Design Strategy - TEFL Research

6A2 6B2 - Research into future career opportunities of teaching abroad. 

TEFL is the acronym for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, or simply, English language instruction for non-native speakers.

It stands for teaching english as a foreign language. 

The field presents thousands of excellent professional opportunities for teaching English abroad in all corners of the globe to native and fluent English speakers who earn their TEFL/TESOL certification.

Other institutions consider a proof of English proficiency, a University degree and a basic teaching qualification to be more than sufficient. However, the level of academic qualification need not be the most important qualification, as many schools will be more interested in one's interpersonal skills.

Each country is different, and acceptance depends on demand for English teachers and the teacher's previous teaching and life experiences.

After completing my PGCE, you then have to complete an NQT year within the UK. After this my aspirations are to teach abroad in a few different European and possibly countries further afield. However to do this, having teaching qualification isn't enough, you also need to carry out  TEFL to make it easier to acquire jobs when applying and looking. 

Design Strategy - YCN - Childline Submission

6A2 - Design work and submitting to competitions. 

6B2 - Research into children, safeguarding and psychology. 

Below shows my submission to the Childline YCN submission, the presentation has been designed in the company's brand colours to show that the designs and concept are relevant and fit in with their exisiting brand strategy. 

This brief specifically relates to the practice and profession of teaching I want to go into, as the brief was based on young children, how to speak and relate to them, what  they like and how they understand and talk about things.

Also different areas of this research would come under safeguarding within schools, as part of the research looked at the different types of abuse, mental health and experiences that some children unfortunately go through. 

Personal Branding/ Design Strategy - The Wild Card - Hope and Wade King

6B2 - Research into how to be a creative and engaging teacher

Notes taken from the book - The Wild Card by Hope and Wade King


You as the teacher are a wildcard. you have the difference to change children's lives. 
Creating lessons that students absorbed in, with joy and delight. 
The delivery method matters. 
Creativity is the key to engagement and engagement makes kids want to come to school. 
Set the stage to engage.
Learning experiences and memorable moments.
Don't compare to anyone else, thief of joy and the enemy of authenticity. 
Finding your own creative style. 
Teachers have uncertain influence in children's lives, unpredictable, full of surprises. 
Inspire and engage every child.
Create magic by using hobbies and interests in the classroom.
Create an environment to support subjects. 
Be unpredictable.
Creativity drives engagement
When you're comfortable you are no longer growing or moving.
Every teacher has an individual why.
Confidence is essential for a creative breakthrough. 
Change requires sacrifice.
Sit with students at lunch, spend time with them. 
Children will want to try harder for you when you care about them. 
Worksheets don't make fir memorable experiences or lifelong learners. 
Changing up delivery methods. 
Real world connections.
Play games where every student takes part, when playing games all children need to be engaged at all times.
Engagement, expectation, environment, empowerment, energy. 
Set your expectations high.
Refocus everyone using call and response. 
Consistency is key.
Relevant.
Visually and emotionally appealing. 
Passions and interests in classroom decor.
Energised and excited. 
Needs to be constantly evolving and changing, grow with you and your students. 
Building relationships and building a classroom family. 
Bring reading to life.
Have brain breaks.
Sharing a but of yourself with your students.
Classroom transformation leads to guaranteed engagement. 

What I've Learnt

Teacher's have the ability to change children's lives and enrich children no matter what background they come from. 

Creativity is extremely important when trying to engage children and engagement is the key to learning and excited, happy children who actually want to and enjoy coming into school every day.

Element of surprise is also important in keeping pupils interested, they should never know what to expect when they walk through the classroom door. 

Classroom displays and transformation leads to guaranteed engagement.

Set the stage to engage. 


Personal Branding

Branding myself as the Creative teacher means that a lot of the aspects discussed in this book need to be communicated through the design and online presence. 

Personal Branding - Initial Ideas

6C2 - Initial ideas for personal branding.

Below shows initial ideas and development for my personal branding strategy, focusing on a logo to be used across my social media and online presence. 

A focus on shapes to create letterforms has been used, using type and shapes in a playful and educational way. Obviously a focus on using bright, vibrant colours is important when designing with teaching, the school and pupils in mind. 

The idea was the different shapes could act as a game, placing them together in the correct order to create the word 'creative'. 

Personal Branding - Research - Four Pillars of Play

6B2 - Research into the importance of play and creativity for children and within the classroom. 



Open Environments

Open environments are those in which the child gets to be the author and the medium is open to interpretation.

Designed to encourage child-directed, unstructured free play.

Letting children be the inventors of play.

Flexible Tools

The fact that people can find different ways of using technology and that the technology is flexible enough to allow for this exploration is the key for innovation and invention. The same should be true for physical materials in a child’s play environment. A crayon can be used for drawing anything, but it can also be melted and re-sculpted into something completely different.

Modifiable Rules

Promoting things like, had an original idea, created a new game on the playground, made up a story, solved a problem for a friend, or invented something uncommon from a common object.

Superpowers

Superpowers, by my definition, are the physical and mental skills that we develop to adapt and thrive in a complex world while exploring the creative opportunities made possible by global progress. 

Personal Branding - Research - Importance of Play

6A2 6B2 - Research into play, important when teaching and learning with children.


Play is necessary for creativity.

Play-like activities put us into a psychological state where it’s ok to fail, where it’s ok to wonder “what if?”

Through play we can be anyone or anything.

Play removes limits.

Children are inclined to creative exploration and imagining.

We are designed to be players in the game of life, rather than creators.

Open environments, flexible tools, modifiable rules, and superpowers.

Open-ended play and the continuing need for workplace creativity.

Play is the answer to how anything new comes about.”

A playful mind thrives on ambiguity, complexity, and improvisation.

The resourcefulness of children’s culture has eroded, as children have become less skilled at transforming everyday objects into playthings.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Letting children be the inventors of play.

Open environments are those in which the child gets to be the author and the medium is open to interpretation.

Designed to encourage child-directed, unstructured free play.

Shidonni, Spore, and Scribblenauts are truly embracing the open and digital potential. With them, the play is so unlimited no one cares that someone else wrote the rules. Kids get to design their own games in real time with Scratch, Kodu, Kerpoof, and Alice. LEGO Mindstorms, Pleo, and the Spy Tracker System from Wild Planet enable authors to write their own software applications for physical products.

A crayon can be used for drawing anything, but it can also be melted and re-sculpted into something completely different.

Allow a child to record his or her own directives would invite invention, ideation, and exploration.

Had an original idea, created a new game on the playground, made up a story, solved a problem for a friend, or invented something uncommon from a common object.

We aren’t born with playful minds, we create them.

To Play or Not to Play: Is It Really a Question?

The resounding feedback was that the children wanted to be the spies themselves, not the character. So the company introduced its spy gear with packaging that depicts real kids being super sleuths.

Superpowers, by my definition, are the physical and mental skills that we develop to adapt and thrive in a complex world while exploring the creative opportunities made possible by global progress. 

What children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way, and for their own reasons.’

What children and young people do when they are not being told what to do by adults’.