Organisation: Yarram Primary School
Job Title: Classroom Teacher
Location: Yarram, Victoria
Principles of Learning and Teaching and the Assessment and Reporting Advice and the ability to
implement curriculum programmes consistent with their intent
As an educator, it is my role to facilitate my students’ abilities in each subject to become a
confident and competent member of their community and today’s society. I strive to apply best
practices in my classroom, and consistently attempt to implement units that allow for all of my
students to achieve, and to enhance and expand their prior knowledge and experiences.
Throughout my studies and experience as an educator, I have developed a sound understanding of
VELS and how it can be integrated into my classroom. I demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge
of relevant curriculum areas through my individual lesson plans which cater for individual learning
abilities as well as achieving positive results via progression of my students in these classes.
I have a strong knowledge of the Principles of Learning and Teacher and have had the
opportunities to put some of these into practice. I have provided a supportive and productive
learning environment within my final placement at Langwarrin Primary School where I had full
control of the Grade 6 room for my tenure. I talked to the students in the first lesson and set up
some rules with their input to ensure everyone understood what the appropriate behaviour and
provided them opportunities to work both independently and in groups. On one occasion, the
students were working on re-writing text and were tasked with a written piece on a famous
person, which they were to re-write. The students weren’t very engaged in the task, so I changed
the task so that they could choose a famous person they were interested in. This simple change to
the task tapped into the students own beliefs and made them much more interested in the task.
Involving the students in deeper levels of thinking and application was achieved in this class by
questioning and recognising their interests, guiding them in class discussions and guiding them to
develop their ideas and curiosity gives the students a sense of ownership and accountability in
their own learning. Students become more relaxed about speaking up and a classroom
understanding of “there are no ‘dumb’ questions assists in creating a supportive environment that
was productive and valuable. Previously, I developed a lesson based around Multiple
Intelligences. We discussed what we thought our strengths were and how everyone is different.
We then all did the online test and analysed our own results. Most children we surprised at the
outcome and wrote about what they learnt about themselves. This was also beneficial to me and
gave me an insight into what the students thought about themselves and how that compared to
the Multiple Intelligence Test. I highly value flexible lessons and hold enquiry learning in high
regard. Not only does it encourage deeper thought and investigation in engages active learning.
When done well, the inquiry-learning approach naturally draws students to look deeper and
understand an idea/subject with more substance and can develop to ongoing learning in other
areas.
My most relevant experience encouraging students to connect with their community was in an
early childhood section with my involvement in invited an African drumming group to come and
play for the children. This was very popular with the children and similar ideas may be very relevant in the Yarram School environment where there is a small percentage of students with a
language background other than English.
Some factors that I take into consideration in my classroom which further demonstrate the
importance of the principles within my planning include:
Understand the importance of developing and delivering innovative curriculum programmes.
Having a clear understanding of the meaning of content and process and how crucial to
effective learning outcomes they are.
Encourage students to pursue their interests, develop what they are good at, by designing
units of work that can include students’ interests or talents. This in turn should result in
positive learning results.
Vary the unit structure to motivate, entice, extend and challenge students’ learning desires.
Employ cross curriculum teaching as a way of increasing students understanding of how
curriculum areas lap or complement each other. There are learning opportunities everywhere,
recognising these and seizing these opportunities is something I strive to do.
I always decide on the intended learning outcome and process before designing any teaching
approaches.
Demonstrated understanding of how students learn and effective classroom teaching strategies
and the capacity to work with colleagues to continually improve teaching and learning
Each student is unique and brings their own set of ideas, experiences and interests to the
classroom. The challenge is to bring these different ways of teaching and learning together to help
scaffold students learning. Just like there is no one right way to teach, there is no one-way to
learn. We are all different. We are all individuals and so we all approach teaching and learning
differently. To effectively communicate to the entire class then, it is necessary to present
information in a number of different ways, so that each learner is catered for. I believe it is
important to flexible in my approach and use various resources and teaching methods to provide
for a variety of learning styles in a classroom, as well as mixed ability classes.
During my final placement at Langwarrin Primary School, I had the opportunity to teach 2 children
within my class who had learning difficulties and who both had Individual Learning Plans. One of
these children liked to draw a lot of the time, but would rarely attempt to write anything. To
ensure that he could be included in what the class was doing around their favourite famous
person, I asked the boy if he could draw me his favourite sports star and then write a little bit
about the star. This was tapping into his capacity and at the same time ensured he could be
working on the same project as the other children.
My Early Childhood training has given me the opportunity to learn about play based learning. Play-
based and inquiry based learning is something I always keep in mind when I plan. Things I think
about what planning or teaching are:
What are the children’s interests?
What do they already know?
What do they want to know/need to know?
What opportunities can I offer to facilitate and scaffold learning and that will interest, engage
and extend the children?
My understanding of play-based learning and how students learn was also furthered through my
experience at Frankston Special Development School where I had the opportunity to take a class
of children with special needs and learn and develop my skills in the different strategies for
ensuring progression in these children. It brought home to me the fact that all students can
progress, it just depends on their environment and teacher to realise their potential and enable
them to do so.
I am generally a reflective practitioner, which is essential as an educator who wants to learn and
develop my skills. I see it of high importance that I reflect upon my daily routines, which will allow
me to benefit from my successes and learn from my less successful sessions. This allows me to
continually search for areas to improve and implement those improvements to enhance the
learning experiences of the children.
I work well amongst my colleagues and demonstrate an ability to be a constructive and productive
team member of a school, via my willingness to improve my teaching, receive constructive
criticism and ideas for improvement, as well as my students learning by:
Attending all PD’s on offer while on placements to help extend my contribution on all areas of
the school.
