Final reflective report
My personal and professional development has progressed significantly over my five-week placement at Modbury West Primary School. I have developed a range of techniques and strategies that have strengthened my practice as a developing educator. With the guidance and support of my mentor, I have been encouraged to try new teaching pedagogies, specifically in the area of behavior management. I have trialled and implemented a variety of techniques to assist active listening and promote student engagement.
I have successfully built positive, working relationships with students, my mentor teacher and other members of staff. Through developing relationships with the students I have been able to create modified lesson plans to cater for their individual learning needs. I have gained confidence in teaching across the Australian curriculum, specifically planning and implementing an engaging and interactive Science unit. I am particularly proud of the experimental learning experiences that I planned, prepared, and conducted with the class. The use of a ‘wonder wall’ in the room sparked students’ inquiry learning and proved to be an effective learning tool. In Literacy, the class developed a proposal text in relation to their desire to renovate the Art Room. This was presented to the schools leadership team in the form of an oral presentation and written piece.
A fundamental part of my learning has been the importance of integrating learning areas. I was able to successfully link required numeracy and literacy skills with my Science topic to strengthen students’ knowledge and understanding. I created authentic forms of summative and formative assessment, using outcomes from Australian Curriculum achievement standards. Students were provided with clear learning expectations and outcomes. Explicit, clear and timely feedback was provided to students to allow them to have the best chance of success.
I have been fortunate enough to have a wide variety of experiences, immersing myself in the practical life of a teacher. These included being present at parent teacher interviews and meetings, participating in a full day professional development session on the Play is the Way methodology, attending a partnership staff meeting discussing Anne Baker’s Natural Maths and participating in an Professional Learning afternoon discussing mathematics pedagogies used at the school.
Through the experiences in this practicum I have gained valuable knowledge and skills that have strengthened my practice and further ignited my aspiration to grow and develop as an educator.
I have successfully built positive, working relationships with students, my mentor teacher and other members of staff. Through developing relationships with the students I have been able to create modified lesson plans to cater for their individual learning needs. I have gained confidence in teaching across the Australian curriculum, specifically planning and implementing an engaging and interactive Science unit. I am particularly proud of the experimental learning experiences that I planned, prepared, and conducted with the class. The use of a ‘wonder wall’ in the room sparked students’ inquiry learning and proved to be an effective learning tool. In Literacy, the class developed a proposal text in relation to their desire to renovate the Art Room. This was presented to the schools leadership team in the form of an oral presentation and written piece.
A fundamental part of my learning has been the importance of integrating learning areas. I was able to successfully link required numeracy and literacy skills with my Science topic to strengthen students’ knowledge and understanding. I created authentic forms of summative and formative assessment, using outcomes from Australian Curriculum achievement standards. Students were provided with clear learning expectations and outcomes. Explicit, clear and timely feedback was provided to students to allow them to have the best chance of success.
I have been fortunate enough to have a wide variety of experiences, immersing myself in the practical life of a teacher. These included being present at parent teacher interviews and meetings, participating in a full day professional development session on the Play is the Way methodology, attending a partnership staff meeting discussing Anne Baker’s Natural Maths and participating in an Professional Learning afternoon discussing mathematics pedagogies used at the school.
Through the experiences in this practicum I have gained valuable knowledge and skills that have strengthened my practice and further ignited my aspiration to grow and develop as an educator.