Professional Experience Office

School of Education
Telephone: 8201 3330
Fax: 8201 2568

Professional Experience Report 2015

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE FINAL YEAR
Middle & Secondary Schooling
Year 4 Undergraduate & Year 2 Master of Teaching

Pre service teacher name

Cassandra Powell

Student No.

2107551

Site

Roxby Downs Area School

Year level(s) taught

12

Site mentor teacher

Subject

Health Education

Site coordinator

Tony Holden

University liaison

Diane Howarth

40 day placement
Site Context

School Coordinator - Context statement about your school

Site sector (DECD), Independent.

Roxby Downs Area School is a South Australian State

Site size, class size and composition of

Government school conducted by DECD. It was

campus

established in 1987 to support the newly created

(R-12, Area, Primary, Secondary)

Olympic Dam mine and continues to adapt to its

Physical and/or unique characteristics.

dynamic growth. It shares facilities with the local

Students with specific needs.

TAFE and during school the Leisure Centre, ovals

Socio-economic factors.

and tennis courts. The school has excellent

teaching facilities including 2 science
laboratories, 3 Computer Suites, Photography
Laboratory,Art Room, Music Room, Drama Room, Senior
Room and Open Access Room. The school population
has grown from 100 in 1987 to over 600. Years 7-12
students from Andamooka travel by bus to school.
Mentor Teacher - Summary Statements

Professional Relationships

Comments

PROFESSIONAL & COLLEGIAL LEARNING

Cassandra actively sought to participate in as many

Teachers actively engage in personal and

professional learning opportunities as possible.

collegial learning within the professional

She attended all whole staff and cohort meetings

community

during her placement including attending an ICT in

schools development day as part of the secondary
school personal development. Cassandra also
participated in the Metropolitan Fire Service Road
Awareness Program presentation.Cassandra was
constantly asking advice and seeking professional
guidance during her time at RDAS. She engaged with
a number of staff members and took time to observe
a number of different staff members in order to
gain a wide range of experience. Cassandra also had
the opportunity to work with the Physical education
faculty to redevelop the entire secondary PE
curriculum, aligning it with the Australian
Curriculum.

LEARNER RESPECT

Cassandra quickly developed strong relationships

Teachers foster trusting and respectful

with all individuals in our small class. She sought

relationships with all learners

guidance on positive ways to interact with the

students prior to arriving on site as she commenced
teaching to this group in the first week of her
placement. She was able to guide the small group of
boys in preparation for their group task. She was
able to do this successfully by developing strong
relationships with the boys very quickly and
working with them both individually and as a group
to build on these relationships. It was
disappointing for all involved that she was unable
to be in attendance for the presentation of this
task. However, upon her return from camp the boys
were excited to share their experiences with her.

PARENT/CAREGIVER & COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Throughout her time at Roxby Downs Area School

Teachers work effectively with

Cassandra took an active role within the community

parents/caregivers and the wider

through various sporting groups. She made regular

community

professional contact with Parents/ Caregivers using

Daymap, and played an active role in the Parent
Teacher interview evening.

Professional Knowledge

Comments

LEARNING PROCESSES

Often it was necessary for Cassandra and myself to

Teachers know about learning processes and how work one to one with individual students to assist
to teach and implement

them in completing assessment tasks. This

demonstrated that Cassandra could confidently and
effectively adapt the learning processes required
for each of these students. She successfully guided
students with a

range of learning needs and from

cultural backgrounds to complete all required tasks

both individually and in groups.
LEARNING CONTENT

Cassandra demonstrated sound knowledge of all

Teachers know the content they teach

topics covered throughout the practicum. She

ensured she was well prepared by asking questions
and researching areas she was unsure of prior to
the lessons being taught, including prior to her
arriving at the school. She confidently assisted
students to find resources to develop their
understandings of their chosen topics and was able
to add to these understandings with her own
knowledge of the topic.

LEARNING CONTEXT

While our group was rather small the students were

Teachers know about learner contexts and

very diverse. Cassandra was able to adapt learning

diversity

tasks to meet the individual students needs. She

successfully provided a large amount of one to one
support and ensured the learning needs of each
student were met.

Professional Practice

Comments

PLANNING AND TEACHING

While the assessment tasks for this topic were

Teachers plan and implement teaching

planned well before Cassandra began her placement,

strategies for successful learning experiences she was able to successfully plan to teach the
required elements of these tasks. She regularly
sought feedback and guidance as to the topics
needing to be covered and reflection of lessons.
She was always well organised for lessons and
quickly learnt how to check for computer
availabilities with out needing prompts or guidance
to do so.
FEEDBACK AND REPORTING

Once the students had completed the assessment

Teachers assess and report learning outcomes

tasks that Cassandra had implemented she worked

closely with me to moderate all work. She
professionally engaged in conversations which
reflected upon student achievement and we discussed
the grades that were given to each individual
student. Cassandra regularly provided students with
verbal feedback during all lessons and assisted in
the drafting processes.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Cassandra demonstrated a clear understanding of the

Teachers create a safe, challenging and

student behaviour management policy and was able to

supportive environment

implement it when required. While at times we

encountered a range of difficulties she addressed
these appropriately and always sought feedback
after the lesson to improve her skills. She
understood a range of strategies that could be used
to create a safe and supportive learning
environment and strived to achieve these for every
lesson.

Pre-service teacher: Comments

In my time at Roxby Downs Area School I was provided the opportunity to do many things
which weren't even covered at University. Things like marking for SACE was an
interesting process which I was able to gain lots of knowledge from, thus growing my
confidence with the process. I was able to work with a small group in Health Education
and although the boys were difficult to motivate at times I enjoyed the challenge. It
was nice to be able to see how well organised and prepared Mel was and how she set this
up. I enjoyed my time thoroughly at Roxby Downs Area School and am so greatful for the
experiences I had.
University Liaison: Summary statement
During her placement at Roxby Downs Area School, I contacted
Cassandra several times via email and things were going very well. I also phoned her
twice and she was very happy with her progress and the support that she was getting from
the school. Midway through her placement, I met Cassandra while she was in Adelaide with
the school on a Year 10 camp. We met for a coffee and chat and her mentor teacher was
able to come along too. We talked in detail about Cassandras experiences during her
placement. I gave her some feedback on her lesson preparations which she had emailed to
me earlier and some strategies to help improve her classroom worksheets. Cassandra was
very receptive to these ideas and implemented them into her lesson plans. Cassandra was
very determined to make the most of her opportunities during her placement, and from my
dealings with her and her mentor, I sensed that she was performing exceptionally well
and setting a good impression. Her mentor teacher indicated that she was very impressed
with Cassandra and even mentioned early in her placement that the school already felt

that Cassandra was ready for employment as a teacher.

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):

Date:

Name of School coordinator: Tony Holden Date:

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 Resource id #21

University Liaison
Name of

University

Report ID: 001720

Liaison: Diane Howarth Date: 15.09.2015