Professional Knowledge

Standard 1: Know students and how they learn.

1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students

1.2 Understand how students learn

1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds

1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

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

1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability

Throughout the progression of my course, I have learnt how important it is to know my students and how they learn, as it is essential to the teaching cycle. Through earlier units which focused on the nature of child development, I have gained meaningful insights into the way that children learn and make sense of their world. It is important to understand each individual learners’ strengths and needs, which can be achieved by learning theories like Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1942; as cited in Clark, 2010) ecological systems model, and Vygotsky’s social learner theory (1978, as cited in Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2008). While on professional placements, these understandings have allowed me to get to know my students and recognise their learning styles. Knowing students and how they learn is essential to planning for effective learning opportunities, as various instructional strategies need to be applied with lessons in order to engage all students and further develop each students’ learning (Seely Flint, Kitson, Lowe & Shaw, 2015).

The artefacts provided on my e-portfolio, evidence my continuing understanding of students’ and how they learn, both in a theoretical sense (see artefact 3 and 4) and in the real-life contexts of professional experience placements (see artefact 1 and 2).

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

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

2.2 Content selection and organisation

2.3 Curriciulum, assessment and reporting

2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies

2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

For teachers to create worthwhile and authentic learning activities for students, they must first have a deep understanding and knowledge of the content [TBK} as well as the pedagogical content knowledge [PCK]. According to Schulman (1988; as cited in Cochran, Deruiter & King, 1993), the most fundamental requirement of any teacher’s abilities is the knowledge of their own craft, this encompasses two elements: the content of the subject, and how to teach the subject. This standard requires teachers to know which teaching strategies one should implement in order to activate students’ understanding of the essential learning of the content.

Through my placement experiences and university studies, I have gained both knowledge of the content, in particular literacy and numeracy knowledge (see artefacts 5 and 6), and knowledge of how to teach the content using various teaching strategies (see artefacts 7). Additionally, comments from my supervising teachers from EDFX315 and EDFX316 (see artefacts 1 and 2), illustrate my ability to use the theoretical knowledge gained from university units of study and apply these to my placement classrooms.

Evidence

Artefact 1.

EDFX315 Report Form

The evidence provided is this artefact is an excerpt from the final report from my placement in a Prep classroom at St. Carlo Borromeo Primary School, Greenvale in 2016, written by the Supervising Teacher.

This passage details my achievements of the standards within the domain of professional knowledge, demonstrating my understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching, my knowledge of differentiation strategies and how to implement them, and my understanding of the content and teaching strategies.

Focus area (1.2, 1.5, 2.1)

Artefact 2.

EDFX316 Report Form

The evidence provided in this artefact is an excerpt from the final report from my placement in a Grade 1 classroom at Craigieburn South Primary School, Craigieburn in 2017, written by the Supervising Teacher.

This passage details my strengths in the domain of professional knowledge, demonstrating my understanding of how students' learn, the learning strengths' and needs of students' from diverse backgrounds, my ability to differentiate teaching to meet students' needs, and my understanding of literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their applications.

(Focus areas 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.5)

Artefact 3.

EDFD260 AT2

The evidence provided in this artefact is an excerpt from an assignment task from unit EDFD260: Teaching and Managing Learning Environments in 2017.

This assessment involved 1 week of observation of a Grad 1 class, the planning and implementation of a literacy lesson, and evaluating and reflecting on this lesson.

This passage shows my knowledge and understanding of differentiation of teaching to meet the needs of students across the full range of abilities.

(Focus area 1.5)

Artefact 4.

EDFD260 AT1

The evidence provided in this artefact is an excerpt from an assignment task from EDFD260: Teaching and Managing Learning Environments.

This assessment required us to work in a groups and create 4 sequenced lessons, based on a class profile. We created our based on the skills, needs and interests of the class.

These two images show my understanding of how students learn, of diverse learners and of differentiated teaching approaches.

(Focus area 1.2, 1.3, 1.5)

Artefact 5.

EDLA167 AT2

The evidence provided in this artefact is a grammar book I created for EDLA167: Linguistics for Literacy, in 2014.

This assessment required students to create flowcharts for each part of speech.

This artefact illustrates my knowledge and deep understanding of the literacy concepts and content.

(Focus area 2.1)

Artefact 6.

EDMA369 AT2

The evidence provided in this artefact is an excerpt from an assignment task from EDMA369: Exploring Maths 2.

This assessment, in part, required students to reflect on their learning of each module.

This artefact illustrates my knowledge and deep understanding of mathematical concepts and numeracy strategies.

(Focus area 2.1, 2.5)

Artefact 7.

EDLA369 AT3

The evidence provided in this artefact is an excerpt from an assignment task from EDLA369: Literacy Education 2, in 2017.

This assessment required students to design 5 sequenced literacy lessons using multiple teaching approaches.

This artefact illustrates my knowledge and use of various teaching strategies to teach content.

(Focus area 2.1)