Professional Teaching Portfolio

School and Classroom Context

X Primary School is a coeducational, government primary school
located in the centre of Fremantle, Western Australia. The school
was formed in 1904, and has an approximate annual enrolment of
240 students, catering from Kindergarten to Year Seven. The
student population is diverse, comprised of 17 nationalities, and
parent and community involvement is highly valued within the
school.
X Primary School endeavours to provide a variety of teaching and
learning experiences that ensure students become life-long learners
who are reflective, collaborative, proactive, ethical leaders who are
prepared for the future. The school has a large, whole-school focus
on literacy and numeracy, as well as providing Music, Art, Italian and
Physical Education classes for all students.
My personal context within the school was in the offsite Pre-Primary
Early Learning Centre, located directly across the road from the
school. I completed my final practicum in the Pre-Primary classroom,
which was comprised of 23 students, some of which spoke English
as their second language.
Professional Teaching Philosophy
At the heart of my philosophy of teaching is a safe, supportive and
inclusive learning environment that promotes a sense of belonging,
trust and respect. As a graduate teacher, I endeavour to promote
the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of each
child, considering each students differing abilities, interests and
motivations. The environment is the third teacher, and I strongly
believe in creating a play-based learning environment that responds

to the individual strengths, abilities, interests and needs of each

child. This environment provides rich, flexible, open-ended, childdirected, relevant, meaningful, fun, hands-on experiences that
engage children and help them make sense of their world. I believe
that children learn best by becoming active participants in their
learning as it maximises student motivation, fosters self-regulated
learners, and equips children with transferable skills and life long
collaborative practice.
Finding the balance between teacher-directed and child-initiated
activities in my classroom is important to the successfulness of my
programs. Intentional teaching practices including modelling,
demonstrating and scaffolding are utilised to provide the
understandings for students to build connections between what they
already know, and the new understandings they seek to create. I
believe in responsive teaching, and adjust to the pace and depth of
student understandings, creating my programs, activities and
interactions at a level that is in their potential range for learning.
Children in my classroom regularly engage in collaborative learning
activities, as these experiences underpin the wider values of
responsibility and teamwork, as well as building positive
relationships with peers and educators.
Creating and maintaining strong partnerships with parents and
communities is paramount to my approach. I strongly value the
engagement of parents in the educative process and together I
believe we can collaborate to share information, solve problems,
guide students learning and celebrate academic success. Every
child comes to school with unique strengths, varied prior language
learning experiences, and preferred learning styles. Garners
Multiple Intelligences (Teaching Tolerance, 2011) proposes that
students learn in a variety of ways including words, numbers,
pictures, music, self-reflection, play, socially and through the natural

world. My programs and activities are adapted to meet the specific

learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.

Professional Knowledge:
Standard 1: Know students and how they learn
Standard 1.2: Understand how students learn.
Knowing students is not limited to their academic progress, but also
their social, physical, and intellectual development and
characteristics. Knowing students and how they learn is vital to
building a supportive learning environment and essential to my
student-centred philosophy of teaching and learning (Department of
Education and Workplace Relations, 2009).
Situation: Garners Multiple Intelligences proposes that students
learn in a variety of ways including words, numbers, pictures, music,
self-reflection, play, socially and through the natural world
(Armstrong, 2010). During my professional internship, my mentor
teacher advised that she wanted to move towards a play-based
approach to teaching and learning but hadnt planned for these
opportunities in the classroom. Observing her playful teaching that
still relied on worksheet based activities, I noticed that students
quickly lost attention and behaviour issues arose. Mentioning that
the play based activities implemented resulted in children becoming
more motivated and engaged, a recommendation was made to plan
for play-based activities in my program.

Action: I began by brainstorming possible activities that would

promote play-based learning and spoke to other early childhood
educators at the school. These conversations assisted with
narrowing down the activities that would work to promote active
engagement and learning, and those that would be less beneficial.
After speaking with other educators, I began programming learning
experiences that were hands-on or play-based to engage and
motivate students. I found that it was essential to combine playbased learning with students reading and writing skills, as this was
also an important part of the curriculum.
For example, this making rain activity was implemented to foster a
play-based approach to learning, while still developing students
writing skills.
Outcome: Implementing a play-based approach to teaching and
learning in the pre-primary classroom was extremely beneficial to
student engagement and motivation. I found that play provided a
context for all students to learn regardless if they were linguistic,
logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical,
interpersonal, intrapersonal. naturalist, or existential learners
(Sailor, 2010).

