Topic: Teaching Practice (School Visit-20/11/2012)

Prior to entering the DipEd Programme I was unaware of the fact that I predominantly use a teacher-centered approach. It was my belief that a well managed class meant a quiet class with students diligently following the instructions of the teacher. Now I realize how colonial I was in my thinking. It has been extremely difficult for me to change especially since this strategy has resulted in 100% pass rate at external examinations for the last ten years. However it is becoming more and more painfully plain to me that whilst the students may be passing the examination they may not be enjoying what they are doing the implication of which may be the few students who want to do Computer Science at A-Levels.

Therefore to accurately answer the question whether I considered that the students could have done a report on their own; it did not occur to me and sadly if it was suggested to me I would have been very hesitant to try it but I now realize that it would have been the more successful approach to use to engage students learning. I keep forgetting that the students today are millennials and not the same as those ten years ago hence I cannot be using prehistoric tools to disseminate knowledge rather I should be discovering along with the students better and more motivating ways of constructing knowledge. Another very important statement that remains resident in my mind is the fact that each students learning has to be assessed in each class and ideally should be given some kind of feedback. This sounded so unrealistic but I realize that I do it so naturally in my Maths class therefore with greater preparation the same can be done in IT.

I also realize that the formative assessments are very helpful in identifying not only which topics are challenging for the students but which aspect of a particular topic more specifically. The immediate addressing of these problem areas would definitely result in greater overall success. Interestingly enough all students wrote that End of Term reports are important for indicating areas that need improvement which implies that they are interested in learning and willing to work towards improving. Appropriate and timely feedback is therefore extremely important and is an area that I must improve on as a teacher.

Unit Databases; Topic Reports; Class Form 5s

Lesson Objectives Whilst the objectives included the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain and were suited to students capability, time, age group and topic they were NOT well written and did NOT include higher order thinking. Multiple intelligences were targeted and identified in the lesson with the exception of musical/rhythmic.

Lesson strategies Although the lesson did incorporate cooperative learning by pairing the students the lesson was predominantly teacher-centered. Classroom management was effective and student activities did promote student engagement however the teaching strategy was NOT suited to the lesson and time was NOT managed effectively. The set induction was effective and the lesson did transition from stage to stage however there was NO closure. There was NO extension to the lesson and differences in learning styles, for gifted and resource students were NOT adequately catered for.

Use of resources The lesson was a practical lesson and Synchron Eyes was used to broadcast the demonstration to students however because two computers lost the signal; the multimedia which was already set up and on standby was used instead.

Assessment The assessments were formative, suited to the lesson, matched the objectives and were varied. ACTIVITY 1 Total: 3 tasks Task 1 100% Task 2 100% Task 3 92%

ACTIVITY 2 Total: 3 reports ACTIVITY 3 Total: 5 marks

Report 1 100%

Report 2 80% 4 marks 25%

Report 3 17% 3 marks 25%

5 marks 50%

Approximately 50% of the students got Activity 3-Question 2 (A query must first be done before a report can be created True/False) incorrect. This it may be an indicator that the question was not comprehensive. Students were told that reports can use data from either tables or queries so the statement may have been interpreted differently by the students. Oral feedback was given and sufficient however all students did NOT get feedback during the lesson for ALL the activities.

Lesson Content The content was aligned to unit objectives, accurate, sufficient, suitable to the class and the segments were sequenced properly.

Unit plan The unit plan was presented and it was a cohesive set of lessons addressing an essential question. The lesson was clearly articulated within the plan and the assessment strategies were laid out and comprehensive. The unit plan was well designed- articulate, relevant and contextual. All of the lessons within the unit were not taught consecutively as indicated in the unit since there were a number of external factors that hindered the same. Classes were lost due to Parents Day; a lecture from Student Support Systems and the administration of a summative assessment for End of Term Examination. As such there was no review lesson or summative lesson in this Unit.

Overall impression of the lesson All lesson objectives were achieved. The percentages of students achieving the objectives were as follows:Objectives 1- 100% Objectives 2- 80% Objectives 3- 17% Reason- Too much time was spent demonstrating how to create the report and less time was available for the students to complete the activity. The main strategy of the lesson was lecture. The majority of the students were engaged in learning.