EDN541 Assignment 1a: Instructional Practicum Portfolio Naazreen Angullia (30468471)

The assignment contains a brief description of my past and present experiences in teaching and
how these have continued to impact upon my teaching philosophy and ethos. I also reflect on
how my current ideas of instructional intelligence are being modified by engaging with this unit
as well as my personal goals for the unit in relation to my current interests and teaching context.
Finally, I include a brief plan for the instructional practicum which outlines the intended
situational context and instructional strategies utilized to meet the learning outcomes for this
particular context.

My Teaching and Instructional Philosophy

I believe my teaching and instructional philosophy are defined by the underlying principles
which navigate my teaching and learning journey while constantly being shaped by my
experiences in education. Much of my ethos is also reflective of how I perceive life in general,
my personal experiences and attitudes as a student and influenced by significant adults such as
my parents who have always held education in high regard and mentor teachers who continue to
remain important role models for me to emulate.

I entered the teaching profession in the spirit of the eternal scholar in a dynamic world filled
with uncertainties and endless possibilities. I genuinely believe we- teachers and students - are a
community of inquirers ; everybody brings something equally valuable and important to the
table. I perceive my role as an educator as a continuation of my journey as a student. In this
capacity, I feel my strengths include the ability to address my shortcomings and weaknesses
through critical self-evaluation and reflective action as well as my flexibility and genuine desire
to improve myself as an educator. I find great value in observing how other teachers manage
their learning environments. Personally, I feel the most effective teachers have a progressive,
forward looking mindset and are willing to upgrade and update themselves through both
professional developments and as a personal initiative.

I worked as a K-2 teacher for the past few years in an international primary school. Despite an
extremely challenging environment driven by profit, rigid school policies, unreasonable
parental and administrative demands, I struggled to maintain my teaching philosophy and
integrity. My beliefs about effective learning and best practice are based on an amalgamation of
various theories. I have always believed in student-centred education where the learner is active
in the learning process. I spend a lot of time and energy in creating positive, safe and inclusive
environments for learners of all abilities, interests, intelligences and styles. Each child’s
individuality, safety and well-being is paramount to me. I do try to create an atmosphere where

1
everybody feels valued in their contibutions. To encourage risk-taking attitudes and keep
learning interesting, I utilize a variety of collaborative strategies and learning experiences
through play, explorations and investigations with my young learners.

More recently, my teaching journey has taken an unexpected turn through my volunteer work
as a mentor to a small group of delinquent and disengaged teenagers referred to me by a local
community running club. My continuing interaction with these wonderful and misunderstood
young women enables me to learn a lot about marginalized students from a ‘residual’”(Brennan,
2001-2, p. 16) or “sink school” (Zyngier, 2011, p.136), who are unfortunately viewed through a
“deficit prism” (Smyth, Angus, Down & McInerney, 2008, p.65).

As a result of my experience with them, I have taken a profound interest in issues relating to
student engagement and motivation and how these impact learners’ self-esteem and success in
schools (as micro-societies). Consequently, I completed a unit last semester on student
engagement which introduced me to the ideologies of Freire and other proponents of critical-
democratic and humanist education. These have undoubtedly influenced my present teaching
philosophy which now incorporates elements of “teaching against the grain” (McMahon &
Portelli, 2004, p.73) and transformative pedagogy in the interest of students who are ostracized,
stigmatized and marginalized and therefore, disempowered.

My beliefs about instruction and my goals for this unit

My beliefs about instructional intelligence is formulated by the information I am interacting
with from this unit in conjunction with my pre-existing ideas about the purposes and functions
of instructions in the learning environment. Reflecting upon the materials from this unit, I
believe instructional intelligence to be a complex and multi-faceted skill set, akin to an art form.
It is based on the instructor’s ability to identify the most effective instructional strategies to
meet situation specific learning needs. Furthermore, developing instructional intelligence will
require a great deal of instructional intuition and requires practice over time and through
experience, experimentation and innovation.

