What Do People Think Of Me?

Pete started our ICT lecture asking us to write down how we think our course mates perceive us. We are all great friends and enjoy a lot of ‘banter’ and so I thought I knew what they would write about me, so my page looked like this:

I know that at 24, I am not old! However, as the oldest in the class they like to bring my age up as often as possible, so I thought this would get mentioned! I am a friendly person, and like to think that they see me as this, and I am pretty sure they see me as a hard worker, as I try to put my all in to each lesson, and they can see my blog and extra curricular activities.

We then had to go around the room and write down something on each other’s page, about how we perceive them. This was really interesting and I was expecting my page to look the same as I had written – “old, friendly and works hard”. I went around the room and it was interesting to see how people perceived each other.

Mine ended up being: 

As a future teacher, who is concerned about the way she comes across in a professional manner, I was pleased with the comments, although I couldn’t help think that actually, it made me come across as quite boring!

However, I agree with every comment! I am super organised, but like to think I am fun. I believe I am professional as I have taken on Pete’s comments over the past two years to change myself from having a ‘student presence’ online, to a ‘professional presence’. I work hard – I have a part-time job at the University and I take on as many extra-curricular activities as I can, from being elected as Secretary for the Plymouth Education Society, to taking part in the 1oo Word Challenge. I’m glad that my hard work does show to others!

I am a student, in my twenties and I do like a drink – I won’t deny that! I am determined, and I think this can be seen with how hard I work. I am really pleased that people think I am friendly and good to talk to, as this is how I try to be, but I am not surprised that I was told I am mature – probably too mature for my own good at times!

I liked the full of life comment as I try to be full of life and take every opportunity that comes my way, and its nice that someone thinks I am “really cool” but I’m sure this one isn’t true!

The point of these activities was for us to see how we perceive ourselves, and how people perceive us and how these are similar and how they differ. We then had to write a few words to describe how we want to be as a teacher:

As ‘Miss Parkin’ I want the children to see me as supportive and friendly; someone they can learn from, but who also makes learning fun and exciting, by creating memorable and new, creative lessons.

We then had to write down how we would like to be seen in the staff room, and which areas of ourselves we might need or want to ‘hide’ from our colleagues. 

Having worked full time since I was 17 until I started University, I know how important it is for your work colleagues to perceive you in a certain way, and that this isn’t necessarily the way that you are in your personal life. However, I have also made some of my best friends through work and this wouldn’t have happened had I not been myself.

Personally , I am a fairly sensible person, and I don’t think there is anything I would need to ‘hide’ from my colleagues in a professional environment. Saying this, I did put down that I would ‘hide’ liking a drink and how I can be opinionated. Although, I don’t see either of these things as bad qualities – I like to go out occasionally on weekends, and that is actually all I do at University – I’m not one for drinking three or four times a week, and so, I don’t think this is something that I would ‘hide’.

I do have opinions and I do like to share them, but again, I am a mature and sensible person and I know when it is a good time to share these opinions and when not to!

We then had to Google ourselves… we have had to do this before and Pete managed to find out the address of a girl in the class, and then found out the colour of her curtains by going on Google Maps, and so I was slightly worried about doing this! However, I was really pleased that all I found was:

Since beginning University, Pete has mentioned a few times about our internet presence and our digital footprint, and I have been working to make my personal accounts as private as possible, and create a professional internet presence for myself.

I was happy to find that my Twitter and blog were the main things I found about myself, and I didn’t find anything personal from a basic search of myself.

Again, being quite a sensible person, I would not put any pictures or comments of my personal Facebook page that I wouldn’t want to be found by a prospective employer. However, we see more and more often these days, the mistakes that people make in putting photos and comments on what they think are their private accounts, which eventually lead them to trouble.

Only earlier this month did a teacher get disciplined forcomments and photos made on her Facebook profile. 

When I started University, I had set my Facebook as private, but I had a personal Twitter page and I probably had photos that I wouldn’t want my boss to see. In these two years, I have dramatically changed and I now have deleted my personal Twitter, and I have my Facebook as private as can be. I have deleted any photos that I am not happy to have on my profile, and now the results when searching for my name are my professional Twitter and my blog, which I think is a great result to have!

Today really did make me think about my internet presence and made me consider my Facebook account more in depth – I have been considering deleting it for a while, with the only things keeping me there being the photos and the ability to create groups to help with my University work. I spoke to Pete about this and he suggested that I could have two accounts which is something I might look in to – a personal one, for photo sharing and staying in touch with family and friends that I don’t get to see very often, and a professional one for talking to colleagues and for helping with university work. I’m interested to know what others do.

I’m happy to say that my online presence is now mostly @amyparkinbed and I’m going to work my hardest to stay that way!

Following today’s seminar, I would be interested to know how people reading this, and who follow me on Twitter, perceive me, so please comment!