Standard 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific

learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Differentiated instruction is a responsive teaching approach that is
based on the assumption that all students differ in their learning
styles, needs and abilities (Teaching Tolerance, 2011). This teaching
approach believes that classroom activities should be adapted to
meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of
abilities.

Situation: The students in the classroom had a wide range of

learning requirements. Among these learners were students with
additional needs, English as their second language, and children
that were gifted and talented. The Pre-primary students had a wide
range of abilities requiring differentiation from foundation to year
two standards. With the vast range of learning requirements in the
classroom, I began my professional internship concerned about
catering for students with diverse schooling needs.
Action: At the commencement of my professional internship, I
began by creating notes and observations of each child,
demonstrating their strengths and weaknesses academically, as well
as their personal characteristics. This process of testing and
collecting information was able to inform my teaching and learning
cycle, as I was informed on students abilities, interests and unique
learning requirements. It was quickly evident that students varied
academically in the classroom and as I planned my lessons,
outcomes for all students were well thought out and flexibility was
considered to respond to students differing abilities, interests, and
motivations.
Providing differentiated instruction to cater for the specific learning
needs of students across a range of abilities was performed by
adapting curriculum, lesson plans and creating individual lesson
activities to cater for and support every student. For example,
during morning literacy activities, four activities were created to
target oral language, alphabet recognition and phonics, letter
writing and phonics, and sentence writing and blends. All students
were provided with small group support three sessions out of four
during the week, and activities were tailored to the specific learning
needs of students.

Aware of the students with additional needs in my classroom, I was

able to recognise that communication is central to teaching. During
mat sessions I would communicate through language, the use of
gestures, eye gaze, symbolism, and body language to support the
inclusion of all students. In addition to communication adjustments,
I became aware that classroom management is essential,
implementing the traffic light system in the classroom, and was
mindful of the room arrangement, visual displays, seating positions,
and group work.
Outcome: By collaborating with other teachers and researching
appropriate differentiation strategies, I was able to successfully
cater for the needs of all students. Additionally, as a result of these
interventions, I recognised that awareness, flexibility,
communication, and active professional development to maximise
and facilitate learning for all students, is essential to my teaching
practice. Awareness when creating learning objectives for my
students is fundamental to creating meaningful units of work that
respond to students abilities, interests and capabilities. I believe
when creating objectives in my planning, it is important to consider
how I can make adjustments to respond to individual needs and
motivation, as well as the class as a whole.
Action Plan: As the Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations (2009) explains, a knowledge and
understanding of Aboriginal culture and language is critical to its
effective integration into the classroom curriculum. To improve my
skills in this standard of achievement, I would like to improve my
understandings of designing and implementing effective teaching
and learning sequences that are responsive to the linguistic
backgrounds and histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students. Having already studied Introduction to Noongar Culture as
an elective at Murdoch University, I have already gained a good

understanding of the impact of government polices that created

segregation, separation and assimilation.
Aboriginal Liaison Officers achieve partnerships between the
Aboriginal community, schools and districts through their
knowledge, understanding and sharing of Aboriginal histories,
languages and cultures (Department of Education and Workplace
Relations, 2009). Consulting the Department of Education website, I
have researched local Liaison Officers in my local area and plan to
contact central office for further advice and information. In an
attempt to continue to develop my own knowledge and
understanding of Aboriginal culture and language, I have scheduled
an Indigenous Heritage Tour at Kings Park, on the 16th of October.
Additionally, I plan to review the following literature:

Australian Government. (2014). Australian and Indigenous

Cultural Heritage. Retrieved from:
http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-

indigenous-cultural-heritage
Welch, D. (2009). Introduction to Australias Aboriginal culture.
Retrieved from:

http://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/introduction.shtml
Harrison, N. (2011). Recognising our history: Dealing with
Australias Past in the Contemporary Classroom. pp.17-38. In
Harrison, N. Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education.

