Professional Experience Office

School of Education
Telephone: 8201 3330
Fax: 8201 2568

Professional Experience Report 2014

Middle & Secondary Schooling
Year 3 Undergraduate & Year 1 Master of Teaching

Pre service teacher name

Stephanie Lee

Student No.

2096434

Site

Karoonda Area School

Year level(s) taught

8-10

Site mentor teacher

Brianna Fidler,,Jane Manowski,

Subject

English

Site coordinator

Daniel Rankine

University liaison

Wendy Featherston

25 day placement
Site Context

School Coordinator - Context statement about your school

Site sector (DECD), Independent.

Karoonda Area School is in the Murray Mallee, 70 km

Site size, class size and composition of

east of Murray Bridge. It has approximately 150

campus

students from Preschool - year 12. Industries

(R-12, Area, Primary, Secondary)

within the community revolve mostly around farming

Physical and/or unique characteristics.

and farm services. Average Class sizes in the

Students with specific needs.

primary classes is 20 and 15 in secondary.

Socio-economic factors.
Mentor Teacher - Summary Statements
Professional Relationships

Comments

PROFESSIONAL & COLLEGIAL LEARNING

Stephanie actively participated in staff meetings,

Teachers actively engage in personal and

a pupil free training day and professional

collegial learning within the professional

discussions during breaks whilst at KAS. She

community

demonstrated a high degree of interest in learning

new pedagogical strategies and ideas for topics to
teach within the Australian Curriculum.

LEARNER RESPECT

Stephanie was an excellent role model for students,

Teachers foster trusting and respectful

taking time to develop positive relationships with

relationships with all learners

them and respecting their interests. She was able

to build respectful relationships very quickly
because of her genuine interest in her students

PARENT/CAREGIVER & COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Stephanie was aware of the communication channels

Teachers work effectively with

between school and homes and the wider community

parents/caregivers and the wider

and used student diaries as the first step in this

community

process. At times when she had the chance to liaise

with community members, she was always willing to
initiate conversations.

Professional Knowledge

Comments

LEARNING PROCESSES

It was extremely evident that Stephanie has a sound

Teachers know about learning processes and how understanding of how students learn (a good
to teach and implement

theoretical background) which she implemented in

the classroom. She prepared tasks that suited a
range of different learning styles, enabling all
students opportunities to access the curriculum.

LEARNING CONTENT

Stephanie had a thorough understanding of the

Teachers know the content they teach

curriculum for English. When setting tasks she

prepared assessment rubrics that reflected the AC
achievement standards and highlighted these to her
students to help them to achieve success.

LEARNING CONTEXT

Stephanie took into consideration students'

Teachers know about learner contexts and

backgrounds, interests, prior knowledge and skills.

diversity

She made sure she was aware of the learning needs

of students with Learning Plans, and modified tasks
appropriately.

Professional Practice

Comments

PLANNING AND TEACHING

Stephanie used a number of strategies to ensure

Teachers plan and implement teaching

successful learning including, the explicit

strategies for successful learning experiences teaching model, a gradual release of responsibility
model, the Four Resources Model, and Blooms
Taxonomy.
FEEDBACK AND REPORTING

Stephanie provided valuable feedback to students

Teachers assess and report learning outcomes

during the draft writing process, to ensure their

finished tasks were of a high quality. Her
assessment rubrics were well aligned with the
Australian Curriculum standards.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Stephanie made sure she was aware of the policies

Teachers create a safe, challenging and

and practices that exist at Karoonda Area school so

supportive environment

that she could consistently maintain a safe and

supportive environment.

Pre-service teacher: Comments

Through this placement I have learnt a
gain an understanding into the work of
put the theory I have learnt during my
helped me to further develop my skills
able to reflect upon my experience and
professional teacher.

great number of things that have helped me to

a teacher. This placement has also helped me to
time at university so far into practice, which as
and abilities. Not only this, but I have been
identify my strengths and weaknesses as a

I feel confident in my ability as a teacher to plan and deliver content and assessment
using the Australian Curriculum and SACSA, classroom and behaviour management, and
building positive relationships with staff and students.
Being placed at a country area school has provided me with the opportunity to not only
get to know my students, but also to get to know the whole school community and I was
able to form positive relationships between the staff, students and the community. It
has also allowed me to demonstrate my flexibility and combine my classes with other
classes when their teacher was absent.
I was also given the opportunity to work with a diverse range of students with various
social and cultural backgrounds, needs, skills and abilities. This has helped me to
develop my ability to understand how students work, how to deliver and modify content in
a way certain students could understand and how to be flexible.
Overall, I have had a valuable learning experience that I was sad to leave behind. I
leave feeling more confident in my teaching abilities.
University Liaison: Summary statement

Stephanie fitted in particularly well at Karoonda Area

School. I was impressed with her preparation and her enthusiasm. She took the
students prior knowledge and negotiated education plans into consideration and
presented lessons which engaged the students stretched their learning. She was
quick to develop respectful relationships with the students, showing a genuine

interest in their lives. Stephanie always reflected on her lessons, seeing how
the content and activities impacted on the students learning. I was
particularly impressed with her drama lesson. It was clear the lesson built on
the previous lessons as the students enthusiastically engaged in familiar activities
and had the confidence and trust to take on the challenge of new role
plays. She used a good variety of
strategies to gain the students attention. Her expectations were very explicit
and she used a slide show to reinforce the details and new material. The goals
of her lesson were clear and she managed the time to ensure the students had
time to create, collaborate and perform. The students were very complimentary about how
Stephanie explained things well and made the lessons fun and interesting.
Wendy Featherston 9/9/14

School Coordinator: Final Comments (optional)

School Coordinator:
The pre-service teacher may wish to submit this report with an application for

employment. Please

avoid the use of acronyms as student reports are often viewed by interstate and international
employers who are not always familiar with South Australian nomenclature
Name of School Mentor Teacher(s): Brianna Fidler

Jane Manowski

Date: 29.08.2014

Name of School coordinator: Daniel Rankine Date: 29.08.2014

Consideration has been given to the complexities and degree of challenge of the professional
experience context in evaluating the pre-service teacher's ability to meet the assessment criteria
for the professional experience.
In our opinion, the pre-service teacher HAS demonstrated competency in the professional teaching standards indicated in this report, and is
ready to undertake Professional Experience Final Year.

SATISFACTORY

University Liaison
Name of

University

Report ID: 001448

Liaison: Wendy Featherston Date: 09.09.2014