Practice 7: Diversity.

Hi guys. Our post today is about diversity. Hope you enjoy!

This practice wants us to create a scheme to make sure we understand the different advantages and disadvantages that diversity can bring.

We have learned the various advantages and disadvantages of diversity in a school. Here are some examples: It is obvious that the advantages are more visible as schools organisation progresses. By having those who have an advantage in the same classroom, they can push themselves and progress to be the best they can be.They have the opportunity to socialise and form friendships with people who don’t have a disability. We have also learned that in the classroom they have peer role models academically, socially and in terms of their behavioural skills. They also have greater access to the general curriculum. The end result so far is the social acceptance that they receive. We have also learned that the disadvantages for disabled children was present at a higher level years ago than currently. Originally the concept of disability wasn’t understood as a progressing matter, but as a segregation. As we said earlier, students with special needs were separated in the school from the rest of the ‘normal’ students. This means that they are only able to interact and compete who have the same ability as themselves. We could also find the possibility that the centre won’t adapt and help the children in need but will expect them to adapt to the centre. Finally, we learned that the situation of the separation of these types of children still exists and if, and hopefully when, these are joined as one, they must have the required resources in every school for every child.
For me it was more interesting to learn about the many disadvantages even though it was the hardest part to learn and therefor I need more practice. We based our practice on our own knowledge and what we could see from the power point but I found an author called Andrew Button who states a series of obvious disadvantages that we didn't think of. Here are some of the things he has to say. First of all, he says that there may be a language barrier. Language barriers are generally temporary in nature as the eventually learn the language of the country they move to, but the language segregation can endure. As a result, many governments now require that prospective immigrants learn their country's official language. Another disadvantage is social tension which can occur as a result of cultural and linguistic differences. In Europe tension between the Muslim minority and the largely secular majority is frequently attributed to the incommensurability of Islamic and secular values. The tensions caused by culture are thought to be exacerbated by economic differences, as European Muslim populations are frequently disadvantaged in employment due to a lack of educational opportunities. He also states many more in a very detailed way. Button, A. (s.f.). The disadvantages of cultural diversity. Recuperado de https://www.theclassroom.com/the-disadvantages-of-cultural-diversity-12082787.html The knowledge I can generate is from a website I found when trying to study for my exam. It shows us how important diversity really is. The site I found tells us the following advantages: Structured classroom activities can highlight diversity, mutual respect is part of the equation, no child left behind shines the light on achievement gaps among diverse groups of students many many more. This isn't In the power point, but I do think these things should have been mentioned because I was really entertained when reading this article. How important is diversity? (s.f.). Recuperado de https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/cultural-diversity-at-school/ References: Button, A. (s.f.). The disadvantages of cultural diversity. Recuperado de https://www.theclassroom.com/the-disadvantages-of-cultural-diversity-12082787.html How important is diversity? (s.f.). Recuperado de https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/cultural-diversity-at-school/

Practice 6: leadership helps improve schools.

Hi guys, welcome to practice number six. Today we are going to talk about how leadership helps improve the outcome of schools.



This practice wants us to understand the importance of leadership, its objectives, functions, methods, types and how this can determine the outcome of the school.

The preliminary ideas I had about this topic was all the knowledge from lesson 6. Therefor I knew the meaning of leadership, the types, its characteristics etc. But what I didn't know was how this helps the outcome of the school.

