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Forum Postings
Posting 1
In the short duration of my two-week prac, I observed a
range of classes from K-6 with most of my time spent at my home class,
which was a stage 1 composite class of years 1 & 2. All teachers
at the school were well experienced and therefore opted not to utilize
lesson plans as they felt they had knowledge of both the content and
teaching methods sufficient for meeting the desired outcomes of the syllabus.
However, this presented a challenge for me in identifying the syllabus
outcomes being taught in each lesson. Nevertheless, upon being issued
this task in EPT107, certain lessons came to my attention that I felt
were appropriate to the task.
A lesson which I felt was effective in achieving the outcomes presented
by the syllabus occurred in a stage 3 composite class, years 5 & 6,
taught by the school principal. The lesson was a spelling test focusing
on assessment. This type of assessment took the form of an end of week
test which occurs every Friday, where the teacher read a list of 20 words,
gave an example of the word in a sentence and the students were to spell
the words which were then marked by a fellow student, and marks recorded.
Taking the nature of a formal assessment, enforced by the teacher/principal,
students were quite well behaved, constantly being reminded of the consequences
of talking or disruption being the disqualification of their marks. This
threat of punishment was effective as it promoted the lesson as being
fun and desirable to the students alluding that they wanted to remain
a part of it. It also allowed a competitive factor to emerge fuelling
the student’s drive to perform well, which occurred for the majority
of the students. Overall, the lesson achieved the outcomes desired effectively.
A dissimilar lesson to the one explored above was a craft lesson in my
home class of years 1 & 2. With the annual art show approaching rapidly,
the associate teacher was presented with time constraints in addition
to the chaotic messy nature that all art and craft lessons seem to possess.
The lesson was quite unorganized with students being at different stages
of their art piece, which was a Hessian placemat with a piece of calico
material sewn on the front with a line of ducks across the front. The
students found the task quite confusing and difficult to complete, requiring
individual assistance with threading the needle and sewing the piece.
The associate teacher found it extremely difficult to organize and instruct
as all students were at different stages of their work, thus she could
not talk to the class as a whole. To combat this, the associate teacher
instructed students to wait when they were up to a certain point so she
could instruct everyone at once. However this presented the students
with boredom with no extra work prepared to amuse students. Thus they
became chaotic and disruptive to other students. The lesson was not well
planned or prepared for which to some extent was unavoidable due to the
time constraints factored in. The outcomes were not achieved.
Response to a peers Forum Posting
Having spent hours filtering through the list of forum
postings in search of an appropriate classroom experience to which I
could relate and respond, I was interested to note some of the experiences
and observations that emerged from Brendan Frost’s placement in
a year four class.
I would firstly like to adhere with Brendan in his point of admiration
for a teacher’s ability to achieve desired outcomes despite the
chaotic timetable that they are dealt.
This tone of admiration for teachers seemed to continue throughout Brendan’s
response, which I felt quite appropriate as it was something that emerged
from my time on prac also. Control of the class is something that I believe
to be one of the very most important ingredients of effective pedagogy
and achieving outcomes, and as Brendan suggests, this occurs immediately
upon entering the classroom allowing a respect to be initiated between
teacher and students. In my experience of all stages that I observed,
this allows learning to occur and is achieved in such a talented way
which further fueled my admiration for the teachers whom I was also observing.
This effective pedagogy in coherence with Brendan’s experiences
continues throughout the teaching tactics noticed, in the diversity of
teaching styles and lesson arrangements, as well as the innovative, creative
methods of achieving productive learning, such as the Spelling Bee activity
that Brendan mentioned. This was something that I too noted on my prac.
I agree with Brendan in this notion of the hard effort, time, devotion
and skill that teachers inject into learning.
Forum Posting 2
Professionalism is a key factor in all career choices,
pertaining to the appropriate manner to act and present yourself for
the scenarios that the job presents.
1) In John’s case, the expectation of professionalism has not
been achieved. By arriving late, dressed inappropriately, John infers
to his students, associate teacher, colleagues, school and university
that he is an ‘outsider’ to the discourse of professional
teaching. The associate teacher inevitably would have to address this
situation to make John aware of the implications of his actions, disrupting
the lesson and conveying the nervousness and lack of confidence and professionalism
that he possesses, thus fuelling any ideas students may have in regard
to acting inappropriately. Perhaps the associate teacher would have simply
made him aware of the consequences of his decision, in a covert manner
after class lacking student presence. This would occur in a non-harsh
tone. He/She would convey that the behaviour was inappropriate. Perhaps
the associate teacher would also need to inform a representative of the
university so it could be addressed at this level also. It may need to
be inferred in teaching of the profession if this is occurring with other
students also.
