Organisation: Haileybury School
Job Title: Classroom Teacher, Commerce
Location: Keysborough, Victoria
- Demonstrated knowledge of VCE Economics, Business Management and Legal Studies
I have a strong understanding of the VCE structure in relation to various study areas and have experience in planning, delivering and assessing curriculum content across a number of specific areas. In particular I have gained substantial experience in relation to Business Management, planning and delivering a number of lessons across the units as part of my placements at Mornington Secondary College. During these placements I utilised a number of innovative techniques and approaches to convey the key features and content within these units, such as encouraging students to participate in the “I plan a business” competition to allow students to explore essential curriculum elements. As a result of my approach I received excellent feedback in relation to my knowledge and skills across this area. I also have a strong commitment to enhancing my capabilities within this study area. My current Graduate Diploma studies are focused on this area and in September this year I attended a Victorian Commercial Teachers Association (VCTA) professional development workshop titled ‘Unfinished Business: Final Steps in Preparing Students for Units 3 and 4 in Business Management’ which augmented my knowledge of the study area.
I also have significant practical experience related to Business Management based on my extensive professional experience. I owned and operated a small business for several years and was responsible for all facets of the organisation, including financial and human resource management, sales and marketing, and scheduling. My current role as the Operations Manager of a large swim centre has also provided me with excellent real life business management experience across a more complex work environment.
I have reviewed the components of curriculum (study design, resources, study summary), assessment (assessment handbook, examination reports, school-assessed coursework reports) and support materials relating to Legal Studies and Economics in detail and have a clear understanding of the content of the areas. During my placements I have observed the delivery of Legal Studies lessons which has provided a strong foundation that I can build my experience on.
It is also important to note that I have a strong personal commitment to continuous learning and development and actively pursue opportunities to develop my capabilities as a professional educator. I effectively utilise my VCTA membership to keep up to date with effective learning and teaching strategies in commerce education and have enrolled to attend the VCTA annual conference in November 2014 to further develop my pedagogical skills and abilities.
Embrace the use of Information and Communications Technologies to enhance learning
I have always embraced the use of ICT to deliver a blended learning experience in teaching delivery, and am aware of how e-learning can play a significant role in creating a community of inquiry that is independent of time and location. I have utilised Edmodo and Dropbox as a structured and simple way to facilitate collaboration and share content with my students. They can access homework, resources, assignments, information and grades away from the classroom. I have also found this type of blended learning approach offers certain efficiencies, along with flexibility of design, delivery and access to learning activities which in turn can enhance the independent learning experience of students.
The use of multimodal ways of presenting content, and the deliberate reduction in the amount of print text that an ICT rich curriculum can allow, often appeals to learner preferences for the visual or the kinaesthetic. Also online content can provide a more flexible learning environment and learners can access information at other times and from other places then the school. I have also found that presenting information in multimodal ways can benefit student learning in relation to conceptually difficult topics. I have used Nearpod to create and share engaging and interactive multimedia presentations for students. They can interact with the information which I control and monitor in real time. Students then submit responses which I monitor and evaluate. I also draw on google images, YouTube and ABC Splash to illustrate particular ideas and information that I am trying to teach. Another approach I have taken includes using apps such as Creative Book Builder, Comic Life, Pages, Educreations and iMovies. This allows students to complete interactive and stimulating tasks that provides them with the information they need and aligns the levels of Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Once again this is about providing connected layers of information that imbed and sustain the learning process.
The classroom must connect to the real world for learning to be relevant and sustainable. A creative, ICT enriched curriculum allows this to occur in ways that are immediate, contemporary and accessible to students beyond school boundaries. It also allows the build-up of multimodal layers of information that relate to and reinforce the core message. This type of multiple connectedness imbeds the knowledge gained and allows a deeper understanding of the material to be achieved. Finally, ICT allows a much greater range of learning styles to be catered for therefore maximising the uptake of information by students.
I also am conversant with the use of ICT such Compass and the Synergetic School Management systems to monitor student attendance, academic achievement, behaviour and attitude. In relation to professional practice, I have utilised Teachercloud to capture portfolio evidence.