I have learned thatdistribution of leadership gives way to the improvement of the school with the use of empirical evidence. I have also learned that to prove this we need to use certain methodologies such as draws on several fields of enquiry, by looking at changes in organisation, the effectiveness of schools and their leadership. It also analyses in order the evidence from each area and gives us a combination of its most common findings. The last thing it taught me was that we need to assess the outcome of the school now, followed by making the act of distributed learning easy for all schools in all situations to follow.
The hardest part for me was finding the conclusions they obtained from the study. I couldn't use the help from any author as we had to see what was in the given document. However, my friends helped me out and we ended p completing the task. We need to work more on how leadership improves the schools outcome. I found an article written by a numerous amount of authors who explain on pages 16 to 20 the importance of leadership and how it can help the outcome of students. Her is an example. The sustainable transformation of a school is the outcome of effective leadership. Effective leadership results in the improvement of physical, psychological and social conditions for teaching and learning, raised aspirations of staff, students and communities and the improved achievement of all pupils. This isn't explained in the power point, so to understand this I recommend reading the article. It helped me. Day, C., Sammons, P., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Gu, Q., . . . Kington, A. (s.f.). Pupils outcome is because of leadership. Recuperado de https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/11329/1/DCSF-RR108.pdf The knowledge I can generate is, apart from the 3 types of leadership that we have studied, that there are more types. Why restrict information o something important. The other four types are the following. Strategic leadership, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, coach-style leadership and bureaucratic leadership. The most interesting is the transformational leadership even though it is only sometimes effective.

Transformational leadership is always "transforming" and improving upon the company's conventions. Employees might have a basic set of tasks and goals that they complete every week or month, but the leader is constantly pushing them outside of their comfort zone.

When starting a job with this type of leader, all employees might get a list of goals to reach, as well as deadlines for reaching them. While the goals might seem simple at first, this manager might pick up the pace of deadlines or give you more and more challenging goals as you grow with the company.

This is a highly encouraged form of leadership among growth-minded companies because it motivates employees to see what they're capable of. But transformational leaders can risk losing sight of everyone's individual learning curves if direct reports don't receive the right coaching to guide them through new responsibilities.

Becker, B. (s.f.). tje 8 most common types of leadership. Recuperado de https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/leadership-styles

References:

Day, C., Sammons, P., Hopkins, D., Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Gu, Q., . . . Kington, A. (s.f.). Pupils outcome is because of leadership. Recuperado de https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/11329/1/DCSF-RR108.pdf

Becker, B. (s.f.). tje 8 most common types of leadership. Recuperado de https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/leadership-styles

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Lesson 10: assessment of the schools.

Hi guys, this unfortunately is our last theory post. But don't worry because this last one is just as interesting as the rest. Let's have a look at the esqueme to lesson 10.

This lesson helps us understand the importance of assessment. It  tells us what it is used for, what elements are assessed, the types of assessment and the laws that govern this action.

The preliminary ideas that I had about this lesson was that the assessment is used to know the degree to which each one of the proposed objectives has to be achieved, to detect the problems that the organisation is having, to reorient the implantation of plans and to improve performance or the degree of achievement of objectives. There are many more but these were the ones I recognised

In this lesson I have learned what assessment is really used for, what elements are assessed, the types of assessment which are the formative and the summative and the laws governing the assessment; these being LOGSE, LOE, LOMCE and the Oder of the 13th of December.

This lesson was quite easy to understand and didn't have any difficulties but if I have to mention something I would have to say that the point about sel-evaluation wasn't explained I would like to know what this actually means. What I would like to learn about how self-evaluation is related to schools. Self-evaluation I found simply on google that it means to look at your progress, develop and learn to determine what has improved and what areas still need improvement. It usually involves comparing a ''before'' situation with a current situation. I found an author called Simon Camby who explains in a very detailed maner how the self-evaluation of a school is its backbone. It explains the importance, the steps to do so, its guidelines. The reasons why this isn't explains is a little disappointing as I believe it's very important. Camby, S. (s.f.). Self-evaluation in schools. Recuperado de https://www.focus-education.co.uk/blog/self-evaluation-document-great-school/

The knowledge I can generate is very useful. I found an article written by Erin Hull who explains everything you need to know about assessment in schools, what it is, the types, its alternatives. If you focus at the bottom of the page there are many other articles with variants of this topic such as creating questions for student assessment, dynamic assessment... The most interesting thing for was when she said that assessments are normally considered stressful affairs. This I didn't know. I just believed that it took a while because of the things you need to take into consideration, not because said process was complicated. Anyway, she explains that there are some modern types of assessment such as diagnostic assessment and alternative assessments which are actually used to relieve stress and make courses more accessible for students. Worth looking at. Hull, E. (s.f.). Assessment in schools.. Recuperado de https://study.com/teach/assessments.html

I am going to leave a link down below because it explains what makes a great assessment. This is something that helps us have a global image of what is needed internally.
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/assessing-and-monitoring-pupil-progress/developing-whole-school-assessment/

References:
Camby, S. (s.f.). Self-evaluation in schools. Recuperado de https://www.focus-education.co.uk/blog/self-evaluation-document-great-school/ self-evaluation in schools.
Hull, E. (s.f.). Assessment in schools.. Recuperado de https://study.com/teach/assessments.html assessment in schools.
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/assessing-and-monitoring-pupil-progress/developing-whole-school-assessment/ What makes a great assessment?

