Thinking Out Loud: Pre-service Teacher Skills

27th January, 2016
  
Alex talks about the lack of focus in current teacher training courses on behaviour management, a skill he believes is crucial to starting out as an effective teacher

As I enter the fourth and final year of my teacher training course, I have begun to reflect on what I have learned and whether or not it has prepared me for my first year of teaching. While I will happily acknowledge that my time at university has developed my skills and understanding of pedagogy, especially in relation to the teaching of mathematics, I must admit that I feel there have been, in my view, several key elements left out. The one I wish to discuss here, and in my view the most important, is behaviour management.

One of the issues that seems to consistently arise when talking with recent graduates is the challenge with behaviour management. It is, in my mind, the most important skill for new teachers to have when they enter the classroom and I've heard various horror stories (directly and indirectly) of stressed teachers struggling to achieve order and function due to a lack of management skills. Thus it seems curious to me that I had to pursue an elective, under my own motivation, to develop an understanding of behaviour. None of the core (compulsory) units at my university covered the topic in any particular detail, nor provided strategies or research on how to master the classroom. I consider myself extremely lucky to have chosen the elective which looked in-depth at behaviour, classroom management, community creation, and crisis control. I learned a vast amount of practical and theoretical information which has shaped and improved my behaviour management skills. However, many of my fellow peers have not had the chance to engage with this unit and may not be able to before the end of their final year. I fear for my friends as they enter the workforce with skills that may be inadequate to deal with the challenges they face. I can't imagine a stressful and frustrating first year of teaching will inspire any loyalty to the profession. Thus I can't fathom why a topic as fundamental as behaviour management is not covered rigorously over the first few years of our teacher training - when it is, perhaps, at its most crucial.

I believe this lack of a core behvaiour unit results in two serious issues; firstly the lack of development of an essential skill. As I mentioned before, various teachers have told me how important having strong behaviour management skills are, and I think there are many pre-service teachers graduating under-prepared into the work force. This sees them struggling in their first years of teaching to deal with issues that they simply do not have the skills to successfully resolve. This in turn results in the second serious issue; a reliance on ineffective and negative management techniques.

As I progressed through my placements I took on the behaviour management strategies of the associate teachers I worked with - simply because I had none of my own! I was a blank slate with no comparative concepts of management and classroom set up. Now I have engaged with the behaviour management elective I can see that some of the tactics and strategies used by teachers I have viewed are extremely negative. They are short-term, authoritarian and destructive. I have also seen some extremely positive and long term behaviour strategies. However, I think many pre-service teachers are leaving university with little or no behaviour management skills, and the ones they have are not best practice. If you know no alternative to yelling, then that will be your behaviour strategy. And the tragedy is that after a few years whatever behaviour practices you use will become habit. I believe that many pre-service teachers are graduating with knowledge only of negative, authoritarian behaviour practices.These will destroy any chance of positive relationships with your students and ultimately cause them to dislike you, and dislike school. Children and teachers deserve better than this.

Every pre-service teacher needs the chance to develop their behaviour management skills. They need a compulsory unit where they can learn about behaviour, its functions and causes, as well as how to manage behaviour in a positive way. I believe as teachers we model the different ways that our society and culture functions. It seems paramount to me that every student is engaged in a pro-social, democratic classroom environment with a teacher who can help children learn how to self-regulate their behaviour. At the moment I believe too many teachers are graduating with insufficient skills to make this happen. There needs to be a change. Best practice of behaviour management is essential to being an effective teacher, our teacher training institutions should reflect this and modify their curriculum accordingly.

- Alex
   

Australia Day

Australia Day

26th January, 2016

There will be no blog post today as the team will be taking the day off. The usual Tuesday blog post will be released tomorrow.

Schooling Differences Worldwide

Appreciating the cultural differences of various schooling systems globally

19th January, 2016

Adelle reflects on her experiences with different schooling systems and provides some insight into their variety

I can’t believe it’s been two years since I spent a semester of college in America. It’s definitely an experience I’ll never forget. The way the school system works in The States is different to that in Australia. Although the content may have been the same as, or similar to what we would be taught in Australia with just a change of name, the dynamics of the classes is what interested me. Across the world there are so many different education systems and each has their strong and weak points. It’s definitely a possibility that you’ll have children who have grown up in other cultures in your classroom, and it is up to you to find out about and respect these cultures.