- Develop a stimulating learning environment by using a variety of styles and approaches to cater for individual learning needs and to challenge students within their class
I have a thorough knowledge of a range of styles and approaches that enable students to engage in the learning process. The foundation of my approach to teaching is to create positive relationships with my students by getting to know them and learning to appreciate their individual requirements. I focus on learning the needs, interests and learning preferences of students and shaping their learning experience based on this.
I also aim to help them make connections between the text, their world and contemporary culture. For example, I have helped students to relate curriculum content to the real world by drawing on contemporary business case studies. I operate on the belief that the classroom must connect to the real world for learning to be relevant and sustainable. I demonstrate this by drawing on current events, articles, and other media to build layers of information that relate to and reinforce key information. This helps the student to develop a deeper understanding of the material as well as an ability to extrapolate the knowledge in a broader context.
I also strive to ensure that all students have the skills they need to take responsibility for their own learning. I actively encourage them to be a part of the learning process, including undertaking self-reflection, self-assessment and peer assessment tasks. In class I have also worked with students to develop their metacognition thinking skills through the use of learning journal, another useful tool that encourages them to develop thinking skills and to take ownership of learning. My role is to facilitate the learning experience and to provide the scaffolding for independence and self-evaluation, the capabilities they will need to manage their own learning beyond school.
I also try various other techniques and strategies to imbed knowledge and to cater to the various learning needs and background of students. For example, I use targeted questioning to actively involve students in the lesson, increasing their interaction and stimulating their motivation and interest. I have also facilitated group work to help develop a community of inquiry approach where students build on and extrapolate the ideas of others in a respectful and constructive way. Another strategy I have used is to create a visually stimulating classroom, incorporating key words, concepts and visual learning aids such as Venn diagrams, and concept maps for topics to help link new content with pre-existing knowledge from prior units.
- Ability to plan the delivery of curriculum at least one week in advance, especially in regard to experimental processes
I have excellent time management and organisational abilities and have consistently been able to plan and be prepared to deliver curriculum content well in advance. Throughout my professional career I have demonstrated the ability to manage multiple priorities, while ensuring excellent attention to detail. During my placements I prepared a variety of lessons well before the required delivery time. Often this included preparing multimedia presentations utilising ICT applications and testing content delivery before the lesson. In these circumstances I always develop clear plans and establish timeframes to ensure that I have considered all components needed for a lesson and have allowed sufficient time to develop them all. I am also a flexible employee, with the ability reschedule and reorganise tasks and functions to meet changing requirements and priorities.
My organisational abilities are also demonstrated in my current role as the Operations Manager and Swimming Teacher at a very busy swim centre. In this position I recruit, manage and train all trainee swimming instructors, asses the swimming ability of students, assist in the development of marketing strategies and promotional activity, manage the physical operations of the centre and plan and deliver swimming lessons to children ranging in age from 3-12 years. It is important to be prepared for these lessons well in advance to ensure that I have the required resources to deliver an engaging session matched to ages and needs of my customers. I undertake all these tasks on a part time basis while also completing my tertiary studies and managing significant parental duties.
Prior to this role I owned and operated a number of successful businesses in the fitness industry. This included recruiting, managing and training staff, developing all the required operational procedures and manuals for the business, planning, budgeting, developing and implementing marketing strategies, and creating and delivering fitness and nutritional programs for clients. My organisational capabilities were clearly demonstrated by the success of my businesses, both financially, and in relation to the high retention rate of clients.
During this time I also undertook a number of community engagement activities focused on promoting the benefits of physical fitness at all ages. As part of this I developed and implemented successful fitness programs for grade 3 and 4 children at the Cheltenham Primary School. The programs, which I delivered for 3 years for their “Couch Potato” unit, focused on helping the children understand how their heart rate responded to different activities. Once again I had to be prepared well in advance to deliver these sessions, ensuring I had the required equipment and information to deliver an engaging, fun and educational program.
