Organisation: Haileybury School
Job Title: Classroom Teacher – Junior School
Word Limit: 400 words max pp
Location: Keysborough or Brighton
SC 1. Demonstrated teaching experience within Primary School classrooms.
My first practicum placement was at Haileybury Independent School in 2011, where I worked as a Teacher’s Assistant in the junior school. Following the completion of my Australian Catholic University (ACU) two-week placement, I volunteered for over six months in the prep classroom. Working directly with the teacher, utilising the broad learning spectrum within the classroom, and maintaining a fast pace, to maximise the days learning. I proved to be a valuable asset when I worked with a student who had ADHD and dyslexia, which resulted in learning, and behavioural difficulties. I established a strong and trusting relationship with the student, resulting in him feeling comfortable within the classroom. I received encouraging feedback from the teacher, and the overall outcome was positive. I have a sound understanding of teaching junior years, learning theories, and practice, including the place of both explicit teaching and inquiry method within a structured learning program. My warm rapport and natural ability to connect with students, allows us to work comfortably together, to achieve successful outcomes.
After my placement with Haileybury, I worked as a part-time volunteer Teacher Assistant over a 2-year period. My teaching experience also includes paid employment by St Mary’s School, where I was required to help with a school camp. I completed a four-week practicum placement at Sacred Heart Parish School, Sandringham. Throughout this assignment, I received very positive feedback from staff and parents. Subsequently, I was placed at Elwood Primary where I worked with a Senior Teacher who was highly regarded by staff, parents, and students. Furthermore, I assisted in the coordination of an excursion at Elwood, for which, I received very encouraging feedback. Elwood, Sandringham, and Haileybury schools are of a very high standard, with high expectations when it comes to student performance.
During my four-week practicum placement at Sacred Heart Parish School, I received positive feedback for my maths functions. I established a series of maths extensions, held discussions with the principle, in which I handed over maths activities that young students could relate. These activities received excellent feedback from the school, with one senior teacher saying that I was amongst the best practicum teachers that she had worked with. Stating that I was extremely capable, and confident, in front of the class, and willing to step in and take over a diverse range of situations, and activities as well as develop positive relationships with students, parents, and teachers.
My experience to date has been wide-ranging, across various types of schools, both high and low socioeconomic. Additionally, I have helped coordinate excursions and camps. I consistently receive positive feedback from principals, teachers, and parents. My experience includes working with special needs students and high needs students, in addition to mainstream teaching. This year, from day one of the school year I have worked in ongoing relief teaching positions.
SC 2. A sound understanding of current Junior Years teaching and learning theory and practice including the place of both explicit teaching and inquiry method within a structured learning program.
Throughout my teaching career, I have demonstrated a thorough understanding of effective teaching strategies that have inevitably led to quality learning outcomes for all students. I have worked as a Junior Years Teacher, developing a dynamic understanding of learning theories as both student and teaching centred, including the place of both explicit teaching and inquiry method.
Haileybury has more of a structured learning approach, which is less open to change, and I adapted quickly to this learning process. The fast-paced learning structure at Haileybury has students learning one year beyond their year level. In addition, I enjoy the challenge of developing my own educational programs outside a set curriculum. This was the case at Coolbellup community school, where their structured programs were less suited to the students learning capabilities. This required the use of research and analytical skills, to discover a teaching system, and method that would work with these particular students. I was required to deviate from the usual curriculum for students who responded better to visual learning, rather than work sheets. Due to the illiteracy rate, visual lessons were more successful and helped hold the attention of students. Learning the students’ needs, abilities, and interests was the key to this teaching situation. I was required to be more attentive than usual, as each day brought new challenges, with behavioural issues a standout in the classroom. Structure to teaching and learning, provided flow to this classroom, although a teacher-centred teaching style was delivered, I provided opportunities for student-centred learning to occur, that enabled students to take on partial responsibility of their learning.