For example in some Asian countries there is high-level expectations of the students by the teachers and parents. They are under a lot of pressure and feel they must succeed. The level of pressure, fear of failure and competitions is said to be much higher than what Australian or American kids are under. Their own intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation will affect their behaviours in your classroom and you must get to know these students and what they need in their path of learning.

European schools are different yet again and change per country. Finland has recently been in the spot-light for their education system which has improved dramatically over the past 40 years. Their system involves strengthening the relationship with children and most teachers are called by their first names. The subjects they teach are hands on and the teachers really spend their time with the children while they are at school. They eat lunch with the students in the school canteen, they do not do school-wide assessments each semester or year to see where their children stand against neighbouring schools or countries. There is in fact only one standardized test when children are 16. Their children don’t start school until they are seven and aren’t given exams or homework until they are well into their teens in high school. The high-pressure environment of an Asian school compared with the anti-test freer learning environment of a Fin school contrasts how different education systems can be and still both achieve high success rates.

These cultural differences will affect a child moving countries and or schools. It will change the way you teach and again create a different learning style that needs to be addressed as well as changing the dynamic of your own classroom.

My upcoming blogs will focus on the different school systems globally and the various expectations in each. As I am currently in France, I will be observing in a French classroom as well as interacting with French teachers and students to gain a further understanding of their system which I can already tell dynamically is quite different from Australia again.

- Adelle

Approaches to Technology in the Classroom (2)

14th January, 2016

Will looks at a welcoming approach to technology and draws on recent first-hand experiences.

To continue from my previous post, today I will be exploring a welcoming technology teacher and what it looks like in a classroom. I have been lucky enough to have experienced this first hand in my recent placement so I will discuss the aspects of technology which I saw and learnt about. To set the scene, the school was trialling 1:1 Chromebooks in Grade 5 and I was in one of the three classes. A Chromebook is essentially a laptop that runs on a Google Chrome Operating System and a connection to the internet is necessary for them to work properly. 

Before I delve into the incredible learning benefits which I witnessed, I do acknowledge that this type of program requires a lot of planning, research and above all, funding before a school can implement 1:1 devices for students. However, I believe that most schools are constantly working to improve student access to at least some type of ‘device’ (computer, Chromebook, iPad etc…). 

Obviously I was very excited to have been placed in such a classroom. However, I was intrigued to see my first 1:1 classroom and questioned if too much access is ever a distraction for the students. My teacher ensured me that they use the Chromebooks appropriately and in my 4 weeks in the classroom the students proved themselves to me. The first benefit I noticed was the amount of time we were saving each lesson. No longer is there a 5 minute scramble at tubs to get a workbook or a student standing at the bin sharpening their pencil. In seconds students can open their Chromebook and be straight into the activity. It should be cautioned however that this can lead to an overexcited and rapid switch between lessons. I found it important to still stop and have a ‘brain break’ in between lessons and not just ‘close literacy’ and ‘open religion’.

The super-fast access was due to students having all their work stored on the cloud in Google Drive. Students had been taught to organise this into subjects and terms but work could easily be located using the search bar. Working on the cloud meant work was automatically saved so it was hard to ‘lose’ and nigh impossible to blame the hungry dog. Students completed most tasks using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides or Forms. Documents can be shared between teacher-student and student-student for group work tasks. The collaboration of learning spread across all three Grade 5 classes and students were definitely learning more from interacting with each other. Moreover, they were experiencing a flipped classroom where they took control and responsibility of their own learning.

I felt like a true 21st century teacher when it came to assessment and feedback to students. As mentioned, work can be shared with each other with set privileges of ‘can edit’, ‘can view’ or ‘can comment’. The comment feature was wonderful in allowing the teacher to comment on student work, providing instantaneous feedback and clear indications of areas of improvement. For new units a Google Form was created and used for a pre/post assessment. This saved time in marking and generated data that was be analysed to help guide small group foci, whole class tasks and spot individual students who need extra support. I may do a future ‘how-to’ post for these online pre/post assessments.
 

