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Hi Catherine, I like your suggestions of Concern Primary debating competition and Microsoft Micro-bit Global Goals for the senior end of the school. I will definitely look into those for next year. It is a great way to get the children interested and involved.
Hi Shona, I really think you raised so many areas where gender stereotypes are evident in our schools. I agree that we as teachers need to set up deliberate tasks to challenge these gender stereotypes
As a teacher in the junior end of my school, children come to school with an already ingrained social expectations from when they are born based on their gender. On observation, during playtime the girls mostly take on the caring and nurturing role, playing with the dolls or role play in the kitchen while the boys engage with the building blocks or the farm set.
As they move on throughout the school, these stereotypes influence their interactions and involvement in extra curricular activities. As they move onto post primary it often influences the choice of subjects that they choose, girls veering mostly towards the social sciences and boys more towards the engineering and science subjects.
As teachers, we need to choose tasks that challenge these stereotypes and focus on their skills rather than their gender. I really enjoyed watching the video clip on Slide 20 that focused on the children’s rights and got the children thinking about gender stereotypes. I feel as a teacher , the lesson plans available on gender in Development Education will support me as a teacher as I foster an environment where we can have an open discussion around gender stereotypes and their impact.
I chose the activity set: The Planets.
I really enjoyed the resources and lesson plan from Esero on The Planets.As an Infants teacher, they provide lots of opportunity for integration with other curricular areas…Aistear, Maths, Orla Language, Music and PE.I would begin this lesson by assessing the children’s knowledge around the Planets..using pictures, discussing shape, texture. I often use Explofify.uk website and would start a lesson with an Odd One Out activity to develop talk and discussion. I would use this activity” It’s Shady Business” to get them to make observations about what they see on the first two images, where might you see them, shape, colours, textures. There is a great opportunity to develop observation and questioning skills.
I love the activities using the hula hoops, The Planet Game would be a huge hit and great fun while they are also learning about the planets through active play. This can be so easily integrated into a PE lesson. The Planet dance allows for the development of directional language in maths.
I really like that idea! I will definitely give that a go when I’m teaching this lesson on the Planets. It’s so interactive and hands on.
For my Inquiry based activity, I will be exploring Floating and Sinking with my Junior classes.
I would begin the lesson by setting the scene with a story/poem and trigger their curiosity. One poem that comes to mind is “Buoyancy” by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater or a storybook “Who Sank the Boat” by Pamela Allen. We would engage in lots of talk and discussion around water swimming, bathtime. There are lots of opportunities for development of oral language.
Structured play such as playing with objects in the water would provide lots of opportunities for the development of skills such as observation, predicting, investigating and questioning. I can see lots of opportunities for integration with Aistear. Structured play could include questions such as: predict what can float or sink, do all heavy things sink? Do all light things float? How could we test this out?
I think an important part of the lesson is giving lots of opportunities for children to ask questions and also provide questions that they can explore and investigate themselves.
Thanks Aoife for the recommendation. I will be definitely source this book for my Infants in September!
