Teaching Portfolio Part II

Penelope Lynne Coutas 12005795

Semester 2 2004

Contents

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ........................................................................ 1

WORKSHOP TOPIC 1 ........................................................................................ 6

TASK 1 : BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES .................................... 6

TASK 2 : STUDENT BEHAVIOUR, TEACHER REACTION ............................ 11

TASK 3 : BEHAVIOUR AND ACTION PROFILE SHEET ................................. 14

WORKSHOP TOPIC 2 ...................................................................................... 16

WORKSHOP TOPIC 2, REFLECTIONS PART II ............................................. 21

WORKSHOP TOPIC 2 TASK : WHAT DO YOU THINK? ................................ 22

WORKSHOP TOPIC 3 ...................................................................................... 24

TASK : WHAT WILL YOU DO? ....................................................................... 28

WORKSHOP TOPIC 6 ....................................................................................... 32

TASK : THE TEACHER I AM ........................................................................... 36

Background Information

School: Melville Senior High School

My ATP Teaching Areas: LOTE: Indonesian (2 x yr8, 2 x yr9, 1 x yr10)

T&E: Curriculum Extension (1 x yr9, 1 x yr8)

The School’s Material and Social Setting Although Sharp (1994, p. 248) argues that urban geography makes certain schools the possession of the upper middle class and excludes working class pupils, Melville Senior High School has a predominately working-class to lower middle-class cohort despite its close proximity to Perth. Other nearby schools are the ‘favourite’ schools, attracting middle to upper class families, and property values reflect this. Having been built in 1960, the school’s buildings are aged, run-down and inadequate for the needs of the school. There is a lack of teaching space, and class rooms were built for class sizes of fifteen to twenty rather than the thirty that lower-school averages. The school is currently undergoing renovations, most of which will be carried out in December. A new library is being built, as is a new Arts wing and the front of the school will also be remodelled. This will have a huge impact on the ‘attractiveness’ of the school, both physically and in the minds of community members.

Although the buildings might be run-down and inadequate, the teaching team at Melville certainly is not! There is a very dedicated student services team and Administration is supportive, approachable and innovative. Communication and cross-curricular opportunities are excellent across all learning areas, and there is currently a big emphasis on implementing Stepping Out strategies and self-access learning throughout the school. There are seventy eight teachers in total, and roughly eight hundred students. What makes Melville unique, however, is the amount of language groups at the school. There are over seventeen different language communities at Melville, largely due to the Intensive English Centre (IEC). Newly arrived immigrants, refugees and international fee paying students attend the IEC to improve their English before entering ‘mainstream’ at Melville or another school. This has created an extremely multicultural and multi-lingual atmosphere, and although IEC students may be attending separate intensive English classes, they are included in all school activities. Melville SHS also has specialist programmes in Academic Extension (gifted and talented), Music, Aeronautics, Netball, Students At Educational Risk and PEAC. There is an Educational Support Unit which caters for the needs of twenty four disabled students, and an Aboriginal and Indigenous Educational Officer is employed full time as a point of reference and support for (and with) the thirty one Aboriginal students at Melville. These demographics have a direct effect on he teaching and learning needs of students. In all of my Indonesian classes, for example, there are ‘native speakers’ of Indonesian, new graduates from the IEC who have limited English but excellent language-learning skills, students who have learnt Indonesian since primary school, and others who have just begun. This means that all of my (our) programmes and assessments must be multi-levelled and open-ended, and class time is always interactive and negotiable with lots of peer-tutoring opportunities. However, the programmes, assessments and other learning and teaching practices we have been using and facilitating at Melville would not work or be educational at other schools unless they had a similar cohort.

The School’s Curriculum Approach Melville SHS’s curriculum approach is both vocational/neoclassical and liberal/progressive in nature (Kemmis et al., 1994). Although there is a strong emphasis on preparing students for work increasing their employment opportunities, especially with the Wholly School Assessed courses in upper school and the Linkz Program, due to the outcomes-focused nature of the lower school curriculum and self-access approach of most teaching staff, the curriculum at Melville aims for education as preparation for life rather than just work. The School Improvement Plan and Curriculum Improvement Plans currently in motion at Melville are shared documents, and the result of combined efforts including Administration, teachers, parents and students. With the new renovations, entry into the 100 Schools Project, and such strong emphasis on Improvement Plans, it is an exciting and interesting time to be positioned at Melville and changes are literally happening overnight.

My Background It is not only the background of a school and its environment that is important in understanding the context of reflections, but also the author’s own background. It is often suggested that teachers enter the profession with ‘cultural baggage’ that underpins all teaching and learning practices (Hatton, 1994), and so here I attempt to describe my own background. Analysing my own circumstances and background also forces me to explore my own ‘cultural baggage’ and how this is influencing my pedagogy, understandings and values during this ATP. I am twenty-one years old, female, white and middle-class, and so I am a part of the hegemonic urban population of Australians. I begin the ATP as a fifth-year student, studying a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) and a Bachelor of Asian Studies (Language Specialist, Indonesian). Having entered university straight from high school, I am currently the youngest person ‘teaching’ at Melville Senior High School – this is a daunting thought! Although my age does mean

that I do get mistaken for a year twelve student from time to time, and my colleagues may relate to me differently to

others, being a young ‘preservice teacher’ does have its benefits. The Curriculum Framework was being trialed when I was in high school, and I experienced three years of outcomes-based education. During my studies at university and in the ATP, I have found that this has given me a more solid grounding and understanding of the Curriculum Framework and Outcomes than I could ever gain by reading articles and attending lectures. Additionally, Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have always been a part of my educational experiences, and I cannot remember a time before computers in schools. ICTs are part of my everyday life, and I have implemented and facilitated use of ICTs in the classroom in many different ways during my ATP to add value to learning and teaching experiences. For example, parts of my ‘working’ journal are in digital form, and during the course of the term students have been creating digital portfolios. Excerpts from my digital journal and students’ portfolios are included in this Teaching Portfolio as examples where appropriate.

Although I have never left education institutions and gained ‘life experience’ in full-time work, as part of my Indonesian degree I studied ‘in-country’ for a year, one semester at a prestigious state university and the other at a teacher’s college. This involved living in a student boarding house, studying regular subjects at a university (immersion), and completing a twelve-week teaching practicum at a local high school. This experience gave me a good foundation in not only the Indonesian language and language teaching, but also cultural aspects, especially

A student using computing technology in Indonesian.

those associated with education and student life, and widened my world-view. It also meant that for twelve months I was part of a minority (albeit privileged) group, and experienced covert and overt racism in many forms, especially around the time of ‘September 11’. Participating in this in-country study radically changed my views concerning equity, inclusivity and social justice and no doubt influences my intentional and unintentional teaching and learning practices today.