I could go on about what I saw for many posts but I simply want to highlight this perfect example of a 21st century classroom. I saw students using skills that they will ultimately use in the workplace and performing tasks that many people in today’s workforce would be amazed by. Yes, this school were fortunate to have this 1:1 access but they did not take it lightly. They are continuing to push the boundaries, try new approaches and set challenges for staff and students as we move into a world loaded with technology. 

- Will

3 Ways to Encourage Participation of Students with ASD in the Classroom

Encouraging Participation of Students with ASD

12th January, 2015

Matt provides three practical tips on how to encourage students with ASD to participate in the classroom

In my last post, I began to unfold some of the basics that I have discovered for preparing a classroom for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), based on conversations I have had with integration aides and occupational therapists. Today I continue to explore the ways in which one can effectively teach a student with ASD, and today is about participation, both in set tasks and in classroom discussions. The strategies I will explain are by no means the only strategies; these are just a few that have come up in both my own practice and in discussions with professionals.

1. The NO HANDS UP Rule: When I first encountered this idea, it was in an article about new trends in education, and considering how entrenched our system seems to be in having students put their hands up I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before. Although this may have varying levels of success depending on the teacher, this strategy involves exactly what you think it does; removing ‘hands up’ responses in the classroom. We all know that the students who will regularly put up their hands in class are often those who already know the information; those who are unsure often will not respond for fear of embarrassment. This means that ‘hands up’ situations can be a source of anxiety for all students, and can be a particular issue for students with ASD. In classroom discussions, establishing the expectation that all students will respond (even if their response is ‘I’m not sure’) means that not only will you as a teacher gain a greater appreciation of the understanding of the class as a whole, but reduces anxiety when done in, for example, a circle. The student or students with ASD will know when it will be their turn to speak, and know that it is fine for them to be unsure, will reduce their anxiety at responding to classroom questions. It can even help any unsure students by showing them that others may be having issues as well.
2. Being Specific With Writing Activities: Often when asking students to complete writing activities, teachers will use open-ended prompts such as ‘What I did on the holidays’. This can be good for students in that it encourages students to write about something they know and enjoy, and through the fact that, in most cases, all students can write about something. However, such tasks can be a cause for anxiety in children with ASD due to their open-endedness; they often will not know where and how to start, and as such may not start at all. Although this may not always be appropriate for the whole class, making such writing prompts more specific and providing an opening sentence for all students to use can help to reduce anxiety as well as encourage participation in ASD students.
3. Integrating Computers into Classroom Activities: There is no shortage of talk, both in schools and university courses, about the benefits that technology can bring to a classroom. However, there are educational and participation benefits for students with ASD beyond that of those already established. Students with ASD tend to be predominantly visual learners; often they will not engage with verbal instruction alone. Computers present all information in the visual medium, and this medium can be tailored to suit the preferences of the individual, which will encourage their learning, increase their confidence and support participation. Furthermore, many educational programs can be attained that present problems in a structured fashion, with an identifiable start and finish and a set number of parts to complete; structure is important for students with ASD in all aspects of life, and such programs can be used to encourage independent work skills alongside the practice of other skills.

Thanks for checking this article out, and I hope that it has been useful to you. With our blog entering the New Year, I plan to continue writing about ASD, but also extend to other topics, the nature of which will, for now, remain a mystery. We will be releasing a new article every week for the next couple of months, so have a read. You might just learn something.

Signing off,
Matt

End of Placement

End of Placement

7th January, 2016

Nick discusses his placement experience and a different type of special need

Happy New Year to all fellow PSTs and others who are visitors to the blog, I hope your Christmas and New Years break was enjoyable!

It has been a few weeks since my placement block concluded, however, what a wonderful and interesting four weeks it was! This experience for me was one like no other. I was placed in a primary school where a large majority of students were English as Additional Language Learners (EAL). My work as an integration aide and previous placements has provided me some exposure to teaching EAL students, however, this placement involved me learning a lot of new ideas to better inform my overall teaching practice. Many new and interesting challenges arose throughout as it was during report writing time, and there were many extra curricular activities occurring within the school as well.

The most important idea that came out of the four weeks is the significance of modelling correct language, both written and oral. It is something that I have been aware of, but have not consciously implemented into my practice. My associate teacher placed a large emphasis on pausing at words students may find challenging and using their ‘detective skills’ to attempt to work out what the word means in context. Furthermore, I observed the importance of modelling correct language to students. I witnessed many students attempting to implement some new and challenging words into their writing that arose from class based discussion or simply from a word that was read in a book.