Being actively involved in term planning while on placements.
Take on extras when required – School musical – Grade 6 Camp.
Attend and be an active member of all staff meetings.
Work with fellow colleagues to assist with new and innovated teaching lessons.
Take an active role in implementation of new school programmes.
Sharing ideas and lessons with colleagues.
Demonstrated capacity to monitor and assess student learning data and to use this data to
inform teaching for improved student learning
Relating academic knowledge to the real world and to the children’s interests strengthens the
bonds, which hold ideas in an accessible form in the memory. This also encourages students to
actively seek connections with relevant experiences. The AusVELS framework allows students to
demonstrate their achievement of the standards using a wide variety of learning activities and
tasks. I favour how the standards allow variety in the form of assessment, as this gives an
opportunity to be resourceful and creative in teaching approaches.
As I mentioned earlier, I am an advocate for providing students with rubrics and similar
information to allow them to understand what is expected of them in each area. In addition,
rubrics give me as a teacher information about areas where individuals and the group of students
need some extra tuition.
I have a good understanding of using student learning data to inform future planning for classes
and during my placement at Langwarrin Primary School, I had the opportunity to plan and
implement a timed test for students, which I then marked. My task was to then plan the classes
future lessons based on the results from this test, and plan for re-assessment later in the year.
During my teaching, I have used a variety of assessment methods and these include:
Written report
Formalised pre and post-tests
Oral presentations
Stop motion video presentation
Data analysis
Ongoing multimedia portfolios
A report of participation in class activities
Student work samples
Observations prior, during and post experiences
Interest based
Modifying tasks to individual learning needs
As an educator I need to know about my students’ progress and difficulties with learning so I can
adapt class activities and assessments to meet my individual student needs. This is closely linked
to knowing the students I teach. Having a sound understanding on the students individually,
allows me to cater and adapt lesson to the individual child. In addition, I understand how other
data such as that gained from NAPLAN testing is useful for whole school and year level planning to
identify any gaps that may be present in teaching practice.
Demonstrated high level written and verbal communication skills and high level interpersonal
skills including a capacity to develop constructive relationships with students, parents and other
staff
I possess high level communication and interpersonal skills and have an extremely good rapport
with all students that I work with. I am drawn to students who are often seen by others as difficult
or with challenging behaviours and have always built trusting, respectful relationships with
students, which are indicated in their enthusiasm to learn and work with me.
I have always thrived on working and communicating in a team environment and feel that this is
extremely important when working in a school setting. I believe working in a team enables us to
learn from each other and build on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Some teamwork
activities I have been involved in during my time as an assistant, university studies and placements
have been:
Contributing to staff meetings
Active involvement in term planning with colleagues
Contributing to school wide roles such as staff duty, yard duty and participating in whole
school assemblies
I assist students with mobility needs to ensure inclusion in educational activities and
recreational play
I keep teachers and therapists informed of activities completed and any problems that arise
I communicate with casual and emergency staff to ensure a safe and consistent learning
environment
My personal pedagogy strives to develop and to continue to grow positive relationships with my
peers, leading teachers, principle, parents and most importantly my students. This is facilitated by
creating a trusting environment and one that will not make students feel uncomfortable when
answering questions. I strive to look at the positive side of all situations through being open
minded towards others’ thoughts and feelings. I make a point of treating everyone as equals and
communicate in a manner so that students feel free to ask me any questions or voice their
concern in an appropriate manner. I challenge the thoughts that students bring into learning
situations to arouse their curiosity and am very enthusiastic about classes that inspire students to
set goals that they may have believed were unachievable.
I pride myself in being approachable, open minded, and available to students, parents and staff
alike and highly value the ability to listen carefully to what others have to say. The best
demonstration of my ability to communicate with parents was in my early childhood placements
where parents are welcomed and farewelled at the start and end of each session. This makes for
significant opportunities to reflect on children’s learning by talking to parents about their children
and I have learned a lot through this process about appropriate communication with parents.
Demonstrated commitment and capacity to actively contribute to a broad range of school
activities and a capacity to reflect on, evaluate and improve professional knowledge and
practice
I feel an integral part of teaching is the involvement educators have in school activities. I enjoy the
opportunity to get to know the children and other staff on a different platform other than strictly
in the classroom or schoolyard. It is for this reason I have grasped the opportunity to be involved
in extra activities while on my school and early childhood placements.
Activities I have been involved in include:
• Grade 6 and Prep school musical
• Pyjama day – Kindergarten
• Grade 6 Alpine Camp
Healthy eating and nutrition programme
Grade assemblies for parents
Excursions –
Melbourne Zoo
Botanical Gardens
Local Attractions
Farm Visit
Learn to Swim programme
As mentioned previously, I have a willingness and believe in the value of being a reflective teacher
who can confidently seek and receive feedback on my teaching. During my role at Langwarrin
Primary School during my placement, I had some trouble in one class where my math lesson
wasn’t going how I had envisaged. The Assistant Principal came into my class on that day and
essentially took over parts of the lesson to ensure it worked. Afterwards, I sought to meet with the
Assistant Principal to discuss his opinion on my lesson and how I could have improved my planning
for a better outcome. Using this information, I went back and implemented his suggestions for a
much improved results in the next lesson.
I believe it is important to always have an open mind. We never stop learning and it is important
to embrace all the information and experiences available to us. I always welcome the opportunity
to extend my knowledge in all ways, including:
continually seek feedback and endeavour to improve
reflecting on my performance and progress and seek feedback from colleagues
learning and implementation of the PECS (picture exchange communication system)
attending AusVELS and staff wellbeing professional development
attending behaviour management and planning PD for children with additional needs.