References Hatton, E. (1994) ‘Social and cultural influences on teaching’. In Hatton, E. (Ed.), Understanding Teaching: Curriculum and the social context of schooling. Marrickville, NSW: Harcourt Brace & Company, Australia, 3-16. Kemmis, S., Cole, P. and Sugget, D. (1994) Orientations to curriculum. In Hatton, E. (Ed.) (1994) Understanding teaching: curriculum and the social context of schooling. Sydney: Harcourt Brace, 128-135. Sharp, R. (1994) ‘Social class, policy and teaching’. In Hatton, E. (Ed.), Understanding Teaching: Curriculum and the social context of schooling. Marrickville, NSW: Harcourt Brace & Company, Australia, 235-256.

Workshop Topic 1 Task One Behaviour Management Strategies: My experiences as an assistant teacher and student teacher

Preventative Supportive Corrective Lesson planning Pauses in teacher talk Seating arrangements Explicit explanations of rules and expectations

Eye contact and other non-verbal gestures

Consequences / punishments for misbehaviour: e.g. cleaning up classroom after throwing paper.

Routines Proximity Extrinsic motivators such as hadiah / denda (money) system

Communication channels with other teachers

Voice, pitch and speed Reminders of rules and expectations, and consequences

Nomination of student roles in group activities

Questions, and spot checks

Nomination of students to participate in ‘Risky Business’

Writing brief lesson plan on board as a point of reference

Changing the physical surroundings

Buddy Withdrawal system (with ‘think sheets’ to complete)

Positive reinforcement Individual ‘talks’ with students

Communication with parents/caregivers

Movement around the room

Positive reinforcement for students who are on-task

Student accountability and autonomy in self-access tasks that then ‘spilled over’ to other tasks

Developing positive relationships with students as a cohort or class.

Pre-arranged signals, such as raising hand in air and then all students copying in order to gain silence and attention.

Behaviour Management Strategies From Readings

Barry, K. and King, L. (1998) Beginning teaching and beyond. Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press, pp. 536-573. Cangelosi, J. S. (1993) Classroom management strategies: Gaining and maintaining students’ cooperation. New York: Longman, pp. 17-54. Marsh, C. J. (2000) Handbook for beginning teachers. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia, pp. 163-176.

Preventative Supportive Corrective

Engaging tasks: valued, meaningful activities.

‘Meat-axe stare’. Demand appropriate behaviour.

Movement around the room – not just targeting individuals.

Questioning a neighbouring student to return other to task.

Remind students of rules/expectations pertaining to the lesson.

Lots of hands-on activities, and chances to practice examples.

Voice, pitch and speed. Conducting investigations.

Staying one step ahead of the students.

Targeting (p. 549) Punishments that ‘fit the crime’.

Facilitation of ‘academic learning time.’

Spot-checks ‘Skinner approaches’.

Effective time management.

‘Withitness’

Proactive rather than reactive teaching practices.

Questions and Answers

‘Withitness’ Eye contact. ‘Overlappingness’ (multi-tasking).

Touch and gesture.

Allowing for, and encouraging, student accountability.

Physical proximity.

Pre-arranged signals to gain attention.

Pause in teacher talk.

Effective use of ‘Kounin variables’.

Consistency. Caring Developing behaviours rather than mandating.

Explicit teaching of on-task behaviours and ‘how to’ be engaged.

Do not let excuses deter from insisting on appropriate behaviour.

Positive reinforcements.

Explicit teaching of collaboration skills.

Positive reinforcements. Incentive systems (extrinsic motivators / ‘punishments’)

Teaching students to be on-task.

Language. Manipulate the environment to increase chances of desired behaviours being demonstrated, and rewarded (p. 36).

Keep students informed as to how lessons will progress, and how they are progressing.

Efficient individual help.

Negotiation of rules. Body language and proximity.

Be consistent. Incentive systems. Democratic classroom practices.

‘Withitness’ Ignore attention seekers (Dreikurs model).

Positive reinforcements. Thorough lesson planning.

Make changes to physical surroundings without it becoming a whole-class issue.

Seating arrangements.

‘Withitness’ Eye contact. Name the student, identify the misbehaviour, indicate the behaviour needed. Follow up with consequence if misbehaviour continues.

Establishing good relationships with both students and other staff.

Pauses. Consequences.

Conducting lessons effectively.

Drifting. Punishments.

Development of a positive classroom climate.

Quietly yet firmly demand behaviour changes from individuals.

Routines. Non-verbal signals. Diversity. Remove objects that are

becoming disruptive.

Variety of activities. Individual talks while having group work.

Versatility – always have Ask other members of

a backup plan! the class to ignore behaviours/students.

PLANNING. Thank class when they are behaving well or on-task (this can be dangerous according to Barry and King because it can ‘snap attention’ away from academic learning time)

Sound communication channels.

Reflections

A requirement of this task is to highlight the key strategies which I plan to use as a newly appointed teacher. In attempting to do this, however, I found it incredibly difficult not to highlight all of them! In reading and reflecting, I believe that effective management strategies are ones that suit the context you are teaching in. All of these management strategies have a place and a time where and when they will be effective, or ineffective. One key management ‘strategy’ that all readings emphasise, though, is ‘withitness’ – that perception that the teacher has eyes in the back of his or her head, and does not take any nonsense. This is definitely something I have to develop! Another thing I noticed while on ATP is that patience is a definite virtue. In implementing strategies that require pauses, significant looks, body language and pre-arranged signals etc., time seems to drag by. However, I’d imagine that it would feel different for the students! Many of these strategies also place a lot of emphasis on the teacher. Barry and King (1998) do emphasise this point, and the power that the teacher has in creating a preventative environment for behaviour management. I would like to think that it is possible for students to be more autonomous than these authors seem to suggest, but realise this is often wishful thinking in class sizes of thirty-two early adolescents!

Instead of highlighting key strategies, the readings and tables made me think about things that I really need to improve/work on/implement:

• Routines • Explicit teaching of expectations and on-task behaviours and skills • Pre-arranged signals to gain attention • Pauses in teacher talk • More effective openings and closings of lessons • Clarity in giving instructions – writing them on the board would be

helpful here and provide a reference in multi-step activities to answer the “what do I do next?” questions.

• Always be consistent and follow-up everything!

Task Two Reading Balson, M J. (1988) Understanding Classroom Behaviour. Hawthorn, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research, pp. 44-73.

Cause of Misbehaviour

Examples of Student Behaviour

How the Teacher Feels

Attention Seeking

• Attacking behaviours such as being a clown, ‘nuisance’, smart alec, show-off, obtrusive, an ‘walking question mark’, unpredictable or bright sayings and come-backs (p. 49).

• Defending behaviours such as acting anxious, speech problems, bashfulness or shyness, untidiness, self-indulgent practices, excessively pleasant or frivolous (p. 49).

• Actively provoking or annoying a teacher in a way that cannot be ignored (p. 50).

• Tapping pens, feet, humming, talking, irrelevant questions (p. 51).

