Teacher

Professional
Assessment
School

• I completed my Professional Practice 2 at St Francis Catholic College
• St Francis is apart of Wollongong Dioceses and builds is school message on the saint,
St Francis of Assisi and the Edmund Rice touchstones
• The school’s motto is ‘Open minds & Open Hearts’ with the college continuing to
develop a Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L) framework.
• St Francis Catholic College welcomes students from diverse cultural backgrounds

Community
• The Multicultural and diverse community allows me to gain experience teaching for
students that come from a range of cultural backgrounds. The experience teaching
for diverse cultures will assist in expanding my teaching pedagogy as I have been
lucky enough to be apart of an environment that celebrates diversity

Overview of participants and Case Study

Student X – (ADVANCED)
Student 1 referred to as ‘X’ is 13 years old and has been attending St Francis catholic
College since kindergarten. She is a pleasant and happy girl that loves to read and has
strong comprehension skills. X can become disengaged and bored when waiting for her
peers in class to finish the task, as a result of this X will need extension activities that will
challenge her learning. X will often put up her hand and contribute to class discussions
providing extended responses in all aspects of her work whilst exercising her large
vocabulary. X is very talented when it comes to Visual Arts, demonstrating a range of
highly developed drawing skills and a deep understanding of emotion in art. X is currently
at a band 5 in literacy, ranking in the top percentile of her class. X will often ask for
clarification when presented with a new task although she has a thorough understanding
of what it is she is required to do. X displays a range of positive attitudes towards learning
such as; Works independently, reflects on own learning and applies feedback to her work.

Student Y (STANDARD)
Student Y is 13 years old and is a quite outspoken student. Y is quite the confident peer
but does work well with others due to her outspoken opinions, but means well and wants
to help others in their learning. Y does not respond well to constructive criticism and
usually deflects once given negative feedback. In term 1, Y was very unsettled and would
disrupt the the class by constantly talking. Y looses interests when learning if she isn’t
interested and this will result in misbehaviour to mask that she does not understand the
content. The supervising teacher has noted that this is an ongoing issue when
implementing new topics during class and that there is a behaviour management issue
and a plan has been introduced to keep Y from on track. The supervising teacher has
introduced a positive behaviour reward system so that when Y is on track in class and not
disrupting others she will green stamp Y to reinforce positive behaviour. Y has responded
really well to this and is becoming more focused in class.

Student Z (EMERGENT)
Student ‘Z’ and is 13 years old, during the observation, Z showed signs of being shy, quiet
and non a confidence learner. Z didn’t participate in class discussions and seemed very
disengaged from the class. Z has a few peers in his class and feels comfortable with this
small group. The supervising teacher allows for him to work with this group during group
tasks or ‘think, pair, share’ activities. Pre-service teacher conducted and interview with
the supervising teacher and discussed the strengths & weaknesses of student Z’s learning.
Z has some learning difficulties within reading and writing and struggles with this area
during class learning time. The student attends a school funded program called ‘MacLit’
which is a literacy program that helps learners like Z to strengthen his reading and writing.
Z does not have any issues around being able to verbally express his words but has
difficulty when it comes to writing it down. Taking into consideration student Z’s anxiety
around his reading and writing difficulties, reducing the workload when working in small
groups in order to help Z form sentences easier with less people around him decreasing
his anxiety.

Case Study Lessons – Overview & Aims

To plan for my lessons, I conducted a diagnostic assessment whereby students participated
in a casual interview where I was able to gain a deeper understanding of their learning, likes
and dislikes and personality. Being a Visual Arts teacher, my subject involves a lot of
practical components therefore a brief chat (interview) was a great method to gain insight
on the focus students, allowing me to make the correct modifications for that student.

Lesson 1 Overview & Aim -

Lesson one was based on introducing the unit ‘creatures of the Air’ and familiarising
students with the ‘frames’. We looked at the Artist Lucy Culliton whom later they will
analyse and study. The aim of this lesson was to introduce the unit which is working with
sculpture and moulding.


