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In this session, we would be looking at the different AFL techniques previously mentioned in the session beforehand and trying to come up with applications for these techniques in the classroom.
We were split into pairs and given the task of looking through the list of techniques, choosing one that we liked and coming up with five different topics of where it could be used. This was a really good task as it developed thinking of classroom ideas for AFL.
In my pairing, we picked find the fib as there are many uses for this throughout science eg give the students the steps of inhalation and make some of the statements incorrect.
Once everyone had an idea, each group presented to the class their AFL applications. This was a great opportunity to take down other peoples ideas and try and use them ourselves in lessons. We were all actively learning from each others different ideas. I liked this as everyone came out of the session with a long list of resources and ideas that would help in teaching science. Personally, I will definitely try one or two of the ideas mentioned in this session.

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In this session, we would be using the time of the session to work on our lesson plans. Our assignment  would be to create a lesson where elements/techniques of AFL could be seen.
To start, we had to choose a junior cycle science topic to base our lesson plan on. My partner and I chose compounds and mixtures, metals and non-metals.
Once we had our topic, we decided to brainstorm different AFL techniques we could use in our lesson for this topic. We discussed many different techniques but in the end we came up with 3 that we would use: a game based of on the cube, guess who, and the twitter wall. We then got advice on our techniques and opinions on if they'd work well in a classroom or not.
I liked planing lessons like this with AFL techniques. It creates a fun and involving lesson for students and keeps away from the old form of paper tests for assessment.
When planning more lessons in the future, I will use AFL techniques wherever I can as I feel that they are highly beneficial to students.

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In this session, our main focus was on students with SEN and how we can use differentiation techniques to include them in the classroom.
To start of, we thought to ourselves and then in groups of all the different needs you think that some students may have in the classroom. This activity then went into a class discussion of what needs they knew/thought would be seen in the class room.
After listing some of our own ideas, we then went through a powerpoint of all the different learning needs that students could have in the class.
As we went through the powerpoint, we also took part in different activities that show what its like to have a SEN.
The first activity was to write our signature with our right hand and then swap to our left. This was to show that trying to do something completely different to your normal routine can be stressful and difficult to deal with. This activity was to show how panicked a student, particularly with autism, can become if you change up the lesson structure or routine.  It's important when doing lessons where you may change things up is to let the child know what may happen. Maybe mention at the end of the previous lesson to the entire class "I'm thinking of trying something new tomorrow". This gives all the students a heads up and allows them to prepare for what may happen appropriately.
The second activity involved us all closing our eyes and then trying to write down what the teacher was saying. This proved very difficult at first as the teachers pace was very fast and hard to keep up with. It was difficult to take all the words down at the same pace that the teacher was speaking. When we tried the task a second time with the pace slowed down and the information being continuously repeated, it was much easier to take down all the notes with our eyes closed. This activity highlighted what students with visual impairments may feel in the class. It is important to look out for signs of students squinting or not taking downs notes to prevent problems like this.
As the powerpoint went on, we began looking at more and more SEN's. We learnt about dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ASD, AHD etc. and how we could use differentiation in lessons with these students. I felt that this was a really good thing to do as I had no idea about all these different SEN's. I really liked this session as we went through what each SEN is, what students who have it may do, and how can we include and integrate them into our lessons. I feel that its important to cater for every students needs and include everyone as much as possible as we are all here to learn.

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In this session, we went through advice and tips we can use for placement and also different techniques for AFL and how they can be used in the classroom.
To start of, we discussed different tips for when we go out out placement and how we can do/prepare different things in the classroom. The tips varied from how to make contact with the school, getting free teacher sample books and different resources that would be really creative and where we can find them. It was nice to hear all these different pointers and hints as they will be really helpful when we first step out on placement but also throughout our entire careers. It was nice to hear all these different ideas as it made the idea of placement a little less scary.
For the remainder of the session, we went through a powerpoint presentation of many different AFL techniques that you could use in the class. The techniques included many ideas I'd heard of before (think-pair-share, traffic lights) but also many new ideas that I will definitely consider using in the future(snowballs, 3-2-1). As we went through the names of each techniques, explanations and examples of where they could be used were also given. This was nice as it showed us many different ways that we can include these techniques in our lessons.
After this session, my mind was filled with many new creative and fun ideas that can be used to assess students learning in the classroom. I look forward to integrating them into the classroom as many ways as I can.

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In this session, we took took part in an IBL type of experiment based around heat. We would be carrying out the experiment in the mindset of  2nd year students who are just after finishing 3 lessons on the topic of heat.
When starting off the class, it's a good idea to hook the students into the idea of doing an experiment. Instead of saying to the class at the start "we are going to be doing experiment x today", say to the class "Today we're going to be doing an investigation". This grabs the students interest as they don't know what they're going to be investigating as of yet.
When carrying out experiments with students, it's handy/useful to have all your experimental gear for each group/student ready and waiting to go. A good idea we learned in this session was to get big "really useful boxes" to store individual experiment. This is good as you no longer waste time looking through presses and gathering equipment. You can just go up to the box, grab what you need and start the experiment.
As it was an IBL experiment, it was a very open procedure. All we were given was the task of creating a beaker that will keep the water warm for the longest amount of time and then given different materials to carry out this task. Before the experiment started, we were split into collaborating as students would be. The separation of students into groups generates friendly and healthy competition between peers of whose water will be the hottest after 10 minutes.
Group work is good in IBL as it generates and promotes discussion of ideas and opinions. It allows for active and co-operative learning to occur. Using the poster paper to layout ideas is good as all students can write on it at the same time and then if needed to, they can present their findings to the class.
I also felt that this experiment could be used as AFL. As a teacher, you can look at all students ideas on the poster paper or you could look at the insulator jar that they are constructing. As the task is an IBL task the role of the teacher isn't as strong but the teacher can still act as a facilitator and ask probing questions about student workings/understanding. This also generates higher order thinking for some students.
In the future, I would consider using this experiment in the classroom. It's a fun and creative way for students to apply their knowledge on a topic and share their ideas and views with other students. Students can learn from each other by carrying out experiments in this way.

