Students Craft Tall Tales and Wondrous Environments to Create a Unique Learning Opportunity

Last week first year BA Primary Education with QTS students at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) offered a unique educational experience, including the creation of wondrous learning environments, to 100 local school children.

The day-long event formed part of a larger Story Telling Project being undertaken by the BGU students. Each had previously been paired with a local primary school pupil for whom they wrote a short monster story. These stories then formed the foundation of the day’s activities.

The morning saw the BGU students taking the pupils to Lincoln Cathedral where they aided them in becoming “Monster Detectives”, searching for the famous Lincoln Imp across the Cathedral. They then moved to BGU where the students had created a fantastic world of colourful and imaginative learning spaces for the pupils.

Each of the learning environments offered a space for the students to share their monster stories and guide the children through innovative learning activities they had planned. The creation of these spaces, along with the rest of the Story Telling Project, is designed to craft the students’ teaching skills helping them learn how to organise activities that engage with and motivate children.

For this reason, as Emma Rogers (Senior Lecturer in Primary at BGU) explains, the Project is an important part of the BA Primary course:

“This project marks their first steps to becoming teachers. Through it they’re able to gain experience of both the logistics of running learning activities for children as well as the human skills required. Because their stories and environments are based on the specific children they’ve been paired with they gain experience building relationships with their pupils and crafting their efforts to get the best out them.”

Molly Harrison, one of the BA Primary Ed with QTS students involved, was full of praise for what the Project offered her and her course mates:

“The project is a fantastic opportunity to learn how to read the responses of pupils to the activities we’re setting for them. Every child is different, what this project is teaching us is how to adapt our efforts to support a variety of pupils to ensure they get the most out of education.”

For Andy Dickinson, also a Senior Lecturer in Primary at BGU, the Project is not just a vital learning opportunity for trainee teachers but also an invaluable experience for the pupils it supports:

“The Story Telling Project is a chance to work 1:1 with pupils, learning how to engage with and inspire them. Story telling is such an incredibly important tool to help children learn. For some of these children, the books our students have created might be the only ones they ever get so this project is vital.”

The Story Telling Project is just one of an array of innovative learning activities carried out by the School of Teacher Development at BGU. If you’d like more information on how to begin your adventure in the world of Primary Education, visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today.