Brendan Passmore

My first placement experience was at Baranduda Primary School. Baranduda Primary School is integral to the developing community. The school primarily draws students from the Baranduda residential area and Wodonga. The school operates in composite classrooms following the AUSVELS curriculum. Computers and interactive whiteboards are integrated in every classroom, with a focus on catering for individual and group learning. The school is seen to work in partnership with the community; involving parents in students’ education is evident in every classroom. Baranduda promotes parents’ knowledge and understanding of educational development and teaching and learning practices.

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The first morning of my placement, I also met the teacher of another grade two/three composite in the same building.  She encouraged me to join her class whenever I could. Both teachers were very supportive and subsequently I spent the middle session of each day, when my class had music and physical education, with the other two/three composite classroom. Being able to witness both vastly different teaching styles was an educative experience, allowing me to interact with two classrooms and over forty students.

 

As a component of EPT218, I attended a professional placement experience at Middle Indigo Primary School in the Victorian region. I was lucky to have been assigned Tammy Burnett as the associate teacher for the experience. Ms Burnett was both the school principal and the foundation, grade one and grade two teacher in a composite classroom. Subsequently I was teaching a students with a large range of abilities and maturities.

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The entire school was compartmentalised into two composite classrooms. The grade four, five and six students were with Mr James who provided his students with a mature and intellectual classroom environment. Overall, the school hosted a small number of staff and students, which contributed to the tightknit community which was integral to the school's approach to education. The majority of students who attend the school are from farming families and/or those who live in and around the Barnawartha area. The socioeconomic status of the students' families ranges from very low to some high socioeconomic demographics.

Towards the end of the first week I began planning and teaching my own lessons. Being trusted to teach lessons independently as well as collaboratively with staff, aids and even another placement student from CSU was an invaluable experience in developing my personal teaching philosophy and confidence.

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As a component of a community involvement subject (EEB106) I undertook a week long placement at Melrose Drive Out of School Care in Wodonga. This was a short albeit great experience which allowed me to work with children in a less formal environment than the classroom.

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As a component of EPT328, I took part in CSU’s Teaching for the Future Professional Partnership program in collaboration with James Fallon High School. The program allowed us to interact with the school prior to placement commencing. This allowed me to visit the school on several occasions and engage with students in a variety of contexts prior to commencing teaching. I was teaching alongside the mathematics faculty, though I had opportunities to observe all faculty areas at the school. There were four other student teachers from CSU undertaking their placement at James Fallon High School; the five of us were a constant support for one another. We organised opportunities to see each other teach and reflect on our practice.

 

 

Prior to commencing placement at Middle Indigo Primary School and James Fallon High School, I developed four professional experience teaching goals.

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My first goal was to enhance my understanding of students’ development in order to improve my teaching. I truly believe I have accomplished this goal. One aspect of my placement at James Fallon High School that I appreciated was my consistent interaction with the learning support team. The support team provided me with a large collection of resources and advice which greatly developed my understanding of students’ development and the implications this had on my teaching.

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My second goal was to explore the content and how to teach it. I certainly achieved this at James Fallon High School. I was teaching a range of students from year seven to HSC, where I could apply my mathematical knowledge.

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My third goal was to plan and implement effective teaching. I had the opportunity to plan a multitude of unit and lesson plans which were extremely well received by staff and students.

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My fourth goal was to engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community. Middle Indigo Primary School is located in a small rural community; engagement with parents/carers and the community was a constant occurrence in the classroom and extracurricular activities.

 

 

I am fortunate to have developed some professional relationships with academics and teachers who have experience and knowledge to offer in regards to presenting a professional teaching portfolio. I am still developing my portfolio in conjunction with their advice. The current state of my folio is certainly not how I intend it to be published.

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For the time being, I have retained my evidence which I submitted for EPT328, as well as added new evidence which I obtained from my time at James Fallon High School.

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New to the folio are the stage 5.2-unit plan, student feedback, student summary profiles, nonviolent crisis intervention training, faculty staff meeting, James Fallon Homework centre and the artefacts matrix.

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In discussing the final report with my supervising teacher at James Fallon High School, she did not identify any areas for concern. Originally she had intended on awarding going beyond for each focus area, however, I explained the marking system more thoroughly. Personally, I would like to develop my incorporation of content and teaching styles for Indigenous Australian students as well as involving parents/ carers and the community in the educative process.

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