Entry 9 - What is Education? - PISA

Ken Jones (2012) came in today to discuss;

- PISA(Programme for International Students),
- SEF (School Effectiveness Framework) and,
- PLC (Professional Learning Communities). 

 

Firstly, PISA is an international study which went underway sometime in 2000. PISA was introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of the education sectors in the countries around the world (that took part. This would give lower ranked countries and aim and incentive to improve. Then these countries are ranked against each other. He talked about the scores from 2006 and 2010 and mentioned a few things that need to be improved on to make the education in UK better. Wales is ranked surprisingly low. Layton Andrews aims to higher the rank of Wales in the future.
SEF provide education systems that are first class which allows children to reach their full potential.
PLC is capable of promoting and sustaining the learning of all professionals in the school community, they aim to improve learning.

Jones (2012) talked about the Welsh educational system as a whole; and briefly about about the mister for education, Layton Andrews.(Layton Andrews aims to higher the rank of 9Wales regarding PISA in the future) the differences between England and Wales; such as the language barriers that can be faced in Wales.

Entry 8 - Diamond Nine!

Click here for larger version

Entry 7 - Dr. Russel Grigg

Dr Russell Grigg, the Head of South West Wales Centre of Teacher Education gave a fantastic speech. He discussed heavily about Estyn - Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. He told us what Estyn do, his involvement, and he showed us examples of different reports and inspections.

Entry 6 - Toy! (Part 1)

Task: You are required to design and make a toy.

I have decided to use this blog as a log for my ideas on making my toy.
So an educational toy, which has to hold a purpose.

Things to concider;

- Shape
-Colour
-Numeracy
- Alphabet
- Time
- Animals

Initial ideas;

-Wooden activity box
-Puzzle
- Clock
-Jack in the box
- Puppet theatre
- Doll house
- Shape Sorting Cow
- Stacking cubes
- Wooden Stacking and Counting Game

More research!

Entry 5 - Tagxedo

The purpose of this seminar was to show how pictures can be used to represent words, and how we can be creative with it. Tagxedo is a very easy to use site which allows this.

I have created a star with the most used words on my blog. :D

A beautiful way to express yourself!

Entry 4 - "The Times Are a Changing"

And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a changin'.

- Bob Dylan

His lyrics are beautiful.



This video absolutely reflects how Education has changed over the not so recent years.

Entry 3 - Mind Explosion

Mandy wants us to explode our brains this morning. All over the computer.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection

- Confucius

So basically the little chinese man is saying that if we intend to concider the things we learn, we learn more!




I used a brilliant website called bubbl.us to complete this activity. I love mind maps! They are a clever way to explore your idea's. We attempted this task collaboratively which is far more efficiant. I enjoyed this task :) it enables me to analyse myself and become a better learner which could hopefully boost confidence.