Teaching Practice Reflection

Creative and Innovative Approaches to my Senior Cycle subjects

From my limited experience in the teaching profession and my five years of secondary schooling, I have discovered that the creative and innovative classroom produces engagement in content and heightens interest levels within the pupils. In order to create this innovative atmosphere in the classroom, we as teachers need to explore the different technologies and techniques that already exist. New technologies can bring exciting curricula based on real-world problems into the classroom and provide scaffolds and tools to enhance learning (Kozma & Voogt, 2003, p. 3). This links back to Vygotskys concept of the teacher providing support for the pupils to develop new capabilities in the child (Faulkner, Littleton, & Woodhead, 2013, p. 157). But before these positive connotations exist in the classroom, different technologies and teaching strategies must be trialled and critiqued.

I am currently teaching a Transition Year Construction Studies group about the different types of foundations found in buildings. I decided to develop the pupils drawing skills by completing the section details of each on A3 paper, similar to what is expected of them in the Leaving Certificate exam. The challenge then arose as to how I could make the lesson more creative and innovative. This brought me back to a group presentation completed in second year where in order to educate the primary school pupils on different tree types, we videoed the national park and trees within it and played it on the projector screen. This brought the pupils out into the real world while remaining in the classroom. I adopted a similar approach for this group where a five minute video is played of a tour around the construction site. A group discussion is held while the video is being played where the different layers are discussed in detail and linked to their drawings. This proved effective however I feel change is now needed to retain interest. Continually changing the classroom environment, without making it overly distracting, also helps retain student interest (Willis, 2007, p. 96). For next weeks lessons I intend to steer the pupils away from the drawing element of the lesson and develop posters by sticking on the different components of a Pile Foundation in the correct order and labelling them

appropriately. This was a suggestion made by the pupils during a class discussion on learning outcomes. I spoke to my cooperating teacher on this suggestion and he agreed fully stating that pupils engage much better with change in the portrayal of content. Pupils will still be learning the same content however they will be adopting to change to retain interest.

The importance of consultation with the pupils in relation to learning is vital as they now how they learn best. It was excellent to see such a large number of secondary school pupils applying for the B.T. Young Scientist Competition in the R.D.S. this year. Organisers received a total of 2,000 applications from across the count ry to take part in this years competition (Kiernan, 2014). This shows that innovation is still alive in the classroom and we as teachers need to listen to our pupils and embrace it.

Bibliography
Faulkner, D., Littleton, K., & Woodhead, M. (2013). Learning Relationships in the Classroom. New York: Routledge. Kiernan, J. (2014, January 9). Getting Creative with Scientists of the Future. Irish Independent . Kozma, R. B., & Voogt, J. (2003). Technology, Innovation, and Educational Change: A Global Perspective. Eugene: International Society for Technology in Education. Willis, J. (2007). Brain-friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom. Alexandria: A.S.C.D. Publications.