Welcome to the WJETT blog
What is WJETT?
The WJETT blog or Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching blog is designed to encourage staff and students to disseminate good practice and to engage with their peers on academic cultural critique or areas of research that they find interesting. With the increased focus on ‘teachers as researchers’ in the sector, many qualified teachers are expected to publish the outcomes of any action research projects they undertake. The WJETT blog can be the first step on your journey towards publishing and enables you to experience publishing and reviewing in a friendly and supportive environment.
You will need to scroll down the page below the tags to see the posts.
What is your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy towards education in the early years is that first, and foremost, the children should be at the heart of the learning journey. My responsibility as a teacher, will be to give each child the best start to their education. Every child is unique, and with that individuality comes a variety of strengths and offerings. As a teacher it will be my obligation to ensure that each child feels inspired to contribute their ideas, questioning the ideas of others respectfully and furthermore allowing them to build their confidence in the learning environment. Children will understand that ideas will be respected, thereby cultivating a mindset that is open to change and full of curiosity. The different ways in which they approach learning as individuals will be celebrated. “With the right mindset and the right teaching people are capable of a lot more than we think.” (Dweck, C.S. 2006 P64)
I am a firm believer in a child centered approach to learning and find that children in early years learn best through play, involving hands on, meaningful and stimulated activities which allow children to learn at their own pace and follow their own interests. I feel that child-initiated inquiry led play gives children many opportunities to foster their innate curiosity and creativity, at the same time encouraging children to use their imaginations to solve problems through their own questioning and investigating. I will apply Vygotsky’s theories of how children learn from both the teacher as well as other students, allowing for scaffolding from both. “Play is absolutely fundamental to learning: it is the natural fruit of curiosity and imagination.”(Robinson K. 2016 P96)
Effort will be rewarded, and mistakes will be viewed as a means of learning. “Glowing and unconditional praise that masks errors and mistakes is harmful to children’s development.” (Dweck CS 2006) Having been educated in a competitive independent school where mistakes were frowned upon and only those who were seen to be academically able were encouraged, I discovered the detrimental effects this can have on a child’s confidence at an early stage. Therefore, I want to be able to promote, as one of my touchstones, the fact that as individuals we all have a role to play and a positive contribution to make. It will not only be about achieving the desired outcome, but an understanding that the process of investigation and engaging with the topic is just as important. Appreciation for others emotional needs and positive behaviour will play an important role within my classroom. It will be my responsibility to ensure that I provide an environment within the classroom that is both consistent and positive, while ensuring that I am an inspirational role model for these attributes, as well as ensuring that I am continually learning and furthering my own knowledge.
References
Dweck C.S. (2006) Mindset, Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential. New York, Random House.
Robinson K (2016) Creative Schools. New York, Penguin Random House.
Dweck C.S. (2006) Mindset, The new Psychology of success. New York, Random House.
Writing guidance
Can I write about anything in my blog post?
Yes pretty much. Academic cultural critique (Thomson and Mewburn, 2013) is always a good source of content for academic blogs. This can include (but is not limited to) comments and reflections on funding; higher education policy or academic life. You might also want to consider blogging about:
- Academic practice (Saper, 2006)
- Information and/or self-help advice
- Technical, teaching and careers advice
- Your research or practice
- How you’ve undertaken research
- The impact of research on your practice
- An area of research/practice that interests you
- Your teaching experiences/reflections
How long can my blog post be?
Each individual blog post should be no longer than 500 words. Long blocks of text are sometimes hard for readers to digest. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also include a list of keywords or tags as this makes it easier for Google to find your work.
Do I need to use citations?
No, this is a reflective piece so it does not need to include citations (but you obviously can include them if they are relevant).
Can I include links or images?
We would encourage you to include links to any articles that you have considered whilst writing your blog post. We also welcome the use of images (as long as you have permission to use them) as they can often help to illustrate a point and obviously will not be included in the word limit. Please remember this is a public site so if you want to include images of your students in your classes then you will need permission to do this.
What is the process for submitting a piece of work?
Your blog post should be emailed to A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk. Once the submission has been reviewed it will either be uploaded at the beginning of the next available week or sent back to you for editing if it requires amendments. You should then send the amended work to me once again and I will then upload it.