual needs. It is also highly important to safeguard a students privacy and confidentiality. For example sharing personal information without permission, not getting consent for taking photos and videos of students; these are breaches of confidentiality.
When I look over my map different words jump out and hold a lot of meaning to me, such as happiness, commitment, respect, ambition, teamwork, inclusive and integrity. These are words that I want to adhere to in every day life and at work. Being an active member of the local community and a role model to young learners is very important to me, therefore I want to make sure I am presenting the best version of myself and make sure that I am constantly evolving my teaching methods, knowledge and skills, which will in turn benefit my students.
The End!
I thought I would end this blog by leaving you all a magical photo of me and my fellow ex colleagues dressed up as characters from Harry Potter. For Halloween we turned the whole kindergarten into Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. We used our acting skills and imaginations to come up with fun activities such as potions class, dragon egg painting and quidditch. As I was playing Professor McGonagall I decided to hold spell classes for the children where they got to learn all the different spells and actions to accompany them. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA! :)
Over the past six years I have taught English and Drama in Thailand. My experience abroad was absolutely incredible and life changing. It opened my eyes to new cultures and religions and I made many strong relationships along the way.
I was lucky to land an amazing job at an international school based in Chiang Mai. Myself and other teachers enjoyed putting on shows for the children every month based on childrens literature, such as 'The Gruffalo', 'The Lorax' and 'Room on the Broom' (which was rather hilarious). Teaching Drama to bilingual children was challenging but also uplifting. Playing drama games, learning lines and singing songs helped the children learn English quickly and gave them the confidence to use the English language, rather than use their mother tongue, which of course is much easier. Children are like little sponges, absorbing information and developing their knowledge at an impressive rate.
I'm currently working for a performing arts school which teaches children singing, dancing and acting. I am fortunate to work with people from different backgrounds and amazing families who want their children to thrive and build up their confidence. I enjoy connecting with children but also their families who appreciate updates on their childs progress or how they have behaved in class.
Teaching Method
My teaching method is based on constructivism. This means the student constructs their own undertsanding of the world. Students are expected to build on the knowledge they already have by making observations, colloborating and being pro-active in inquiry based activities. The teacher acts as the facilatator and is responsible for making sure the learning environment is designed to suit the childrens needs and interests.
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Here is a more clear and concise explanation of the constructivist theory. |
I have created a mind map on my feild of practice including ethical considerations. I believe this will develop throughtout the BAPP course and continue to progress and grow with my career. Here is a photo of what I have come up with so far:
When I look over my map different words jump out and hold a lot of meaning to me, such as happiness, commitment, respect, ambition, teamwork, inclusive and integrity. These are words that I want to adhere to in every day life and at work. Being an active member of the local community and a role model to young learners is very important to me, therefore I want to make sure I am presenting the best version of myself and make sure that I am constantly evolving my teaching methods, knowledge and skills, which will in turn benefit my students.
The End!
I thought I would end this blog by leaving you all a magical photo of me and my fellow ex colleagues dressed up as characters from Harry Potter. For Halloween we turned the whole kindergarten into Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. We used our acting skills and imaginations to come up with fun activities such as potions class, dragon egg painting and quidditch. As I was playing Professor McGonagall I decided to hold spell classes for the children where they got to learn all the different spells and actions to accompany them. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA! :)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqVMPDzSTsJOpDH0SsDYrcfEPUJNwjrctMkzLssFrOh32sqbXUhyphenhyphenXYlz4uTMfDarxaebhTb2fZOI9UHE1HX8fu15UGlnLNRnUdjurdZktybqcgqlo32RjoPCneq4j-HCQkTGqcINdBedqa/s640/IMG_20180609_190148_582.jpg)
Hi Bronte,
ReplyDeleteThis blog post really resonated with me and made me think about the way in which I currently teach.
Teachers are so important in my opinion. My dance and academic teachers inspired me and made me into the person that I have become today and you could even say that they had a bigger impact on my life than my own parents and this is what has really inspired me to teach.
I am fairly new to the dance teaching world, I have only been doing it for 5 months, I usually only take workshops or masterclasses.
I would love to hear more in regards to your teaching in Thailand, that sounds like an incredible opportunity!!
Did you notice much difference in the way the children approached things over there compared to children in the UK?
