(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and place in
your ePortfolio)
Question Type
If a child gave a really in depth answer that indicated they had really
How do you deal with correct been paying attention to the content of the lesson then I would
responses? Do you qualify praise them. I found this triggered the other children to focus and
any praise given? participate more as they too wanted praise.
If a child gave me an incorrect answer I gave them the opportunity
How do you deal with to answer the question again, even if it meant I had to hint what that
incorrect responses? How answer is. Getting an answer Wong in front of a class can be
do you deal with students embarrassing so I don't ever believe in shaming someone for getting
who stumble and grope for it wrong. If children are stumbling and groping for an answer then I
an answer? would usually either flick back to the information they are looking
for if I have the time and allow them to create answer from that
information. If I found I didn’t have enough time to do so Id say ‘I’ll
come back to you later’, and then pick another student to answer.
Students responses will indicate how much of the lesson they are
What use do you make of really taking in. If a student responds withe the correct answer I
the student’s responses to would ask the why they thought that which allowed the student to
develop the teaching point? tie their answer in with the text/picture/video they got it from. This
Have you redirected any helps develop the teaching point as it indicates that the responses to
questions in order to add to the questions asked can be found in the lesson. Yes I have redirected
an initial response? a question in order to ass to an initial response. For example in my
small group lesson where I was teaching the student about the book
‘Incredible Insects’ I asked one of the students where the glossary is
and what the glossary is for. Later on in the book a student came
across a word in bold that they didn't understand. I then referred to
one the other students response which was where in the book you
can locate the glossary and we then as a group flicked to the back of
the book and located the difficult word in the glossary. I believe this
helps tie the question and responses together.
I was the main evaluator of the students answers but the whole
Are you the only evaluator of classroom as also evaluators. If a student believe their opinion is
the student’s answers? more correct then that too mens they are evaluating the students
answers that they hear around them.
Overall Comments
Over all I believe I used a wide variety of appropriate questions that helped develop
the teaching point and were readily understood by the students. I received well
structured responses from the students that indicated they were taking in the
information from my lessons and that they were interested in the content. If a
students responses got off topic I made sure to redirect them in the right direction. I
believe praising children for the correct answers worked in my favour as it made the
other children focus more as they too wanted to be able to answer the questions
correctly and get praised for it. I believe I used convergent and divergent questions
when necessary which made my lessons flow well.
Observation Sheet – Management
(Please complete this form for both primary and secondary professional experiences and place in
your e portfolio)
Professional Practice:
1. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
2. Planning for Effective Management
I believe I was enthusiastic not just in my lessons but the whole time
How did you demonstrate to I was in class. I was constantly assisting and encouraging those who
the students that you valued need help, and really enjoyed working one on one with those who
them, and enjoyed learning? have learning disabilities or students at risk. I created relationships
with the students really quickly which helped me gain their respect.
e.g. Tone of voice, facial I kept the relationships on professional terms and didn’t try to
expression, sense of become their friends. I believe I used a excited and enthusiastic tone
humour, introduction to of voice which captured their attention when needed. If a student
students and topic. was upset I responded in empathy and encouraged them to give
what they were doing another go. I believe I used my sense of
humour to my advantage which made lessons fun and funny, and
engaged my students attention. When introducing a topic to the
class I would try to be really dramatic and enthusiastic which made
the class believe that I was passionate about what I was about to
teach which captured their attention.
The ‘Y’ chart activity was really useful when redirecting attention
Were you able to redirect seeking students. There were particular students that kept trying
energies of attention seeking answer all my questions and occasionally calling out. I was able to
students? Did the students redirect them by telling them to write down as much as they could
have enough on their ‘Y’ chart and i’ll check it at the end and see how much they
to do? wrote. The students had more than enough to do throughout the
lesson which kept them busy and focused.
Dealing with Minor Misbehaviour
When the class didn't stop talking after I had told them to be quiet
Did you use non-verbal and listen, I paused and folded my arms and made eye contact with
cues? e.g. Contact, pause, the particular students who were still talking. I picked this gesture
gesture, movement toward up from my mentor teacher as the students know that have to cross
student/s concerned. their arms and be quiet when she does it, so I knew they would be
silent if I did this. Instantly all the student sat up straight with their
arms folded and faced me.
Overall Comments
I believe I responded well to minor misbehaviour incidents and gave students a fair consequence. I
think I took action when necessary and me mentor teacher never had to stand in and help me. I
believe by being aware of what everyone was doing in the classroom, it allowed me to complete my
lesson with out having to tell people off for being off track. By adjusting those who weren't paying
attention it meant everyone could be focused on learning the content. Overall I had very well behaved
class and I didn’t have to deal with anything too bad which meant my lessons weren’t interrupted.
