Professional practice
Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
During placement I planned and implemented an integrated unit of work where the students researched, designed and built structures that could withstand various natural forces including strong winds and earthquakes. This unit combined a number of learning areas including Design, Creativity & Technology, Science, Personal Learning and Information & Communication Technology (ICT). This unit ran over a period of four sessions and is a good example of my ability to organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
During this unit of work I implemented a range of teaching strategies for using ICT to expand the curriculum learning opportunities for students. This included initially engaging students in this unit of work by showing them an audio/visual clip of the recent NZ Earthquakes from the ABC Splash website.
A further demonstration of my knowledge of using ICT resources to engage students in their learning includes the use of the Building Big Shapes Lab. This interactive online tool allows students to investigate how the shape of structures affects their strength. In addition to exploring the Shapes Lab, students conducted online research, guided by a series of questions to develop new knowledge about the affects of natural forces on built structures.
Teacher's comment - "You were reflective during the lesson - you commented to me that you missed out telling the students the focus questions for research, so you picked this up as soon as the students returned to their desks with their laptops."
Finally students used a word processing program to complete a self evaluation questionnaire. Students were required to demonstrate their ICT skills by following instructions to locate a questionnaire template and to resave the document under their own name, type their answers to the questionnaire questions and print a copy for submission.
Create and maintain safe learning environments
As stated in my philosophy of teaching I believe strongly in assisting students to become motivated and powerful contributors to their own learning and to develop critical thinking skills. Through this unit of work students were given the opportunity to conduct their own learning on this topic via online research and were prompted to think critically about reliable versus unreliable sources of information (e.g. a published CSIRO weather expert versus a personal blogger with an interest in weather).
During this unit of work students were given the opportunity to work in pairs. Students were asked to "Make a good choice - choose a partner you work well with. If you cannot make a good choice I will choose for you." I believe this example supports my philosophy of teaching that effective classroom management strategies must be implemented by the teacher to create an optimal environment for learning. By setting clear ground rules, and then consistently praising or criticising behaviours rather than individual students, I was able to effectively manage challenging behaviour in the learning environment.
During this unit of work students were given the opportunity to work in pairs. Students were asked to "Make a good choice - choose a partner you work well with. If you cannot make a good choice I will choose for you." I believe this example supports my philosophy of teaching that effective classroom management strategies must be implemented by the teacher to create an optimal environment for learning. By setting clear ground rules, and then consistently praising or criticising behaviours rather than individual students, I was able to effectively manage challenging behaviour in the learning environment.
Teacher's feedback - "Robyn is very reliable and provides a safe and nurturing classroom. Robyn has ensured that all lessons are appropriate for the children in the class. She has explained the expectations clearly and set achievable goals for the children. Robyn has supported children who have found work challenging by working one on one with them. Robyn has used a variety of teaching tools and resources to cater for the children's different learning styles."
Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
I believe the following comment from my mentor teacher is evidence of my understanding of the need to provide timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
Teacher's comments - "Students were on task throughout this lesson and you moved around well to view each student's work and mark/correct work as you went. This instant feedback is really meaningful to students."
During placement I have been involved in a range of assessment strategies and been responsible for both informal and formal gathering of student assessment data. For example, I have been responsible for gathering formal summative data via hardcopy written tests (prep) and online testing (grade 5/6) for student reports. Additionally, I have gathered my own informal formative data to evaluate my teaching and improve student learning.
Moderation is the process where teachers work together to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning. During this process teachers collaborate to establish a shared understanding of what achievement of what curriculum standards looks like and whether or not a student has demonstrated achievement of the curriculum standard. During placement I participated in several sessions where teaching staff where undertaking moderation of English writing and creating productive modes.