26/04/2016 - Day Eleven - Professional Placement - Berserker Street State

School
Today I had lesson plans for Reading Groups and History. I have reflected on these
two lessons below.
History
Last session of the day, straight after second lunch.
1. What issue, problem or situation do I want to focus on? E.g., you might
be concerned about how you engage students into discussions.
Based on the last History lesson that I taught this lesson I really wanted to focus on
classroom management strategies and circulating around the classroom more. I also
wanted to focus more on differentiation with the lesson for the lower students.
2. What happened? Why did it happen?
During this lesson I was focused on (besides delivering the lesson) classroom
management. During the lesson I moved around the classroom to ensure that
students were on task. At the start of the lesson I gave the students clear instructions
on my expectations on their behaviour and what was required of them this lesson. I
told the students that Miss Walker last week had put their desks into their reading
groups from rows and reminded them how she explained that if the students talked
too much or didnt complete their work that they would be moved back into rows. I
told the students that I would give them two warnings and on the third warning they
would have their desk put back into the center of the room into a row. I emphasized
that this would only occur to the students that were off task and not all of the students
doing the right thing. I gave a warning to various students but found that after I gave
two warnings to one child and followed through with this action of putting his desk
into a row the other students were quickly on task. I was glad that I had followed
through with my expectations clearly outlined to the students because it felt like I was
now in control of the behaviour in the classroom. By doing this I believe that I had
successfully practiced the Balance Model of Behaviour Management from Essential
Skills for Classroom Management. I have displayed this below.
Acknowledgment

Correction

Clear
Expectations

3. Is there another way of looking at this issue, another perspective?

Now that I have clearly identified to the class my expectations I believe that there will
be other ways of looking at this issue in the classroom. Even though this method was
effective I would be happy to try alternative methods in the classroom. Next lesson I
am going to try to put some of the classroom management strategies that I have
seen my mentor teacher use into effect to see if they are as successful for me with
the students. Some of the ones that I will try in this particular lesson will be;
o
o
o
o
o

Waiting and scanning

Effectively manages classroom talk
Refers to behaviour plan when needed
Body language encouraging and
Verbal and non-verbal redirecting to learning

4. What did I learn about teaching from this experience?

I learnt how important classroom management is to a successful lesson/ learning
experience.
5. What did I learn about myself from this experience?
I learnt that with training of my voice it is projecting further and further with every
lesson. I know that it is projecting from the soreness of my throat after a lesson and
the dryness of my mouth. I have also learnt that I am building confidence with every
lesson that I am teaching and I think this shows in the lesson that I am delivering.
6. Which of my assumptions and value were challenged by this
experience?
The technique that I found was successful with the low children and the show me
boards from copying notes from the board may not be as successful if there was only
one teacher in the classroom. I will think of ways of how I might be able to

differentiate the lesson for these students if there were only one teacher in the
classroom.
7. How will I alter my teaching as a result of this experience?
Next lesson I am going to focus on making the lesson more engaging to the students
now that I have controlled the behaviour management issues in the lesson. I am also
going to try to think of ways that I could differentiate the lesson for a classroom of
one teacher.

8. Additional comments from Preservice Teacher on the lesson.

I believe that the goals for this lesson were reached that I had set for myself. I am
happy with the outcome of that lesson and believe it was an improvement on the last
lesson. I can feel myself learning from these experiences and can feel myself
building upon these experiences to improve my teaching strategies.
I have attached a copy of my mentor teachers feedback on the lesson.

Note:
From my previous reflection on the 22/04/16 I am happy to say that the student that I
have been observing has successfully continued to complete tasks with the show me
board strategy. He is still a bit slower at achieving these goals than the other
students but he is successful. I believe that his self-esteem is growing and I am
excited about tomorrow to see if he progresses with this behaviour.