Standard 3.1: Establish challenging learning goals.
Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics.
This standard highlights the importance of establishing appropriate learning goals for students. We know that students become disengaged when work is either too hard or too easy. However, students must be challenged and challenges much be achievable. This is why it is important to have the students set individual goals. This way they have clear learning targets which will help extend their knowledge. |
ICT Elaboration: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how the use of digital resources and tools can support approaches to teaching that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosity, set their own educational goals, manage their own learning, choose the way they respond to tasks and challenge and assess their own progress.
ICT can be used to scaffold students in their independent learning. Edmodo can be used to upload extension work for students to work through. I would use Edmodo in my French and History classes, uploading specific folders which would provide students with a selection of resources, video clips, activities and games to work through independently. I would also ask students to set goals and encourage each other to keep working towards them by posting their goals and achievements on the discussion board. |
Evidence.
As I have mentioned above, a learning platform is a good way to directly provide students with new challenges. I used SOCS to link students to online vocabulary games, and I would also remind them on the discussion board to do the Language Perfect activities I had allocated for homework. The fantastic thing about Language Perfect is that the teacher and the student can track student progress. They earn points from completing levels in the program. I would ask students to set themselves a target of how many levels/points they wanted to gain by the end of the week. If students reached their goals I would find various ways to reward them. Rewards varied from simple verbal praise and high-fives to prizes such as pieces of stationary, treats and the option to choose class learning activities. I found the the students responded exceptionally to these challenges. |
Standard 3.2: Plan, structure and sequence learning programs.
Plan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies.
It is important for teachers to carefully and logically plan and structure learning programs. When planning lessons it is important that teachers consider how students learn and select appropriate learning tools accordingly. |
ICT Elaboration: Select and sequence digital resources and tools in ways that demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how these can support deep learning of the content of specific areas and effective teaching strategies.
If you consider that there are many different ways students learn, and that different tools work better for particular types of intelligences ICT can be used in a number of ways. For example, using the internet you can find educational games, songs, video clips, puzzles, etc. which appeal to some of the different learning types. Edmodo is great too as you can provide students with unit plans and specific folders for each week with all the necessary tools, aims and resources for that week. |
Evidence.
As a new teacher I feel pretty lost without a lesson plan. I find that having a good plan provides me with a clear path to follow for each lesson, it also ensures that I don't forget to cover something crucial that lesson. Below is an example of how I structure my lessons. I begin the class by outlining the lessons aims and goals, the first task in usually an engager task to get students on board. Then we go into the body of the lesson where we tackle our learning tasks and are introduced to new concepts. Using my knowledge of how students learn I structure my lesson plans accordingly. For example, in this lesson plan you can also see the range of strategies I employ to encourage higher-order thinking. Using a puzzle students had to figure out the rules for conjugating the new tense. I find that employing higher-order thinking and discovery learning in the classroom works better than simply asking the students to learn thew things by rote. |
my_first_lessons_with_the_year_10_french_students_.pdf | |
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Standard 3.3: Use teaching strategies.
Include a range of teaching strategies.
We know that the students in our classes will have a varied range of learning abilities and learning styles. It is important that we use teaching strategies to support these different learning styles so that all students have a chance to achieve their goals and improve their skills. Varying teaching strategies during lessons also helps to encourage student engagement. |
ICT Elaboration: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how to support teaching strategies through the use of digital resources and tools in ways that facilitate accelerated and deep learning, promote creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness, engage students in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems, promote student reflection and promote collaborative knowledge construction.
Using ICT in the classroom is the best way to employ a range of teaching strategies. For example, Prezi is good for visual learners, educational music clips are good for musical types, educational puzzles are good for logical thinkers, and students who learn best from doing and making could be given the task of making an educational podcast for their classmates. Using a wide range of tools in one lesson will benefit the greatest number of students, and encourage deep learning. |
Evidence.
I always aim to use a wide range of teaching strategies in my lessons. I am once again referring to the very first lesson I had with my year 10 French students during my first prac. (the lesson plan can be seen above in standard 3.2). In this lesson I began with an engager task, students were required to work in pairs to see if they could match the English translation to the French idiomatic expression. We then used ICT, students had to navigate their way through French fashion websites and find new unfamiliar vocabulary. Students made a class list on the board of the new vocabulary (this was aimed at the kinaesthetic learners). Students were also provided with visual aids (the fashion 'lookbooks') which prompt students to describe items of clothing and give one another their opinions about outfits. I also aimed to foster higher-order thinking through some grammatical puzzle solving activities. And finally, towards the end of the lesson I outlined the new assessment task. Students were also provided with notes encompassing common phrases for giving opinions. Using a wide range of teaching strategies and providing variety in the lesson means that the greatest number of students will have the opportunity to feel successful in their learning. |
Standard 3.4: Select and use resources.
Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
Teachers need to have a vast pool of resources to draw from. This is important so that teachers provide students with engaging lessons and scaffold their learning. This is especially important for history teachers, since students are expected to do so much research in the senior years. |
ICT Elaboration: Demonstrate knowledge of the use of digital resources and tools to support students in locating, analysing, evaluating and processing information when engaged in learning.
Having knowledge of the necessary online search engines and databases will be of great value to your students. For example, Trove, the BBC Archives, the National Archives, the State Records, and the American National Archives all provide useful resources. Archive sites allows students to locate, evaluate and analyse information. Often students are able to view primary resources via these websites. This will enrich their understanding of the events that happened during this time and add validity to their essays and assignments. |
Evidence.
