Declaration

I, Nicholas Hall, Declare that I will not alter the blog posts on this site after 5.00pm on the 8th of October 2010.

Signed
Nicholas Hall

5th and Final Post

In my 5th and Final post, I plan to reflect upon the importance of parents and caregivers to the educative process as well as looking back on the goals I gave myself in the first blog at the beginning of my practicum and seeing the extent to which I have achieved those goals.

In my experiences throughout my practicum, I didn't really get the opportunity to deal with parents on student issues, only through student diary communication. Diary communication, which saw me write notes home to parents which the parents were required to sign as proof of reading, was an indirect way parents and caregiver could help in student disciplinary measures. With a fear of punishment from parents, students would many times rectify undesirable behaviours. Parents and caregivers play a very pivotal role in the education process of students, not only in disciplinary measures but in the maintaining of high expectations of school work outside of school hours, with parents or caregivers being a massive stakeholder in the child's education.

In relation to the three major goals I set myself at the beginning of the practicum, I feel I have made major headway in achieving these goals. The goals I set myself were to become an expert in the content areas that I am to teach(Element 1), to know and understand my students and how they learn and to plan accordingly(Element 2) as well as creation and maintenance of safe and challenging learning environments through classroom management skills (Element 5). I see that all these goals were not going to be achieved in a 10 week practicum period, however I feel because I kept these goals in my mind throughout the practicum I have actively worked towards achieving these goals. Out of the three goals I set myself, i feel that achieving Element 5 will be the one I will have to work the hardest to achieve, however, is a rewarding element to have mastered, giving you the ability to focus more of the joy of teaching.This vow to improve teaching practice in all ways is a commitment to element 6.

4th Entry

My fourth entry for this assignment deals with my colleague teacher leaving for maternity leave, leaving me to take over her classes, some of which i hadn't taught in the 7 weeks prior. On the Wednesday on week 7, two days before my colleague teacher was to leave, I was taken into the principals office along with the HSIE coordinator for a rather impromptu job interview for my colleague teachers position, which I had applied for a few weeks previous. After my successful interview I was told I couldn't tell my colleague teacher I was taking over from her until it was announced on Friday at Morning Tea. Ofcourse Friday was a very busy day for my colleague teacher, who was attempting to tie up all loose ends in between a 5 period day...the fact she was left to brief me on the position on a very busy day caused much rushing around at the end of the day. Would this rushed briefing be detrimental in my change over into the position?

Starting on Monday, I picked up her year 12 Modern history class, who had finished the majority of their studies and were simply putting the finishing touches on their final unit and Year 8 Geography, who I ad taught before and were a, shall we say vibrant class, but were nonetheless a good bunch of kids. Turning up to teach the Year 8 class following 7 weeks of dealing with senior was a bit of a challenge, having to remember my previous years practicums where I taught juniors and remember the ways I dealt with classroom management.

Needless to say, my first class with the year 8 Geo class was alittle unsettled, for the fact they saw me as a young, student teacher or casual teacher who they didn't need to work hard for. The initial lesson was a bit of an uphill struggle to put forward my expectations for the class and it can be said my first lesson with this class I taught with an iron fist inorder to communicate the fact that I will not put up with disruptive behaviour or poor work ethic.

This incident ties with Element 5, in particular 5.1.5 and 5.1.6, which is 'of the NSWiT professional standards, that dealing with classroom management skills. When I walked into that classroom I encountered a class whom I needed to prove my authority and expectations to, in order to change their views on my teaching authority. In dealing with this particular class I have found myself realising that I cannot deal with discipline on my own, but needed to ask other teachers for ideas for discipline and various coordinators for support in dealing with troublesome students who need the words of a more experienced, authoritative teacher to make them understand that their behaviour is unacceptable. Through taking on this class I plan to better myself in different approaches to classroom discipline that differ from detentions and demerits. Be a communicative teacher, who is fair and shows a genuine interest in the students as a means of building rapport for better classroom management, rather than punitive classroom management (McBurney-Fry, 2002)and I feel this class will be enormously beneficial in more growth as a teacher of positive discipline.

References

NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards <www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.htm>

McBurney-Fry, G (2002)Improving Your Practicum. 2nd Ed. Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press>

3rd Entry

My third entry of five deals with a situation that occurred in my year 11 modern history concerning a student whom I discovered to have learning needs, in this case, hearing impairment. This entry deals with Element 2 of the NSWIT Professional Teaching Standards, concerning knowing students and how they learn.