• Repetitive question asking (p. 55). • Pulling faces, acting up in front of

other students to get a reaction such as laughter (p. 55).

• Annoyed and irritated • Feeling of relief when the

annoying behaviour stops (p. 50). • ‘I must do something’ (p. 50). • Sense of responsibility (p. 50). • Urging or coaxing student/s into

action (p. 50). • Feeling of encouragement when

student/s respond (p. 50). • Trying to rebuke, admonish,

caution, prevent, remind, correct or punish students (p. 51).

• Impossible to ignore them (p. 51)!

Power

• Carry out forbidden acts. • ‘Refuse to do what he is told’ (p.

49). • Attacking behaviours such as

arguing, rebelling, being defiant, contradicting, bullying, throwing temper tantrums, being untruthful or disobedient (p. 49).

• Defending behaviours such as being un-cooperative, dawdling, being stubborn, disobedient or forgetful (p. 49).

• Disobedience, stubbornness, dawdling, temper tantrums, defiance, apathy and argumentativeness (p. 57).

• Frequent sickness (p. 58). • Entering into power struggles to

test teacher authority and consequences (p. 60).

• Feels threatened and/or angry (p. 58).

• Feels authority is being challenged (p. 58).

• Wants to get on top (p. 58). • ‘If you think I’m going to stand

for this, you’re mistaken’ – confusing assertiveness with power struggles (p. 58).

• Feels victorious when behaviour is quelled (p. 58).

• ‘You won’t get away with this’ (p. 58).

• Feels exasperated, irritated, challenged, and/or frustrated (p. 58).

• ‘You’ll fall into line or else’ (p. 58).

• Feels victorious when students falls into line (p. 58).

• Scared of losing authority (p. 59). • Enter into a power struggle

because they are not seeking the purpose behind the behaviour -> frustration (p. 60).

Revenge

• Attacking behaviours such as stealing, viciousness, being destructive, cruel or violent or participating in delinquent behaviour (p. 49).

• Defending behaviours such as being sullen, moody, morose, exhibiting passive hatred and refusing to participate (p. 49).

• Strategies of being vicious, cruel or brutal (p. 63).

• Stealing, destructing and carrying out vandalism (p. 63).

• Being sullen, moody, or morose (p. 63).

• Provoking hostility in order to be recognised (p. 65).

• Upset, hurt (p. 63). • Feels a measure of trepidation –

‘what will he do next?’ ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ ‘How could he do this to me?’

• Feeling of immense relief and hope at any sign of improvement (p. 63)

• Feeling of injustice (p. 63). • Feels that the child is ungrateful

(p. 63). • ‘Well, two can play this game’ (p.

63). • Feeling of self-justification if

child displays acceptable behaviour (p. 63).

Escape by Withdrawal

• Defending behaviours such as ‘stupidity’, idleness, ‘hopelessness’, participating in ‘fantasy activities’ and ‘solitary activities’ without collaborating at all (p. 49).

• ‘Babyish ways’ (p. 68). • Helplessness (p. 68).

• Feelings of inferiority, helplessness and/or despair (p. 68).

• ‘I just don’t know what more I can do’, ‘I am at my wit’s end’, ‘I give up’ (p. 68).

• Instances of improved behaviour are seized upon hopefully (p. 68).

• Expect nothing of a student (p. 68).

Reflections

I feel that this article having been written in 1988 is showing its age. Although this activity really made me think about student behaviours and the purposes of misbehaviours, I am concerned that there is not much emphasis on the effect of the environment and context on student learning, and instead seems to suggest that the ‘problem’ is with the student. An example of this is that Balson describes behaviours and how the teacher feels, but does not include a ‘column’ for how the student feels. Balson also emphasises corrective measures rather than looking at preventative, supportive and corrective behaviour management strategies and environments as described in the other readings for this week.

In more recent years there has been a huge emphasis on student-centred approaches and the ecological model of learning and development. Use of labels and language such as ‘stupid’ (pg. 49), ‘difficult students’ (p. 66) and ‘problem students’ (p. 57) places the ‘blame’ at all times on the student and not the environment. Furthermore, throughout the article, Balson refers to students

exhibiting anti-social behaviours as being ‘him’ – surely girls can ‘misbehave’ too?

I believe it is important to seek the causes of inappropriate behaviour, but feel it is more effective within the context of a corrective management cycle, as described on page eleven of the reader. It is important to remember that the ‘cause’ of anti-social, negative or disruptive behaviours are not necessarily something that can be ‘corrected’ or a fault of the student. Pedagogy, student roles, and environment are equally important, and their adjustment may also ‘solve’ attention seeking, power, revenge and withdrawal behaviour issues.

Task Three

Behaviour and Action Profile Sheet Character Title: Acid Tongue

Behaviour

Acid Tongue is a tease. He or she is a ‘sneaky bully’ who is rarely caught at the centre of a disturbance, and yet disturbs peers and teachers on a deep and often emotional level. Other students are scared to ‘tattle’ on Acid Tongue because they are wary of the consequences to their popularity or social standing. He or she takes every available opportunity to mutter remarks and pass notes that attack peoples’ self-esteem. Acid Tongue also regularly backchats, offers negative commentary and teases others. Acid Tongue is often popular through fear, though he or she has few real friends to rely on.

Effects

Some of the effects of this type of student include: • Personal attacks on students negatively effects self-

esteem and leads to feelings of powerlessness, hurt and anger.

• Students feel they cannot ‘dob in’ Acid Tongue for fear of revenge tactics.

• Students resent the attacks, and begin to also resent going to class.

• Students do not look forward to going to class, and victims may wag or become very anxious about being around Acid Tongue.

• Attacks are often missed by the teacher because Acid Tongue is ‘sneaky’ and exploits opportunities when the teacher is not ‘withit’.

• Teacher is suspicious, but often has no real evidence or proof of this behaviour – a lot of circumstantial.

• Teacher begins to doubt his or her authority and ability to discourage a negative classroom atmosphere.

Cause

The primary cause for this behaviour is: Revenge The student exhibits these behaviours as a reactionary and ‘protective’ device – because they are jealous, have low-self esteem themselves, and wish to maintain their social standing or reputation. Power is also involved because Acid Tongue in reducing others’ self-esteem and creating self-doubt and feelings of helplessness gains the ‘upper hand’.

Ineffective • Inaction

Teacher Actions

• Non-‘withitness’ • Reliance on students to ‘dob in’ their peers in order

to discover Acid Tongue. • Ignoring signs from ‘victims’ such as inattentiveness,

reduced level of work and mistaking it for ‘slacking off’.

• Moving Acid Tongue to a solitary position or excluding Acid Tongue from class once their actions are discovered.

• Telling other members of the class to ‘just ignore them’.

• Believing in the ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’ adage, or offering this as advice.

Appropriate Teacher Actions

• Creating a supportive learning environment where students feel they can approach the teacher about Acid Tongue and other incidents of bullying.

