Task 15 – Review of the year
Reviewing my first year at Marjon University I can honestly say that I have surprised myself at how well I have kept on top of my work and been able to juggle family life, work commitments and university without too much pressure. I feel I have learned a lot of new skills such as essay writing, referencing, computer skills, library skills, note-taking and presentation skills. All of which has been fairly new to me as I have not had to do these since my college days many years ago.
I enjoyed all my modules but in particular, I enjoyed SEDC90 which focused primarily on disability models, from which I have learned about a variety of models to apply them to help inform my own practice and academic work. Critically evaluating has been a new skill I have also learned, which I am still learning to do well but am getting better at.
However, I have allowed my confidence to be knocked after receiving constructive feedback from my written work and this is something I am aiming to overcome by including mindful techniques into my daily life to avoid feeling stressed or anxious in future.
Overall my first year has been an enjoyable one which has given me a lot of new skills that I am sure will help me in the future.
Task 13 – Review of the semester
Reviewing semester B, I can reflect that I learned how to critically review things and argue two or more perspectives to a point, which hopefully will improve my writing skills when it comes to essay writing. I enjoyed my placement activities with the children and logging a scrapbook which I was able to link to various things I have learned, for example, theories from my psychology classes and models from my disability classes. All of which I was able to link together and put theory into practice. I also learned how to reflect on my own practice which will help me to improve for the future. I did not enjoy some of my psychology lectures as I sometimes find them too overwhelming as there is too much information to take in at once, which is ironic as my best mark is from my psychology essay. I have also found that I can get stressed out when too much work is due at once, which means I need to organize myself better.
Overall, I enjoyed this semester and particularly enjoyed Special Educational: Contexts and Concepts (SEDC01-B) module, which was very informative on how things work within school settings, which I can use when working with children and incorporate within my own work.
Task 12 – To critically evaluate a journal article containing information about SEN or disability knowledge.
Task 12 – To critically evaluate a journal article containing information about SEN or disability knowledge.
Reflections on inclusion: How far have we come since Warnock and Salamanca? Laura Conner, University of East London
Inclusion has had a review through the SEND Code of Practice although it is still a lively debate. This paper looks at the different ideas of inclusion and reality. Focusing on the Warnock Report and the Salamanca Statement, there has been a change in the way society views inclusion. Laura Connors talks about the language she uses in her studies to describe people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to be inclusive of what people prefer – Identity-first and person-first language.
The paper looks at the medical model and the social model and how they are changing as are peoples perspectives on inclusion. The medical model describes how the individual needs to fit in with society and the social model explains how barriers to participation should be eliminated. Looking at societies in mid-1800, the medical model was being used by having institutes for most people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Although we no longer practice this, special schools were introduced which was the start of inclusive practice. We still use the medical model to examine and assess people with SEND in order to label them. Labels are what is needed in today’s society for funding, which is not ideal. Some view inclusion as children with SEND to be taught in mainstream schools alongside their peers, but some argue this is integration, as it is simply moving the student. Overall this is a very interesting debate on inclusion and I am now aware of many views and perspectives from reading this paper.
Task 11- To critically evaluate a website containing information about SEN or disability knowledge.
TASK 11
To critically evaluate a website containing information about SEN or disability knowledge.
www.disabitiyrightsuk.org
Reviewing this website, I can see that the main aim of the home page is to raise money for the charity, it gives suggestions on how you can help or donate. Referring to stories of what people are doing to raise money and how the audience can get involved. Looking at how ten people are running in the London marathon to raise money for this charity for Disability rights Uk and how you can sponsor these people and support the charity. This can be viewed negatively due to the websites only aim is to raise money or can be seen as positive because of its active fundraising ideas that are raising awareness for the charity. There is a list of different topics the website covers in a clear list and this shows good signposting. This shows a good structure and makes it easy to follow which is positive. There is a list of different websites that link to disability issues and can be useful to anyone looking for answers such as Personal Independent Payment (PIP) benefit that can give users advice. This shows that the website is trying to help and support people in all areas of disability. However, this is a direct advertisement which is biased as it doesn’t cover other benefits.
This website advertises that it uses all social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the internet feed which shows the website is trying to cater to all ages and abilities, adhering to the new generation of internet users which is widely used today and an upcoming trend that most people follow. This shows the website is looking at all types of ways they can reach out to people. This can be very good for business, raising awareness worldwide and raising money but the other side of the argument suggests they are open to bad press, online abuse and cyberbullying.
Overall, this website was easy to use and clearly set out. I found a lot of useful information and was able to navigate my way around it easily.
TASK 10 – IDENTITY
Three areas of my identity are, one, being a proud mother to my children Summer and Mason, as they are an integral part of me and have made me the person who I am today and everything I do is for them. I want to be a good role model for them, so I strive to be the best version of myself. If they see me succeeding in life than they will want to and I want them to have the best life, which of course you must work hard for. This is obviously paying off as my daughter is as qualified as me at age 18. She’s about to enter her second year at university and is moving to Brighton to do so. My son also has managed to play rugby at a high standard for Exeter Chiefs and is currently doing very well within this and studies at Exeter college.