Lesson 9: participation in educational centre.

This next post is an essential part of children's evolution of confidence in school centre. Here is a small esqueme to get us started.

This lesson teaches us how we can foster participation in a school, what legislation says about participation, the bodies that participate in the school community and some article to have in mind.


The preliminary ideas I had about this topic was the definition of the term participation. To participate means to get involved or to contribute in a certain activity. This I presume means we are going to be talking about the participation of students in class and maybe its affects. Let's have a look.

This lesson has taught me why participation in schools is necessary and how to promote it, the participation bodies that are in the educational community and what the legislation says about participation. This last one has a series of laws which we have talked about in many previous posts and as we know by now, they change as they evolve. This is also applies to participation.

The hardest part to learn was the promotion of the participation in schools as there were so many ways how to. I would like to learn more about this in a way that I can understand it. The Berkley University of California sets out many methods to encourage participation in classrooms. Here are a few of them. There are some basic methods such as to demonstrate interest in what they have to say and work with everyone but it also states a few more specific methods like to tactically correct wrong answers, ask them to respond another classmates comment.... Here is the full document. Of Berkley, U. (s.f.). Encouraging participation. Recuperado de https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/discussion-intro/participation/

The knowledge I can generate is the disadvantages of school participation. If a student is very introverted and the teacher asks them to participate or give their opinion, the child probably won't like it. This might end up causing school absenteeism. It might also cause people to think that there is favouritism. If the teacher calls on people who volunteer to participate instead of those who want to but don't volunteer, it could make the child upset and no longer have an interest for the teacher or even the subject. Participation against their will it might them look stupid in front of their peers, causing maybe some bullying. I know this information is a stretch, but I truly believe that this information, though by myself, can actually happen. What do you think?

This is something I knew I wanted to post. This message says a lot about school participation. All it takes is for you to give your opinion about an answer or a topic for you to help other people either participate too or you could even help them learn something from a different perspective.


References:

Of Berkley, U. (s.f.). Encouraging participation. Recuperado de https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/discussion-intro/participation/

Lesson 8: Conflict resolution.

Todays topic is a great one. We are going to be talking about duties and rights of the members of the educational community and conflict resolution. As always, I have an esqueme for you.

This lesson teaches us the many types of conflict we can find throughout the years of teaching, the best methods of resolution, the rights and duties of students and teachers, how to address school violence and the role of community-building plans in schools.

The preliminary ideas I had about this topic were very little. I think if we all think carefully we know what types of conflict there are as we have all been in a classroom before. I remember there being someone who was known for vandalism, there were a couple of physical fights in the playground and then you have the people who interrupt the teacher or disrupt the class in general.

This is what I learnt in this lesson: they types of conflicts in a classroom and how they appear, the rights and duties of the members of the educational community (especially students and teachers), the negative behaviours that we can find and the corrective measures to get rid of these, the steps on how to address violence in schools and finally, something we have talked about in many previous posts, the community-building plan in schools.

The part I had more difficulty understanding was understanding how to manage conflicts. I found and article written by The Open University. It tells us the three types of conflicts which we have stated previously and it gives us measures and resources to help solve these problems. It isn't a long article and it is very easy to read and understand. It really cleared up my issue. Some ways they think it can be solved is by working in pairs, doing presentations, community conflict assumption...
Ways of managing conflict. (s.f.). Recuperado de https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=104946&printable=1

I can generate an interesting piece of knowledge. While surfing the internet I found an article which explained how conflict actually has a positive effect and how in some cases it isn't the problem. Let me explain. Abdul Ghaffar says that conflict is needed as it helps to raise and address problems, it energises work to be on the most appropriate issues, it helps people 'be real' as it can motivate them to participate and it helps people learn how to recognise and benefit from their differences. He also explains that conflict isn't the same as discomfort. The conflict isn't the problem, it is only a conflict when it is poorly managed. It is a problem when it hampers productivity, lowers morales, causes more and continued conflicts and causes inappropriate behaviour.

