In order for me to effectively teach students the appropriate and relevant content, I must familiarize myself with the recently implemented Australian Curriculum and other publications and resources applicable to their education. By obtaining a thorough knowledge of the subject content and skills, I can inspire a love of learning in my students. I can also grasp a greater understanding of how my students best learn concepts, content and skills. I will use the knowledge of learning processes to determine which will be most effective to support the particular students in my class to learn successfully. An explicit teaching approach will be adopted to maximize the students’ academic growth through instructional design and delivery procedures (Archer & Hughes, 2011). I will use explicit instruction to guide my students through the learning process with clear statements about the purpose for learning the new skill, clear explanations and demonstrations of the instructional target, and supported practice with feedback until independent mastery has been achieved. Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking method (Forehand, 2005) will also be considered to accurately sequence the learning experiences to build conceptual understanding. As a future educator, I will aim not only to cover the required curriculum, but also delve deeper by utilizing various platforms of digital technologies. As a teacher of the digital age, I will create opportunities to prepare my students to contribute to the technological society that they will graduate into (Snape & Fox-Turnbull, 2012), and it is for that reason I strongly believe that ICTs play a fundamental role in engaging our students with the Australian Curriculum and the real world. I will achieve this by incorporating a range of digital recourses into my lessons to support learning.

I demonstrated my ability to meet Standard Two during my Professional Experience. The Professional Experience took place in a private single-sex boy’s school situated in Brisbane. The Year One class consisted of twenty-two boys with varying learning abilities. The ages of the students vary between age five to six. I was required to design and implement a Science unit on “Plant Lifecycle” incorporating a variety of ICT-based learning activities and resources to accompany. I engaged with a number of research materials and resources to ensure I was familiar with the content and the way I would deliver it to the class. In the unit, I was able to demonstrate my competence in focus areas 2.1, 2.2, and 2.6 in the subject are of Science for Primary Students.

I implemented an explicit teaching sequence to develop student’s understanding of living things with a focus on the lifecycle of a plant (Artefact One) (Focus areas- 2.1, 2.2, and 2.6). Prior to delivering the unit, I consulted with the classroom teacher, the Australian Curriculum (Science) document, and various other publications for more detailed information on specific strategies and content (Focus area 2.1). I organized the acquired content into five sequenced lesson plans in correlation with Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking approach (Focus area 2.2). This allowed me to take the knowledge and understanding the class have, and use it in a number of critical, creative, flexible and innovative ways. By incorporating the Bloom’s Taxonomy approach, I was able to scaffold student learning and plan for instruction in specific thinking skills. I prompted specific thinking skills by presenting the class with a range of questions using verbs that accurately reflected each level. In the first two lessons (Knowledge and Comprehension phase), I demonstrated questions using verbs such as define, recall, describe, explain, and predict in whole class activities including discussions and a matching game on the IWB. This encouraged the class to take their prior understanding of plants and make connections with the new information. The third and fourth lesson (Application and Analysis phase) focused on applying what has been learnt to new situations, and deconstructing the information to examine the parts. These lessons required the students to work independently in activities including the cut and paste diagram and individual drawings of the stages. In the concluding lessons (Synthesis and Evaluation phase) I drew on a culminating activity to make connections of the overall idea, and consider evidence to support our conclusions. The class completed individual online posters of that involved organizing a plant lifecycle into the correct stages, accompanying with an oral presentation and description. This task reflected their acquired knowledge and understanding. A whole class reflection process occurred in the final stage of the unit (Evaluation phase), using an inquiry approach to prompt higher order thinking skills. I utilized Bloom’s Taxonomy to guide my lesson sequencing because it is a beneficial technique to build on top of prior learning and skills to construct a deeper understanding of the concept.

 During the unit, I thoroughly researched and carefully selected a range of appropriate ICTs to incorporate into each lesson. These included information videos, computer activities, Interactive White Board programs, and Ipad applications (Focus area 2.6). I used a rich array of ICTs to support the learning goal to enhance student engagement and motivation, and to develop their skills of using ICTs. By incorporating ICTs heavily into each lesson, I am providing students with a foundation of skills necessary to be a 21^st Century learner.

 Throughout the unit of work, the class was required to work on independent presentations of their online poster of the sequenced stages of a plant life cycle (Artefact Two). This required each student to use the “Clicker 5” program on the IWB to manipulate eight images of the stages of a plant. As the student moved an image into the sequence, they presented a description of this stage and an explanation for moving the image into that particular position.  The remainders of the class were permitted to give feedback throughout the presentation. Once completing the five-sequenced lessons, it was obvious that each student had formed a conceptual understanding of the plant lifecycles and was confident in demonstrating their acquired knowledge. The assessment task gave the students an opportunity to exhibit their understanding, whilst utilizing their skills with ICT’s. By establishing a thorough understanding of the concept of plants, creating an effective sequence of lessons, and incorporating a range of relevant ICTs, I was able to fabricate a number of opportunities for each child in the Year One class to reach their academic potential.

 During my pre-service teaching experience, I have constructed a foundation of skills to enhance my ability to be an effective educator. I feel competent to take the breadth of knowledge and understanding I have obtained from my learning experiences, into the classroom to share with my future students. I have acquired a repertoire of useful resources to assist myself in sourcing relevant information to support my understanding of a concept and the learning of my students. I believe I am still in the early stages of my ever-evolving personal and professional growth. For this reason, I aim to further my collection of resources, engage in self-reflection to improve my teaching ability, and utilise the skills of other members in the teaching field to contribute to my development. At this stage in my progress, I endeavor to seek advice from my mentor teacher, during my upcoming internship, about knowing the subject content and strategies to teach it.

Archer, A., & Hughes, C. (2011). Explicit Instructions: Effective and Efficient Teaching. New York: The Guilford Press.

Forehand, M. (2005). Bloom’s Taxonomy: Original and Revised. Retrieved August 10, 2013, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Snape, P. & Fox-Turnbull, W. (2012). Your Mission Should You Choose to Accept It: 21st Century Learning and Technology Education. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.