For much of my work experience I have catered for whole classes, however in some instances, such as my role at Haileybury, I was required to care for special needs children. During my volunteer work and practicum class, I taught and assisted one special needs boy. This was a challenging experience, as the boy’s parents did not regard their son as special needs. This necessitated both explicit teaching, and inquiry method teaching, in addition to the formulation of a well-structured action plan, involving research and discussions with teachers who were knowledgeable in this area. The child benefitted hugely from this teaching method and I received much positive feedback from teachers and the child’s parents.
SC 3. Ability to respond to the differing needs interests and talents of all students especially in relation to gender differences.
Throughout my teaching career, I have taught boys and girls from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. One challenge is maintaining student’s attention throughout the course of each lesson. Some children have a lower attention span than others do, so it is vital that I keep lessons interesting, therefore engaging their attention.
I have a strong sports background, and am always quick to get involved in sporting activities at each school. In addition, I find sports based activities work well for children who find it difficult to sit still for long periods. Therefore, I try to bring physical activities to the classroom where appropriate. These activities work well, especially for boys who tend to have more energy than girls do. From my own observations, I find boys in particular respond better to competition in both sport and curriculum. Therefore, engaging students in competition-based activities, such as a countdown on the board as incentive, is usually successful.
For one month, I worked through an agency called ANZ UK, as an Assistant Relief Teacher. I taught Autistic children from kindergarten, through to Year 12. Many of the Year 12 students had the equivalent learning capacity of Year 3. I endeavoured to teach them life skills, including an understanding of money. The classroom consisted of six students; five boys and one girl, and lessons were tactile to keep them engaged. We often used role-playing, which they thoroughly enjoyed. I travelled to India and taught primary school children for one month, in a low socioeconomic region. The majority of students could not speak English, therefore visual and hands-on lessons were required.
My placement at Sacred Heart Parish School at Sandringham, involved teaching maths, which I turned into a student centred challenge, guiding them, while allowing them work independently. The girls were more inclined to need reinforcement in learning. At Coolbellup Community School, worksheets were not getting students engaged in lessons. The boys in particular needed visual stimulus, so in order for them understand I would integrate curriculum into real life situations. I teaching students angles, and explaining why it was important to learn this in the real world, when building houses, boats, and the like. Using images and demonstrations, this worked extremely well and helped deepen their understanding on various subjects.
[C1]Mathematics
[C2]….?
SC 4. Ability to form a rapport with staff/students and build collaborative working relationships
I have the ability to build and maintain effective, collaborative working relationships, and rapport with staff, parents, and students. Building positive connections with my students, their parents, family, and other staff is incredibly important, as I am deeply aware that these relationships inform and improve my teaching, and enhance students learning. Therefore, strong communication skills are essential to achieving this aim. I use my excellent communication skills with my students, by explaining new concepts using appropriate language and vocabulary, discussing issues, and resolving conflicts through mediation, prompting ideas through different types of questioning, providing constant, and constructive feedback, and giving students adequate response time (especially EAL students).
I follow the TRIBES 4 Agreement . To build rapport with my students, I endeavour to make time to speak to each student in my class at sometime during the day, talking informally with them to gain an understanding of their interests, and lives outside of the classroom, and conducting student surveys to ascertain their learning styles and preferences. All, whilst maintaining mutual respect, and valuing the rights to participation for each individual student.
My friendly and approachable nature, coupled with my ability to consistently act with diplomacy and discretion when dealing with sensitive and confidential issues, has shown me to be a trustworthy individual, who can be relied upon in the most challenging of situations. Additionally, I have a strong desire for ongoing professional development, which can only be achieved through a comprehensive understanding of both teaching methods and student development. I am confident in my ability to take on, and successfully complete wide-ranging tasks, whilst communicating effectively with all parties concerned.
My personal drive, integrity, and self-motivation, sees me as an organised individual, who can be relied on to contribute actively within a team environment. Furthermore, I believe strongly that each individual brings with them a unique set of skills, and experiences, and I enjoy the learning that is shared by others, as well as freely giving of my own skills and experience.
