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Education

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & REFLECTION 2 / REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 2

FINAL REPORT
PRESERVICE TEACHER:
lD: I 110016034
Jane ANGOVE
PROGRAM:
PER 2 - Master of Teaching (Primary) MMET
SlTE:

Glen Osmond Primary School

SITE COORDINATOR:

Tanya Scobie

UNIVERSITY LlAISON:

Susan Spry

YEAR LEVEL (S) TAUGHT:

Reception

DATES OF PLACEMENT:

Monday August

MENTOR/S: I

Joanna Demasi

LEARNING AREAS
(secondary only)

24 I

to

Monday September 21

NIA
TOTAL DAYS:

22 (inc 2 lead-in days)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE CONTEXT:

Glen Osmond Primary School is a South Australian government school for approximately 320 students from Reception to Year 7.
There are twelve classes and has a combination of straight and composite classes. lt is located within 5 kilometres form the CBD
and is a member of the Greenhills Partnership. The school is classified as Level 7 on the index of economic advantage.
The school community values the small size of the school and the warm community atmosphere that encourages all to feel
welcome and to participate in the life of the school.
The pre-service teachers' practicum took place in one of the school's two Reception classes. There are 23 five and six year olds in
the class, divided into nine girls and fourteen boys. All students in the class began school at the beginning of 2015, some still 4
years old at the start of the year.

SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY MENTOR TEACHER/S:

It has been a pleasure to work with Jane for this practicum and for her previous prac in f erm2. The opportunity for her to do both pracs
with the same class and mentor teacher has been invaluable. lt gave Jane and the students the chance to form a close relationship and it
gave me as the mentor teacher the chance to observe the development of a considerate and confident teacher.
Jane worked very hard, especially on her goals to learn more about the Australian curriculum, student assessment and to provide
differentiated learning tasks for all students.
She planned, taught and assessed across a wide cross-section of the Foundation curriculum including multi-layered work in Mathematics a number topic on 'Friends of Ten'; Science: the physical sciences - a topic on sound; Design and Technologies: - designing and making a
musical instrument and in English - explicitly teaching comprehension skills, reading strategies, writing a response to literature, and
teaching guided reading groups - one at an advanced level and the other, a group of children requiring learning intervention for their
reading development .
The opportunity for Jane to work with another pre-service teacher in the same class was very beneficial and I commend the University on
this approac;\ lyvyt'hrJane all the very best for her future teaching career.

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SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY SITE COORDINATOR:

As acting Deputy Principal, it has been my pleasant duty to work in Joanna's ciassroom on numerous occasions. Vl/hiist ihere, i
was often cast in the role of supervising teacher as Jane taught the class. I was always impressed with her meticulously planned
lessons, her calm, quiet and caring manner with a diverse range of students, and her ability to convey the key learning intentions to
each student.
Jane consistently presented a warm, friendly and happy disposition, clearly demonstrating her love of teaching, her obvious
enjoyment of the classroom and being with young children, and her growing mastery of the 'art' of teaching.
I, too, wish Jane every success in her chosen career as a teacher.
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VERIFICATION BY AUTHORTSED UNIVERSITY PERSONNEL:

The Mentor Teacher, Site Coordinator and Preservice teacher have been consulted during the placement and this report
documents evidence of the Preservice Teacher's achievement of the Professional Experience objectives.

Universlty Personnel Signature

DATE:

2015

SAT'SFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY
(Delele whichever is not apphcable)

SUMMATIVE COMMENTS BY PRESERVICE TEACHER:

From the outset, I set myself a series of objectives based upon my experiences throughout my initial placement. Based on my
existing knowledge of the class, as well as analysis of each child's workbooks, it was apparent there was considerable disparity in
the children's developmental level. Subsequently, it was imperative that I differentiated my teaching methods and learning activities
to cater for the speclfic needs of students within the class. Whilst this required additional planning, it rendered incredibly positive

outcomes, with students of all abilities remaining engaged with each activity as it was aimed appropriately at their level.
Furthermore, I broadened my understanding of different assessment strategies utilized to assess student understanding, offering
students directive and constructive feedback based on their pre-existing abilities. Overall, my experiences throughout this
placement have furthered my skills in classroom management, the differentiation of activities and assessment, as well as providing
a deeper understanding of the Australia Curriculum. This placement has illustrated to me that it is truly a privilege to help students
experience unimaginable success as they change, grow and develop.

Preservice Teacher Signature

NOTES FOR MENTOR TEACHERS AND SITE COORDINATORS COMPLETING THIS REPORT
The assessment criteria used in this report are the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
The Preservice Teacher may wish to submit this report with an application for employment. Please avoid the use of acronyms as student reports are
often viewed by interstate and international employers who are not always familiar with South Australian nomenclature.

The preservice teacher has completed the required the full 22 days of their placement including

visit

davs.

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MENTOR TEACHER COMMENTS: PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE

1. Know students and how thev learn
2. Know the content and how to teach it

1.1

Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of

students
'l .2 Understand how students learn
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and
socioeconomic backgrounds
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait lslander
students
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of
students across the full range of abilities
'1.6 Strateoies to suooort full oarticioation of students with disabilitv

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5

Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

Contentselection and organisation
Curriculum, assessment and reporting
Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait lslander
people to promote reconciliation between lndigenous and nonlndigenous Australians
Literacy and numeracy strategies
lnformation and Communication Technology (lCT)

Jane Angove disptayed deep understandings about how students learn. This was particularly evident in her lesson and topic planning where
she organised a variety of tasks and activities designed to engage all students. This included learning such as hands-on exploration,
particularity in science and mathematics; explicit teaching of concepts and strategies - in areas such as reading and writing; games and
open-ended tasks, designed to allow students to engage in the task at their own level and to provide extension for the more able students;
and problem-solving activities devised to gauge student learning and to evaluate the teaching and learning sequence.
Jane spent time getting to know the students' learning needs by discussing their learning with the mentor teacher and with her University
colleague. She analysed student work samples as a means to better gauge the effectiveness of the learning and, in consultation with the
mentor and her University colleague, planned further tasks accordingly. She also spoke with individual parents and attended some
parent-teacher learning discussions, providing her with further opportunities to get to know the students and to inform her teaching and
learning planning.