Many thanks again for this thought provoking blog, it has really got me thinking about what my teaching approach currently is.
Paul
Hi Paul,
DeleteI completely agree with what you are saying. My favourite teachers from school were my drama teachers...and they are still there! I went back to my old school recently to help out with their production of 'The Crucible'...it was great fun!
I hope you're enjoying teaching. What age group do you teach?
Thailand was amazing...but definitely threw up some challenges. I was very lucky because the team I worked with were so creative and we all wanted the children to be happy and to have fun. All of our events were so big and crazy...Christmas especially! We would turn the whole kindergaten into Santas workshop. The families were invited and the children would perform Christmas songs and dances - no nativity play because of religious beliefs. I had the best time there.
Actually there was not too much difference with the children in the classroom. I had more difficulty managing the parents! Again I loved teaching children from different backgrounds...I had Chinese, Korean, Thai, American, British and many mixed race students. The Chinese parents were very strict and more demanding of their children, whereas the other parents took a more laid back approach.
I could waffle on for ages about my teaching experience...lots of hard times but certainly worth it for all those unforgettable brilliant moments! :)
Bronte
Hi Bronte,
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading through this post! You come across really passionate about your practice which is amazing.
The method of constructivism is intriguing me, as I feel I haven't pin pointed my method of teaching. It is something I am now going to research into, so thank you for opening my mind to that!
I also seem to be doing countless mind maps at the moment so it was interesting reading through yours and seeing similarities and differences.
I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Alys
Hi Alys,
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed reading it! I think all of us on the course seem to be very passionate about what we do...it makes this learning experience much more exciting and I love conversing with like minded people.
My mind map just sort of flowed and then when I ran out of space I stopped! I'm sure there will be plenty more mind maps in the future! I'm definitely interested to see yours :)
Bronte
Hi Bronte
ReplyDeleteLovely post, I found it very interesting. I'm actually curious to know - in your post you mentioned the safeguarding of students and what is obvious to most of us with regards to privacy and confidentiality. I wondered if you found this rather difficult when you were teaching in Thailand? Having taught in Malaysia for a number of years (with exception to a British International School and ISTD dance school who clearly follow UK guidelines) I have found the rules are rather lapse in regard to this. People think nothing of taking pictures/videos of children dancing (often not their own) and sharing via social media. You really have to be very vocal and clear that its not acceptable as there is a big difference in what is acceptable here. Its slowly changing but wondered if you found this in Thailand also?
Jen
Hi Jen,
DeleteOh yes! I can relate to what you are saying. I worked at an International school using the Cambridge curriculum and EYFS (very British). But living Thailand was a big eye opener to how Asian people use their social media and also how intrusive people can be.
At school we used an app called 'Line' on our phones to set up a group with the parents. This was used to inform them on events, topics we were learning in class, photos and videos of the children. My co-ordinator told me that this was normal and that every teacher did this to communicate with the families. Unfortunately things would blow up on the line group...if a parent wasn't happy with something they would message the whole group creating more problems for myself and the school. Not only was that bad but I was concerned about the circulation of photos...it is always great to see your children having fun at school and being engaged in activities but other people in the group have access to the photos and videos of your children. In my second year of teaching the line groups were scrapped and the school used a platform called 'Seesaw' which was much better as the children had individual journals online which only parents could access with a password. But this doesn't stop parents snapping photos on school premises and taking videos. I sent out a letter of consent to all parents and all of them signed happily for their children to be included in school photos etc...but the problem goes beyond that. It is definitely a cultural thing!
I also remember having a camera in my classroom and parents having access to that. Some parents would sit at home all day and watch the camera...they would take screenshots of the children sleeping and send it to me. They would also screenshot me working in the classroom alone after school hours! Again...access to the cameras were taken away...which was fantastic!
I have two half Thai children, so whenever I used to go shopping I would get groups of people coming up to us and taking photos without permission and touching them. I found this really uncomfortable but at the time couldnt say anything because I didn't want to be disrespectful towards Thai people.
Thailand seem to wait until something awful goes wrong and many people are hurt until they finally take action! I doubt things will change...not for many years to come.
I'm interested to hear about your experience in Malaysia. Sounds like there are some similarities!
Bronte