EDFD260 Assignment 1 Tatiana Barbari S00171763

Assignment Task 1 - Reflection - The Australian Professional Standards

for Teachers.

Reflection 1)

Creating and maintaining supportive environments is an important component

in an education setting, as learning takes place when students are in a safe
environment (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2014).
Graduate teachers need to plan and create a classroom that welcomes and
supports all students, in order for them to be able to focus on learning the
skills needed for the future (Robinson, 2016; Searle, 2013). However,
effective teaching cannot take place if the classroom is poorly managed.
When the students are constantly disobedient, misbehaviour becomes the
norm, creating an unsafe environment for students to learn (Garner, Moses &
Waajid, 2013).

During my teaching rounds in a prep classroom, I manage to successfully

create a safe learning environments for my students. When I started taking
control of the classroom, I began to implement my mentor’s different
approaches to the classroom, which showed to be successful. The
approaches used were least intrusive and didn’t interrupt the lesson as much
as other types of management. My mentor taught me that calling out the
students publicly is not always the best way to redirect them, in fact it can
often make it worse.

One of the approaches that I used was giving the students that were
misbehaving the teacher look. This strategy involves the teacher pausing for a
few seconds and use a look to show the students that he or she needs to stop
what they are doing, as it has interrupted the learning and teaching. In these
cases, the misbehaviour is usually minor, such as a student trying to distract
another by speaking, giggling, touching, etc. This approach gains all the
students attention, as I would stop speaking mid sentence. It also gives the
teacher a chance to compose and not respond in frustration (Garner, 2010).
EDFD260 Assignment 1 Tatiana Barbari S00171763

The students understand that it’s a precursor, if the behaviour doesn’t change,
it will be a public call out. It shows the student that you’ve noticed and another
chance is given, while redirecting them so their focus is on learning. This
approach was proved to be successful, as it would often stop the behaviour
early before it became more serious by preventing other students from joining
the misbehavior. However, the teacher’s look is only effective if it portends a
disciplinary follow through. Rules and consequences must be instituted before
the teacher can utilize the look, otherwise it is meaningless.

Reflection 2)

Planning and implementing effective teaching and learning is one of the keys
to a successful learning (Australian Institute for Teaching and School
Leadership, 2014). Graduate teachers begin to develop and improve this skill
each time they plan and teach a lesson. In order to always be improving, each
lesson plan created and implemented needs to be followed up with a
reflection (Whitton et al., 2010). Another way to find out whether the lesson
and teaching were effective is in the students learning. This is demonstrated
during the closure activity, in the students written work and assessments. A
responsible teacher will utilize all this information to make changes in their
future planning and the delivery, in order to improve for the next lesson
(Robinson, 2016).

During my teaching rounds, I took full control of the classroom for a week.
Throughout the lessons, I had trouble managing the classroom time. I found it
difficult to remember to track the allocated time for the introduction, the
development, the individual learning and the closure, as I was always
distracted with a student. Hence this, the students most of the time missed
the closure, as it was time to move on to the next lesson. The closure activity
determines if the students understood the topic and if they need more practice
(Butt, 2008). Due to my lack in time management, this became an obstacle
when planning for the next lesson, as I wasn’t sure whether the students
needed additional teaching on all or part of the topic before moving on to the
next. My mentor advised me to go over their written work to assess their
EDFD260 Assignment 1 Tatiana Barbari S00171763

learning, which informed me on what I should focus on the next lesson.

Although I found a way to plan for the next lesson, a closure activity is very
important, as it requires the students to discuss their learning. This is very
beneficial for the students that needed that extra clarification from a fellow
classmate (Butt, 2008).

However, as a reflective teacher, I knew it was something that I needed to

improve in my practice (Whitton et al., 2010). In order to improve, my mentor
provided me with feedback on how to keep track of time during a lesson. A
great strategy she often suggests to graduate teachers is to allocate times to
each part of the lesson and write them on the board in order for every one to
see. She added that it is beneficial to remind the students about the times
written on the board, in order for them to be aware of how much time they
have to complete the task.
EDFD260 Assignment 1 Tatiana Barbari S00171763

References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014). Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-
teachers/standards/list

Butt, G. (2008). Lesson Planning 3rd Edition. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Garner, P. W. (2010). Emotional competence and its influences on teaching

and learning. Educational Psychology Review, 22, 297–321.

Garner, P. W., Moses, L. K., & Waajid, B. (2013). Prospective teachers’

awareness and expression of emotions: Associations with proposed
strategies for behavioural management in the classroom. Psychology
in the Schools, 50(5), 471-488.

Robinson, S. (2016). EDFD260 Lecture 1, 2016: Teacher as a professional

[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://leo.acu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=1439406

Searle, M. (2013). Causes & Cures in the Classroom: Getting to the Root of
Academic and Behavior Problems. ASCD.

Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., & Nanlohy, P. (2010).
Learning for Teaching, Teaching for Learning.
EDFD260 Assignment 1 Tatiana Barbari S00171763

Assessment HIGH DISTINCTION CREDIT PASS FAIL

Criteria DISTINCTION

The written The written The written The written The written The written
reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection
evaluates and provides an in provides a provides an provides a demonstrates
analyses the depth and detailed adequate basic poor
knowledge critical evaluation and evaluation evaluation evaluation
gained from analysis analysis and analysis and analysis and analysis
lectures and
further reading

The written The written The written The written The written The written
reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection
discusses and provides provides a provides an provides a provides
reflects on critical detailed adequate basic limited
what is reflective reflective reflective discussion discussion
observed and discussion discussion discussion and reflection and reflection
experienced

The written The written The written The written The written The written
reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection
critically presents an in presents a presents an presents a presents
demonstrates depth and detailed adequate basic analysis limited
connections critical analysis analysis analysis
between theory analysis
and practice

Demonstration The written The written The written The written The written
of accurate use reflection reflection reflection reflection reflection
of grammar, demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates
punctuation exemplary use accurate use appropriate appropriate poor use of
and spelling of grammar, of grammar, use of use of grammar,
punctuation punctuation grammar, grammar, punctuation
and spelling and spelling punctuation punctuation and spelling
and spelling and spelling
most of the with some
time errors

Use of APA Excellent use Accurate use Mostly Inconsistent Incorrect use
referencing of APA of APA consistent use use of APA of APA
style referencing referencing of APA referencing referencing
style style referencing style style
style