Exit Interview

Natalie Dobell
s233541

Wanguri Primary School

I completed my placement in a 5/6 class at Wanguri Primary School. I did my
placement, of 4 weeks, from last semester in this class and decided to continue
as I had already formed great relationships with the students in the class, and
the staff that I had worked with.
During my time here this term, I have completed a full block with 8 weeks fulltime teaching and have also attended a 3 day, 2 night school camp out at
Wallaroo Basecamp.
I have learnt an amazing amount of knowledge during my time here, that I will
forever carry with me throughout my career and hopefully pass onto others.

Literacy Unit
Matilda by Roald Dahl

Planning the Unit

I used past examples of work from the students and had conversations with my
mentor teacher, Rachel, to find common errors throughout the students writing.
What I found was sentence structure was a necessary focus, with run-on
sentences in particular. I took the opportunity to start out the semester doing
exercises on sentences and their structure. This helped build up students
knowledge and skills, as well as refresh the competent students minds and
skills. The exercises were planned to have benefitted each and every student to
help them be successful in their writing piece.

Click icon to add picture

Literacy Planning
These are examples of my week plans for literacy. It shows what I am doing in
literacy rotations for reading, where I should be reading up to in the novel, my
writing focus activities and my learning intentions for the week.

Literacy Rotations
Literacy rotations are done three times a week, having each group once a week
with me on the floor. This achieves seeing each student in a closer setting to
ensure they are on task and on the path to achieving success in the weeklyfortnightly focus.
Literacy groups are split into 5 groups based off of reading levels and abilities.
This ensures the tasks and books set meet the levels of the students to still
challenge them but still have the ability of success.

Literacy Rotations

Due to different comprehension

levels I see the high groups
together and the low groups
together.
Using First Steps literacy, I use the
differentiated tasks. However, if all
Learning Intentions are the same,
for example Inferring, then I would
choose one activity from one level
but differentiate it myself. Either
guiding the lower group with extra
assistance or asking the higher
group extension questions to push
their knowledge and challenge
them.

Literacy Rotations

I display the learning

intentions to the class and
go through them all
together. This gives the
groups to see what to
takes for the next level up,
not just what their focus is.
I also used the colours of
their groups so they can
easily see what applies to
them.

Literacy Rotations

DIRDS was an activity, from

First Steps, that I introduced at
the start of our inferring focus.
I completed this activity with
each group, however they
each had different amounts of
guidance. The top group
completed one on Matilda and
then had a go at doing one on
Miss Honey, which requires
more inferring as not much
direct info is given out.

Assessment & Observation

Going through
students books,
seeing their
participation in class
and their efforts in any
worksheets, I
complete the
formative assessment
of observations.
I look through their
work against the
Learning Intention for
the week and the
success criteria they
are working to
achieve.

Starting Persuasive Texts

My writing focus for this

term was to write a
persuasive text, with the
extension of using pathos
or ethos.
I did this because a lot of
students know what a
persuasive text is, but do
not go to the extra depth.
I would have the learning
intention up at the start of
every lesson and reiterate
the criteria in order for
them to be successful.

Persuasive Texts

When I started the

writing task, I started
with a 5-step list to help
all students keep on
track and know what to
do next.
Having the steps and
planners up on the
board helped the
students to work
independently and not
have to ask me what to
do. It also helped them
set their own goals of
what they need to do.

Persuasive Texts

I chose to have 5
different ones that
they could agree
with or disagree with
so they could
choose what they
want to write about
and challenge
themselves.
This also allowed
students to pick one
and start, rather than
not knowing where
to start or how to do
it.

Persuasive Texts

I display the
rubric on the
board so the
students know
what they need to
do in order to
achieve a specific
grade.
It is also helpful
for them to know
what to look for in
self editing and
when they have
buddy
conferences.

Persuasive Texts Planning

AITSL Standards
Standards Covered by Literacy Unit

Standard 1
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of
students
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual
development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
Having close time doing group activities on the floor

1.2 Understand how students learn

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and
the implications for teaching.
Differentiating groups throughout the reading activities and understanding the different
abilities of students

Standard 2
2.2 Content selection and organisation
Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
Using my term plan allows me to have the group lessons planned and something
comes up and the rotation didnt get to happen, I can see what was missed and pick
up where I left off.

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning
sequences and lesson plans.
Using learning intentions and success criteria to assess and observe students
progress.

Standard 3
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities
and characteristics.
Using learning intentions and success criteria to assess and observe students progress.

3.4 Select and use resources

Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students
in their learning.
Using the SMART board to display lessons and goals

3.5 Use effective classroom communication

Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support
student engagement.
Verbal Using instruction to inform students of what to do
Non-Verbal Using the SMART board to have the activities up so students
stay on task

Standard 4
4.2 Manage classroom activities
Demonstrate the capacity to organise classroom activities and provide clear
directions.
Having the groups allocated to specific table to avoid too many students at one
table, especially when using the laptops.