My role as Teacher’s Assistant at Wembley Primary School was secured through my ability to develop positive and lasting relationships with teachers, parents, staff, and students. The Deputy Principle, Special Needs Education Assistant, and several teachers recognised this, and requested that I take on the role of relief Teacher’s Assista nt, which I gladly accepted.
In addition to this role, I also worked as one of two Teacher Assistants two days per week . The child under my care at this time had Down syndrom e, and demonstrated behavioural problems. I received positive feedback through the Level 3 Teacher whom I worked with. The parents of the child took the teacher aside and told her that they would prefer if only I worked with the child. This was also due to the strong relationship I had built with the child and his parents throughout the previous year. They saw first-hand the time and effort I’d put in to teach their son, the significant progress he had made, together with the positive steps I had taken to understand the complex needs of the child. The following year, when I was working as a Relief Teacher they trusted only me to work as the assistant.
This example clearly demonstrates my ability to build strong collaborative relationships, utilising special support groups as a source of vital information, and engaging in inquiry method teaching. As a result, I was able to grasp a comprehensive understanding of the child, his condition, and behaviour, therefore being able to work with him and teach him with the most suitable method.
SC 5. Ability to manage pastoral issues through effective dialogue and processes, with staff, students, and parents.
Good values and behaviour is usually something young children learn by example. As role models, it is our job to demonstrate respectable behaviour, values, and good manners. The health, social, emotional, and personal development of school-aged children is a vital part of our job – both in observations and guidance. This is managed through the collective involvement of a network of staff, all working towards the same goal, to help give these children the best possible education and start to life.
Recognising behaviours in children that interfere with school performance, therefore jeopardising their potential for life success is vital. These can be anything from school or learning difficulties, family conflict, coping with stress, low self-esteem, brain development, negative thinking patterns, psychosocial difficulties, or genetic factors. It is vital for the child’s health and well-being, that these issues are recognised quickly, and addressed through the appropriate channels. Recognising these issues is an ongoing process, which must be handled professionally, and appropriately. Once I have recognised an issue, I endeavour to let both the parents, and senior teachers know, so together we can develop an action plan.
Working with special needs children especially, such as children with Autism, has heightened my awareness of the need for pastoral issues management. At Haileybury, I supported Year 2 children, where I assisted a student with ADHD and dyslexia. I build a warm rapport with the students, and had a natural ability to connect with them, helping achieve successful outcomes. In 2012, I was involved in the prep transition program where I continued to get to know these students and their parents for their first year of school. This prep class had three Aspergers syndrome children, who were often difficult to handle, however, we managed successfully through effective dialogue and processes involving the students, parents, and staff.
Effective management of emotional, and social competencies, is associated with greater wellbeing and better school performance. Understanding this leads to the awareness that improvements in the psychosocial environment of the school intercedes almost all of the positive student outcomes. Promoting and developing best practice standards of pastoral care in education needs to be a collective effort for the best possible outcome and success. This involves affective communication, and appropriate processes, working in harmony with a network of people, and support groups for the desired outcome.
SC 6. Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
I have well developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to relate to people from all cultures, ages and backgrounds. Engaging in open communication, and developing positive relationships is at the heart of what drives an effective classroom, and school environments. With a strong sense of community and team spirit, my communication skills enable me to interact positively with colleagues, students, parents, and the wider school community.
I also communicate effectively with parents by providing my knowledge and feedback on student participation both socially and academically. Furthermore, I have assisted parents in the breakfast club when they were low in numbers, and continue to make them feel welcome during parent helper activities. The way in which I would approach building constructive relationships with parents, is to keep my classroom door open before and after school, making myself available to parents, and communicate regularly with them via various methods, such as sending newsletters home, connecting families to the classroom and school community. Further to this, I use my excellent communication skills with my colleagues. This is achieved by participating in professional learning teams to plan, organise, and discuss teaching strategies in collegiate visits, sharing resources via email, and planning meetings. Overall, I seek to provide a learning environment that is supportive and productive by building relationships with students and families.
