Professional Practice
Standard 4: Graduating Teachers use professional knowledge to plan for a safe, high quality teaching and learning environment
A) draw upon content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge when planning, teaching and evaluating
JUSTIFICATION:
The first artefact is an assignment from EDPROF 701 where the task was to work asttle reading data given for a year 10 class, and within our own learning area implement an inquiry cycle. I gained considerable pedagogical content knowledge from this material.
The data helped me understand the different levels of reading and verbal literacy in my class and enabled me to break down the class into several distinct learning bands. That allowed me to set appropriate goals across the range of students, work out achievable learning outcomes, success criteria and ways of assessing progress. With the help of this data I progressed much more confidently with the class, knowing I was able to respect, understand and respond to the mix of abilities they presented.
The second artefact is a unit I created for a Year 11 photography class. This assignment drew heavily on content knowledge that I brought to the class from my previous professional background. The exercise enabled me to shift and reprocess complex and extensive content that I had gathered over a decade and reframe it for these teenagers.
B) use and sequence a range of learning experiences to influence and promote learner achievement
JUSTIFICATION:
The first artifact is from a Unit called Vanitas that I created for a year 11 photography class. To help students engage effectively with the unit I led them through two preliminary sessions along with worksheets to an introduction to visual language and digital photgraphy. This sequence was fundamental to engaging with the Vanitas unit and it promoted a higher level of achievement with the artwork that eventuated. I did this by carefully scaffolding student’s introduction to digital photography, teacher and artist technical demonstration, exemplars and worksheets to track student progress.
C) demonstrate high expectations of all learners, focus on learning and recognize and value diversity
JUSTIFICATION:
The first artifact is an assignment from EDPROF 701 where the task was to work asttle reading data given for a year 10 class, and to implement an inquiry cycle. This assignment In the context of this question helped me set goals appropriate and achievable for very different ability levels, and then go on to set high expectations of all the students, whatever their level.
The second artifact is an assignment from EDPROF 701 where I obtained the external results by students in my curriculum area in a class at my practicum school. The purpose was to investigate markers of achievement within my learning area. This investigation helped me appreciate and understand who was and wasn’t achieving. Once I was able to recognize the diversity of ways that different gender and ethnicities approached my subject area, I could proceed to work out strategies for achieving engagement and success. This data provided a lens in which to see a clearer picture of my students, have a clearer understandings of behavior and be able to ask the appropriate questions.
D) demonstrate proficiency in oral and written language ( Maori /English ) , in numeracy and in ICT relevant to their professional role
JUSTIFICATION:
I have taught the subject Photography for Year 11 and Year 13 students. Photography now almost completely functions in digital mode, to teach students this I need a thorough knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator programs. For Year 11 I ran an introduction to digital photography, which I have included as my artifact.
I have also attached an example of a students work from a mixed media unit I created where students had to turn a photographic image they had taken into a stencil using Photoshop.
E) use te reo Maori ne nga tikanga-a-iwi appropriately in their practice
JUSTIFICATION:
This artifact is an assignment from EDPROF 738 where we created a topic and lesson plan. Mine focused on the search for our own turangawaewae, expressed through a mixed media work that would become a visual pepeha for each student. We explored at some length the cultural genesis of this notion of a place to stand and its dependence on language and tikanga. Having acknowledged that origin, we moved to make the notion accessible to student’s from other cultures. In this way the Maori element was both respected and shared.
F) demonstrate commitment to and strategies for promoting and nurturing the physical and emotional safety of learners
JUSTIFICATION:
My two artefacts are written responses from mentors and observing curriculum specialists and an assignment for EDCURSEC 700 – re-examining schooling experiences. In this paper I reflect on teacher student relationships and classroom observation. The feedback I’ve received identifies relationship building with students as my core strength. Trusting in that is the best way I know of keeping students safe. So much of what causes risk and distress for students draws no response until its manifested in challenging behaviour. My strategy is to get in early before problems develop.
Standard 5: Graduating Teachers use evidence to promote learning
A) systematically and critically engage with evidence to reflect on and refine their practice
JUSTIFICATION:
This artefact is an assignment from EDSUREC 701 where I identified a core practice that we wished to strengthen and implemented one inquiry cycle. The two core practices I identified were relevancy of subject and clarity of instruction. Through my classroom observation, I quickly realized these two practices were the bedrock of visual arts and I gathered evidence to test how widely recognized these core practices were. There proved to be a wide consensus that relevancy and clarity were make or break factors in shifting visual arts classes from merely craft hours to becoming creative journeys.
‘Understand who your students are is key to understanding what they are going to find relevant’ (Hattie, 2012) This is was central to me in discovering relevant subject matter that would keep students engaged, relevancy of subject and connecting this to student lives ‘as a point of comparison supports access to new learning ‘(Sinnema & Aitken, n.d.)
‘Relevant, meaningful activities that both engage students emotionally and connect with what they already know are what help build neural connections and long-term memory storage’.(Briggs,2014)
Clarity of instruction has consistently been linked with increases in student achievement. Teacher clarity is a vital key to helping students understand the relationships between topics and make connections between what is taught and their own experiences.
Brown and MacIntyre (1993) highlight that teachers and students both report the characteristic, ‘the teacher is able to explain clearly’ Brown and MacIntyre (1993) as one of the most highly rated teaching skills.
B ) gather, analyse and use assessment information to improve learning and inform planning
JUSTIFICATION:
The artifact is an assignment from EDPROF 701 where I used the external results by students in my curriculum area in a class to investigate markers of achievement.
Armed with data with patterns of achievement and barriers to success in this subject I would be able to plan a well informed and appropriately pitched unit that addressed the issues peculiar to this class and this subject. This performance analysis, though expressed in impersonal graphs and pie charts, was crucial in reframing the content and strategies necessary to engage these otherwise disconnected students. I could implement several strategies to promote learning within this class from this information like working on the class dynamic by introducing more group work, provide more inspiring and engaging resources. I gained a greater knowledge of how students are learning and the environmental context in which learning occurred.
The second artifact is an assignment from EDPROF 701 where I obtained the external results by students in my curriculum area in a class at my practicum school. The purpose was to investigate markers of achievement within my learning area. This investigation helped me appreciate and understand who was and wasn’t achieving. Once I was able to recognize the diversity of ways that different gender and ethnicities approached my subject area, I could proceed to work out strategies for achieving engagement and success. This data provided a lens in which to see a clearer picture of my students, have a clearer understandings of behavior and be able to ask appropriate questions.
C) know how to communicate assessment information appropriately to learners, their parents/caregivers and staff
JUSTIFICATION:
My artifact is a range of conversations with mentors about the range of systems that are used to communicate assessment information. The list includes three way mentoring, tutor time, Starpath.While not having permission to join in dialogues with parents and students, I had much discussion with my mentors that made me aware of how complex and important it is to find culturally appropriate ways of communicating student assessment, to ensure student learning can continue. It seems that a key factor is how effectively the whanau and community around the student are engaged in the process and how the assessment language needs to be friendly, hence how important oral element is.
The other two artifcats are around assessment,both discuss ideas central on why this communication on assessment to students and their parents and caregivers is key to students success.
The finale artifact is an assignment for EDPROF 741 where we critically analyzed a documnetary called 'Under the Bridge by Kirsten Johnston. Communivation to whanau/parents and the wider community was integral to the success of their students.