Books
FADING FACES
3.1: Establish challenging learning goals.
As I have completed the health middle years sequence throughout my course, one of my practicum placements took place at East Doncaster Secondary College working with the Year 7 and 8 health teaching team. I was fortunate enough to teach a unit to the Year 7 and 8 students about the reproductive system.
I was challenged to create a post test that the students could complete, which would indicate what they have learned throughout the unit. I created a word search with 'fill-in clues' so the students would need to not only just find the word, but to also fill in the sentences with the appropriate words. Students from each Year 7 and 8 class found the word search to be challenging, yet achievable with their newly obtained knowledge.
3.2: Plan, structure and sequence learning programs.
EEO311 Scope and Sequence Assessment
In the third year unit 'EEO311 - Learners Living In Their World: Humanities Perspectives' of my university studies, we were required to partner up with another member of our seminar and complete a 10 week 'Scope and Sequence' humanities unit about the local community and family history for Year 1 students.
My partner for this assignment was Samuel O'Bryan and together we were able to plan, structure and create an engaging, challenging and fun-filled learning sequence that incorporates hands-on and collaborative activities, use of ICT, a research assignment, and an excursion out into the local community.
Samuel and I had a lot of fun structuring this unit, and in the end were confident that this unit was suitable for Year 1 students and their learning needs in the humanities area.
3.3: Use teaching strategies.
3.5: Use effective classroom communication.
Completing my placement practicum in my second year of this course, I learned a new method for students to engage with one another to hear another perspective about a chosen topic from a fellow peer called the 'Turn and Talk' method. During this teaching technique, the teacher will prompt students to partner up and turn to face one another.
Following this, students will discuss the prompted topic and listen to their partner. Students will then share to the class what they and their partner had discussed in the allocated time. This not only promotes socialization within the classroom, but also increases communication skills such as talking and listening.
Lwin, Goh & Ruzek (2012, p. 20) explain that partner work in the classroom promotes the skill of students establishing a mutual presence and engage in thinking together, a strategy called 'interthinking'. I used the 'Turn and Talk' method throughout my fourth year practicum placements within whole-class big book story time with the Foundation students.