Standard 5
5.1 Assess student learning
Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and
formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student
learning.
Using the observations and activities to assess the students progress

5.4 Interpret student data

Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate
student learning and modify teaching practice.
Using data to ensure students are in the right group level
Testing students with PMs and PROBEs

Maths Unit
Algebra

Click icon to add picture

Numeracy Planning
This is an example of my week in my term plan. It shows me a quick summary of
what I will be doing for my explicit teaching.

Numeracy Planner

I only started using

in more depth
planners after
attending a NZ
Maths PD on
planning.
Rachel and I
developed this
program in the last
few weeks of term
that worked
effectively and has
all the necessary
information.

Numeracy Planner NZ Maths

I only started using

in more depth
planners after
attending a NZ
Maths PD on
planning.
Rachel and I
developed this
program in the last
few weeks of term
that worked
effectively and has
all the necessary
information.

Speed Sheets & Mental Maths

At the start of Maths lessons

on Monday, Tuesday and
Thursday, I do speed sheets
of a chosen operation for the
week and a Mental Maths
worksheet. This settles the
class and also helps them
get into the maths mindset.
It is also effective with the
students when they see
improvement in themselves.
There are different levels of
worksheets to ensure
success as well as
challenges.

Speed Sheets & Mental Maths - Data

I average out their
scores for the week and
keep track of their data.
I do this to track how
students are going and
if they are greatly
improving I will move
them up a level and if
they appear to be
struggling then I will
move them down.

NZ Maths
Rotations
On Wed, we have 5/6
rotations for 15 mins
each group. We work on
a different number
strategy each week.

Mon, Tues & Thurs Y6

rotations for half an
hour. We work on a
different number
strategy each week.

Click icon to add picture

Learning Intention & Success Criteria

At the start of each

lesson I get the class
on the floor and talk
about the learning
intention and ask how
successful everyone is
feeling at the start out
of the criteria on the
board.
I do this again at the
end of the day, hoping
to achieve a few extra
hands up, and even
more hands up as the
week and the unit
progresses.

Assessment & Observation

Going through
students books,
seeing their
participation in class
and their efforts in any
worksheets, I
complete the
formative assessment
of observations.
I look through their
work against the
Learning Intention for
the week and the
success criteria they
are working to
achieve.

AITSL Standards
Standards Covered by Maths Unit

Standard 1
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of
students
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual
development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
Having close time doing group activities on the floor

1.2 Understand how students learn

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and
the implications for teaching.
Differentiating groups throughout the reading activities and understanding the different
abilities of students

Standard 2
2.2 Content selection and organisation
Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
Using my term plan allows me to have the group lessons planned and something comes up
and the rotation didnt get to happen, I can see what was missed and pick up where I left off.

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences
and lesson plans.
Using learning intentions and success criteria to assess and observe students progress.

2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies

Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application
in teaching areas.
Using NZ Maths and referring back to the strategies learnt throughout
explicit teaching.

Standard 3
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities
and characteristics.
Using learning intentions and success criteria to assess and observe students progress.

3.4 Select and use resources

Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students
in their learning.
Using the SMART board to display lessons and goals

3.5 Use effective classroom communication

Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support
student engagement.
Verbal Using instruction to inform students of what to do
Non-Verbal Using the SMART board to have the activities up so students
stay on task

Standard 4
4.2 Manage classroom activities
Demonstrate the capacity to organise classroom activities and provide clear
directions.
Having the groups allocated to specific table to avoid too many students at one
table, especially when using the laptops.

Standard 5
5.1 Assess student learning
Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and
formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student
learning.
Using the observations and activities to assess the students progress

5.4 Interpret student data

Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate
student learning and modify teaching practice.
Using data to ensure students are in the right group level
Testing students with GLOSS in NZ Maths

Self-Assessment
What I have learnt

Strengths
I feel a strength of mine is using ICT effectively throughout my teaching.
I have my whole day planned and up on the SMART Board.
I also feel like I have a strength in using a range of resources throughout
my teaching. e.g. In maths I use Back-to-Front Maths, EnVision Maths, NZ
Maths as well as activities from various workbooks.
Due to my group rotations, I feel I have a strength in differentiation. I am
able to have one activity prepared, and can guide the lower groups, while
extending the higher groups.

Weaknesses
Only up until recently, I just couldnt grasp the concept of Learning
Intentions and Success Criteria, as well as communicating it to the
students.
I feel am now developing this skill, but it was definitely a weakness in my first
few weeks.
I also struggled with assessment. I found it hard to keep track of and have
assessments for every step of the way in learning, particularly in Maths.
Rachel guided me and helped me by giving me her observation sheets to
use. These particularly helped me because I like having it in front of me; Im a
very visual learner.

Thanks for listening