Ghaffar, A. (s.f.). Positive points in conflict. Recuperado de https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272327382_Managing_workplace_conflict_in_the_school_ environment_Challenges_rewards_and_the_way_forward

This is another clear way on what conflict is. This information was given to me by my mum. Conflict is a normal and natural part of our workplaces and lives. As people with diverse background come together in a working environment, differences in opinion, attitudes and beliefs are bound to occur as they interact. How such differences are managed determines the impact they can have on productivity and therefore organizational goals. Recognizing and addressing the factors that give rise to potential conflicts can have a positive impact on the workplace and productivity. Conflict, if constructively handled, can be very helpful in making necessary changes within the work environment. However, poorly resolved or unresolved conflict can result in feelings of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, hopelessness, depression, and other emotions. It can even lead to resignation from jobs, dissolution of personal relations, aggression, and even violence.

Something we should all have in mind, don't you think?

References:

Ways of managing conflict. (s.f.). Recuperado de https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=104946&printable=1

Ghaffar, A. (s.f.). Positive points in conflict. Recuperado de https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272327382_Managing_workplace_conflict_in_the_school_ environment_Challenges_rewards_and_the_way_forward

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Lesson 7: The evolution of diverity in schools.

Hi guys ans welcome to another post. Today we are going to be talking about the evolution of diversity in schools. Here is a quick esqueme to start us off.

This lesson teaches us how the concept of diversity has changed throughout the last few years, the laws that have been regulating diversity, their objectives of inclusion and finally the two types of special teachers who attend to the needs of specific students.

The preliminary ideas that I had about this topic was the definition of diversity. I think I speak for everyone when I say that diversity is when we find different types of things or people in a certain context. In schools this would mean a diversity of people, whether that be because of race, religion or simply from a different country, in an educational context. 

This is what I have learned in this lesson:
I have learned how diversity has changed throughout the years. Before they grouped children in certain centres based on if they were normal or abnormal and how this fact became a way of integrating both types in one. I t also taught me what laws regulated diversity and its objective which is the inclusion of all students and to attend to the needs every single one. Finally it shows us that there are two types of teachers, The Special Needs Teacher and the Hearing and Language Teacher.

The hardest part for me to understand, therefor I need to study more is the benefits of diversity in schools. A page written by the Queens University of Charlotte explains various reasons why being one of these that students work better in a diverse environment, enabling them to concentrate and push themselves further when there are people of other backgrounds working alongside them. This promotes creativity, as well as better education, as those with differing viewpoints are able to collaborate to create solution.
Benefits of diversity. (s.f.). Recuperado de https://online.queens.edu/online-programs/medl/resources/benefits-of-diversity-in-school

The knowledge I can generate is a site I saw by Maria Kampen who wrote this site to explain 7 ways to support diversity in a classroom. She gives example with every possible way and it even come with a couple of explanatory videos. A couple of these suggestions are to get to know your students, examine materials and resources... The second one is the most interesting. Most teachers grab normal books for example where the main character is a white male. What happened to the young, African girl? These little details are going to be the difference between the child feeling it is being excluded and being welcome. The rest you guys will have to find out by reading the site.
Kampen, M. (s.f.). Support diversity. Recuperado de https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/diversity-in-the-classroom/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGwLKzkr3mAhV-BGMBHZLHDZkQtwIIMzAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dj-deAP56rzQ&usg=AOvVaw14Ugwvx7G2SriFHHnl0qZe

This is a short video, I know, but this is the point of view from a scientist. With this I want to prove that no matter how important our job is, how smart we are or not, we all must have the same idea and importance for diversity.