• Being ‘withit’ and aware. • Implementing preventative strategies, and having

clear rules and expectations for behaviour. • Focusing on group-work skills, and issues of respect

and collaboration. • Follow up and investigate any hint of an incident or

incidents, consulting other teachers and students, and contacting caregivers to keep them informed if necessary: investigate the cause of the behaviour.

• Individual ‘talks’ with Acid Tongue to make them aware that the teacher is aware, and why this behaviour is inappropriate. Discuss/offer strategies, and consequences of their behaviour for not only themselves but also other people.

• Be careful not to make accusations. • Whole-class workshops on bullying and its effects –

not singling out Acid Tongue – e.g. ‘Risky Business’.

Workshop Topic 2

Focus for Reflection

Cartoon from http://www.markpett.com/mrlowe

The Outcome of Education Willis (2000a, p. 1) asks us if Outcomes-Based Education, or OBE, is just a new name for an old idea. Teachers and students have always had ‘outcomes,’ planned or unplanned. The biggest shift in thinking from syllabus-based to outcomes-based education, however, is that it is ‘about maintaining our focus upon student outcomes, rather than inputs, in our curriculum and management decisions and judging our success on whether or how well our students achieve the outcomes (Willis, 2000a, p. 2). This is in contrast to the traditional academic-competitive curriculum in schools. During my ATP, the difference I found most noticeable between lower school (OBE) classes and upper school Tertiary Entrance Examination (TEE) classes was the reduced emphasis on competition. It still existed, as the cartoon above illustrates, but students were not obsessed with finding out who got what ‘mark.’ Lower school students were more interested in finding out why their peers received a different level, and what they need to do in future to move to the next level. In her first article, Willis (2000a, p. 1) gave a definition of outcome-approaches that I immediately understood. She wrote,

In essence, outcome-based approaches start with the question What do we expect students to know, understand, be able to do or be like as a result of their education? The answer to this questions [sic] is expressed in terms of ‘outcomes.’

In other words, outcomes describe what we expect from students at the end of the teaching-learning process. They do not specify what should be in the curriculum. This gives greater autonomy to schools and teachers at the local level. Although we must work within a greater framework, curriculum inputs can be designed to suit student interests, needs, ‘abilities,’ and intelligences. Willis (2000a, p. 1) goes on to remind us that ‘the important feature of outcome-based approaches to education is that the whole educational process is on enabling students, all students, to achieve the outcomes. The Curriculum Framework (the ‘Bible’ for curriculum planning in schools) is an ‘inclusive document’ for all students, as are the Student Outcome Statements. Released in 2000, the Student Outcome Statements have since evolved into Progress Maps (2003) that give learning-area specific guides to student learning and assessment in Western Australian schools. These guides are not separate to the Curriculum Framework, but complementary. Furthermore, the Framework and Progress Maps assist teachers to make decisions about the curriculum, but they are not of themselves a curriculum (Willis, 2000b, p. 1). The Department asserts that the Student Outcome Statements and Progress Maps allow learning for all students to be described, including those identified as being gifted and talented (Department of Education and Training, 2000, para. 5). Additionally, the Foundation Outcome Statements have been developed specifically for those students with intellectual disabilities. Although ‘a small number of students with specific physical or intellectual disabilities may not be able to participate in activities and programs designed to achieve certain outcomes’ (Curriculum Council, 1998, p. 9), the Curriculum Framework, Student Outcome Statements and Progress Maps are seen to be highly inclusive guides for student learning, pedagogy and assessment for the majority of learning experiences. I believe student learning is improved in an OBE because there is an emphasis on enabling learning. All children can succeed – but not always in the same way or at the same time (Willis, 2000b, p. 2). What is important is that they achieve the outcome, and not how, although the ‘process strands’ of the Progress Maps do come in to play here. For example, in the SOSE learning area, Investigation,

Communication and Participation is the process strand, and there is an emphasis on inquiry learning. How that inquiry goes about, however, is very flexible. A student has achieved a level of an outcome when she or he is able to do the things described at that level consistently and autonomously over the range of common circumstances (Willis, 2000c, p. 1). Willis gives LOTE examples in her third article, which I could immediately relate to. She tells us that rehearsed role-plays are not enough to demonstrate a high level of speaking in Listening and Responding, and Speaking for LOTE. Students must demonstrate levels over a range of evidence, and it is the teacher’s responsibility to facilitate opportunities for that to occur. Students must take responsibility for their own learning, but schools must also provide a welcoming and supportive environment which creates the conditions essential for students’ successful learning (Willis, 2000d, pp. 1-2). However, there are also some disadvantages, or issues, to OBE. Many parents and students do not understand about OBE, and are very focused on the academic-competitive curriculum. Moreover, many teachers do not understand, and do not want to. Some schools have only just introduced the Student Outcome Statements, others have been using them since publication. The key here is communication. Schools need to communicate with care-gives and community members about the curriculum their children are participating in. They need to communicate how levels are assessed, and what the levels mean. This requires a shift in thinking, because the purpose of assessment is to see how well our students have been educated, not to enable students to do well on assessments (Willis, 2000c, p. 1). Then again, parents and community members may find it even more confusing to be told this, but then also informed that their child must undertake a standardised compulsory Western Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (WALNA). Perhaps the WALNA exists because people cannot make that ‘fundamental shift in thinking that takes us from “syllabus based” to “outcomes based” education.’ Standards, too, might further confuse parents and students – I know they confused me! Standards are not an external assessment, but rather a means of identifying whether students have achieved an

outcome or not by the stage they should have (if the context and environment have been opportune!). In the LOTE learning area, this is particularly significant. In many schools, LOTE is still treated as an ‘options’ subject, and often awarded less contact time than the ‘core’ subjects of Mathematics, English and SOSE. At Melville SHS this is the case. Although LOTE has come a long way in the past two years, changing from one hour a week for one term only (!!) to two hours a week for the whole year in years eight and nine (it is still an ‘option’ in year ten), the pressure for students to reach a level three standard by year nine is forcing Administration to consider increasing contact time for LOTE, or at least decreasing class sizes from the current thirty student average. In this way, externally set standards in OBE has given some learning areas more ‘bargaining power,’ yet retains local autonomy for curriculum and assessment. I see this as a positive move, but then again, I am biased in my learning area.