Jane's planning and implementation also showed evidence of her understandings about the differing needs of all students especially those
with diverse backgrounds. Her involvement in meetings and discussions about the learning programmes of two EADL (English as an
Alternative Dialect or Language) students and Jane's support of these students during learning activities shows an emerging
understanding of the specific needs of EADL students.

Jane has a good working knowledge of the Australian Curriculum and used it to direct all her teaching by planning topics and
implementing lessons based on the Foundation Year Content descriptors and the Achievement standard. This was evident in her extensive
lesson plans and the learning tasks that she chose to match the curriculum descriptors." lt was also evident in the task descriptions that
she attached to student work samples as a means to inform parents of the learning outcome. She also provided alternative, hands on
activities in mathematics for a particular student who struggled with pencil/paper tasks.

MENTOR TEACH ER COMMENTS: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learninq
3. Plan for and implement effective teachinq and learninq
environments
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals

4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4

3.2
3.4

Plan, structure and sequence learning programs

Use teaching strategies
3.5 Select and use resources
3.6 Use effective classroom communication
3.7 Evaluate and improve teaching programs
3.3 Enqaqe parents/carers in the educative process

5.

Assess. provide feedback and report on student

learninq

5.1

Assess student learning

Provide feedback to students on their learning

5.2

5.3
5.4
5.5

Support student participation

Manage classroom activities
Manage challenging behaviour
Maintain student safety
Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically

Make consistent and comparable judgements

lnterpret student data
Report on student achievement

Gne waa weit organised with extensive ptanning that had well thought-out lesson rationale, Australian Curriculum content

descriptors, lesson objectives, assessment criteria and required resources. When conducting lessons or directing a learning task'
Jane's ability to speak succinctly and in an engaging manner improved significantly over the prac. She was able to use language,
vocabulary and questions that engaged the students' attention and provided them with challenging thinking. This was particularly evident
in the series of numeracy lessons she planned and ran for a mathematics topic of the 'Friends of Ten'. Jane began the topic with an

explanation of the goal of the learning. She used number resources that she had made to engage the students, showing an understanding
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acuvnies ranging from
iearnlng activities
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c: ne i;'nponance of using v6Jai resources to oack up spoken explanations. She prcvided a wide varlety ut
exploration of materials, direct insfuction of mental routines, explicit teaching of partner games designed as practice of concepts and
skills, written tasks and an engaging story-based assessment activity at the end of the topic to gauge student learning and to direct future
planning. The assessment task was very powerful, allowing the students to show their skills and understandings and to apply this to a real
life scenario. lt also was designed to show those students who were still experiencing difficulty and provided opportunity for others to show
advanced learning. For this topic, Jane engaged parents in the learning by providing a fun task at the beginning of the day that the children
completed with their parents as they came to class. This lead to some lively discussions between the children and their parents.

During her prac, Jane endeavoured to use her friendly and approachable manner to engage the students and to apply consistent
behaviour management strategies. She was respectful of the students and used positive encouragement to recognise appropriate
behaviour. To this end, she introduced a successful cotlaborative system to recognise constructive behaviours, where students
commended others who had used friendly and positive behaviours. One of Jane's goals for this prac was to learn more about student
assessment and its essential function in teaching and learning programming. She continually assessed student work through
conversations with the students and with her mentor and university colleague, analysing and moderating work samples and also providing
task descriptions and feedback on student work for parents. She has a clear understanding about the cycle of formative assessment to

MENTOR TEACHER COMMENTS: PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT

Enqaqe in professional learninq
7. Enqaqe professionallv with colleaques. parents/carers and
the community

6.

6.1 ldentify and plan professional learning needs

6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning

7.'l

7.2
7.3

Meet professional ethics and responsibilities

Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
Engage with the parents/carers
Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Throughout her prac, Jane maintained an eltensive learning portfolio which included notes from observations, lesson plans,
student work samples, assessment checklists, photographs of displays and student learning, and self-evaluation of lessons
taught. She also cotlected resources such as numeracy games and posters.
Jane regularly assessed her own teaching, seeking advice from her mentor teacher and sharing comments about her planning and
implementation. She also developed a professional and supportive understanding with her university colleague, who was also

doing prac with the class. This lead to many professional conversations and an acceptance of teaching as a collaborative

responsibility.
Jane spoke with other teaching and support staff in a professional manner, maintaining friendly and approachable conduct.
She attended school staff meetings and the Junior Primary learning team meeting. She engaged in moderation of English
writing samples with the JP teachers. She attended a transition meeting with the local Kindergarten and observed the information
sharing between the Kindy and the school.
She also attended parenuteacher learning meetings, understanding the need for confidentiality and professional trust. Jane
got on well with the parents in formal and informal situations and, at times, parents approached her with queries and advice as
they would the class teacher.
Jane showed a mature and trustworthy understanding of her professional responsibilities, appreciating the need for confidentiality
and professional discretion.

Professional Experience Office - University of South Australia,

Mawson Lakes Boulevard, Mawson Lakes SA 5095
Ihls is a certified copy of theorrg,nal assess ment document provided by the site in which the stuienf was ptaced for the professional experience. lt
may be used for employmenf purposes.