During my unit on the Industrial Revolution I used a vast array of resources to enrich students understanding. I used first-hand accounts of life during the Industrial Revolution, I asked various students to read these quotes aloud. I found that this activity added a level of authenticity to our lesson. Students were able to understand and empathise with the working class people of the Industrial Revolution. I also selected various YouTube clips to show to the class. I found that there were somethings I just couldn't explain, for example, the Newcomen Steam Engine and later the Watt's Steam Engine. Not being particularly mechanically minded myself it was challenging to explain how these machines operated. So I used various YouTube clips that I felt gave students straight forward and easy to understand explanations. These examples so how necessary it is to select various resources to engage students and add depth to lessons. |
firsthand_accounts_of_life_during_the_industrial_revolution_.pdf | |
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Standard 3.5: Use effective classroom communication.
Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement.
Good and effective communication between teacher and students is essential. Not only for students' understanding of lesson content but also for the harmony of the classroom itself. There are a number of ways that students and teachers interact and communicate. Traditionally, it was always face to face or through written newsletters and notes in diaries. These days ICT tools have made the flow of communication easier, more direct and instantaneous. |
ICT Elaboration: Use a range of digital resources and tools to support effective communication of relevant information and ideas, taking into account individual students' learning needs and backgrounds, the learning contexts, and learning area content.
The obvious example of communication using ICT is via email. Parents and teachers can readily communicate through this medium. This supports students as parents and teachers can give feedback, and discuss concerns. For communication with students you can’t go past Edmodo. The discussion board allows students to ask their teacher questions at any time so long as they have access to the internet. |
Evidence.
I encourage open communication with my students. I like to let them know that I am always there to answer questions, to consider their feedback and ideas or listen to their concerns. This philosophy feeds into the rest of my life, I have the same policy with my family, friends and colleagues. As such the very first thing I do is provide my students with my email address and encourage them to email me if they need further clarification. In the situations were I've been able to access the schools learning platform I'll communicate to them directly via that forum. In those cases it is generally to make whole-class announcements. I find that open and regular communication provides the foundation for a positive and warm class culture. There are many reasons why I believe communication is the key to a happy and healthy class cohort, but very simply if students are to shy or scared to ask questions they're not going to get as much out of lessons. |
Standard 3.6: Evaluate and improve teaching programs.
Demonstrate broad knowledge of strategies that can be used to evaluate teaching programs to improve student learning.
Teacher evaluation of content and teaching programs is extremely important to ensure that teachers constantly work to improve their teaching style, content delivery and, most importantly, student learning. |
ICT Elaboration: Demonstrate the capacity to assess the impact of digital resources and tools on students’ engagement and learning when adapting and modifying teaching programs.
Teachers can employ ICT in the classroom to assess student learning and engagement. Tools such as: Suveymonkey, Poll Everywhere and Socrative are perfect for tracking students’ improvement and for evaluating teaching programs. In my French classes I could use Poll Everywhere to ask students which aspect of the lesson they are finding the most difficult to understand. Is it, for example, grammar or perhaps vocab? Do they find the small weekly vocab texts helpful for their learning or would there be a better method for learning vocab? Asking questions like these will help me structure my lessons and teaching programs to encourage student engagement and learning. |
Evidence.
I have two methods for improving teaching programs, one is teacher-centric and the other is student-centric. For example, I write detailed lesson plans for all of my classes. At the end of each lesson I make notes on that lesson plan, considering what worked well, what needed improvement and how I could change or adapt teaching strategies for the future. Please refer to the example of one of my lesson plans below. In this example you can see the notes I've made after the lesson. I aim to do this for most of my lessons. Secondly, there is the student-centric method for improving teaching programs. I do this through 'muddy point' and 'lightbulb moment' pieces of paper. This is a method I learnt from one of my mentors. You hand each student one of each piece of paper and they fill in the things they're not clear about or don't understand on the 'muddy point' paper and the things that have finally clicked during that lesson on the 'lightbulb paper'. These can help you with on the spot evaluation and provide the teacher with a tool to make improvements to future lessons. |
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*Please excuse the typos in this lesson plan. Generally, as my lesson plans are only intended for my own eyes I do not proofread as closely as I should*
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Standard 3.7: Engage parents/carers in the educative process.
Describe a broad range of strategies for involving parents/carers in the educative process.
Engaging parents and caregivers in the education process is not only polite and respectful, it is extremely important considering what we know about the link between student achievement and parental involvement in the education process. We know that parental involvement in their child’s education has a huge impact on how successful they’ll be at school. |
ICT Elaboration: Describe how digital resources and tools can support innovative ways of communicating and collaborating with parents/carers to engage them in their children’s learning.
Using ICT we can encourage greater parental involvement. Email is the most effective way to quickly communicate with parents and carers. It’s direct and easy. Personally, I think it’s more effective than sending notes home as they often get lost. Email can be used keep parents updated with their child’s progress, or to give them feedback (positive or negative) and to enquire about absenteeism etc. Readily giving parents and carers your professional email address also fosters a sense of community and lets parents know that you are there and open to be contacted at any time. |
Evidence.
While I was on practicum I sent emails to parents each week letting them know what we were studying in Main Lesson and which pieces of homework were due and when. For individual students I utilised diaries to send more specific information home. Unfortunately, I only got the opportunity to meet a few parents at the school musical and year 12 presentations. I would have liked to have met more parents while I was on prac. |