Cartoon from http://www.markpett.com/mrlowe

Perhaps the most significant understand I have gained about outcomes as a result of my reading and thinking is that its flexible nature is rewarding, but also means a lot of work and preparation. It is no longer ‘good enough’ to follow a set or mandated curriculum, but rather all students, with their many different learning styles, intelligences and ‘abilities’ must be catered for. Yet, the amount of DOTT time, Professional Development and contact time in many cases has not changed overmuch from pre-Curriculum Framework days. Many teachers I have spoken to have expressed dissatisfaction and a ‘rushed feeling’ – there has been no time to consolidate new curriculum knowledge nor properly explain the concepts and reasoning behind OBE to caregivers and community members. It

will be interesting in a few years to see the results of research related to OBE in Western Australia to see what impact it has really had in improving what students know, value and are able to do as a result of their time in schools. References Department of Education and Training. (2000). Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Policy and Guidelines. Retrieved February 15, 2004, from http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/outcomes/policy/pg446.htm. Willis, S. (2000) (a) A focus on outcomes so obvious and so self-evident, (b) Common outcomes uncommon outcomes, (c) The outcome states the outcome, it’s a judgement call, (d) Achiving the outcomes: Who’s responsible? A series of 4 papers written for the WA Primary Principals Association, Perth, WA.

Reflections Part II

Strategies I used for monitoring student performance during ATP • Anecdotal notes – I used exercise books with student photos next to their names, one

student on each page. I recorded information about learning styles, interests, incidents and areas of strength for each student. This taught me that keeping anecdotal notes is a process that should span more time than just ten weeks, especially in a high school context with large classes. It was impossible to gather comprehensive information about every student.

• Working portfolios (yr10s). • Presentation portfolios (yr8s, yr9s). • Journals (yr8s and 9s) – self assessment, reflections based on questions – not just asked

to ‘reflect’. • Formal assessment pieces, but open-ended and multi-levelled, for each strand of SOS,

and with the use of explicit rubrics that were explained to the students before they began assessment tasks.

• Peer assessment. • Talking with students (in English and in Indonesian) and speaking Indonesian with

them in different contexts e.g. asking ‘Apa kabar’ while on Duty etc. • Feedback from peers – “Oh, Dane, he’s really good at Indonesian. He taught me how to

say….” • Checklists and analytic rating scales What did I look for when presenting a lesson to decide if the lesson was ‘going well’?

• Engagement • Not looking at other websites (off-task) in the computer lab! • Asking questions • Independently accessing resources to aid with language developent – using

dictionaries, asking to borrow dictionary, using resources around the room etc. • Work noise vs gossip noise • Time flying vs time dragging • Student feedback • Achievement of outcomes for that lesson • Final product – surprising in some cases such as the makcomblongs. I did not expect

such high levels of work! • Students requesting to repeat past activities

What did I use as evidence to decide if a student was having trouble?

• Students raising hands / asking for help! • Non completion of tasks • Wandering around the room, peering • Peer tutoring / group work -> feedback from groups • Monitor performance over time – see the difference between ‘off days’ and having real

trouble • After trying different methods of explaining, students still said they ‘didn’t get it’ • Student unable to repeat back in own words / teach someone else. • Out of seat, attention-seeking behaviours, throwing paper etc.

Issues / Concerns

• Very difficult in large classes to monitor every student. Focus on particular groups / students in particular lessons very effective (different ways of looking readings).

• Parents not understanding methods of assessment. Students not understanding. • Students coming from primary schools – “what level did you receive in primary

school?” “I got an A” – whatever happened to levels? • Different contexts different results – for example, in T&E , students were receiving

different levels in my computing subjects to what they were awarded in woodwork. We need to teach students the ability to transfer skills and make links across subject areas, and particularly within the same learning area!

Task : What Do You Think? I recently attended Portfolio Open Day at my ATP school because I had been the students’ Indonesian teacher for the whole of term two and had written their reports. What a disaster. The reports were mistyped, uninformative and confusing. Each learning area was different, and I had become a Science teacher when I wasn’t looking. The reports informed parents that their children should be at a particular level in certain years, but these levels were very unrealistic. For example, on the year ten reports, it stated that students should be at level four or five for LOTE. This is impossible considering they were all beginners and had only been learning Indonesian for one semester! The problems with the written reports meant that I spent the day explaining the Outcomes to parents, and justifying (accounting for!) the levels their children had received. Students also complained that they did not reach the ‘expected level’ for their year level as written on the reports. One incident in particular stands out in my mind. I had had a student originally from Malaysia named Loong in my year nine Indonesian class. The Indonesian and Malay languages are very similar with only a few differences in the formal versions. At the beginning of term I had spoken Indonesian to Loong on numerous occasions, and received responses only in English, if at all. He wrote all of his notes and journal entries in English (even though his peers were writing in Indonesian wherever they could, and this was part of the task), never offered any vocabulary or input to class brainstorms, language bubbles, or think-pair-share activities. Upon asking him what language he spoke at home, he replied English. Loong also informed me that he did knew very little Malay having grown up in Australia, and so I assumed he was not a fluent Malay speaker. On open day, I met his mother. She was distressed that her son had only received a level three in Indonesian (the standard for year nines, and very ‘average’). He spoke fluent Malay, after all, had done all of his elementary schooling in Kuala Lumper, and they only spoke Malay at home. Oops! I explained to her that I had no evidence of this for Loong, and showed her his

portfolio and video clips of class activities. Loong definitely did not demonstrate the level six or seven he actually is in my classes at all. In reflection, I should have been in contact with Loong’s parents sooner. Then again, I had no real reason to disbelieve what Loong had told me. What this does reaffirm, however, is the importance of communication between school and home. If Loong had actually showed the formal assessment pieces to his parents and received feedback from them on the back (all assessments had rubrics inviting parent and student feedback), I would have found out much sooner. I need to be more vigilant in making sure students get that written feedback and that I read it. This experience also highlighted the necessities of evidence, and opportunities to demonstrate – Loong did not demonstrate for a reason, perhaps he was too shy or felt he could just ‘cruise’ through Indonesian if he kept quiet. I will never know, and that’s the most frustrating thing!

Workshop Topic 3

Focus for Reflection Multiple Intelligences Although many people describe Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences as being ‘new’, I do not consider it as such. The date usually given to publication of the theory is 1983, and having been born in 1982, the idea of multiple intelligences has been around for the totality of my schooling. My learning style is best facilitated through linguistic intelligence – I am studying an Asian Studies Language Specialist degree after all! I enjoy reading, playing with words, and learning new ones. I am not so good, or intelligent, at creating poetry or giving speeches, but this is more due to lack of practice. My other ‘intelligences’ of strength are logical-mathematical intelligence (reasoning), and interpersonal intelligence. In reflection, this may be why I have done well at school and at university – the methods and approaches taken by these institutions favour those with linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence strengths. Thinking back, I realise how progressive my primary schooling was. In year seven, I was placed in a four-five-six-seven class which was entirely self-access learning in an outcomes based environment. This definitely facilitated opportunities to learn and work in preferred learning styles, but did not extend the range of contexts very effectively. I found that upon entering high school my social skills were not as well developed as my peers (having been in a class with much younger students), and my curriculum content knowledge was not as extensive. Then again, I did have very good research skills, and was self-motivated for many learning activities. Participating in an OBE and having an individualised learning programme did have many advantages, but also had disadvantages – the trick is finding the right balance. The position taken in the Armstrong (2000) paper is necessity of finding this balance. Armstrong describes Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, and

