Evidence Set 1: Professional Knowledge
Context:
The society we live in is ever-changing and the need for upskilling is more important than ever to learn to cope with the complexities of modern life. The ability to learn and adapt is also more important now as we find a need for new skills (OECD, 2007). As educators, we not only have to be able to teach our students, upskill them and teach them to adapt to the world around them, but we also have to do it ourselves.
Using pre-assessment data, and relying on the relationships between students and myself, I am able to call upon relevant areas of my content knowledge. I am formally educated in the areas of English and Italian and due to my aspirations to work in a Catholic School to align with my faith, I aim to complete a Graduate Certificate in Catholic Education.
Action:
When preparing to work in the school, I obtained knowledge about the statistics of my classroom and the school I was in. Through data available on SEQTA and data available online about the school, I found that my classes had close to a half-half split between genders. There were approximately five plans for intellectual or social development issues, that require assistance in the classroom. The most significant plan I needed to accommodate was for dyslexia, which explicitly dictated that the student needed altered printed materials, on pastel colours.
Figure 1: Altered Printing Materials FA: 1.1, 1.2, 1.5.
I only had one student who identified as First Nations, and he requested to have no accommodations or mentions of Indigenous or Torres strait islanders in class, so this wish was respected.
Figure 2: Email request from student FA 1.3, 1.4
I was also given the opportunity on my previous placement to work with a young girl who was non-verbal. Her modified SACE agreement entailed that she was assessed on saying ‘Good Morning’ to her teachers. I engaged the student in conversation every morning by talking to her about her interests, which was mainly the Wiggles, and she would interact with me through smiles and showing me pictures. Through this relationship and my understanding of her intellectual development needs, the student advanced to saying ‘Good Morning’ each morning. Due to the privacy of the student, the family requested I do not include artefacts to do with this student. I have been given permission to share this story.
At the beginning of the unit, I asked students to
evaluate their own learning in terms of how they learn
best and also reflect on the first lesson I delivered.
This feedback allowed me to identify different areas of
improvement for students and create lessons that had
a cognitively appropriate level of challenge for each
child.
Figure 3: Student Feedback and Self-Assessment
FA 1.2
Students identified a preference for visual examples
and movement in their lessons. As a result, I
implemented plenty of visual, dual coding based group
work for students to partake in. I continuously
repeated a range of self-assessments which were
implemented as exit cards, to encourage students to share about themselves and their learning so that I could invest time into relationship building and listen to the students and how they feel the learn best, in order to support them efficiently.
At the time of the unit, the class were moving on to poetry as part of the SACE curriculum, which is a topic I know well; however, I cross-referenced my own knowledge and content to the files on the teaching and learning computer drive. My mentor at the time was extremely happy with my content knowledge.
Figure 4: Mentor Feedback Regarding Content Knowledge FA: 2.1
I continued to cross-reference any of my content with that of my mentors and other staff, to maintain accuracy. Research identifies the process of modelling as an effective teaching strategy to improve student outcomes. In order to implement this into my teaching, I utilised multiple ICT resources to emulate annotating poetry specifically. As a class, I modelled one possible way to annotate poetry and explained the desired actions in this process. Students were then asked to replicate this process. Please see results section for more on this activity (Harbour, 2015).
During the unit, I referred back to the performance standards of the summative task to design learning activities which would directly align with the SACE curriculum and the task. The performance standards dictate that the students be able to understand different perspectives, the poetic devices, and use sophisticated language, so I designed lessons which focused on considering different perspectives, how to take simple language and enhance the meaning and the entire unit focused on poetic devices.
Figure 5: Task sheet with performance standards. FA: 2.3
For reconciliation week, I had the opportunity to work with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coordinator, to implement lesson plans that drew attention to First Nations culture and reconciliation. The coordinator planned the lessons and shared with me the most respectful way for me to implement these lessons. I also had the opportunity to immerse my students in Aboriginal culture by implementing yarning circles, with the help of elders. My students were given an opportunity to complete some basket weaving under the guidance of the Elders, while I guided them through discussions about poetry and the purpose of it.
Results:
Dual Coding Theory (DCT) is the process of presenting information in more than one way and is proven to increase retention of content (Mayer, 1994). The implementation of this in the poetry unit was successful as it gave students an opportunity to explore poetry as a written form and also as a visual form. Student’s retention of more complex techniques improved, and all students had an increased confidence to discuss the central ideas of the poetry. The use of modelling as a teaching strategy also achieved significant results in increased understanding and engagement. After modelling the steps to annotating poetry, the class annotated a poem as a group. The students showed that they were able to understand the steps and able to recreate what I had demonstrated. Below is the final product of their annotations, which was done using digital highlighting as a group.
