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  • in reply to: Module 4 – Migration and Refugees #227456
    Alyson O Rourke
    Participant

      The Cork Migrant Centre was established in 2006 and acts as an advocacy for migrant children and families. It offers a wide range of services. The goal of these services is to empower children and families and provide them with the best opportunities possible. They provide coffee mornings and English classes all free of charge. I think it is very important to provide a safe haven for migrant families. The Cork Migrant Centre was founded by the Presentation sisters. Their work derives from Nano Nagle, who worked very hard to help those at risk of educational disadvantage in Cork. It is inspiring to see the effect of Nano Nagle so many years on and how her influence can still be seen today through the establishment of the Cork Migrant Centre

      in reply to: Module 4 – Migration and Refugees #227446
      Alyson O Rourke
      Participant

        Really lovely to hear the story of the pupil in your class!

        in reply to: Module 3 – Global Inequality #227408
        Alyson O Rourke
        Participant

          I would choose the goal of Renewable Energy as our school has recently gotten solar panels fitted. This provides the school as a starting point for learning. The children can see the solar panels in action and research work can occur into the uses of solar panels. We could explore the benefits these have for our school and for the environment and also some drawbacks that may occur.

          in reply to: Module 3 – Global Inequality #227404
          Alyson O Rourke
          Participant

            I would agree climate change is a very important topic. There are some great ways to explore this in the classroom.

            in reply to: Module 2 – Gender #226958
            Alyson O Rourke
            Participant

              Gender Sterotypes influence children from a young age. It is import at these stereotypes are challenged and development education provides lots of opportunities for this to happen. It has been very interesting to read different scenarios other teachers have encountered on this post. I have encountered a few gender stereotypes in my classroom.

              Last year I was teaching junior infants in an all male school. At the beginning of the year, the children asked why we had a toy kitchen in the classroom, I responded that it was for play time. One boy questioned why boys would be playing with the kitchen. This emphasised to me that these sterotypes start as young as 5 years old. It was interesting to see that at the beginning of the year, the children avoided the kitchen however once one child started playing with it they all did,
              Another example is whilst doing art and painting spring flowers. We discussed different colours we would need to paint the flowers. A variety of colours were discussed for example, green for the leaves, yellow for the petals. The children were provided with a variety of different pastel colours for their flowers and were allowed to use whatever colour they liked. Pink was one of the fewer options we saw used. Although no one mentioned anything about the colour pink, it was interesting to see it was not the children’s colour preference. I think this re-emphasised for me gender stereotypes and how society emphasises boys liking blue and girls liking pink from as young as birth!

              in reply to: Module 2 – Gender #226954
              Alyson O Rourke
              Participant

                Very interesting to see the changes that a co educational approach will bring about. It also provides lots of opportunities to challenge gender stereotypes

                in reply to: Module 1 – Introduction to Development Education #226945
                Alyson O Rourke
                Participant

                  I would agree that development education is very important in schools today. The paper was very insightful and provided lots of points of thought. Today, Schools are very diverse. There are lots of opportunities to teach development education, in particular integration opportunities across a wide range of subjects. I would definitely focus on the SESE subjects as a starting point but could also make links to painting in visual arts and debates in English. As mentioned in this module, there should not be an emphasis on extra lessons and the focus should be on learner centred classrooms and process centered learning. These are two very important points I would take away. Students today are exposed to lots in social media and on the news. As a teacher, I think it is important to teach lessons and explore issues of development education that I would be confident in teaching. The global goals are a good starting point for lessons and provide a good focus. These could be incorporated into a whole school plan where a focus on a different goal or multiple goals occurs per term

                  in reply to: Module 1 – Introduction to Development Education #226938
                  Alyson O Rourke
                  Participant

                    Very informative response Claire. I too agree that classrooms today are so diverse and it is very important that development education is a focus!

                    in reply to: Module 5 – Become a climate detective #217772
                    Alyson O Rourke
                    Participant

                      Going to a local beach is a great idea and uses the immediate environment as the children’s starting point for learning! It is excellent being in close proximity to the beach. Being in a city school we do not have this opportunity with the high costs of buses !

                      in reply to: Module 4 – Earth Observation #217770
                      Alyson O Rourke
                      Participant

                        Using an atlas is a great starting point for these lessons. Very hands on activity for the children! They could work in pairs or groups for this to encourage collaboration

                        in reply to: Module 3 – The climate change challenge #217769
                        Alyson O Rourke
                        Participant

                          Yeah I do agree a big screen would be more effective! Perhaps using a projector in school would be a way to do this

                          in reply to: Module 2 – Introduction to Climate Change #217767
                          Alyson O Rourke
                          Participant

                            I really like the blended approach of stories. Reflecting on my teaching experience children love to listen to and to share stories. They love when they connect to learning

                            in reply to: Module 1 – Weather & Climate #217766
                            Alyson O Rourke
                            Participant

                              I think studying famous inventors is a great idea! We did this using iPads for one of our activities for science week, the children enjoyed it and learned lots !

                              in reply to: Module 4 – Earth Observation #217424
                              Alyson O Rourke
                              Participant

                                There were a wide range of interesting lesson ideas in the ‘Nose up High in the Sky’ Manual! I will definitely use this going forward in my teaching. It provides teachers with a tool to build on lessons in SESE books and provide more meaningful activities which encourage engagement. A lesson that particularly stuck out to me was the first on on Old Weather Proverbs. Reflecting on this, it is interesting for children as some of them may be familiar with these proverbs or may have heard them by parents or grand parents before! It shows children how these would have been relied upon in the past when weather forecasting wouldn’t be as up to date as it is now! I think this lesson also provides many opportunities for cross curriculum integration for example translating the weather proverbs in Gaeilge or painting a ‘Red Sky at Night’ in Visual Arts!

                                in reply to: Module 5 – Become a climate detective #217421
                                Alyson O Rourke
                                Participant

                                  Question? How Does Climate Change Affect Our Weather in Ireland and what effect does it have on our lives

                                  I carried out a similar lesson involving the above research question in my second class this year. We discussed the differences in Weather and how it is much more humid and also how we have more flooding in Ireland than ever before. Using our school iPads, we researched into changing weather patterns in Ireland and particularly focused on our county of Cork for flooding. This was a lesson the children were really engaged in. We also made a lot of connections to our life experiences- when do we wear coats? how come it rains more? There was also an at home activity where the children interviewed a parent or grandparent about weather patterns when they were children. Our findings highlighted that as a result of climate change weather and its impact on our enviornment are changing.
                                  A student mentioned about a sibling they have in Austrlia. This question sparked up further debate and questioning about forest fires in Austrlia and their impact on the environement. We then explored this more in a follow on lesson!

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