Schools as text – looking at the whole school
Describe the school in terms of its I found the demographics of the school really good. The
demographics, appearance and students were separated into different level reading
resources (be general here and do not groups and when breaking off into their groups everyone
name the school). in their groups were on a similar level which meant the
who needed to be extended could be and those who
need extra help could receive it. They had many
teachers aids to help out with those who were struggling
which I found really helpful. I liked how the school had a
central classroom that connected the 3 year 2 classes
together. It meant you could take small groups out there
such as the students at risk from each class and work
with them individually in a quiet and safe environment.
They had plenty of resources such as computers in the
central room that all year 2 classes shared and they also
had iPads that they could borrow from the library. They
also had access to the school library.
What were the roles and responsibilities Between the three year 2 classes they all had one main
of the teaching staff you observed? teacher. This teacher was in charge of the students for
most of the day. There were also numerous teacher
assistants that would help out in the classroom and in
the central room. My mentor teacher’s role was to teach
health to all three of the year 2 classes. One of the other
year 2 teachers roles was to teach science to all three
year 2 classes and the other year 2 teacher taught
HASS to all three classes. They would do this rotation
once a week. It was the teaching staffs duty to make
sure that everyone was keeping up with the work they
were teaching and to make sure those who need extra
help receive it and those who need to be challenged, do.
It was also their role to make sure everyone in the class
was behaving well and treated those around them with
respect.
What did you observe non-teaching The teacher assistance/aids would do a lot to support
staff doing to support teaching and teaching and earning in the school. For example they would
learning in the school? get the children at risk out into the central room and work
one on one with the students, on work slightly different to
the rest of the class. There was also a school psychologist
that would come in with a dog and make the children read
to it. The psychologist would make sure the children are
happy and not having any problems at school or at home.
The dog was also there to help calm them. There were also
many volunteers that would come into the classroom and
help out the students who were struggling or to just lend a
helping hand to the teacher.
Students
You will have observed the There was a wide diverse nature in the class I taught. Some
diverse nature of your classes. children could read nearly everything you gave them, and some
How was this diversity children struggled with with reading simple words such as ‘at’ or
supported? ‘of’. This was where the reading group levels came into play.
The children were split into 4 different reading groups, the
strongest readers being in the top, the weakest in the bottom
one and those who were average in the middle two. This meant
each student could work with people of a similar ability and
have work suited to their knowledge. Those who had problems
with spelling which were mainly the ones in the lower reading
group, were usually sent to the central room along with those
struggling in the other year two classes, during spelling and
literacy lessons. The teachers aids would do a different lesson
with these particular students that is more suited to their ability.
It also meant instead of being in a big class there was only
about 8 of them which meant between the 3 teachers aids each
child got a lot more needed attention. I found this concept was
really effective and that all students benefitted from it, as it
meant the children who are average and above didn't have to
go at a slower pace and could be extended. The students who
also struggled with maths would go to the central room during
maths lessons to work one on one with the teachers aids.
Function of Schools
Did you observe the During the week I notice that some volunteers would come in and
connection of your schools help the students at risk. These local volunteers weren’t paid but
with the broader community? did it in their spare time. I thought it was really nice that the
How did this happen? children got to work with such a wide variety of people who all
have different strategies. I found this was more effective as not
all students learn the same, so instead of learning from one
teacher only, they had teachers aids, volunteers and also
occasionally swapped with the other year 2 teachers.
What do you think the function I believe that school is beyond teaching knowledge, they also
of school is? teach children how to socialise, how to interact and work with
other people and most importantly cultural norms and values. At
school you learn social skills that allows you to interact with
others. At school you learn what your expectations are and how
to avoid punishment. Another function of school is to generate
new values and assets. Leadership is another part of the function
of school. I believe its all very well to teach children consent, but
if they can’t take this content and engage with someone else
about it, then they will never succeed in the real world. Although
the content is an important part of schooling, there are necessary
life skills that are needed to be taught to make use of this
knowledge. School is also about developing relationships, not
just with peers but with teachers as well.
I used to think teachers had a pretty easy job, I thought all they
had to do was follow a curriculum and got to work good hours.
Reflection – think about your My perception on teachers soon changed after the first day of
experiences during the week prac. I never realised how much thinking and work was put into
and describe how your every single lesson. I thought teachers just had to read exactly
previous experiences have what is on the curriculum…I soon learnt they didn’t. Teachers
informed your view of teachers have to come up with nearly every lesson themselves, so their
and schools. Has anything days have to be planned to an absolute tee. I appreciate what my
changed? teachers did for me so much more now that I’ve seen the hard
work they've put into lessons, and also how difficult it is to control
a classroom all day. I also learnt that schools have to be
extremely organised. I discovered this at the school sports
carnival. You don’t realise how much work and organisation is
involved until you’re the one sending children off to all the correct
games races. Prac certainly changed my view on teachers and
schools, and made me appreciate how much hard work teachers
put into every class.