Christmas Holidays

Christmas Holiday Break

17th December, 2015

Well it has been an amazing couple of months since our blog for pre-service teachers went live at the start of October! We've received some extremely positive feedback from people and have had more than 2200 views. A big thank you to our dedicated team who managed to find time to post while studying and working. And a massive thank you to all our regular readers - you're amazing! The team will be taking a break over Christmas to relax and unwind, but we will be back at the start of January 2016! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and an incredible start to the New Year - all the best!

- PST blog team

Seeing the world for what it truly is

 Seeing the World for What it Truly is

15th December, 2015

Claire, a guest blogger and pre-service teacher, talks about her experience teaching in Thailand and how it has influenced her views on the world

Many people all over the world experience an enormous amount of difference in terms of life-style, culture, schooling, relationships, family life, employment and religion. These differences can shape one’s life outcomes, how they view the world and reflections on life. I have been brought up in the same house, suburb, and city for my entire life and it has only been recently that I have had the pleasure of experiencing the diversity around my city and around the world.

I have currently just finished my 2nd year of a Bachelor of Education (Primary) and just in these two years I have learned so much about other people’s lives, their children’s lives and how much of an impact this and the schooling teacher can have on children. At the start of the year I traveled to Thailand to volunteer my teaching skills to a local school an hour outside of the Chiang Mai. I was only there for 3 weeks in total, however as a person and as a teacher I developed drastically. I loved it so much that I have booked a trip to Cambodia to volunteer my teaching passion for 4 weeks in 2016. Upon returning I was selected to work for my university in the Community Engagement section where little did I know I would be exposed to and confronted with a wide range of social issues.

In my job there are programs where I dealt with adults who had/were suffering from many different mental health issues, forms of addiction and abuse. I was heavily involved in running and facilitating another program with the local school called a Homework Support Program. This school was situated below the commission building houses where low socioeconomic status families live. These families are subjected to many of the same issues of mental health problems, addiction, abuse and poverty. Within these buildings a large percentage of people are refugees from Sudan and Vietnam. I had never experienced working with children from this background and it was definitely an eye opener.

All of these different programs and experiences have opened my eyes to the wider community and the world around me. From seeing blind, deaf, amputees begging on the streets of Thailand to having drunken, bashed up fathers barging into our homework club in order to take his son away, to dealing with mentally unstable adults dumping all of their emotions and state of events on to you. It has definitely influenced my outlook on life and my outlook on the teacher I want to be.

I do think all of my events and experiences have had a positive influence to me as a person and as a forthcoming teacher. They have taught me important lessons such as, don’t judge someone by how they look without understanding their background (yes, the classic saying of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’), go with the flow in terms of learning how to live in someone else’s culture, and always have an open heart, mind and an ear to listen with for when it comes to people that both look like they need help, and for those who smile it away.

I believe all of these insights are very relevant for me as a future teacher. If I was to say one thing to fellow pre-service teachers it would be to experience as much as you can and learn from these experiences, even if it may look like it negatively impacted you, think of the positive outcomes.

I don’t believe I have seen the entire world for what it truly is, however I am definitely making my tracks through it.

- Claire Todeschini

Claire just completed her 2nd year as a pre-service teacher and also works as a Community Engagement Assistant for her University. Part of this role involves managing a homework support program for a local school.

End of Placement

End of Placement

13th December, 2015

Alex talks about his placement experiences at a rural school

After four wonderful weeks my placement has now come to an end – and what an experience it has been! I thought this would be a good chance to talk about some of the different challenges I faced, and the strategies I found worked well.

I had never worked with a composite class before, but now after having year 3/4/5 and 6 I’ve got a pretty good feel for how they run. Differentiating work is the main challenge, I found the best way to do this was to give each student the same task, but have different levels of difficulty within that task. This provides accessibility to the developing students and layers of complexity for the higher achieving students. While this may not work for all subjects, I think it’s a strategy I’ll use with my own class; within any year level there is likely to be a three-year span of capability, so it makes sense to provide a lesson where students can challenge themselves independently. It also linked in with the self-regulation learning behaviour my associate teacher was maintaining. Another good way to facilitate independent learning is through (and I never thought I would say this) rubrics. They work best in a senior classroom, but are great at essentially providing written success criteria and extensions for students. They put students in charge of their learning and achievement, which is great.