My goals for this unit are twofold. Firstly, I hope to fulfill my responsibility as an effective
facilitator of learning through improving my ability to plan for sucessful learning experiences. I
agree instructional intelligence is a fundamental “element of effective pedagogy”(Marzano,
Pickering & Pollock, 2005, p.10) which transcends merely a knowledge and skill set required
to enable teaching and learning objectives to be met. Secondly, I hope to be able to explore and
engage with a wide repertoire of instructional strategies this unit will introduce me to with the

2
purpose of optimizing the learning and teaching experiences for my present group of learners.I
believe this unit will assist me in understanding and deploying appropriate instructional
strategies to maximize student engagement and motivation, particularly for the disengaged
learning cohort I am designing my practicum plan for.

Brief Plan for Instructional Practicum

My intended learners are two young women who I am presently coaching in a running club for
disengaged youth. These learners approached me showing great interest in the minimalist or
barefoot style of running which I practice. I believe this already provides an initial, distinct
advantage as the learners have independently and autonomously selected their learning content
of interest. They are, therefore, intrinsically motivated and this aspect will foster a sense of
ownership over their learning.

This learning experience is intended to be an introductory lesson, the first in a progressive series
of lessons and activities. It is a skills based lesson focused on technique and safety with the
explicit intent of eventual mastery of the skill set. The lesson will be conducted informally for a
period of 30 minutes at a suitable outdoor venue during extra curricular time for the learners. I
believe the “instructional design principles ..” (Magliaro, Lockee and Burton, 2005, p.41) of
direct instruction (DI) will be appropriate for this teaching context and content involving motor
skills and where “..the learning of skilled performance..”(Magliaro et al, 2005, p.42, 43) is the
main goal of this and subsequent lessons. I am designing this lesson mainly with aspects of DI
which include elements of the Hunter model. For example, utilizing the anticipatory or mental
set to connect my learners to their prior and ongoing learning and practice. The planning of this
lesson serves as an opportunity to challenge my technology/ICT phobia. I intend to include
video links and pictures as sources of input and video recording as a crucial method of
providing accurate feedback and assessment of learners’ skilled performances.

In alignment with my teaching philosophy, I will continue my positive student-teacher

interaction to maintain learner motivation and include them in the lesson planning and design.
The inclusion and valuing of disengaged students in the decision-making and problem-solving
aspects of lesson design and planning has proven to be vital in keeping these learners engaged
in the learning that takes place. The main instructional strategies in my plan will adhere to a
skill introduction-skill demonstration and modelling-skill practice sequence I have found to be
effective for this learning area. However, I am also considering guided and independent
practice, pair work and possibly some other strategies as my knowledge and skill base develops
with the progression of this unit.

3
References

Brennan, M. (2001-2). Community, knowledge, action: Rethinking schooling. Education

Links, 63, 15-18.

Magliaro, S. , Lockee, B. & Burton, J. (2005). Direct instruction revisited: A key model for
instructional technology. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 41-55.

Marzano, R. , Pickering, D. & Pollock, J. (2005). Applying research on instruction: An idea

whose time has come. Ch. 1, Classroom instruction that works; research-based strategies for
increasing student achievement, 1-10. New Jersey: Pearson/ Merrill Prentice Hall.

McMahon, B. and Portelli, J. (2004). Engagement for what? Beyond popular discourses of
student engagement. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 3(1), 59-76.

Smyth, J . , Angus, L . , Down, B . , & McInerney, P. (2008). Engaging excluded communities.

Ch. 3, Critically engaged learning: connecting to young lives, 54-79. New York: P. Lang.

Zyngier, D. (2011). Education, critical service-learning and social justice: The Australian
experience of doing thick democracy in the classroom. Portfilio, B. & Hickman, H. (Eds).
Critical service-learning as revolutionary pedagogy, 135-154. Charlotte, North Carolina:
Information Age Publishing.

The Madeline Hunter Model of Mastery Learning. Retrieved from

http://www.onetohio.org/library/Documents/Dr%20Madeline%20Hunter%20Article1.pdf