PPCE Self-reflection

The school I have conducted my Professional Practice Community Engagement is Plumpton High
School. The school is located in the Western Sydney district of NSW. It has a diverse population of
students mostly from low socio-economic backgrounds. Plumpton is a coeducational year 7-12
school, with 1100 students currently attending.

I am familiar with Plumpton High School as I conducted my Professional Practice 1 within the
science faculty. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and was keen to return and complete my
Professional Practice Community Engagement. I was somewhat aware of the school and the
students which attend. However, to help further with my understanding, I researched the high
school on the My School website. The school has students ranging from over 70 different
nationalities including approximately 75 students who identify as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander.

The goals I set for myself when completing this Profession Practice were familiarising myself with
the new science content and refreshing my content and knowledge. I also set out to complete the
revision booklet for stage 5 within the given time as well as observing and assisting Technology
Mandatory lessons as this is another KLA of mine. The tasks I was given at the school allowed me
to achieve these goals in a supportive environment at Plumpton High School with assistance from
the science and TAS faculty.

For this professional practice my main role was supporting the science teachers with making
resources for stages 4 and 5. One of the tasks I was given was assisting and supporting the
teachers in making a revision booklet for stage 5. The topic from the syllabus I was given to
complete was Physical World. The intention of the revision booklet was meant to be used for
revision for the VALID assessment students in year 10 will complete. VALID is compulsory in
years 6 and 8 however, in year 10 it is the choice of the school to register their students. Plumpton
High School registers their year 10 students to monitor achievement and provide information for
planning, programming and assessment. Assisting in the marking for the year 10 VALID test is
something I also participated in. The marking guidelines uses the SOLO model and was a
beneficial experience for me. It gave me practice using this marking method which I can use in my
classroom. I will be able to explain to the students of what types of things to include in their
responses to achieve R2 in Cycle 2.

Another task I was given to assist the science teachers with at Plumpton High School was to
redevelop the project-based learning program for the stage 4 topic of Earth and Space named
“Terraforming Mars”. It was suggested that I watch the video “Earth: Making of a Planet” to refresh
my knowledge about Earth and Space. With assistance, I researched and organised the structure
of the unit including the new syllabus outcomes. By doing this task, it allowed me to get
experience in constructing a unit outline and what to include catering to students with different
needs.

In one of the days of my practical experience I assisted the teachers with preparing and the
presentation for the activities for National Science Week. The science faulty put on a live
presentation for stage 4 students to develop understandings about the role of science, technology,
engineering, maths and design. They showcased experiments to the stage 4 cohort and
emphasised the fascinating side to science. My role in this day was to assist the teacher during
the experiments. This allowed me to build relationships with the students as it was an interactive
experience.

As part of this experience I wanted to observe classes in Technology Mandatory lessons as this is
another KLA. I observed and assisted students in two Technology Mandatory lessons. In each
lesson they were conducting the same practical, making chocolate chip cookies. It was interesting
to see the difference of teaching methods the teacher used as one class was more challenging
than the other. The teacher altered the way the students chose their groups and how they got the
ingredients from the bench. Reflecting on this, I can see why the teacher chose to do this. It
definitely allowed me to gain some strategies on how to deal with difficult behaviour in a practical
setting.

Plumpton High School offers many extra-curricular activities before and after school. An example
of this showcases their partnership with Plumpton Primary School. The identified gifted and
talented students from the primary school are given the opportunity after school to participate in a
forensic science program run by science teachers at Plumpton High School. Another extra-
curricular activity Plumpton High School offer is an Agriculture Group for students on Friday after
school. The students make sure the farm is well equipped with food and water for the weekend. I
assisted with the supervision and participation for the Agriculture Group. This allowed me to build
relationships with these students and heled me learn a lot about the farm and the systems and
processes they have.

Overall, all my experiences at Plumpton High School were beneficial and helped shape me to
become a better teacher. This experience made me aware of the growth and development I will
receive in a supportive teaching environment from experienced teachers. I will not only grow and
develop my behaviour management skills and strategies but also my content knowledge and
relationship building qualities. As science has a new syllabus, working on the revision booklet as
well as the unit outline allowed me to get more familiar with the content within this syllabus and the
relevant outcomes. TAS also has a new syllabus and further consultation with the school will allow
me to get to know their new unit outlines and styles of teaching.