then offers suggestions for its effective implementation in learning contexts. He stresses that every person has all eight intelligences and uses them in different combinations during the course of everyday life (Armstrong, 2000, p. 20). Learning experiences should not be constrained to just one intelligence, nor students ‘labelled’ as intelligent in this or that in particular. This information about the eight intelligences is very useful to my understanding of how people learn. It makes a great deal of sense to me, and summarises and ‘labels’ what I already had some idea of. That is, I knew some people were ‘visual’ learners and others were particularly strong in logic and reasoning etcetera, I just had no names for it. What I found most interesting, and concerning, is that it is very true that Western society values linguistic and mathematical-logical intelligences the most. This is evidenced in the value placed on IQ tests, and literacy and numeracy. Just look at the WALNA testing! The Curriculum Framework (1998) states that ‘students should be provided with a rich variety of learning opportunities which enable them to build on their existing experiences and personal strengths and work in preferred ways…’ and I feel we have a long way to go yet for this to truly happen, even in our outcomes-focused education system. In the learning experiences I provided for students over the ATP, I did attempt to accommodate all of the intelligences, but I was more successful in some areas than others. The ‘theme’ of the ten weeks for two classes was ‘Indonesian Arts.’ This may seem biased towards linguistic and spatial intelligences, but as my students now know, ‘Arts’ is not just painting, sculpting, drawing and so on but also television, music, film and dance. During the course of the ATP, we learnt songs (musical intelligence), watched Indonesian Idol and a popular Indonesian film (musical intelligence, spatial intelligence), played gamelan at Murdoch University (musical intelligence), made batik (spatial intelligence), learned Indonesian traditional dancing (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence), and analysed different art forms and art texts (spatial intelligence). All of this occurred within an Indonesian-language rich environment, and Indonesian was often the language of instruction and learning (linguistic intelligence). Students also kept

a ‘reflective journal’ for the duration of the programme (interpersonal intelligence), a money system was in place (logical-mathematical intelligence) and most learning tasks required collaboration, negotiation and mediation (interpersonal intelligence). The intelligences least (explicitly) catered for during this programme were the logical-mathematical and naturalist intelligences. In reflection, this is probably because I am not terribly strong in these areas! In future, I must actively work to cater for these intelligences in my teaching learning programs even though I have no particular strengths in these areas. As Marsh (1996, p. 194) asserts, ‘we cannot do other than accommodate the needs of each individual learner … we must consider the whole child,’ and this is something I need to remember. Teaching and learning is a cumulative process, and so every lesson need not cater for all intelligences, but a whole learning programme certainly should. There are so many opportunities available for peer tutoring and collaboration to maximise these opportunities, and there is no reason why students cannot become my own ‘tutors’ in areas of their intelligence strengths. Possible ways of incorporating activities to develop naturalist intelligence in the Indonesian Arts learning programme:

o Instead of basing the batik activity on designs from books, have students investigate the Indonesian natural environment – volcanoes, beaches, volcanic sand, jungles, rainforest etc.

o A look at Indonesian gardens as an ‘artform’ – the beautiful water features, stone carvings etc.

o Investigate the significance of the banyan tree mystically and spiritually.

o Compare Indonesian art texts (paintings, drawings, textiles, films etc.) to their original inspiration – much Indonesian art is based on landforms and environmental awareness.

o Compare Indonesian art interpretations of landscapes from ‘then’ with ‘now’ – how has tourism, colonialism and mining changed the Indonesian

An Indonesian banyan tree

landscape compared to the drawings and paintings from hundreds of years ago?

o Explore Indonesian animist (worship/respect of the land and spirits) religions. During this programme, we only looked at Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism (the six official religions of Indonesia).

References Armstrong, T. (2000) In Their Own Way. New York: Penguin Putman Inc. Marsh, C. (1996) Handbook for beginning teachers. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education. The Curriculum Framework. (1998) Perth, WA: Curriculum Council.

Task Three

What Will You Do?

Cartoon from http://www.markpett.com/mrlowe

Beginning a new job is always daunting, and it is even more daunting when you don’t really know what to expect. This is how I feel about beginning teaching as a ‘real teacher’ in term three. During teaching pracs in the past, I have not felt like a ‘real teacher,’ and have always known that there is a ‘real teacher’ for me to consult, and to act as ‘bad cop’ if necessary. Now I will be on my own. But herein lies the problem – I will never be alone. There will be thirty two teenage bodies in my borrowed room during period one on the first day of term three, and I say bodies because although I have their names, I do not know who they are. Then, sessions two, three and five I will meet yet more bodies and no doubt will cruise through the last session out of exhaustion rather than being fully prepared for any eventuality – there is no such thing in high school! My plan for the first day is to get through it! I plan to introduce the topics of study (or in the case of the year tens, negotiate a topic of study), and meet and greet my students, introducing the Indonesian language for doing so. I also plan to discover who is a native speaker, who has learnt Indonesian before, and who has never heard ‘selamat pagi.’ We will explicitly look at expectations and rules, and negotiate them. During the first week, I plan to introduce key language learning strategies through a series of collaborative tasks, and learn students’ names. Capel et al (1997, p. 13) highlight the importance of learning students’ names in building relationships and in implementing effective classroom

management techniques. A method I have found to work well during pracs is to take photos of the students and put them next to student names in an exercise book for anecdotal notes. I have a memory eye for faces, but not for names! Taking photos, for me, is essential. In the first week, I also plan to gain understandings of the school’s behaviour management policies, and logistical administration procedures. I can hardly imagine what relief teachers must go through for every new school they visit! I feel relieved that I am beginning teaching at a familiar school and not doing ‘the rounds’ as a relief teacher. What I will do, and what I will say during that first week will no doubt be in response to my students. I believe it is essential in language teaching to create lots of opportunities for ‘language bubbles’ where nothing but the target language is spoken – and then afterwards give students opportunities to analyse in English how they understood what was going on, clarify misconceptions, and explore how they could (or did) respond. It is possible to use only the target language for instruction in LOTE classes, especially if gestures and English cognates are maximised. This is also essential in building relationships, and creating a safe environment in which to experiment with language. Constantly switching between English and the target language means that students (and the teacher!) need to ‘code switch’ and change mindsets too often.

Cartoon from http://www.markpett.com/mrlowe

I will find out about my students by introducing the topic of ‘hobbies’ early on. We will begin by learning how to introduce ourselves, and hobbies flows

naturally on from this. By studying hobbies and likes and dislikes, it will also be possible for me to discover students’ learning styles and intelligences. I do believe it is important to do this at an early stage, and feel ‘lucky’ that in the language arts it is so easy to facilitate! I do not know how I would go discovering students’ interests and learning styles so quickly in a mathematics classroom environment. Providing an inclusive curriculum will take planning and investigation. As yet, I do not know if any of my students have special needs. If any students are on Individualised Education Plans I will need to facilitate their learning following those guidelines. If students have aides, or require teaching and learning adjustments, I will also need to arrange for this. It would be nice to receive information about students with special needs before the beginning of term, but I do not have much hope for this to occur – this lack of organisaiton is a school issue, and not very inclusive in itself. I think that the most inclusive curricula are flexible ones that always allow for (and encourage!) student individuality. This is how I have designed my programmes, but only time will tell if they are successful in being inclusive or not.

