Professional Engagement
"[Stephanie] is continually striving to improve her quality of teaching and the outcomes for the children."
- Anne Allchin (Mentor teacher), 2014
Standard 6 - Engage in professional learning
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6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice
In addition to practical classroom experience and seeking constructive feedback from each of my mentor teachers, I have also sought to build my teaching knowledge through both formal and informal professional learning situations.
Throughout my course I have attended the following formal professional learning events:
20/03/12 Picture Exchange Communication System [PECS]
Workshop (Baxter PS)
Assisting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders to understand and communicate in the classroom through visual stimuli and picture word cards.
16/02/13 Communication and Public Speaking (Arts PAL Program)
23/04/14 Healthguard First Aid Training (Kunyung PS)
19/06/14 "Teachers' Toolbox" (AEU, PD at the Pub)
How to engage students in higher order thinking and creative problem solving through teaching the Habits of Mind and utilising 'cooperative tools' activities.
14/07/14 Building and Developing Visible Learners (Kunyung PS)
The importance of creating an open and student-centred learning environment in which assessments and goals are openly discussed and jointly constructed to develop independent, motivated and metacognitive learners.
31/10/14 Equity and Access in Australian Education (Monash
2014 Faculty of Education Conference)
Inequity of access and quality of education between different groups of people and across disciplines, and the importance of Maths and Science for Australia's future.
24/11/14 "Exploring Leadership" Workshop (Gary Ryan, Monash
Education Ambassadors)
Examining what it means to be a leader in an educational setting and addressing the kinds of qualities, behaviours and types of leadership displayed by effective leaders.
In addition to these formal learning experiences, I have also saught to engage with informal learning and development and my placement school. I believe it is of utmost importance to work with and learn from my colleagues, and as such I have regularly attended and contributed to weekly collaboritive level planning meetings and term planning days (including outside mandated placement dates), teacher observational rounds to collect data and inform school-wide teaching goals, staff meetings and PLT (discipline-specific 'Professional Learning Team') meetings.
Standard 7 - Engage professionally with colleages, parents/carers and the community
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7.3 Engage with parents/carers
6.3 Engage with professional teaching networks and the broader
communities
Alongside the day-to-day contact with parents and carers throughout my teaching placement, I also had the oportunity to meet with and further get to know my students' families during the Term 1 "Getting to know you" interviews in which parents/carers were asked to share their knowledge of their child with myself and my mentor. I believe that building this kind of two-way relationship with parents/carers is vital to fully understand the whole student and engage parents in the educational process.
Moreover, I have been able to further engage with parents/carers - as well as other staff, educational professionals and members of the community - through involvement with the following extra-curricular activities:
Year 1 Transport Excursion (Mt Eliza PS)
Full-day excursion with staff, parents and students around the Mornington Peninsula to experience different forms of transport, including buses, trains, ferries and a guided tour of the Tyabb Aeronautical Museum.
Multi-grade swimming lessons (Mt Eliza PS / Kunyung PS)
Accompanying staff and students to Kings swim school and Somerville Aquatic Centre, respectively to assist with organisation of students during external swimming lessons.
Year 3/4 City Excursion (Kunyung PS)
Multi-grade excursion with staff, parents and students to Melbourne CBD, participating in NGV educational programs and 'art walks' around the city centre.
"Artists in Residence" Incursion (Kunyung PS)
School-based workshop with multiple parents and artists from the local community talking to small groups of students about their mediums and experiences of art.
Year 3/4 Camp (Kunyung PS)
3 day trip to YMCA Camp Wyuna, Queenscliff including beach activities and overnight supervision of students; working with a team of school staff, camp staff, parents and community members.