Figure 6: Results of Modelling as a teaching strategy FA: 1.2,2.2,2.5, 2.6
I chose this format to incorporate student-centred pedagogy, to allow students to learn from one another. Student-centred pedagogy has shown improvement in student performance and engagement in various studies conducted in education settings. I found that with a more mature class, this was the preferred method of learning as it was more informal, and they were able to feel comfortable around familiar people while learning new content. I also found that the use of ICT was more appealing with the Stage 1 class, and I saw the class engage and perform better when offered this digital way of annotating.
During reconciliation week, the activities implemented were well received by students. With the support of the coordinators, my student took part in weaving which gave them an opportunity to use their hands and move around, while also implementing the fundamental ideas of yarning circles. Students were given guiding questions about why poetry is important as a literary text and were asked to discuss these as they completed the activity. Students shared insightful theories as to why poetry is a growing literary text and talked about its importance as an educational tool in modern societies. Below you will see a photo of the weaving task which began as just a beige piece of raffia.
Figure 7: The appreciation of Indigenous Cultures as well as respectful immersion in cultural activities. FA: 1.4, 2.4
In pastoral care, students engaged in reconciliation activities well and were encouraged to research and share more about significant events in Indigenous history. The students in my pastoral care class were previously detached from reconciliation and what it means, as it does not affect them directly, so these activities were a way to connect with the indigenous cultures, respect, and value the land we were learning on, and learn more about the part all Australians play in reconciliation. My class went on to implement an acknowledgment of country every morning and created posters to hang in the class using indigenous language. For privacy reasons, I was not able to collect work samples, so I have attached the PowerPoint use in the pastoral care classrooms.
Figure 8: Reconciliation week activities. FA 1.4, 2.4
Evaluation
On reflection of my teaching sequence and the learning environment I was able to support recently, it has become evident that is essential for teachers to be lifelong learners, to adapt to the needs of students as they navigate a changing social and professional environment. Being a lifelong learner is something that I realise will be a challenge throughout my life. Research suggests that it is inevitable that I will face barriers that are economic, personal, and motivational, which will interfere with my ability to be a lifelong learner (Laal, 2012). The literature in the early 2010s suggests that technology should be a tool that aspiring lifelong learners engage with meaningfully and purposefully to help them.
In my aspirations as a lifelong learner, I plan to embrace adapting technologies and literature to help me have access to the resources I need to continue to enhance my content and professional knowledge. I am currently happy with my content knowledge; however, I do find that I struggle to recommend new or comparable texts to students. I aim to improve this by familiarising myself with more modern texts as well as trends in literature.
Overall, my students respond well to my level of knowledge and were able to demonstrate increased understanding of the poetry unit. I also aim to have more confidence in myself and my content knowledge.
Standards
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Physical, social, and intellectual development and characteristics of students
Figure 1: Showed an understanding of the intellectual and social development of students by following their plans to support their learning.
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Understand how students learn.
Figure 1: Showed an understanding of the intellectual and social development of students by following their plans to support their learning.
Figure 3: Implored to include student voice in my lessons by asking students how they learn best.
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Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds
Figure 2: Respecting the cultural needs of students while struggling with significant events affecting their community.
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Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
Figure 2: Respecting the cultural needs of students while struggling with significant events affecting their community.
Figure 7 and 8: Recognised the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander voices in the classroom and involved the coordinators to help me teach my First Nations students learn in pastoral care.
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Figure 1: Showed an understanding of the intellectual and social development of students by following their plans to support their learning. This student had dyslexia and ADHD and his plan dictated to use altered printing materials.
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Strategies to support full participation of students with disabilities.
During my final placement I was able to support a non-verbal student in achieving their modified SACE by saying good morning every morning. Please see anecdote in the action section above.
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
Figure 4: Received feedback about my teaching strategies.
2.2 Content selection and organisation
Figure 6: Use of modelling to enable students to engage in annotating poetry. Use of this strategy and activity promoted retention.
2.3 Curriculum, assessment, and reporting
Figure 5: Using the SACE performance standards to determine different learning activities. Encourages students to achieve higher as they are practicing the skills associated with the A band.
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
Figure 7 and 8: Involved the coordinators to help me teach my First Nations students learn in pastoral care. I implemented lessons about reconciliation in my PC class during Reconciliation week.
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
Figure 6: Use of modelling to enable students to engage in annotating poetry. Use of this strategy and activity promoted retention.
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Figure 6: Use of modelling to enable students to engage in annotating poetry. Use of this strategy and activity promoted retention.
References
Harbour, K. E., Evanovich, L. L., Sweigart, C. A., & Hughes, L. E. (2015). A Brief Review of Effective Teaching Practices That Maximize Student Engagement. Preventing School Failure, 59(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2014.919136
Laal, M., & Laal, A. (2012). Challenges for Lifelong Learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812025931
Mayer, R. E., & Sims, V. K. (1994). For Whom Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?: Extensions of a Dual-Coding Theory of Multimedia Learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(3), 389–401. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.86.3.389
OECD (2007, April). Qualifications and Lifelong Learning (p.1). Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Policy brief, Retrieved 2011 Dec. 30, from: www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/2/38500491.pdf.
