Brendan Passmore
Teaching Portfolio
Standard One
Standard One of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, entails knowing students and how they learn. A professional educator should be able to understand how students learn, taking into consideration every student’s individual developmental characteristics. Pedagogy consisting of physical, social and intellectual abilities should cater for diverse student needs (AITSL, 2014).
A professional teacher should be flexible in their teaching strategies. One should cater for a diverse range of backgrounds, socio-economic status, religion and culture. A proficient teacher should be empathetic and supportive of all students, regardless of disabilities.
Feedback from EPT218 Supervising Teacher:
Brendan demonstrated knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of our students and how these may affect the students learning. Brendan demonstrated knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching. The classroom which Brendan was placed was made up of students from Foundation to Year 3 students performing at an advanced level along with students who are PSD funded, Brendan demonstrated knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Graduate Standards
Focus Area 1.1
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
The class plan designed by the associate teacher at Middle Indigo Primary School was clearly well thought out, providing children with the best opportunities for learning was a clear focus. Keeping students engaged was central to the teacher's approach. By encouraging collaboration between students of similar levels of academic ability, the more mature students were naturally able to raise the standards for those around them who were easily distracted. This is a recognised approach to managing student engagement (Weatherby-Fell, 2015, p.123).
Teacher movement between tables and students is an integral component of many teachers' classroom management plans (Weatherby-Fell, 2015, p.137). The associate teacher at Middle Indigo Primary School, primarily moved between the tables at the right of the classroom, leaving the more mature students to self-discipline. Integrating myself in to the classroom, I did not adjust the seating plan. Rather, I studied the plan, learning all the students disabilities, capabilities and perhaps most significantly their names.
Focus Area 1.2
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Focus Area 1.3
Demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Focus Area 1.4
Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, culturalidentity and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.
Annotation:
Whilst on placement at Middle Indigo Primary School I taught a lesson regarding European settlement in Australia. I chose to show these ideas through one of my favourite illustrated children's books, John Marsden and Shaun Tan's 'The Rabbits'. The book tells of the European settlement in Australia through the Indigenous Australian perspective. As the concepts being presented are confronting, the author chose to use rabbits as a symbol for the Europeans. Symbols are prevalent throughout the text.
I read the book to the students, focusing on the illustrations, colours and symbols on every page. Before and after reading, we as a group guessed what the book may be about. It was incredible that before reading the text, one young boy had already guessed the topic was European settlement in Australia. He had never seen the book before, basing his prediction solely on the illustrations on the cover of the book. This young student suffered with ADHD and was clearly a visual learner. In reflection with the associate teacher and the disability aide who was assisting, we found the predominantly visual lesson catered well for the entire class, but was specifically engaging for this student.
After reading the book, we discussed the symbolism and colours throughout the book in relation to the topic. The students went off in groups and drew their interpretations of pre-colonisation Australia, focusing on using colours and symbols we discussed. In summarising the lesson we formed a group and discussed our work. The students spoke about how they felt and interpreted the colonisation from multiple perspectives.
Focus Area 1.5
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
EVIDENCE: Examples of student work
EVIDENCE: Class seating plan
Dark Purple – Teacher’s desk
Red – This table is occupied by a mix of grade two and three students. The students at this table are academically ahead of the rest of the class and require much less attention. The teacher is able to provide these students with extension tasks and worksheets with little supervision.
Dark Blue – These two students were academically capable, however they would often disrupt the class. They were both seated with very mature students of similar ability.
Purple – This young girl came to the school with extreme social anxiety. She also struggled with basic academic work. The teacher worked consistently on improving the young girl’s self-efficacy. In only half a year, the student’s self-efficacy and academic improvement had improved dramatically. She has now moved to Belvoir Special School in Wodonga.
Dark Green – This student was often disruptive in class, he was subsequently seated in the middle of the room, so the teacher was often nearby. The young boy was more concerned with impressing his peers and teachers than completing his recommended work. Every day we would find him reading a book from a much higher level, however, he did not understand any of the text.
Light Green – This student is purple’s sister. They have a unique upbringing which this girl in particular uses as an excuse very often. When presented with a task she does not want to complete, she will scream and cry in an attempt to gain attention. The staff and students are aware of her behaviour and have been taught to ignore her outbursts. She is placed very close to the teacher’s desk as well as the centre of the room, where she may receive consistent interaction with the teacher.
Brown – This student is very easily distracted. She is capable of great achievement under direct supervision, consequently she is seated very close to the teacher’s desk.
Light Blue – This student struggles with ADHD. He is always eager to work and is academically gifted. Socially this student is seen by peers as being immature. He is extremely interested in cats, but not much else, consequently he will often choose to play on his own.
Pink – This young boy loves to learn. He is very confident and always eager to study. He is however almost completely blind. The school is very supportive of his impairment. He is placed at the front of the room as to easily see the whiteboard which is directly in front of him. Whilst I was at the school, the boy’s parents and a disability support member came in for a meeting. We looked at utilities which would allow the young boy to easily see his work and resources all around the class without having to constantly be moving. The machine chosen was a monitor attached to a rotatable, zoom able high quality camera. This would allow the young boy to sit anywhere in the room without further straining his eyes.
Orange – This table was occupied by the foundation students. They required more attention than the rest of the class and were consistently aided by either a teacher or teacher’s aide.
Grey – This young boy was a foundation student who excelled academically. He however also suffered from ADHD and was often distracted in class.
Royal Blue - These students were achieving consistent academic results and were generally focused on learning.
Figure 1.1
Cover art from John Marsden and Shaun Tan's 'The Rabbits' (Marsden, J. & Tan, S., 2000).
Figure 1.2
Figure 1.3
Figure 1.4
The above figures show 3 pieces of work from a k-3 classroom. Having such a broad range of students, ages and abilities in the classroom, work must be differentiated to allow each child to achieve (AITSL, 2014). Planning is essential in creating succesful learning opprtunities for students (Richman, Permuth, Richman, 2013, p.133).
Teaching in a k-3 classroom, every lesson had to be planned to cater for students at vastly different stages. The students generally worked on similar topics, however, the expectations of work to be returned were differentiated for each students' capabilities. This was not limited to age. Some advanced grade two students were expected to achieve the same outcomes as the grade three students, allowing students to be challenged regardless of their age.
The above work shows three levels of expectations for a lesson I taught. The students were focusing on different abilities. The foundation students were working on using common words whilst improving their handwriting. Some students were creating their own picture books, combining symbols and text. And the advanced students were finalising their comprehension of verbs.
It was common to have a lesson which was split in to so many components. This allowed me to understand the importance of and implement methods of differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across a range of abilities (AITSL, 2014). I was consistently reflecting on lessons in correlation with the Positive Learning Framework (McDonald, 2013, p.5). Developing students' resilience and self worth (McDonald, 2013, p.7) was a concern as the abilities between students were so vastly ranged.
Ms. Burnett, my supervising teacher and principle at Middle Indigo Primary School completed the EPT218 final report. Ms. Burnett believed I had demonstrated proficiency in all seven of the standards outlined by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL, 2014). Ms. Burnett recognised that I was demonstrating proficiency in focus areas 1.1, 1.2 and 1.4. I was considered to be exceeding expectations in focus areas 1.3, 1.5 and 1.6.
I have collected evidence which demonstrates my understanding of standard one of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2014). I currently have three pieces of evidence for this standard. As a component of the EPT329 placement I aim to collect evidence for focus areas two and three.