There is so much to think about for day one. Patterns will be laid down in these first few days and as Wragg (1993, p. 37) suggests, so will rules and relationships which, for good or ill, will affect both students and myself throughout the year. I must remember, though, that the students in my class are curious and may be somewhat nervous too. They do not know if I will be ‘oldschool,’ a ‘pushover,’ a ‘Hitler’ or more than a little eccentric. We will no doubt spend weeks testing each other and establishing a status quo. My aim is to approach this task with enthusiasm, and hopefully some of that will ‘rub off,’ or as a worst-case scenario, make everyone believe I drink too much coffee. I have so many ideas and theories now for creating inclusive and safe learning environments. Although the thought of beginning teaching ‘for real’ is daunting and I have no fingernails left, I am very much looking forward to it!

References Capel, S et al. (1997) The transition from student-teacher to NQT. In Starting to Teach in the secondary school. London: Routledge, pp. 7-17. Wragg, C. E. (1993) First Encounters with a class. In Primary teaching skills. London: Routledge, pp. 37-57.

Workshop Topic 6 Focus for Reflection

The Teaching Trade Before reading the Marsh (2000) and Arends et al. (1998) articles, I had never considered that teaching may not be a profession. In schools we hear the phrases ‘Professional Development’ and ‘Professional Learning,’ and at University we study ‘Professional Issues in Teaching.’ ‘Teaching’ and ‘Profession’ have always gone hand-in-hand in my mind. The arguments Marsh (2000) and Arends et al. (1998) put forward, however, do make a lot of sense, and have challenged my perceptions of teaching. The authors suggest that the following criteria are essential for an occupation to achieve professional status:

• Lifelong career commitment • Essentially intellectual • Specialised body of knowledge • Professional preparation / Long period of training and

professional socialisation • In-service growth • Autonomous standards • High level of respect and status • Exalts service above personal gain • Strong, closely knit group • High level of commitment • A code of ethics

Arends et al. (1998, p. 499) give the definition of a professional that I can most relate to:

…a professional is someone who has acquired through a fairly long period of training a specialized body of knowledge, who has received a license to practice, who is respected for that knowledge by the larger community, and who is given a degree of autonomy in his or her work

I think about my period of training, now at the five-year mark, and consider that a ‘long period’. Teaching also requires lifelong learning and continual ‘Professional Development,’ so this certainly is a ‘long period’. Specialised body of knowledge? Check. Although in the past, as Arends et al. (1998, p. 381) describe, teachers only needed more knowledge than their students, today this

has become more specialised. However, are teachers respected for that knowledge by the larger community? This is where my perceptions of teaching as a ‘profession’ are being challenged. In the media and from students, parents and other members of the community, I do not believe there is a large level of respect for teachers such as that given to doctors, lawyers and even accountants. This could be a cultural product. In other countries, particularly in developing nations where education is a privilege of wealth and very highly valued, teachers are awarded a much higher level of respect than we seem to see in Australia. Both Marsh (2000) and Arends et al. (1998) suggest that this is because of the perception that ‘anyone’ can become a teacher, and all community members have ideas of what teaching ‘actually is.’ We have all experience with the job of teaching, and most Australians have participated in schooling at some stage. There are also a lot of teachers. The Education Department is the largest employer in the State. Hence, apart from rural communities, teachers are not ‘scarce’ and valued professionals. All authors agree that autonomy in work is the criteria of ‘profession’ that teaching fails to meet the most. As Marsh (2000, p. 313) explains, the major difficulty is that teachers are legally and financially dependent upon education system employers. The Curriculum Framework, WALNA testing, the Curriculum and Assessment Reporting policy, and resourcing are all mandated ‘top-down.’ Teachers do not control entry nor stipulate the qualifications of members, and besides union members, are quite unorganised as a group. Teacher empowerment is difficult because the power is definitely at the top. Teachers do, however, have autonomy at a local level. In schools and especially within the classroom, teachers do have power and control over curriculum and classroom matters. Then again, in ‘Professional Development’ courses such as this one, we are advised that teachers should never ‘control’, but ‘facilitate’ instead. Teaching is an act of negotiation that occurs in partnership with ‘learning.’ It also occurs in partnership with the community. As the quote from the National Education Association of the United States (1993) states, ‘the primary obligation of the teaching profession is to guide children, youth and

adults in the pursuit of knowledge and skills.’ The emphasis here is on ‘guide.’ The public does place a lot of trust in the education system to guide their children, as Connell (1996) describes, and so there is always the issue of accountability. Willis (1999) strongly advocates that accountability must be down to the students rather than accounting for ourselves (as teachers) ‘up.’ Most teachers may be restricted to horizontal mobility, but there is always scope for ‘professional’ development (Ingvarson and Chadbourne, 1994, p. 15). It is a lamentable problem that skilled educators leave the classroom in order to advance up the career ladder into Administration, and the institution’s career structure is something teachers have little control over (Ingvarson and Chadbourne, 1994). What we do have professional responsibility for is children’s learning. Willis (1999) highlights the fact that ‘we invest in developing methods for calling people to account rather than expecting them and helping them to be responsible.’ In this way, Performance Management in schools often becomes a nerve-wracking accountancy measure rather than a tool for encouraging and facilitating professional learning. Ingvarson and Chadbourne (1994) place a great deal of emphasis on establishing common standards for accountability and performance management, and implementing a ‘developmental model’ for teachers to follow. To me, this idea seems like another method of ‘accounting’ and does not take many social and environmental factors into consideration. I believe notions about whether teaching is a profession or not and issues of accountability are largely culturally defined. It is in our youth and especially during our schooling that ideas, beliefs and values are constructed. As teachers, we do have power here. By acting (being!) ‘Professional’, by showing enthusiasm in our work, and using our curriculum autonomy in the classroom to facilitate critical thinking skills, we can

challenge perceptions and build foundations for questioning what ‘everyone thinks’. In developing a personal ‘inquiry ethic’ and participating in active reflection to facilitate this, teachers really are professionals. Willis (1999) sums up this idea very passionately;

We may want smaller class sizes, we may wish that there were more funds, we may wish that all kids had books at home – but half the differences in our students’ achievements lies squarely with us. Professional responsibility is about taking responsibility for those things which are in our within [sic] control – and at the very least our own learning is. WE are responsible for getting better.

