Activity Day:

The activity day was on Monday 26

th
of March 2012 the day started with the year 8 group getting off
the coach at 9:15am and getting back to the coach at 3:30pm. The activity day was organised by 25
of us design and technology trainee teachers at Sheffield Hallam University, we had 20 year 8
children coming so we sorted are selves in to various groups: Tour group, laser cutting, Sublimation,
vac forming and electronics. Each group had even amount of trainee teachers in each group, the day
was planned to the changes from one class to another, and each class was based on time limits
when they have to change to the next group, so everyone had to work as a team to make the overall
activity day to work well. One of the points which we all agreed on was the white tops so we was all
easy to identify on the teacher day, with name badges. I was on the electronics team, when the
overall groups was chosen we went off in are groups to sort out are individual areas, we then split
are selves up in to smaller teams within electronics which was: Presentation theory and activities,
Health and safety and Soldering. When trainee teachers was doing there section everyone else
helped out when they was needed and got various things ready for the next group the make sure the
day worked as smoothly as possible.
The planning of the overall day was done with everyone putting their points forward for the day, we
all started agreeing on the times of each session and when breaks will be put down, there was so
disagreement with the breaks as some people including myself did not think there was enough time
for the electronics to get there soldering done as we was unsure of the level of the students coming
on the activity day, but the other groups did not think it would because they had enough time for
theres. The point I made is that we need to work as a team not as individual tasks because we are
all working towards a good day and a working glow ball for each of the students so they go home
with good points about the trainee teachers at Sheffield Hallam. The final day plan can be seen on
(Figure 1). As I was in the electronics group we made our own time timetable alongside that to make
our sessions go much more smoothly as a team as shown in (Figure 2).
The overall day when as planned, everyone did their parts, everyone turned up so we did not have
to us the backup, As I have learned from experience you should always have back up plans in case
someone does not turn up or resources are not here in time, as things like this will be happening all
the time throughout my teaching career. The main thing from the day that should be changed is the
times and how many teachers were working on the teaching day. During the day the pupils
completed tasks much faster then what was expected so there was time what was wasted which
could have been used for different activities, e.g. could have made their own designs on pro desktop
to make it more individual to the pupil. So if I did this activity day again I would pack more practical
work in to it as well as theory and activities the go with the theory to make sure they gain more out
of the day, also I would have not have had as many trainee teachers working on the activity day as
there was lots of time where people had nothing to do, So I would split it in to two activity days so
trainee teachers on the course can get more out of the day and show they can teach and work as a
team and it will show them more how it will be like when they have their own class room and
classes. One of the main sections to the day which could of been improved is the tour of the
University pupils told us where they went and each group said different places so it was not
consistent throughout the day, it should be pre planned and mapped out for the pupils to know
where they will be going and they can mark off what they have seen.
The section of the activity day which was my main area was the morning meet and great and overall
Objectives during the day and electronics side of the day, the session started with me greeting them
out side of the class room as Mr Wilson, because you have to kept high professional standards. The
year 8 students was told what to do when they walk through the class room, Me and my partner
then begun to go through the activities they will be doing and the Objectivises so we can go back to
make sure we have completed them all and helps pupils recap and remember more of what they
have learned during the day. One thing I would change is the amount of content in the power point
during the start of the session, we did not think there would be enough time during the morning
session to add more content but it went much faster than we expected, but we added more stuff on
the spot to make sure there was no time wasted, me and my partner Kathryn (Mrs Weatherburn)
worked very well as a team working from one another to make it flow very well like we have done it
thousand times before, one of the good points was if one of us was struggling the other one of us
will help pick them up. Also we asked questions all the time during the session we also used a starter
activity to get their minds set on the activity at hand which was rubbing a balloon on yourself to
make it stick to you, making static electricity which was fun and good to use for the topic which we
was starting on, we also used a recourse of the Manchester University web site as shown in the
Bibliography, it was a good resource as it was very integrative for the students to use and was fun at
the same time, for this section we made smiley faces for the children to show what they though the
answer was.
During the day it was split up in to sections but it was still done as a team, if one section of the day
needed more recourses, teachers from other areas will help as if one session runs over time it
affects the sessions in the rest of the day. All the resources and computer documents was made and
collected before the teaching day so there will be no running around during the day. As a teacher on
your own doing this same task glow ball you would have to break it down to make it easier as you
would have to make sure each individual child has done it correctly and with some of the children
having to re solder it will take a lot of time, so overall the time scale will have to be made much
longer for it to work with just me as the teacher.When going in to a school environment it will be a
different picture, as in a school there is one teacher in the class room which may have one teacher
assistant present. On the placement day we had one teacher to every child with some teachers left
to do various other jobs, when imagining this glow ball task in a classroom just with you as the
teacher you have to break it down, which means it could take weeks for the glow ball to be
completed as you would have to check everyones work and you only have a hours lesson which you
have other issues to disuses which will take time off the lesson. So If I was the only teacher I would
break it down in to sections over a few weeks and having it flow on to the next section with the
theory all the way through the project.
I have learned from the Observation day that good explanation is needed before a lesson or activity,
and must make sure that all pupils understand before moving on, as so of the pupils will not like to
ask for help because they are scared of peer pressure. One way to help overcome this is to use a
step by step walk through of the activity or task which we did on the activity day, and to walk around
the class room and check everyones individual work to see if they have completed it if not they
would have one to one help with the sections they do not understand, but at the same time they
was still involved with the overall group work so they was not getting behind with the work.
The overall day and the layout worked, with the timings of the lessons allowing everyones sessions
to work with no interruption, which shows the overall team work of the trainee team work to make
the activity day run as we planned like on (Figure 1 and 2). The main changes to the day will be
splitting it in to two separate teaching activity days, as there was to many people with nothing to do
on the activity day, where as if it was two separate days they will have more time to shine as
teachers. But overall the effort of the team work and ever pupil went home with a working glow ball.