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At the start of the lesson we discussed as a group what made a good teacher. Energetic, fair passionate and organised are some of the qualities good teachers should posses.
We also discussed what roles/ teachers we should look out for when we start placement. We learnt about all the different roles involved in DEIS schools especially. It was good to hear about all these different positions now a few months before we go out on our placements. It takes off some pressure and it gives us ideas of what to expect and also who we can go to if we need guidance/help.
We then went on to talk about introductions to lessons and how important they are. They set the tone for the lesson, act as a hook for the students attention and let students know that you care and want them to learn. As they are short in length but so important, when setting up for a lesson intro, try and have it done before the class get into the classroom. Lay out the whiteboard and write the learning objectives on the board. This will save time for the intro and it allows students to find out and prepare for the class.
Intros shouldn't just be chalk and talk and can involve numerous resources.(TES.com, quizlet, PDST).
To end the session, we watched two TED talk videos about what makes good teachers great. It was good seeing all the different answers that came up as it gets you thinking of your own characteristics that you posses and see if there are any similarities. It also shows what students look out for in their favourite teachers. This can be used in classrooms to help develop relationships with students.

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For the second session, we focused on lesson introductions in more detail. The key points that lesson intros set the scene/tone for the lesson were mentioned again to the class. The repetition of this statement really shows how key a good lesson intro is for your entire lesson. You can't have a weak lesson intro otherwise your entire lesson would be pointless. However, while the intro is important you have to remember as a teacher that the intro cant be too long as you also have to conclude the lesson.
Differentiation in lesson intros is important. Variety is important in the classroom. In your intro, you are letting students know you care about them and you want them to learn to learn.
As a class, we took part in a walking debate to show our views on different opinions about lesson introductions. A walking debate is a good example as an intro as you can look at students prior or current understanding of the topic without specifically targeting them with questions individually. We also learnt that walking debates can be used in one of the two types of assessments- assessment for learning.
There are two types of assessment: assessment for learning and assessment of learning. Assessment of learning is more summative and similar to that of a big test at the end of a topic. Assessment for learning checks students understanding throughout the topic. It helps them follow the path of learning. AFL is linked to the new junior cycle. As of this, there's less pressure on students to do well at the end of the 3 years as they have been continuously assessed throught their learning.
From the walking debate, we were split into groups of three and were asked to come up with a lesson introduction for the topic of cells in biology. We were given a time limit to come up with a good strong intro for animal and plant cells for a junior cycle class. When the time was up, someone from each group had to present their ides to the class. It was nice going around the room and hearing all the various ideas for a good introduction. This was also helpful as some ideas could be taken and used throughout placement and the different classes there.
To end the lesson, we were given our first assignment of creating a lesson intro for a topic of our choice. This was good to do as it gets us thinking about lesson intros and how good ones can be made.

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For this session our main focus was EBL. Enquiry based learning is a method of learning by enquiry. As the participation of the students increase, the involvement from the teacher decreases. The teacher becomes more of a facilitator than a distributor of knowledge. Lessons become more of a journey where students and teachers can learn together.
In EBL, the students take ownership with their own learning as they have to acquire the knowledge themselves. The teacher only poses the problem or topic to the class. It's up to the students to learn the info themselves. EBL can be classed as a form of co-operative learning. In co-op learning, the students work together and learn. They can either work in groups or pairs. This type of learning is good as students can learn from each others different views and opinions.
However, during EBL lessons the use of discussion could cause a loud noise level. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as a loud class means that learning is happening.  Just keep the noise in consideration.
As the teacher is a facilitator of learning, they observe and look at the students work as they look around the room. When looking at work, try and give praise to the students and tell them that they did a good job with their work. A bit of praise goes a long way in a students mind.
As an entire class group, we had a discussion on all the different parts of EBL (advantages, disadvantages, benefits). This was nice as we could hear different peoples interpretations of their EBL experiences and what they find useful/interesting about it.
Before the end of the session,  we talked about some tips and useful ideas about placement and the classroom. When teaching it is important to change up the stimuli and get the students learning in different ways. One idea mentioned was that a facebook profile for a specific topic or part of a topic could be created. The different side bars could be used as describing parts and the status updates could be different function or process. I found this idea really cool as its a fun way of using AFL but it's also a concept that students are familiar with and relates to them. I would use this in a class to get students engaged and make the lesson fun.
We also talked about important things that we should keep in mind as a teacher out in schools. If we have a facebook, make it as private as possible to avoid students stalking you. Also, don't use tinder in the school as you could pop up students profile and that would be weird and very awkward!!