What ‘better’ actually is will always be changing, and there will always be new theories of how students ‘learn best.’ I may well be at the ‘career entry’ phase of reality shock, trial and error, discovery and enthusiasm (Marsh, 2000, p. 319), but it is not a bad place to be – part of being a professional is to ‘have a go’ and experiment. And that’s what I plan to do.

Cartoon from http://www.markpett.com/mrlowe

References Arends, R., Winitzky, N., Tannenbaum, M. (1998) Exploring Teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 499-523. Ingvarson, L., & Chadbourne, R. (1994) The career development model of teacher evaluation. In Ingvarson, L., & Chadbourne, R. Valuing teachers’ work: new directions in teacher appraisal. Victoria: ACER, pp. 11-45. Marsh, C. (1996) Handbook for beginning teachers. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education, pp. 192-207. Willis, S. (199) Who’s Responsible?: Equity and accountability in schools. (Extract from an unpublished address to Joondalup District).

Task One Response to the National Competency Framework for Beginning Teachers Standard / Criteria I achieved this is (not only) by… Using and Developing Professional Knowledge and Values

1.1 Continually practicing my Indonesian skills through conversations, watching Indonesian films and television, and reading written texts. Then, devising ways of incorporating those same texts into teaching learning programmes.

1.2 Implementing inquiry approaches in all teaching learning areas, for example, in research tasks.

1.3 Following a teaching learning programme in Indonesian that takes Language Acquisition Theory into account, and basing assessment tasks on Bloom’s Taxonomy.

1.4 Seeking out new strategies to use in the classroom, e.g. Stepping Out.

1.5 Having the goal of creating a learning environment that is inclusive, and not just integrative for all students.

1.6 Following school and state policies. 1.7 Valuing the diversity students bring to the classroom, and

adapting teaching learning programmes to ‘cater’ for all students’ learning levels, including native speakers of Indonesian!

Communicating, Interacting and Working with Students and Others

2.1 Using different strategies to project voice, write instructions on board, and having an ‘open door’ policy.

2.2 Using a lot of positive reinforcement, and ‘open door’ policy.

2.3 Developing individual learning programmes for some students, and implementing a Self Access Centre for the year ten group who had vastly different learning levels and styles.

2.4 Facilitating collaborative work with set roles and responsibilities, and using a hadiah/denda system with tangible rewards.

2.5 Working with the Curriculum Committee and assisting with writing the LOTE learning area improvement plan.

2.6 Team-teaching Curriculum Extension effectively, and collaborating with the other LOTE teachers regularly.

2.7 Participation in the school’s Portfolio Open Day, regularly sending letters home to inform parents of student progress.

2.8 Situated in Student Services, actively recording incidents in the SBMS, active participation in various teaching mailing lists (e.g. echalk), holding batik workshops at Murdoch University for students and interested community members.

Planning and Managing the Teaching and Learning Process

3.1 Thoroughly planning five different learning/teaching programmes for the different learning groups, taking individual student needs into consideration.

3.2 Planning takes Language Acquisition theory and student interests into account.

3.3 Teaching/learning programmes were not constrained to one setting, one topic/theme or one learning style, but catered for different intelligences.

3.4 Learning tasks were scaffolded and built on prior

knowledge. 3.5 Back up plans were available! 3.6 Students were given programmes at the beginning of term,

and had a clear idea of expectations. In many cases, these expectations were negotiated and a result of collaboration between myself and students. However, programmes were flexible, and often changed depending on student engagement and response.

3.7 Many tasks required students to work in groups and gain information independently. The year tens in particular participated in self access learning within a Self Access Centre, and this was very successful.

3.8 Students were encouraged to find their own language mentors – epas, Indonesian friends at school etc. and we investigated many self access strategies for learning.

Monitoring and Assessing Student Progress and Learning Outcomes

4.1 Application of concepts learned in Assessment and Curriculum units.

4.2 Using assessment data to inform planning and programming. Assessment tasks were always learning tasks, and related directly to the teaching learning programme.

4.3 Keeping anecdotal notes, using explicit rubrics (and giving those rubrics to students at the beginning of a formal assessment piece), always inviting parent and student feedback and reflection.

4.4 Facilitating compilation of portfolios, using the SBMS, keeping copies of all letters sent home to parents, recording student progress in anecdotal notes.

4.5 Compiling summative reports for students in collaborating with my supervising teacher, letters home to parents informing of student progress.

Reflecting, Evaluating and Planning for Continuous Improvement

5.1 Participation in the Professional Issues in Teaching unit and keeping a working reflective journal.

5.2 Evaluating the effectiveness of my programmes based on student response, student work and achievement of programme aims.

5.3 Participation in Performance Management in the school, and setting of Performance Management goals.

5.4 Attending Professional Development workshops, engaging in reading, and workshopping/collaborating with colleagues.

The Teacher I Am In responding to the National Competency Framework for Beginning Teachers to ‘describe’ myself, I instead found that I was accounting for the work I did during the ATP. I like to think that ‘The Teacher I Am’ is someone who is flexible, knowledgeable, bases practice on sound pedagogy and experiments with different strategies, but know I have a long way to go. Often during ATP, I found that ‘The Teacher I Am’ was tired, confused, and lacking those ‘tried and tested’ strategies that teachers build up over years of practice. I was always accountable towards not only my students and the school, but also towards my

supervising teacher and supervisor, and striving to meet the criteria for assessment for the ATP. In reading over my E101 journal from four years ago, I find that many of my conceptions and ideals for teaching have not changed. I am still enthusiastic, still idealistic, and still an advocate of inclusive education. What has changed is my language – I now have words to describe the many issues in education and teaching, and participate in a language community with my colleagues. I am also more critical in my reflections, and am wary of the ‘top down’ approach that still occurs in creating (and mandating) new policies for teachers and teaching. The most significant change in my thinking from that beginning unit, however, is that I now consider myself one of ‘them.’ In my E101 Journal, I constantly refer to ‘us’ (as student teachers) and ‘them’ (the teachers). I now think of myself as ‘a teacher,’ but hope that I will always be ‘us’ as well, and always continue learning. Therefore, ‘The Teacher I Am’ is someone who is still, and will always be, a learner. I learn from my colleagues, from more experienced educators, online, from journals, books and most of all, from my students. Teaching is a process of negotiation, collaboration and facilitation, and impossible to describe, even using a criterion-based framework. Most of all, the ‘Teacher I Am’ is someone who is always wanting to learn and develop from the ‘Teacher I Am’ today to the ‘Teacher I Want to Be.’ I want to be a ‘good teacher’ (whatever that means), and I want to maximise the life chances and learning opportunities of my students. I am operating at ‘phase one’ of the Competency Framework For Teachers (see overleaf), but will always aim towards phase three. My ideas and goals for ‘The Teacher I Am’ and ‘The Teacher I Want to Be’ are always in constant flux. No doubt if you asked me a question about the type of teacher I am two years from now my answer will be entirely different – or better yet, this is a question I should (will!) ask myself.