References:
Benefits of diversity. (s.f.). Recuperado de https://online.queens.edu/online-programs/medl/resources/benefits-of-diversity-in-school
Kampen, M. (s.f.). Support diversity. Recuperado de https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/diversity-in-the-classroom/
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGwLKzkr3mAhV-BGMBHZLHDZkQtwIIMzAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dj-deAP56rzQ&usg=AOvVaw14Ugwvx7G2SriFHHnl0qZe

Lesson 6: personal and collective relationships.

To start my post I am going to show you a little esqueme about topic, the personal and collective relationships in a school.

This practices is set out to help us understand the personal and collective relationships such as leadership, management and innovation of organisations. It helps us keep in mind the factor of culture, the characteristics of leadership and management and finally, the objectives and legislation of innovation. The preliminary ideas that I had about this lesson I have to admit wasn't much. I simply presumed that it was going to talk about the management and the leadership that happens in a school.Leadership, from my knowledge is to guide or control a person or a group of people. This, if I think anout it carefuly would mean who in the school has the power to guide and conrol, which for me is the director. I have learned that there are different types of cultures within a school environment and the types of relationships. I have also learned the strategic values and objectives of leadership and its management actions. It also has taught me various definitions of leadership and the styles it can have. Moreover, I have been taught what an effective leadership is and how this affects the schools success. On the topic of the educational innovation in schools, I have learned what said action is, what it sets out, the issues that could be the object and what it improves. The hardest part for me to grasp how the leadership and management improves the school, or simply, the effects they have over the school. Furthermore, I believe that depending on the kind of leadership that is set forth as to what improvements it could posibly bring. This is my difficulty. I don't understand it. Well, at least I didn't. I found a useful article prepared by Christopher Day and Pammela Sammons. These to authors explain the different types of leadership that exist and all the improvements, startegic ovements and objectives it has about the school. The whole article is too long, but you can find this information as from page 17. My favourite for example is the pedagogical leadership as it emphsises the importance of esablishing clear educational goals, planning the curriculum and evaluating teachers and teaching. Dean, C., & Sammons, P. (s.f.). Successful school leadership. Recuperado de https://www.educationdevelopmenttrust.com/EducationDevelopmentTrust/files/a3/a359e571-7033-41c7-8fe7-9ba60730082e.pdf

The knowledge I can generate is a bit o information of the importance of leadership when it comes to the inclusion of cultures. This a topic I feel very strong about as hate to see differences in the world. The aim of this study is to determine relationship between school administrators’ leadership practices and school culture. I couldn't help myself and read the whole article. These are the conclusions found. School culture can be used by school administrators as a tool to influence and direct other people or to establish coordination among employees. Beyond being representatives of school bureaucracy, administrators should be cultural and moral guides who pioneer the creation and development of fundamental values in school. Based on the findings of the study, it is important to improve and enhance the job definition and areas of work of school administrators. Arrangements can be made to allow school administrators to take initiative towards improving their own schools. This may strengthen the guiding role of school administrators. At the end they strongly suggest that future studies consider a qualitative investigation of exemplary school culture and leadership practices.
Turan, S., & Bektas, F. (s.f.). The Relationship between School Culture and Leadership Practices. Recuperado de https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060393.pdf

If you closely at the image these are all the things that leadership, whether that be of more importance or less, or seen directly or not, has to take into consideration.

School leadership. (s.f.). Recuperado de https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/latest/practices/school-leadership--when-good-.htm

This is a link about general objectives of school leadership, where it is reflected in, the new methodologies implanted in the last couple of years and so on.

References:

Dean, C., & Sammons, P. (s.f.). Successful school leadership. Recuperado de https://www.educationdevelopmenttrust.com/EducationDevelopmentTrust/files/a3/a359e571-7033-41c7-8fe7-9ba60730082e.pdfhow leadership improves the school.

Turan, S., & Bektas, F. (s.f.). The Relationship between School Culture and Leadership Practices. Recuperado de https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060393.pdf
School leadership. (s.f.). Recuperado de https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/latest/practices/school-leadership--when-good-.htm The general objectives of school leadership.