Developing My Writing

When I began University I was insistent that I would achieve a first class degree – this is still my dream but recently, I have been wondering whether that is all it is – just a dream. Can I really achieve a first?

Having left school in 2003, I took an Access to Higher Education course in 2009 to enable me to get in to University. I found it difficult to write essays having been out of education for so long. We were encouraged to reference in our assignments but using journals was never mentioned and most of us gained distinctions on our work having only referenced websites and the one AQA textbook we used!

I was getting distinctions in most of my work – the highest I could get – maybe I didn’t need to improve! I began University and it hit me that this was a completely different type of writing – the Access Course should have prepared me for University but I was disappointed that they had not made more of a point of referencing and wide reading.

Still, I passed my first year at Plymouth University and as the first two years are pass or fail only, I wasn’t able to really see if my passes were high or low ones. It was only this year, when we began to be given percentage grades (although the year is still pass or fail) that I realised I was not achieving what I wanted to.

I was planning to have a chat with Pete (@ethinking) about how I could develop my writing so that when our marks begin to really count, I am achieving good marks. Luckily on the day that I planned to talk to him, he addressed our class and said that we need to become more critical in our writing.

I know I am too safe in my writing. If I am asked a direct question then I will gladly give my opinion on it – but when it comes to writing it down, I just can’t seem to form opinions that come out well on paper!

So, my first stop was Twitter. I mentioned I was looking to improve my critical writing, and Amanda Corrigan (@ajcorrigan) gave me my first piece of advice – “Keep asking yourself WHY and SO WHAT as you read and write”. Only 12 words yet it summed it all up for me. I need it putting simply and having this in my head will keep me remembering to be critical in my writing!

Second stop was the library. I took out a few books and found “The Good Writing Guide for Education Students” by Dominic Wyse to be particularly helpful.

I also found the websites from the University of Leicester and Manchester University very helpful.

And so, I developed a list of tips and advice that I have found useful and that will hopefully help me out in my future assignments.

-    Read the key texts.

We are provided with the key texts at the beginning of each module and yet I always leave it too late to get the book out from the library – by which point it has been taken out! I’ll now make sure I get there earlier – if I still can’t get hold of it then I will search electronically – so many books are available online nowadays. I will also search for other books by that author. 

In general though….. READ, READ AND READ MORE!

-    Read the primary source.

Too often do I reference from a secondary source. We are told time and time again to read from the primary source but I still fail to do so – from now on I will!

-    Read more journals.

Journals scare me. I don’t know how to navigate the library to find them, and then how to navigate the journals themselves! This is something to learn.

-    Use paraphrasing.

How easy it is to bung a quote in to an essay to take up some of the word count. This is something I won’t be doing. I have been gradually moving on from using direct quotes to paraphrasing – it is a daunting task as it seems a very easy thing to get wrong, but practice makes perfect.

-    Plan and plan again.

I already plan my essay. I make small titles for myself and then write it in sections, before ensuring it flows well. From what I have read, if this works for you then it is a good way to plan – but to plan, and then plan again. Plan to form a structure for the essay. Plan again to form a structure with questions to answer and points to be made.

-    Stop and think.

I came across a quote from Piaget. “I have always preferred to reflect upon a problem before reading on it”.

I usually dive straight in to an essay – I read and find other people’s opinions before thinking about my own. If I want to develop a more critical writing style then I need to stop and think. Stop reading and planning and writing and just think for a while about what I think.

-    Balance.

Writing needs to be both descriptive and critical and I saw a good way to evaluate whether my writing is a good balance of each. Using two pens highlight one colour for descriptive writing and one colour for critical writing. If the critical writing colour is more then you are on the right track!

-    Recognise my limitations.

When putting down my ideas, I need to recognise that my knowledge and experience is limited in relation to others, but that this does not mean that my opinion does not matter.

From now on I will be checking through this list, making sure that I am being critical and that people will be convinced by what I am writing and the words “Keep asking yourself WHY and SO WHAT as you read and write” will be with me whenever I write a sentence!

I feel like that first class degree is now within reaching distance again!

Since publishing this post, I have had heaps of advice on Twitter... 

Thanks everyone for your help and advice!

I am an I.S.F.J.!

I am an I.S.F.J. – that’s an introverted, sensing, feeling and judging person – according to the Jung Typology Test. 

As part of our Psychology and ICT module, Pete asked us to go to this website (http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp) to take a test based on the Jung and Briggs Myers personality aproach. There are 72 questions with yes or no answers and the idea is that you answer as quickly as possible. I actually found it really difficult to answer quickly, without thinking about the answer, and realised that this is because for some questions there is the desire to answer the question with how you would like to be, rather than how you are. For example, some people might like to think they are the life and soul of the party but know that, in fact, they love nothing more than a quiet night in! 

So, we answered the questions and were presented with four letters – mine being I.S.F. and J. 