After spending four weeks in a truly positive classroom environment, I can’t stress enough the importance of strong learning behaviours. My associate teacher really strives to imbue each student with these and it shows in the way students behave; they act independently, challenge themselves, regulate their behaviour, and take ownership of their learning. Some examples of positive learning behaviours are:

•  Attention to detail
•  Focus and concentration
•  Resilience and independence
•  Allowing others to learn
•  Thinking ahead
•  Organisation
•   Being accountable for my learning

It’s great to focus students in on these behaviours before each lesson just by talking about them, or give individual students certain learning behaviours to work on. Explicitly teaching positive learning behaviours and explaining, or modelling, how they are displayed will help establish an amazing classroom environment and give students a great mindset to learn with.

The most challenging aspect of the four weeks was trying to be organised and flexible at the same time! There is a lot going on at any one moment in the school year, especially at the end of term 4, so it’s vital that you always have a backup plan and are ready to quickly modify a lesson. I had a number of students absent with sickness over the first two weeks of teaching, which meant lots of groups progressing at different rates. I found that thinking a few lessons ahead of what you’re doing actually helps when students are ready to move on – you know the next step and can quickly whip up an activity for them to do. Ultimately there are some times where you won’t get everything completed, simply due to unexpected events popping up, and that’s ok – keep the big picture in mind!

I had such an amazing time on my placement; I truly fell in love with the school, kids and community! I’m missing them already and can’t believe I have to wait another six months before I can get back into it. I would definitely recommend completing a rural placement, there is really nothing quite like it. I know my school would love to have more PSTs and I wish there was more support for getting teachers out there! I hope everyone had a fantastic placement and learned a lot, a merry Christmas and happy new year to you all!

-Alex

Halfway Through Placement

Halfway through placement

22nd November, 2015

Alex talks about his placement experiences at a rural school

Given some pre-service teachers may never get the chance to complete a rural placement I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences. I’ve just finished my first two weeks of teaching and I can assure you the school and learning environment is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

The school is based in an extremely small town, about two and a half hours west of Melbourne. The current student enrollment is 38 and there are only two classes; foundation to year 2, and year 3 to 6. While I knew some of these details going in, the true reality of the size only hit home when I was standing at the whole school assembly on the Monday morning with 30 children. Needless to say, after my introduction to the school, everyone knows my name and who I am. In fact, I spent more time talking with the principal in one week, than I did with all the other principals of my previous placements combined!

The school is one of a few who are trialing a new integrated software platform that basically uses an online platform to create and store work. Every student has a computer and the school is well resourced; they even have a Polycon (a high quality camera system with monitor that allows them to video conference with other schools!).

But what does the school feel like?

From my first day I have become immersed in what can only be described as a truly community focused atmosphere. The teachers are genuine and the students are incredibly well behaved – it all feels like one big family. The outdoor area is huge and well utilised; they have a campfire area, sprawling veggie garden, chickens, basketball court and football oval. The other day in a garden lesson my associate teacher got the students to harvest some broad beans and leeks. The next day, during lunchtime, he cooked them up with some rice and the whole school had a communal feast.

Another interesting element is the kindergarten – it’s attached to the school! There are little ones running around during lunchtime and the transition to school is seamless. Perhaps all of these things add to the feeling of community and sense of belonging. While there was initially a sense of isolation (especially for me, being a city slicker) it becomes apparent that the internet and technology has connected people and communities to the essential resources they need. This school has an extremely strong and rigorous strategic plan for information technology, and makes excellent use of the online resources that are available.