Secondly, I like to be identified as a wife. A loving wife to my husband who has been by my side for twenty years. This makes me happy to know that we are a strong family unit still after so long. Thirdly, I like to be identified as a childcare practitioner who is professional, competent and passionate. I have recently been promoted as a senior practitioner, which has boosted my confidence and I am excited to take on the role.
Being successful at University will help within my career as it goes hand in hand with looking after children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Being a mother has also helped me become aware of the many obstacles parents have to go through and helps within my work as a childcare practitioner. Being a loving wife has taught me over the years empathy, patience, will and determination and to be sensitive to others needs. This will help me when working with children as I can transfer these skills whilst caring for them and their families and dealing with complex situations at work, such as child protection meetings.
TASK 9 – Feedback
After receiving feedback from studiosity I identified areas that need improving within my essay writing. There were a couple sentences that were awkwardly written, which in future I will make sure I read out aloud my essay before submitting it to identify these. Also, I have taken away from feed-back that I don’t always answer the question and keep to it. So, in future I plan to keep referring my work back to the question which will hopefully embed it in my thinking. This has taught me how to improve and each time I have taken on board and improved my next essay, getting higher marks each time, so I am learning each time I write. I have also realized that essays need to be written in third person, which I have now been doing.
TASK 8 – Identifying areas of development. (STUDY SKILLS)
I have identified at university that I write essays in note form. I need to elongate my sentences, as this comment has risen a couple of times. So to rectify this, I tend to read more articles, to give me ideas on how to write longer sentences. I also will attend a study skills workshop within the library to learn new essay writing skills. I went to one for learning how to write critically which was interesting and helpful, so this will help me develop my essay writing. Also I have identified that my referencing is still slightly off. Although I have learned a lot in this area over the past month, I still am learning certain things, for example I now know that journals need to be written in italics and that reference lists are to be on a separate sheet. All these little things I am sure I will perfect referencing by the end of the year. To help me I have printed off the short and long APA reference guides from Learning Space, which are very useful.
TASK 7 SOURCES OF SUPPORT
Support at Marjon university is available in all areas. If I have any financial problems I can get support from the finance department. I made an appointment with student services to talk about my student finance and waited at the green chairs. A lady came and got me and we went to a confidential space to talk over my student finance problems. She advised me what I was entitled to and phoned up student finance on my behalf to get information for me. Once she had this she wrote it down and explained to me what student finance was waiting for from me and it was my sons birth certificate, after I had sent this to student finance, my finance was sorted.
The IT suite connected to the library is where I can find support for all my computer needs. I went here to find out how to use the photocopier also. Someone showed me how to do it step by step. I also found that on my first day of bringing in my laptop I needed to connect to the internet, and I didn’t know how to, so I asked someone here who talked me through it, telling me what to do on my laptop to connect to the correct server, which was so helpful as I am always connected now.
If I need any library support I can go to the desk in the library and there are people who can advise me, or take me physically to where I need to find books. Once I needed help looking for a book and someone showed me how to look for it first on the computer catalogue, then told me what information I needed to record to find the book, this was helpful and I found the book I needed for my course.
TASK 6 REVIEWING SAMESTER A
This semester has been very interesting and I am very pleased with my efforts as a student. I had fear of university but now realise it was unnecessary. My attention and focus has been quite organized as I am keeping on top of all my work without any stress at the moment. The hardest part of university for me is computer skills. As I have none, however I am learning and managing to cope with all these new skills, completing tasks that are all computer based, which I’m proud of. The subjects being covered have all been interesting and link quite well. I find Psychology the hardest to follow but am enjoying this. I am enjoying disability studies the most and easiest to follow. University life for me has been good and I have made some new friends. Our class is small which is really nice as we can interact well and gel as a group. In bigger groups you cant, but there are more points of views that get you thinking. Overall I am enjoying my time at Marjon University and all the lecturers have been so welcoming and informative. What I’d like to improve for the future is my essay writing and computer skills, but I’m sure this will improve in time.
TASK 5 PRESENTATION SKILLS
I felt the presentation went well in many ways. One reason why the presentation went well was due to the fact I had memorised a script to present, eliminating the need to read from a paper draft. by doing this it made the interaction with the audience and the presentation as a whole flow easier and I demonstrated a level of confidence. I feel that the areas I covered were good and clear, which were the legal issues and how policies have holes in. I could have critiqued some more on this subject for a better mark. During my presentation preparation I could improve by having a plan and discussing with my group what to include in our presentation and what points we think will gather a higher mark. Overall I feel I worked well in my group and we shared out the responsibility evenly covering the subjects needed. To improve on my next presentation I will make my decision earlier and keep to it and research more to present both sides of an argument or different sides to gain a higher mark. As my presentation was hard to decide what subject to cover and we changed our minds several times.
Watching other groups presentations showed me that I could definitely learn more computer skills to present my slides better. I found that the other groups used videos during their presentation, which I feel they shouldn’t have, as it may have taken away from the marks due to them not talking and presenting and critiquing. I felt the audience interaction was good with the group that did an activity in a wheelchair and a book. This tried to give the audience a perspective of someone with a disability.