We were then told to turn off our computer screens – I was perplexed… we were in an ICT lesson! But there is always a method to Pete’s madness! 

We were given a piece of paper and were told to be silent for two minutes. We had to keep a tally, marking each time we wanted to do something. I ended up with seventeen marks on my paper – partly due to being sat next to Scott who kept mumbling under his breath!

We were then told to stand on either side of the room, dependent on what our first letter was – E (extrovert) or I (introvert). We were then told to look at each other’s tally charts and we noticed that the introvert attitudes generally  had fewer tally marks than the extrovert attitudes.

Briggs and Myers suggest that those extroverts draw energy from action, and that they act first, reflect on it, and then act again, compared to introverts who expend their energy through action, reflecting, then acting, and then reflecting again. 

Given the options of introvert and extrovert, I would say I was an extrovert – I like being around people, I feel confident around people and am outgoing – however the meaning in this context is different, and therefore I would say I am an introvert and that the test, for me, was correct – I do think before I act and speak. 

Pete then asked us to go in to two groups again – one side for sensing and one side for intuition. I was ‘sensing’. He then put the picture below on a computer screen for each group, and asked us to discuss the painting with eachother and then describe it to the other group. 

The sensing group stated what was in the picture: a dog, a boat, water etc. The ‘intuition’ group described the picture in detail – they mentioned that they thought it was set in the Victorian era due to the clothes etc. 

Briggs and Myers suggest that sensing and intuion are information-gathering functions and they describe how new inform ation is understood and interpreted. 

Our sensing group formed information that was tangible and concrete about the painting, whereas the intuition group formed information that was more abstract. 

Again, I think the test got it right for me – I tend to take things as I see them, although I would like to be more intuitive! 

We were then split again in to those whose test results gave the thinking function and those who had the feeling function. 

I was a ‘feeler’ as was most of the class. We were given the scenario of being a head teacher and, having sent a TA on an expensive training course, finding out that they had not been attending due to a family member being in hospital. We were asked to discuss how we would deal with the situation.

Instantly, we all agreed that we would talk to the TA to discuss the situation and explain that it shouldn’t have been done, but that they should feel that they could talk to us. The ‘thinkers’ all agreed that they would ‘sack her’. 

The thinkers make their decisions from a more detached position, doing what seems reasonable and logical, whereas feelers empathise with a situation and consider the needs of the people involved.

I agree again with the results, that I am a feeler – the thought of sacking the TA never crossed my mind – but I don’t think that this is necessarily always a good thing! 

The final dimesion of the model is judging and perceiving. I was on the judging side and we were given the scenario of being given £3,000 to plan an end of year university party. We could spend it on whatever we wanted. We found ourselves planning a party with details of money spent, and on what, with lots of details. The perceiving group came up with “Magaluf and a free bar”! 

The judging personality like to be organised and have all details sorted, whereas the perceiving group like to make vague plans and keep decisions open. 

This is the one I agree with the most – I am definitely a very (over!) organised person, with lists of things to do that are endless!

The seminar was a really interesting one, and I enjoyed being taught in this way rather than Pete simply explaining it on the board. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a complex subject to explain and by learing it kinaestheitcally, it has lodged itself in my head!

My First Podcast

Module two of ICT this year and Steve Wheeler is taking us for ‘Psychological Perspectives and ICT’.

I studied Psychology as part of my Access Course the year before coming to university and so when I saw ‘Psychology’ in the module title, I panicked! I found it interesting when I previously studied it but I just didn’t get on with it – too many names and dates!

However, we are three lessons in and I am already loving it – my views towards psychology have changed now that I am looking at it in relation to education and ICT.

Steve introduced us to a number of theorists and then to different learning theories and we were sent off in groups to research specific ones in more detail and present our findings in a podcast. Pete had mentioned that we could put our finished podcasts on the TES website and so I chose the Brain Gym to research as it sounded interesting and I thought I could make a good podcast out of it.

Working with Chris (@cpstoyles), we researched the Brain Gym and its history. We looked for the arguments for and against its use in schools and we related it to learning theories.

Having never heard of the Brain Gym, I was shocked when I discovered that schools were actually buying in to it. I have taken part in Wake Up, Shake Up many times before and have seen the benefits of letting the children let off some energy before they start the day. However, the idea of specific exercises to enhance the way that children learn was new to me.

We created our podcast using a PowerPoint presentation, CamStudio and a voice recorder to record it  and then Windows Movie Maker to put this all together.

Pete and Steve’s comments were positive and I was pleased that we had created a successful podcast! However, they said that to improve it we could have less text on the page. This is something that I have often thought when I do presentations and so I will work on this next time.

Watching the rest of the classes podcasts was really useful and I learnt a lot from them. One group used Prezi and this was the first time I have seen this properly and intend to use this for my next presentation.

Here is our podcast…