2.2 Content selection and organisation – Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
Reflective Commentary
For effective teaching and learning it is crucial that a teacher must have a solid knowledge base of the content he/she wants to teach. If the teacher does not possess good knowledge of the content, then the chances are that only half-baked knowledge will be passed on to the students. Our own content knowledge affects how we interpret the content goals we are expected to reach with our students. It affects the way we hear and respond to our students and their questions. It affects our ability to explain clearly and to ask good questions. The teacher must also have a general understanding of the teaching methodologies. Based on this very knowledge, the teacher decides how he/she should establish a relationship between the student and the content. Without this knowledge he/she may not be able to give an understanding of the content to the students.
During my placements in primary schools I have developed various types of assignments for my students. Some of these assignments were based on a series of lessons to achieve a specific learning goal or outcome and I have written many lesson plans and been involved in programming whilst on professional experience.
For example, whilst on professional experience at FCP School, I was involved in helping and guiding students to create an ‘Anthology’ (a collection of poems) as a part of ‘Creative Writing’. My mentor teacher guided and supported me through the process of completing this assignment for students and she provided me with a few sample anthologies from previous students. I used this assignment to teach creative writing. The students learnt new words and knowledge about language to support their language learning, the writing process, neatness, organization of ideas, spelling and punctuation, creativity etc.
Situation
As mentioned above, for ‘Creative Writing’ lessons, my mentor teacher asked me to prepare an 8-week program for teaching poems to students. The plan was for students to create an Anthology (a collection of poems) by the end of Term 3. The selected title for Anthology was ‘All about me’. So my role as a teacher was to teach and guide 55 students (cohort of two, Year 5 classes) to create a collection of poems all on topics related to ‘All About me’ - I am, I like, Acrostic me, I need, Initially me, Metaphor poem etc. Though this task was difficult I needed to come out of my comfort zone.
Action
Before the due day of first lesson, I had to reassure myself many times that I could do it. I went to the library and issued a few books on basics of poetry and how to teach poetry. Also I spent many hours researching on internet to get some ideas for my lesson planning. My mentor teacher was really helpful as she had handed me few sample anthologies of students from the previous year. I found these very useful. As per my mentor teacher’s advice for every lesson I wrote a poem. This exercise helped me to get a good understanding of the content that I was going to teach for every lesson. Also it helped me to organize my content in a sequence, i.e. to plan a series of poems. For every poem I developed a set of guidelines which I could use for effective teaching. For every poem I would write the guidelines on the white board for students to copy them in their workbook. The guidelines helped me to assist my students understand the format and expectations of every poem. There were two students in my class with special needs, who were supported by a full time Education Assistant. As suggested by my mentor teacher, all the students were asked to write an initial working draft for every poem using the guidelines and for the final poem they needed to type and print a copy.
Outcome
I must confess that even though I was very planned, organized and prepared with all my lessons, still the project in totality was much more difficult than I anticipated. Following up on every students’ poems for marking was really an exhausting task. The students were given one-week time to hand in each poem they were taught in every lesson. However not every student was punctual in handing in their poem for marking and hence I had to keep a track of the students who were not regular in handing in their poems. Before every lesson I had to remind students to submit their poems for marking. Considering I was teaching 55 students in total, it was not an easy task. I did get a lot of support from my mentor teacher, especially towards the end of the term for compiling student’s folders. Finally, after all the hard work we managed to get all students’ finished work except for two students who were away for some personal reasons. Most of the students created a beautiful anthology with a colorful front cover, with their childhood pictures (as suggested by my mentor teacher). The sequence of the poems in most cases reflected students’ understanding of learning the skills of writing poetry including use of new words, the writing process, neatness, organization of ideas, spelling and punctuation, creativity etc. Overall it was indeed a very good learning experience for me and I am very confident that next time I will do a better job as in the process. I have discovered many time saving and effective tips which I have already started to incorporate in my teaching strategies.
Action Plan
To be an effective teacher it is crucial to know the content, that one is going to teach and also how to teach it. In my case, I will certainly read and understand every section of the Australian Curriculum, that relates to my Year level and the corresponding teaching areas. In fact, I might have to revisit the curriculum, every time I work on programming or planning my lessons. Identifying and organizing resources for my lessons in advance will be something I really need to work on as during my practicums, I faced many challenges in this areas and this was mainly due to limited available resources in the school, also in some cases the resources were being shared by more than one classroom at the same time for example ICT devices like iPads, laptops etc. I need to be prepared with a contingency plan for the situations in case of lack of ICT devices. I would also like to identify and familiarize myself with the areas that I am not very experienced for example using various differentiation strategies to cater to the needs of all students including those with impairments. I will constantly work to upgrade my literacy and numeracy skills by learning new teaching strategies that I may have not used or come across previously. Finally, another area that I don’t have much exposure and would like to explore is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and other related educational content. Some of the websites that I have come to know which can be useful to gain more knowledge on integrating Aboriginal education are as follows:
http://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/aboriginal-culture/-
www.sharingculture.com.au/workshops.htm
www.det.wa.edu.au/aboriginaleducation/detcms/navigation/aboriginaleducation/key-staff
Documentation of Evidence