My classroom itself is one of the most positive learning spaces I’ve ever encountered – largely due to my incredible associate teacher. He has made a point of not only encouraging a community of learners, but expecting students to support each other and regulate themselves. The students are incredibly proactive in seeking knowledge and managing themselves.  And the kids are fantastic. I thought teaching such a large composite class would be difficult, but my associate teacher has created an environment where students can progress through the curriculum at their own rate and focuses on 1:1 conferences with students about their learning.

All in all I’m in love with this school and the community it has created; I think there is a lot to be learned from their style of teaching. In my next post I will look more closely at what I’ve been teaching, how to work with a composite class, and how to create a positive learning environment.

Until then, all the best!

-Alex

Schedule Change

Schedule Change ... Again

22nd November, 2015

Unfortunately due to placement and general life events taking place I haven't been able to write a post to the quality I would have hoped! I will be posting one at the end of this week that will be a summary of the first fortnight of my rural placement. I'm hoping the extra time will give me a chance to truly reflect on the placement and write an informative/engaging piece! I hope all other pre-service teachers on placement are having a great time and working through any challenges!

-Alex

Off to placement

Off to Placement

15th November, 2015

The time has come for many pre-service teachers, including us here at the PST blog team, to take off to their next teaching placement! No doubt we are all looking forward to the fantastic experience of meeting new students, teachers and parents. However, as many would know, placement is an extremely busy time and so we not be following our usual posting schedule. Alex is taking off on a rural placement and will be posting weekly updates of his experience there. So please stay in touch and to all the pre-service teachers about to start their placements, good luck! We hope you have a fantastic time and gain some new experiences!

- PST blog team 

Circular planning

Circular Planning to Inform Lesson Planning

12th November, 2015

Aaron looks at the term 'Circular Planning' and how may it provide some assistance to pre-service teachers  

For anyone who has worked in the child services field, the term ‘Circular Planning’ won’t be new to you, it may be annoying at this point, but it certainly won’t be new. For those of you not familiar or irritated with the term, it basically functions as a tool to plan activities, games and experiences for children that are founded in their personal experiences, interests and ideas. The idea is that through careful observation, interaction and conversation we develop an understanding of how we can jump off and extend upon a child’s interests and ideas to create the opportunity for children to flourish in the activities we plan for them.

Since my first placement in a school, planning lessons has always been the most daunting task for me. It’s something that I’m never 100% certain I’m doing right, and something that due to the strict nature of the paperwork we are required to plan with, is something that I’m never quite comfortable with how I’m being asked to plan out. However, this has changed in the last year or so since I realised, “Wait a minute; I effectively plan lessons for children on a daily basis at work!” Now these lessons may not relate directly to the Australian Curriculum, but none the less they require planning, and thoughtful consideration about how they will develop a child’s learning – and that really is the goal with lesson planning in the classroom.

In a recent unit at University, we spoke at length about ensuring students had the opportunity to relate their personal experiences to the lessons we plan for them, and how this was important for them to place value or interest in what we as teachers are teaching. Hearing this really helped me confirm my idea of using this Circular Planning technique in relation to my lesson plans for placements, and made me realise that I wasn’t just pinching ideas from work! Since this discussion as well, I have found myself really looking forward to the observation dates for my upcoming placement as this will really be my chance to soak up the interests and ideas the students in the classroom have, and use these observations to inform the planning that I have to do for the class.

I think this is something that really needs to be discussed more, and perhaps brought to the light a bit for PSTs, as we are regularly expected to plan lessons for students we don’t know, nor have any experience gauging their interests and how these interests will affect our lessons. I look forward to the opportunity to take notes on things I see in the classroom, and interactions the students in the classroom have to develop my lessons, and implementing this newfound realisation. Again I might just be harping on here, but I can’t stress enough how my experiences in Childcare inform my Education practices, but this one was too obvious not to bring up. I think the real thing this has made me realise though is that I’m excited about a skill I have developed through experience in the workplace informing my education and helping me in my further career aspirations, even though the two areas may not seem intrinsically linked. Further suggestions for anyone reading, look into the recesses of your mind, what experiences have helped you with your teaching in the past? Implement things that may not seem to link, it might help you in the long run!

- Aaron