When communicating with students, I speak in a comprehensible and concise manner, providing clear objectives along with preferred outcomes. This may include visual aids or demonstrations to enhance the learning process. One example of this is when I taught students at Coolbellup Community School. The teaching methods I used at Haileybury were not as effective at Coolbellup Community School, so I needed to adjust my teaching methods and communication technique. Due to the high level of illiteracy, visual lessons proved to be more successful than work sheets by helping keep the students’ attention throughout the lesson.
As an Assistant Teacher at Wembley Primary School, where I was working in the mainstream as well as assisting with a special needs student, I created and published an Access database program for all of the pm readers at school, which enabled teachers to look up the school’s students from anywhere. I introduced the program to the entire school after liaising with Administration, and Deputy Principle. This idea was warmly welcomed, and served as a way of quickly accessing a particular students reading ability.
I regularly engage in informal conversations with parents and guardians before and after lessons, as well as at ‘Meet the Teacher’ nights, where I always welcome feedback and suggestions. Furthermore, I engage in assessments, report writing, and attend staff and grade meetings, actively contributing when appropriate. My effective written and verbal communication skills developed further, while studying at University, through the completion of research projects, presentations, and assignments. At University, I engaged in lively discussions and debates, and performed presentations in person, and electronically using PowerPoint.
The verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills gained throughout my studies, and work, have helped prepare me for a dynamic and meaningful career in teaching. I speak with confidence, and provide meaningful and honest feedback to students on their individual or group performance. Overall, I believe that my written and verbal communication, and interpersonal skills, are well refined to the highest level.
SC 7. Time management skills
I have refined my time management skills over the course of my studies and practicum teaching. Well-polished time management and organisational skills are essential when teaching, as is the practice of meeting tight deadlines. As well as teaching, I regularly coordinate and attend meetings and appointments, which are often held at short notice, or require changes in dates and times with little time available for managing these modifications.
I commenced my practicum placement at Coolbellup community school, with little training and supervision, as the class teacher was on holiday. I had to integrate into the new school on my own initiative. This school was unlike the high socioeconomic schools I had previously worked at. My practicum assignment at Coolbellup Community School, required excellent time management skills, as I was responsible for all of the duties performed by the absent teacher. I worked collaboratively with the students, to developing a set of classroom expectations, based on their grade levels and abilities. I successfully managed this challenging role due to my ability to plan, and organise myself, and others efficiently, ensuring the timely completion of tasks.
As a Teacher Assistant at Haileybury, I quickly adapted to the schools fast pace of teaching, always mindful of students’ capabilities. A lot of work was covered each week, which involved strict time schedules. I had to take into account the development of lessons, and successfully plan, teach, assess, support, and guide students using relevant curriculum documents. Collaboratively developing Personalised Learning Plans (PLP) for all students, including those with individual needs to ensure learning was tailored, meaningful, and challenging at an appropriate level, at most times exercising independent judgement. Furthermore, I participated in teacher nights, and staff and parent meetings.
I demonstrated the ability to develop clear teaching plans and timelines, regularly communicating with the principle and other teachers, while consistently monitoring the progress of students including special needs students, at the standards required by the school.
My well-honed time management and organisational skills, gained at University, as well as through my practicum placements and Teacher Assistant roles, has helped me tackle arising issues and problems that need to be addressed and resolved immediately. Further to this, I use my own initiative, acting rapidly and appropriately to meet strict timeframes within the school system. The value of my recent experiences demonstrates my worth and capabilities to undertake the role of Classroom Teacher Junior School, in which I believe I would be an asset.
*I have a current VIT Registration and Criminal Record Check. I have checks for both WA & VIC.