Lesson 2 Overview & Aim -

Lesson two was based on a Lucy Culliton Case Study. Making Art connections text book pg.:
109 – 110. Students study the art of Lucy Culliton through the conceptual framework and
the frames. Discuss the text and answer the following questions for each section:
1. What is the world of Lucy Culliton?
2. What is Culliton renowned for and what does she aim for in her art making?
3. How does Culliton approach her subject matter?

This was encouraging students to independently collect information to answer the above
questions whilst familiarising themselves with key words like ‘subject matter’ and art
making. An activity took place prior to the case study where a word bank was presented on
the board and as a class we went through their definitions. This was to assist students when
answering questions about the case study.

Lesson 3 Overview & Aim –

Students then apply their knowledge and research gathered from the case study to then
research a bird of their choice where they are required to write down fun facts about the
birds along with various illustrations of the structure of the bird.



Stage 1 – Assessment
Diagnostic assessment of 3 focus students to determine current ability level

Interview with X
What is your favourite subject?
I don’t know, I like everything but if I had to choose maybe English and art

Do you have a your favourite subject?
I am not very good at sport.

What do you like about English?
I really like reading and using describing words to make my sentences interesting like the
books I read. I love poetry and how words can mean so many different things.

What do you find hard about school?
I don’t like getting in trouble or forgetting to do my homework so sometimes I find it hard to
make sure I am doing the right thing. I sometimes find sport hard as I don’t play a lot of
sport outside of school. I enjoy being outside when we are doing sport

Interview with Classroom teacher about X
What can you tell me about X as a student?
X is a really hardworking student, she likes to work on her own and is a pleasant girl. She
sometimes lacks confidence when going to the next task as she will often finish tasks early
and will wait for further instruction from the teacher rather then moving straight on to an
extension task. She is a helpful friend to her peers or anyone that may need help. I often use
her work as a demonstration for what is required of the task as she goes above and beyond
when working on activities

Interview with Y

What is your favourite subject?
I have two, English and PDHPE I love sport.

What do you like about them?
I like writing creative stories and I play a lot of sport outside of school so I like when I get to
do it in school. I also like being outside

What do you find hard at school?
Math, I am not really good at it.

Interview with Classroom teacher about Y

What are Y’s strengths and weaknesses?

Y is confident learner, sometimes can become easily distracted and overly confident at
times where she will call out and interrupt others when talking. This unfortunately effects
her peers as she will call out the answer before them not allowing the other students to
have a go. Sometimes her answers are incorrect and she can become effected by this and
get upset.

What are some implementations that have been put in place for Z’s behavioural
management?
She is a happy student most of the time but if she becomes discouraged from a wrong
answer or frustrated because she does not understand a task she will find ways to distract
herself and others to avoid this matter. I encourage green stamps for Y when she is being
good and keep track of her behavioural management progress. Y likes to work towards
more green stamps and this strategy has had a positive impact on her behaviour
Interview with Z
What is your favourite subject at school?
Art.
What do you like most about school?
Working with B____ and K____ when doing activities.
What do you find hard?
Writing sentences
Do you find it easier working in small groups and with a teacher?
Yes, me and Miss____ talk about the sentences we are going to write and then we write it
together.

Interview with Class teacher about Z
Does Z have any issues when learning?
Z has difficulties in reading and writing. He becomes very anxious when writing as he suffers
from anxiety.

What are some implementations that have been put in place to support Z’s learning?
The school has a program called ‘MaciLit’ which assists students who have this difficulty in
reading and writing to support them, Z has been
tested and met the requirements of needing the program in which the school funds for him.
In terms of his anxiety I allow him to work with his partner during activities and incorporate
a lot of group and partner work with the activities to encourage his confidence, I implement
a lot of class discussion within my lessons to encourage Z to participate and practice his
social skills.

