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PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

4. Create & maintain supportive & safe learning environments

Please find below focus areas 4.1 and 4.3. 

You will find opposite each focus area supporting evidence in pdf form, annotated in speech bubbles. 

Critical reflections illustrate how my evidence demonstrates my attainment of the chosen focus areas. 

4.1 Support student participation

In undertaking EDFD548 Effective Teaching and Professional Practice Assessment 1, I considered inclusive strategies for Indigenous and gifted students and students with disability. I successfully identified strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in classroom activities. My supporting evidence shows how I:

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  • Identified different types of learning and incorporate this into the lesson plan (differentiation model, 8 ways Aboriginal pedagogy, and Visual, Auditory, and Kinaesthetic [VAK] Learning System)

  • Distinguished between various student behaviours, needs and understanding

  • Planned for a range of learning styles:

    • Visual/ICT materials (PowerPoint, media)

    • Interactive e.g. questions rather than didactic

    • Visually modelled tasks

    • Kinaesthetically I engaged learners with hands-on activities

    • Auditory learners were engaged through ‘sound effects’ commonly used in dance lessons

  • Planned activities for a range of learners (including gifted and students with disability)

  • Scaffolded reflection on student participation to inform strategies for inclusion

  • Planned individual support by engaging with students on a one-on-one way basis during individual activities

 

Further evidence from my assessment research in EDES601 Special Education and Inclusive Practice show my ability to work with a number of stakeholders to support student participation. This includes developing frameworks for successful communicative practice to facilitate my collaboration with parents and carers. I also identified the need to foster a student’s sense of belonging in the classroom to encourage and motivate student participation. I identified the strength of cooperative learning strategies and considered teaching strategies for implementing this style of learning within my classroom.

4.3 Manage challenging behaviour

In my second assessment through EDFD604 Fostering Positive Behaviour unit, I addressed an escalation of unproductive and challenging behaviours in a school by considering and evaluating a range of behavioural theories. I was able to develop my own personal philosophy for student behaviour and classroom management and examine the policies and procedures I must facilitate through proactive and preventative approaches (ACARA). Using key behavioural management theories by Bill Rogers, Harry and Rosemary Wong, and Restorative Justice, I developed a three-step framework for behaviour management planning: prevention, intervention, and restoration. This assessment helped me to clarify the characteristics of my ideal, well managed classroom as informed by the Wong’s. Roger’s Positive Behaviour Leadership informs my stepped approach to behaviour intervention. This includes a 17-step framework allowing teachers to support students in considering and changing behaviour. As the evidence supports, I use intervention as an opportunity to educate and value add to the student’s experience, enabling the development of self-control and personal responsibility. By developing restorative processes in response to more challenging behaviour, I enable students to isolate their behaviour as an action rather than a character flaw, inviting them to be part of a positive change in their actions.  

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