This incident starts with me sitting having recess before period 3, when I will have a lesson with my year 11 modern history concerning imperialism in the 19th century. I am approached by my colleague teacher who informs me that someone from the Parramatta CEO, who deals with inclusion of students with learning needs, is coming in to watch the lesson to see how effective the inclusive practice is. My Colleague teacher reassured me, however, I realise I haven't completely considered accommodations in my lesson plans for this class. I started to put my brain into overdrive trying to see if there are ways to hopefully accommodate this student so to avoid embarrassment in front of this unexpected visitor. I decided to continue the lesson as I had it planned and thought ill deal with criticisms constructively.

My lesson went well, i was able to explain the complex web of reasons and results of imperialism through various mindmap which I was quite proud of.

Following the lesson, the inclusion advisor commented on my lesson in a suprisingly positive light, stating that "it was a very good lesson, very visual which was helping her [the student'] learn effectively". The only thing she did was draw my attention to the fact that you need to be within 1 metre of the student when speaking to the class.

The lesson i learnt from this class was the need to be aware of my students and the ways they learn, instead of focusing only on the mechanics of the lesson. I overcame this event by taking on board the advice given to me by the inclusion advisor as well as continuing to provide the class with highly visual lessons to accompany teacher discussions.

References

NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards <www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.html>

Belated 2nd Entry

Here I am writing my second entry of five entries concerning my year 4 internship, however, I am writing this blog a month late due mostly to the fact I lost my login details to this blog.(we will over look that small details though)

So now we are going to pretend that I am midway through my 3rd week of my internship rather than midway through my 7th week. I will paint a picture of the Monday I experienced...

8.30am- Staff briefing...the news is announced that today we will have a high ranking political minister visit the school to do some press and will only be staying until recess...who is this high ranking official you ask?...only the Prime Minister Julia Gillard..

12pm-Julie, her entourage and every tv news team have finally finished their visit and are trickling out the front gate, just in time for period 4..which is year 11 modern history.

I plan on continuing the lesson on Britain before and after the industrial revolution. My class arrives and because they haven't been in a classroom all day, they aren't particularly motivated.

Along with this, I seem to have lost focus, spending the first half of today standing around with other staff members discussing politics and joking about the various physical features of the members of the labor party, I am not in the right headspace to be taking on a split double period.

The lesson goes well enough excluding the fact I ran short and spent the last 10 minutes trying to seem like i knew what i was doing with nothing up my sleeve and that the sheet that I handed out missed out on some of the main points i was hoping to discuss with students. This I feel was a poor effort in relation to Element 3 of the NSWIT Professional Teaching Standards, which refers to planning, assessing and reporting for effective learning. In this situation I feel I let myself down on the planning aspect of this element, however I didn't feel I let myself down in the assessing aspect. I was fairly unhappy with this lesson to say the least, however, i bounced back the next day in my double period with the same class...I overcame these shortcomings by providing greater focus on preparation that night, reading the sheets i wish to give students as well as ensuring the next day that I had my head in the right space prior to walking into the classroom to teach. Needless to say, the lesson I had the following day was a big success, with students engaged and much learning occuring.

References

NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards <www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.html>

First entry

The July sessions have been very beneficial in preparing me for my internship, not only in the information session on expectations of the prac, but in putting me into the correct frame of mind, the mind of a teacher. The lectures on professionalism and well being were prime examples, firstly setting me up to think and act like a teacher and secondly comforting me by teaching ways to avoid stress or at very least allow yourself to manage it appropriately.The July Sessions were also beneficial in helping me to better understand and work towards improving my professional practice.

My goals for the upcoming internship are to be or become essentially an expert in the content areas i will be teaching, that of Deir el medina and World at the beginning of the 20th century, to be engaging and know the ways my students learn best, to plan accordingly and ofcourse, element 5.Which firstly needs to be added but secondly is of great importance. Working towards my classroom management will help to create a safe and inclusive learning environment where students feel safe to take risks in learning(5.1.2) as well as building rapport with students(5.1.1) as a means of managing classroom dynamics in a positive way, rather than a punitive way.

On top of this, I hope to abide by all of element 6, which sees the teacher taking initiative to improve on their professional knowledge and skills, including teaching practice (6.1.1)

References

NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.htm