After my outrage last week, it must be said that my Year 7 class are really getting into Shakespeare. They love all the stuff about the Globe and Elizabethan London. I've decided to start them gently by looking at A Midsummer Night's Dream and it seems to be working. I'd like to say that it's my flawless teaching, but when it comes down to it it's the man himself I have to thank. Once you can link the play to their own life, children seem to love it. In a world of reality TV and soap opera they are all to familiar with sex, violence and betrayal, and lets face it that's what Elizabethan audiences wanted too. I was worried about the faeries but with the recent revival of fantasy films in the cinemas, this hasn't caused a problem at all.
Once the story has been established the language comes quite easily, as long as they realise that people in the 1600s didn't all walk around London greeting each other on rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter. of course with 11 year olds the easiest way in is through the insults. I look forward to the day I walk across the yard and hare them calling each other painted maypoles and puppets rather than some of the preferred endearments usually bellowed at lunch time.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Next Step
Well here I am again considering what to write, I think I'll continue with my educational journey so far. If I wasn't taking this course at the moment I'm sure that I would be seriously worried about my state of mind. You see, I love education, not just learning new things but exploring HOW to learn. It's comforting to know that other people have a passion for knowledge too. At times I wonder whether I should 'get a life'. Fellow teachers and pupils alike seem amazed that on one of my evenings 'off' I'd rather be at university than sat at home staring at the latest instalment of 'I'm a Celebrity'.
The thing is that I am genuinely concerned about young people today. I know that sentence makes me sound old beyond my years but it's true. Last week faced with 28 keen Year 7 pupils I reached an all time low when a number of them told me they'd never even heard of William Shakespeare before. At first I laughed "Well of course you have" I said with encouragement, "What did he do?" As their searching eyes began to glaze over it dawned on me that they were in fact telling the truth.
This experience is not an isolated incident, and one all too familiar to anyone who teaches. It has made me think and I think it could be seen in two ways: either there is no point in me being a teacher as children seem to be lacking in some way, or that this is exactly the reason I became a teacher, to spread knowledge.
A bad workman blames his tools, and therefore I choose to favour the latter idea. These pupils have obviously slipped through the net at primary level and it's down to me to save them, not single handed I admit, but every little helps. I must admit that the lessons since that disturbing revelation have been well received, and every member of that class can now give you a list of facts about the great man himself.
The thing is that this raises another question. So my Year 7 class can rave on about William Shakespeare, chapter and verse, but what help will this be to them in the real world? Am I worrying about the wrong things? Should my priorities lie in more 'useful' skills? Are we failing young people today by making them study things which have no relevance to the 21st century?
The thing is that I am genuinely concerned about young people today. I know that sentence makes me sound old beyond my years but it's true. Last week faced with 28 keen Year 7 pupils I reached an all time low when a number of them told me they'd never even heard of William Shakespeare before. At first I laughed "Well of course you have" I said with encouragement, "What did he do?" As their searching eyes began to glaze over it dawned on me that they were in fact telling the truth.
This experience is not an isolated incident, and one all too familiar to anyone who teaches. It has made me think and I think it could be seen in two ways: either there is no point in me being a teacher as children seem to be lacking in some way, or that this is exactly the reason I became a teacher, to spread knowledge.
A bad workman blames his tools, and therefore I choose to favour the latter idea. These pupils have obviously slipped through the net at primary level and it's down to me to save them, not single handed I admit, but every little helps. I must admit that the lessons since that disturbing revelation have been well received, and every member of that class can now give you a list of facts about the great man himself.
The thing is that this raises another question. So my Year 7 class can rave on about William Shakespeare, chapter and verse, but what help will this be to them in the real world? Am I worrying about the wrong things? Should my priorities lie in more 'useful' skills? Are we failing young people today by making them study things which have no relevance to the 21st century?
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Blogger's block!
Not much to do with the main point of my blog, but I thought everyone else might find this amusing, especially if you're wondering what to write, just as I am.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Why?
What makes a teacher put themselves back into a classroom situation? This seems to be the main reaction when people find out that I'm currently studying for an MA. Well to be honest I've asked myself the same question many times.
And she did: Trudy and then me.
When I was 18 I packed my bags and made the 200 mile trip up the A470 from Cowbridge to my home for the next 4 years in Bangor. Eleven years later I'm still here. So what has changed since my first taste of university?
Money I suppose.
After my undergrad degree I really wanted to take the next step, but there was no way I could afford to study any longer. Instead I began my teaching career. Six years after becoming an English teacher I took the plunge and embarked on a new course.
I suppose that in order to answer the question you need to understand a little of my journey through education so far:
As the first member of my family to go to university or even to move more than 20 miles away from the family home I seem to have started a trend. My older sister is now studying for her first degree more than 20 years after dropping out of school. It just goes to confirm my suspicions that knowledge is in the Davies blood! Even my Mam has the brains, something that came as a bit of a shock to me during my rebellious teenage years. She simply lacked the opportunity. After passing the 11+ she wasn't allowed to go on to grammar school as her father believed that it would be a waste of money because once she'd finished she'd just get married and have kids.
And she did: Trudy and then me.
When I was 18 I packed my bags and made the 200 mile trip up the A470 from Cowbridge to my home for the next 4 years in Bangor. Eleven years later I'm still here. So what has changed since my first taste of university?
Money I suppose.
After my undergrad degree I really wanted to take the next step, but there was no way I could afford to study any longer. Instead I began my teaching career. Six years after becoming an English teacher I took the plunge and embarked on a new course.
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