Domain 1 Beliefs statement.

            Personally, I accept as do Eggen and Kauchak (2006) that teachers need knowledge of learners and how they learn as it is arguably the most important knowledge a teacher can have because it influences the way we teach by reminding us that we do not teach content, we teach students. Jarvis (2005) believes that whether or not educational practice can be deemed effective should not be based on the use or non-use of any given teaching strategy, but rather on its’ impact on the learner.

One of my preferred teaching strategies is group work which, according to Eggen and Kauchak (2006) is a distinct feature of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. Where practical I differentiate learning by grouping learners so that there is a mix abilities within the groups. Eggen and Kauchak (2006) agree that the sharing of ideas through social interaction will help students to not only learn what to think but also how to think and interact productively with others. Within the context of this domain, students’ capacity to develop their literacy and numeracy skills is developed through inquiry based and problem based learning with the teacher acting in the role of facilitator rather than instructor (Churchill et al., 2011) with the aid of Information and Communication Technologies. 

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

Domain 1. Professional knowledge.

Standard 1.Know students and how they learn.

1.2. Understand how students learn.

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.

1.5. Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.

The situation called for me to plan and put into practice a Unit of work (Artifact 1) for my Year 2/3-practicum placement and develop a class profile to demonstrate my awareness of diversity that is inherent in the cohort of learners. Having identified the diversity of learners in the classroom (Year 2/3 Class Profile Artifact 2) I applied three ‘conceptual filters’ to the information derived from the class profile to inform the way in which planning did/did not demonstrate best practice. (Catering for diversity through differentiation; Using formative assessment strategies to monitor student learning; and Teaching critical and creative thinking, Artifact 3).

The action I took was to reflect (Artifact 3, paragraph 1) on how differentiated instruction should be sympathetic to the differences amongst learners i.e. how they learn, their learning preferences (Algozzine & Anderson, 2007). Educators should pay close attention to the biological and psychological tendencies of learners and to the individual historical and cultural context of the milieus where students live (Gardner, 2004). Within the context of the unit of work I utilised a range of strategies and resources such as graphic organisers (Artifact 1, ‘Thinking tools and Teaching and Learning Strategies’) that according to Drapeau (2009) are effective instructional tools in promoting student performance. Hands on activities were another strategy I utilised to allow for differing learning styles of the students.  For the learning experiences I organised the students into small groups interspersing the year two students amongst the year three learners (Artifact 1, ‘Learning Environment’). This method of grouping learners is derived from my acceptance that Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural theory emphasises co-operative dialogues between students and their more knowledgeable peers in a co-constructed process where students interact and negotiate to create an understanding or to solve a problem (Woolfolk, 2004).

The result of the process outlined above i.e. the development of a class profile to guide the planning of a unit of work; the application of the diversity filters to the planning of the unit of work as well as my reflection on how students learn (Artifact 3, paragraph 1) provided me with feedback on my professional practice and links to Standard 1: 1.2 above. In artifact three, filter two, paragraph two, I make the point upon reflection that best practice of formative assessment begins with effective planning of teaching and learning (Gipps & Pickering as cited in Arthur & Cremin, 2010). Within the Unit summary (Artifact 1) the learning intentions are clearly visible. Clarke, Timperley and Hattie (2004) state that learning intentions made clear at the planning stage of units of work will make formative assessment manageable. My teacher mentor overseeing this unit of work noted in her feedback (Artifact 3, last sentence paragraph 2) that ‘Stephen used formal and informal strategies to assess the students' learning’ (Professional experience report, 2014).

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

Domain 1. Professional knowledge.

Standard 2. Know the content and how to teach it.

2.1 Content selection and organization.

• Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.

 2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

• Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students.

The situation called for me to plan and introduce a mini unit of work titled ‘Data collection and recording of data’ using a range of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (Artifact 1) to enhance the learner’s learning experience. This unit of work was implemented in a year four classroom. In the initial phase of the lesson I used images to stimulate the learner’s. Churchill et al. (2011) posit that any type of artifact or tool constitutes technology. The lesson plans were attentive to The Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA, 2014) Year four, Mathematics content descriptions and included lesson objectives, resources, procedure, evaluation, assessment as reasoned by Churchill et al. (2011).

The action I took in lesson two was to revisit prior learning where the students had constructed column graphs using their spelling test scores as the data set (Artifact 1). During the introduction phase of the lesson the learners surveyed their peers to collect data about their preferred colours, TV shows and favourite Ice cream. After the introductory phase of the lesson I noted that the students were disengaged and disinterested, so I stopped the lesson and used ICTs to introduce the learners to ‘Move to Learn’, which is a series of brain break videos available on YouTube (2012) hoping to get the blood pumping and return to the current lesson outline. Lengel, Kuczala (2010) state that movement activities create positive emotional states causing students to link positive emotions with learning. I stopped the video half way through because it was too long, offering to restart it after the lesson if there was time. There was a mixed response, some students wanting to continue and others happy to stop the video altogether. Due to a disparity of responses I asked the students to survey their peers, collect, organise and display their data to determine if we should continue with the video or not.

The result of using ICTs to engage the learners through a movement activity was an outstanding success as noted in Artifact 1 (Lesson 2, Reflection and Adjustments). During the course of my practicum placement there was one student who simply refused to pick up a pencil and participate in any form of learning. The classroom teacher had tried unsuccessfully to engage the student without success. During the learning experience described above this particular student was the first to start, first to finish and was so disparate of their usual self I was simply taken aback as is noted in my lesson plan reflection (Artifact 1) and Evaluation of lessons learned (Artifact 2).