Stage 2 Planning

Using all the diagnostic information (assessment, observations and discussions with mentor)
I was able to plan lessons that contained extension activities and additional scaffolding for
students. I wanted to create lessons that allowed students to work at their own pace
depending on their level of learning yet still achieving the same outcomes.

Links to standard - Standard 1.5 Differentiate learning to meet the specific learning needs of
students across a full range of abilities



Stage 3. Programming

When programing, I looked at the outcomes and how I could create activities that would
assist all students in achieving this. I was planning for my three focus students and their
learning abilities and created my differentiation techniques to also assist the whole class. All
students would be taught a range of activities but with the option of completing between
the minimum and maximum requirement i.e. the bird research task where students had to
draw a minimum of 3-6 visual aspects and research facts.

Stage 4. Implementation

Assessment, planning and programing informed how I would implement changes and
modifications to my lesson plans. I applied explicit teaching through the use of modelling
and demonstrations when introducing a new activity. At the beginning of lesson 1 I showed
the class an example of a bird sculpture of what a previous student had made. As the unit
was about creatures of the air I thought it was beneficial for the students to see what they
will be working towards in order for the work to make sense to the students. I used Pair &
Share strategies so students were able to work with a partner along with literacy activities
such as brain storms and case studies to expand student vocabulary and knowledge.

Links to standards

Standard 4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments (Standards
4.1.1, 4.2.1)

Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning (Standards: 5.2.1,
5.3.1, 5.4.1)

Standard 6: Engage in professional learning (Standards 6.2.1, 6.3.1)

Standard 7: Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community
(Standards 7.1.1, 7.2.1)



Summary of Impact

Student X excelled in the class activities presented in the three lesson plans as extension
activity were provided for the student. Student X was stimulated throughout the entirety of
the lessons as there was an added extension activity there for students who had completed
the task early. This allowed student X to independently work on her own without waiting for
the teacher to move on to the next activity. Student X participated in class discussions and
was engaged throughout the entirety of the lessons as there was work provided for
accelerated students like X.

Student Y worked well within the lessons about ‘Creatures of The Air’. Student Y struggled
with behavioural management issues in the beginning of the case study but when her positive
behaviour plan was integrated this allowed her to stay focused during tasks resulting in the
improvement of her work. Student Y enjoyed the group activities as she likes to help her peers,
this was demonstrated in the brainstorm activity whereby she was very involved in the class
discussion. Student Y was engaging with the content and working well as she likes to be
creative therefore it was quite calming for her to be working on activities that involved
drawing and expression.

Student Z made slight improvements with his work and interaction with peers. The Pair &
Share strategies that were integrated more frequently throughput the lesson helped
strengthen his confidence. This strategy assisted in his confidence with talking in front of his
peers, allowing him to be more comfortable wen it came to class brainstorms and
discussions. The brainstorm activities encouraged students to write their answers on the
board, creating a classroom where it was student centred, making students like Z feel more
relaxed and comfortable. Student Z’s writing had slightly improved with the strong focus
around partner work and brainstorm activities which involved an array of literacy skills. This
is demonstrated in his bird research task with the use of correct grammar.

With the help of my mentor and the feedback she provided me throughout my professional
experience, this allowed me to strengthen my pedagogy and learn from someone that has
10 plus years under her belt. She was extremely encouraging throughout my experience and
I was able to apply her feedback not just to my TPA but to my practice.

By the end of the case study

• All focus students were able to work quietly and independently with little to no
assistance from the teacher. This was successful through the Pair & Share approach
• Student Z was able to contribute more to class discussions and activities such as
brainstorm activities
• Student X was able to extend her learning when finishing tasks early with the
implementation of choice of how much students wish to work towards i.e. bird
research task.
• Student Y was able to stay focused and concentrate with the alteration of lesson
plan, creating a lesson with more flow and structure so student Y could remain
stimulated and focused.


Student work – Research Bird Task

Student X

Student Y

Student Z