2) Professionalism in all occupations involves acting in the most appropriate
manner to most effectively and efficiently achieve the desired outcomes
of the job. In the teaching profession, there are certain indicators
of professionalism. These may include:
•
Preparation for lessons to allow the lesson to run smoothly in the expected
way to achieve the outcomes of the lesson.
•
Organisation to again allow the smooth running of the lesson.
•
Efficiency as an indicator of organization and preparation to achieve
the greatest level of achievement given the limited resources including
time that the profession presents.
•
A confident attitude to infer professionalism and thus gain the respect
and the possible admiration that is essential for a teacher to work effectively.
•
Work ethic is needed particularly in the teaching profession and allows
the exhaustive content to be covered effectively.
•
Appropriate language is needed to model and scaffold the acquisition
of language.
•
Presentation infers professionalism and gains respect that clears the
way for effective teaching.
•
A teacher must also be a model for students.
3) Contraire to the expectations of our first observation practicum,
Practicum 1 requires us to prepare and execute lessons. Thus, one implication
of the practicum is the organization and preparation of lesson plans
and the lessons themselves including organising materials needed to teach
the lesson. Dressing and presenting ourselves appropriately is an implication
of the profession also, and is also in our best interest as it will automatically
contribute to the levels of respect that aides us in teaching. Naturally,
being our first practicum, nervousness and confidence are things to be
combated and embraced. We must present ourselves in a confident manner
as the practicum implies. The greatest implication of the practicum is
that we are to be a model to the children exampling the content to be
covered as well as the moral and ethical attitudes and values that should
be conveyed to the children.
Forum Posting 4
Managing the learning environment.
As year 5 finished their Reports, Ms Lee noticed a paper plane flash
past her eyes and a guilty look on Sam Thorpe’s face.
Ms Lee: ‘Sam, please stop.’
Two minutes later another paper plane landed near her feet. Ms Lee approached
Sam’s desk for a quiet word.
Ms Lee: ‘Sam, what are you doing?’
Sam: ‘Who, me?’
Ms Lee: ‘Yes, what are you doing?’
Sam: ‘Nothing’
Ms Lee: (calmly) ‘Please Sam, I just asked what you were doing.’
Sam: ‘I just threw a piece of paper.’
Ms Lee: ‘Why?’
Sam: ‘I’ve finished my work and I’m bored’
Ms Lee: ‘Is that what we do when we have finished our work?’
Sam: ‘No Ms Lee’
Ms Lee: ‘Then what do we do?’
Sam: ‘Show you our finished work so you can check it and give us
something else to do.’
Ms Lee: ‘That’s right Sam. So next time I hope you’ll
put your hand up when your work is completed. Throwing things is against
our class rules and is no way to behave.’
Sam: ‘Ok.’
One of the most pertinent components of managing the learning environment
as has been outlined in Briggs and Sommefeldt (2002), is the management
of classroom climate.
‘
Within their classrooms, effective teachers create learning environments
that foster pupil progress’ (DFEE, 2000 p1.1.9)
On my practicum, this is an aspect that I feel I need to manage to most
effectively practice pedagogy and enhance student learning. Such ways
of managing the learning the environment throughout the duration of my
practicum are listed below.
• Enforce the spoken rules that have been already established
by the existing teacher.
•
Enforce the unspoken rules of behaviour by way of positive reinforcement.
•
Interact with the students in a professional manner that will enhance
their learning. ‘It is in the discourse between teacher and pupils
that education is done’ (Edwards and Mercer, 1981 p101). This can
be achieved through
o Modelling
o Zone of Proximal Development
o Scaffolding
•
Exert professionalism by dressing appropriately, being prepared, speaking
appropriately, emanating confidence and acting professionally which are
all cues for the students as to the seriousness and importance of the
class.
•
Model the right ways to behave. That is, act in coherence with the class
rules and act in a ‘proper’ manner.
•
Scaffolding
•
Apply teacher expectations. Positive reinforcement can further student
progress as demonstrated in the Jacobson and Rosenthal study (1960).
Distribute this equally amongst students to give each the opportunity
to develop.
References
Briggs, A. and Sommefeldt, D. (2003) Managing Effective Learning and
Teaching, London, PCP.
DFEE (2002), Research into Teacher Effectiveness: A Model of Teacher
Effectiveness (report by Hay McBer to the DFEE, June)
Edwards, D. and Mercer, N. (1981) Common Knowledge: The Development
of Understanding in the Classroom. London. Routledge.
Rosenthal, R. and Jacobson, L. (1968) Pygmalion in the Classroom. Teacher
Expectations and Pupil’s Intellectual Growth. New York. Holt, Reinhart
and Winston.
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