- Have the ability to use a range of different teaching methodologies to account for student needs
I have a proven record in utilising a variety of teaching methodologies to cater for individual student needs. In the classroom I am aware of individual students’ requirements and will adapt my approach to deal with this. This includes providing extension tasks to challenge strong students, monitoring group and individual work to encourage equitable interaction and participation, presenting content in various formats to appeal to various learning preferences and providing students with immediate, regular and positive feedback. One of my goals is to continuously foster the confidence and self-esteem of students and to support them to and develop positive attitudes to learning, participation and achievement.
I also draw on a range of methodologies to suit the physical, social and intellectual development of students. This includes a cooperative learning approach where I establish small teams comprised of students with differing levels of ability to help improve understanding of content. I also use effective questioning, encouraging participation and interaction across the class, and allowing enough time for students to make considered responses. Other methods I use include setting up a range of problem solving activities, and facilitating both independent, self-directed and some teacher-centred learning tasks. I also use journaling strategies to expand the learning capabilities of students.
As mentioned previously, I focus on building contemporary relevance and layers of connectedness into lessons. This may include sharing a relevant personal anecdote and using real-world examples, ICT applications, visual aids or current events. This variety of methodologies also caters for a variety of learning preferences. My approach also includes the effective use of Blooms’s Taxonomy and Gardener’s multiple intelligences in designing unit plans and ensuring that I incorporate a range of different activities that make certain that all learners have the opportunity to be engaged and stimulated. I also use assessment effectively and understand that it is an ongoing, cumulative process of gathering, analysing and reflecting on data and then making informed judgements to enhance future student learning. Assessment requires a range of practices that fulfil different needs. I regularly use of formative assessment to guide future teaching and learning within topics, student assessment data to identify student strengths and weaknesses, and pre-tests to determine the existing knowledge base.
- Verbal, written and inter-personal communication skills
I have exceptional written and verbal communication skills with proven abilities in developing and sustaining constructive relationships with all stakeholders in the education process. As a teacher my role is to engage my students in the learning process and build their interest and commitment in the subject. I am an influential, confident and persuasive communicator who can easily adjust their presentation and delivery based on knowledge of the audience as well as subtle non-verbal cues. I tailor the key messages to suit the knowledge base and learning styles of students and use a range of appropriate mediums to deliver and reinforce critical information
I have developed excellent relationships with my students, their parents and my professional colleagues. In relation to students, my extensive athletic and sporting background across a range of sports and fitness activities often provides me with an area of commonality with them. For several years I also coached junior, middle and senior school hockey teams, which gave me excellent experience in encouraging and motivating students to achieve their goals. I use this commonality and skills to build rapport and to establish relationships with students.
I also use my strong communication skills to encourage and support the contribution of others. This can be achieved by fostering an environment of trust and respect where issues can be raised and constructive feedback delivered directly and appropriately. My communication abilities are also utilised to effectively apply behaviour management strategies in a fair, sensitive and consistent manner and to convey and maintain clear expectations about student learning.
In an educational setting I also have used my communication skills to provide succinct feedback on the welfare, and social, and behaviour management issues relating to students, to work effectively with colleagues in curriculum planning and development meetings, and to observe and conduct parent-teacher interviews whilst on teaching placement. I leverage the experience of colleagues and have always been willing to share my own learning with others. I recognise the power of collaboration in generating new ideas and in refining my own methods.
My professional experience within the fitness industry is also relevant. My role, which included motivating and encouraging clients to meet their goals and working with staff to provide them with the skills and information they needed to work effectively, required exceptional communication skills. I was also accepted to lecture at the 2008 National Fitness Conference held in the Sydney Convention Centre. I developed and delivered a 90 minute presentation dealing with establishing a successful fitness business.
My experience as an Operations Manager and Swim Instructor is also relevant. I have developed effective relationships with hundreds of parents, children, and fellow employees and am required to communicate to the Centre Manager about weekend operations on a weekly basis. Instructing has provided me with the skills to be able to quickly build rapport with children of varying ages and to use a range of communication techniques to successfully improve swimming abilities. In this role and in previous fitness positions I have also trained other staff, ensuring they had the skills they needed in their position.
Finally, I have strong written skills with the ability to convey information in a concise and clear manner. This is evidenced by my preparation of lesson plans, high level university assignments, business correspondence, operational manuals and procedures, marketing materials and a presentation at a national fitness conference.