One of the absolute highlights for me from this placement was being able to read to the students regularly. This particular group of students were really engaged with teacher read alouds and subconsciously were able to learn a lot from what they were listening to. Asking the question “With a title like this, what do you think is going to happen?” instantly had hands flying up to answer. This inferring practice is an important part of reading comprehension, especially when teaching EAL students as it encourages them to think about what they are reading while reading it. A follow up question I asked throughout the text was; “What do you think will happen next?” Again students were extremely eager to make predictions based on what they had read already. Reading aloud to students is something I value highly as a future educator and will endeavour to do on a daily basis as I think a lot can be learnt from simply listening to a teacher read a text. Students were also able to use their text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections in order to enhance their ability to predict what they thought was going to happen next in the story.

So how does this fit in with special needs education? As discussed in previous blog posts, the term ‘special need’ is a specific educational requirement that a student may need to benefit their learning outcomes; EAL students fall into this category. To be an inclusive educator lessons must be adapted to incorporate each student within the learning space. A slight adaptation to a lesson such as pausing and discussing new words is an example of being inclusive to this particular special need.

As future educators I believe it is a fundamental requirement to incorporate simple practices like these into the learning space to ensure each student feels as though they are supported and included within ALL lessons and activities.

 - Nick

Thinking Out Loud.

5th January, 2016

 

Alex considers the nature of empathy and professionalism in teaching, where people are expected to ride the fine line between warmth, compassion and appropriateness. 

Throughout the working world there seem to be a number of jobs that require a balance between providing a professional service, as well as a sense of emotional connection and empathy. Perhaps the profession of teaching is an extreme case of this, as we work with children rather than adults, and there are a number of cultural expectations when working with children. Ultimately, while there might not be a specific job criteria that explicitly states you must be a warm and caring person, it seems this is an expected part of being a teacher.

While there is always a wonderful atmosphere and sense of excitement when working with children, there is a constant underlying tension to act and respond appropriately. The word appropriate is vague, as everyone’s concept of appropriate is subjective to their personal views and beliefs, and this doesn’t help when you are new to the teaching profession. Working in schools and afterschool care environments, I am aware of the requirement that you should not initiate physical contact with children. However, anyone that has worked with Foundation, year one, and even year twos, will tell you that fulfilling this aim can be extremely hard, simply due to the nature of young children.

Children beginning school are often coming from an extremely caring, warm and physically affectionate home environment. So it’s not surprising that they may experience some emotional confusion when they are promptly denied the physical contact they have come to expect at home. We all know that young children are extremely injury prone, and a comforting hug is something they have always had access to at home – yet at school students must learn that it isn’t appropriate to hug a staff member in that way. Or is it?

It seems almost a little cruel to completely eliminate all physical contact from students as they start to learn the ropes of attending school. Maybe this is why many teachers do still initiate physical contact with students in times of need – not in any extremely overt forms, but a small hug here or there when the moment seems right. Is this inappropriate? What are we truly trying to achieve when we strive for appropriate relationships between staff and students?

Given that relationships are, rightly, held up as a critical element to effective teaching (and a happy life!), I wonder how confusing it must be for a foundation student to make a connection with their teacher without any physical contact. Young children spend the first few years of their life being mostly unable to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but always being able to resort to the base connection of physical contact and affection.  To come to environment where their main avenue for connection is denied seems like a drastic and perhaps damaging change.

Yet, as teachers we are most likely the first long-term, professional, adult relationship our students will experience. We are their first opportunity to understand what it means to maintain an appropriate relationship. I believe that the regulations that restrict teachers from physical contact with students are purposeful and necessary. However, I think we need to acknowledge as a society our dual expectations for teachers; as empathetic carers of our children, and professional staff who can maintain appropriate relationships with them too. I think we need to engage pre-service teachers in the discussion of what defines an appropriate relationship and provide them with some practical training in how to establish and maintain one. We need to acknowledge the discomfort that comes with telling a crying six year that no, they cannot have a hug, and question what it means to be appropriate, and why.

- Alex