Reflective Practice 3 Action Research

Project

By

Preservice Teacher Katherine Stewart

EDUC 4055
Reflective Practice 3

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 3 - PLACEMENT CONTEXT

Mitcham Girls High School 3 Kyre Avenue, Kingswood, SA 5062
Mitcham Girls High School is a public school dedicated to providing
learning opportunities for girls. It is an un-zoned school and attracts
students from all suburbs in the Adelaide metropolitan areas as well
as from the nearby hills area and outer suburbs. The learning
environment offered at Mitcham Girls is calm, friendly, and
academically challenging.
MGHS offers a range of special programs to suit the needs of each
individual student from EAL/D classes, SSO support for students
identified as requiring special needs as well as Students with High
Intellectual Potential (SHIP) classes from Years 8 to 10.
Classes facilitated during placement:
Year 9 HaSS (History) SHIP class, 3 students whose EAL/D
Year 9 French 3-4 students whose EAL/D
Year 10 HaSS (Geography) 3 students whose EAL/D, 1 student with
an NEP
Year 10 French 1 student with an NEP
NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS
(NPST) / TEACHING FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING (TFEL)
STANDARDS IN FOCUS (GRADUATE STANDARDS)
NPST

TfEL

Standard 5 Assess, provide feedback

and report on student learning

Domain 3 Develop expert

learners

Domain 4 Personalise
and connect learning

5.1 Assess student learning

Demonstrate understanding of
assessment strategies, including
informal and formal, diagnostic,
formative and summative approaches
to assess student learning.
5.3 Make consistent and comparable
judgments
Demonstrate the capacity to interpret
student assessment data and evaluate
student learning and modify teaching
practice.

3.2 Foster deep

understanding and skillful
action
Helps students build a rich
conceptual knowledge and
mastery of complex skills.
3.3 Explore the construction
of knowledge
Shows that knowledge is
open to questions, serves
particular purposes and is
shaped by culture and
experience.

4.1 Build on learners

understandings
The teacher identifies
students prior knowledge
and cultural practices as a
starting point for
curriculum.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH TASKS

Preliminary Questionnaire Year 9 and Year 10 HaSS classes
End of Unit Questionnaire and Reflections All classes
Lesson Observations multiple French lessons (Shelley Alexander)
Lesson Observations Year 10 HaSS (Geography) (Maria Ivey)
Post-lesson reflections multiple lessons (Katherine Stewart)
INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Although majority of the questions in the questionnaires were of
general nature, the information derived from them were considerably
useful in assessing levels of competency in the aforementioned
standards.
The focus of the Action Research mainly concentrated on the NPST
Standard 5 (5.1 and 5.3) to which the information from the
preliminary questionnaires for students in HaSS were used with an
aim to create assessments for the said lessons.
For Year 10 HaSS, students made comments about working in groups
and interest in human labour, slave trade, poverty, developing
countries, megacities, and how NGOs assist struggling communities
thus formed the basis for both Assignment 1 Indonesia Case Study
and Assignment 2 Education for Girls.
However, there were numerous implications relating to time and
deadline constraints compounded by the lack of comments on what
students wanted to learn more about and do in HaSS lessons in the
preliminary questionnaire that it was difficult to find connections
between content and the personal experience of pupils. Thus leading
to comments in the final questionnaire about Assignment 1 Source
Analysis that range from too easy to not very exciting.
A preliminary questionnaire was not conducted for French lessons as
it was believed that it would conflict with the curriculum which
followed designated textbooks and workbooks.

Standard 5
- Seek what
students already
know and can do.
- Consider ways
to connect with
learners personal
experiences.
Domain 4
4.1 Build on
learners
understandings.

The final questionnaires for both HaSS and French lessons showed
that there was a lack of time spent with students to ensure that they
have learned the intended knowledge during lessons. This is read as
having missed multiple opportunities for both scaffolding and
formative assessments, which would have assisted in evaluating
student learning. This was also evident in Maria Iveys comments on
using a wide range of formative assessment strategies during lessons.

Domain 3
3.2 Foster deep
understanding
and skillful
action.

As the final questionnaires for all classes have suggested, which have
allocated spaced for comments on individual assignments in all
classes for the relevant students, although unintended, it provided
students with an opportunity to reflect and assess their own learning.
For French lessons, most students saw the value of the Vocabulary
Test and both attempts on the Grammar Tests as it gave them an
chance to locate their knowledge of the French language despite not
being told exactly what would be on the test and some students
claiming that it was unfair as it included words that they did not know
or have been explicitly taught. Again, scaffolding and formative
assessment strategies could have been implemented in French lessons
to determine their comprehension of the content. Some students even
commented that a practice test would have omitted the need for a
second try at the Grammar Test.

Domain 3
3.2 Foster deep
understanding
and skillful
action.

During marking of the French tests and the Intercultural Projects,

feedback was given to individual students by way of either corrections
and/or comments on their submitted piece of work, except for when
the assessment task was the work of a pair or a group. This also
applies for both the HaSS classes whereby students will receive
individual and/or group Achievement Standards (ACARA) Assignment
result sheet with comments either on the assessment itself or the
result sheet. However, due to the nature of the placement, the next
phase of implementing curriculum informed by the results from
summative assessments could not be fulfilled.

Standard 5
- Provide
feedback to
individual
students on their
learning.
- Make consistent
and comparable
judgments.
- Report on
student
achievement.

Standard 5
- Create
opportunities for
a range of ways of
assessing or
evaluating
student learning.

REFLECTIONS AND FUTURE TEACHING PRACTICE

It is evident that consideration of formative assessments is a critical
part of assessing for and of learning in classrooms in order to facilitate
meaningful and relevant lessons that can foster rigorous learning
experiences for students. There are some elements of teaching and
learning inscribed in academia that are a lot harder to implement in
practice as opposed to some that have become second nature. I
believe that applying general formative assessment strategies is an
area of weakness to which I will move towards improving this facet of
teaching and learning.
Formative assessment can take many shapes and forms. For French
lessons, perhaps the utilisation of mini whiteboards would have
provided me with immediate answers to evaluate student learning.
Also, regularly checking workbook exercises and making use of
students notebooks would also offer this information.
For HaSS lessons, less emphasis or concentration on assignment-toassignment routine but rather deliberate on what could be
appropriate modes of formative assessment that is relevant to the
learning exercises to come. This also ties in with providing scaffolds
for students to assist them in completing a task with as little confusion
as possible.
Although unintended, but informed by some of the in-lesson
comments from students about not understanding what to do for
Assignment 2 Essay, a scaffolding exercise was given to students
with the use of a lotus diagram to separate the content of the movie in
focus into concepts. The final questionnaire had included comments
from students about the usefulness of this exercise as they felt a little
lost prior to it. The aim next time would be to attempt to prohibit
students from feeling lost and confused before they move towards
attempting a task.

Domain 3
3.3 Develop
expert learners.
- Thinking
scaffolds (Venn
Diagrams, Lotus
Diagrams
- Thinking Hats
(de Bono)
- 3 2 1 Strategy: 3
ideas to discuss, 2
questions to ask,
1 action to take.
Standard 5
Formative
Assessment
- Summarise the
lesson in 3
minutes.
- End of lesson
Mindmaps
- Write down the
most
foggiest/unclear
aspect of todays
lesson down on a
piece of paper.
- Key concepts;
definition of key
words.