Melbourne: Oxford University Press

Hollinsworth, D. (1998). Race: what it is, and is not. In: Race
and Racism in Australia (2nd Ed.) Social Science Press,

Australia, pp. 29-45

Vigliante, T. (2007). Social justice through effective anti-racism
education: a survey of pre-service teachers, Journal of
Educational Enquiry, Vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 105

Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it

Reflective Commentary:
The implementation of the Australian Curriculum during the course
of my degree has provided numerous opportunities to prepare,
implement, receive feedback, and reflect on lessons across the
learning areas. "Knowing the content" is absolutely essential to
professional practice and involves a detailed understanding of; the
content that you are teaching, the texts and resources relevant to
the teaching area, and organisation of content into effective
teaching and learning sequences. Knowing "how to teach it" is
equally as vital to practice, and involves a comprehensive
knowledge of pedagogy, teaching strategies of the teaching area,
strategies to engage students in the educative process and knowing
the learners competencies, abilities, and interests.
Standard 2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the
teaching area,
2.2 Content selection and organisation & 2.3 Curriculum,
assessment and reporting.
Situation: For the duration of weeks 6-10 during term three, I was
required to plan, structure and sequence a Science program on the
weather. The program required alignment with the Australian
Curriculum, Early Years Learning Framework, and needed to include
students learning about the water cycle.
Action: I planned a sequence of cross-curricular science lessons
that involved weather using the Australian Curriculum. I decided to
combine this program with the modelled writing component of my
literacy program as it provided many opportunities for students to
demonstrate their beginning writing knowledge in a meaningful way.
To begin the program on weather, I began with a diagnostic
assessment that asked students to illustrate and write about where

they believe the rain comes from. This diagnostic test indicated that
while some students thought the weather was created by smoke
chimneys, and astronauts with watering cans on clouds, a selection
of students already had a good understanding of the water cycle.
This process provided the opportunity to recognise the importance
of students prior understandings in developing a program tailored
to their abilities, competencies and understandings.
The sequence of lessons were; designed to flow sequentially, be
flexible, created using a variety of activities and resources, build
upon students understandings and interests, and meet the
requirements of the Australian Curriculum and Early Years Learning
Framework. In my program, I planned activities that were play-based
and hands-on. The decision to use this approach was formed as I
observed that these activities seemed to engage and motivate
student interests in previous activities. I also used a variety of
teaching strategies, introducing each topic and a unique and
creative way.
This cross-curricular program began with students observing the
clouds, discussing weather words, experimenting with what they
believed clouds could made from and describing cloud cover.
Students then progressed onto learning about the water cycle, rain
and raindrops, and rainbows. Finally, students covered the seasons,
appropriate weather wear, and how animals shelter from the
elements. This gradual progression of concepts ensured that
students understood the foundational concepts before moving into
abstract learning concepts like the water cycle.
Several forms of assessment were utilised throughout the program
including: diagnostic assessment, questioning, assessment rubrics,
checklists, and work samples. The variety of assessments that I
implemented provided an opportunity to gather rich evidence

regarding student abilities and build on student understandings to

further plan for learning.
Outcome: The program was successful as all children achieved
learning goals and were able to understand that clouds are made
from raindrops, cloud cover is the amount of clouds in the sky (clear,
cloudy and overcast), the water-cycle cause water to evaporate and
the clouds to rain, different seasons require different clothing, and
that students play different games and activities during different
seasons. This program was successful as the Australian Curriculum
and assessment was used to inform the program throughout its
duration, the content was organised to build on students prior
knowledge, and the activities were play-based which encouraged
student participation, motivation and achievement.
Action Plan: To improve my skills in this standard of achievement, I
aim to improve my knowledge of literacy and numeracy strategies
across the year groups (standard 2.5). The decision to improve my
knowledge in this area has come about due to personal reflection on
this strand and an acknowledgement that there are various literacy
and numeracy teaching strategies that I havent come across yet.
This action plan will involve a process of research, testing out new
strategies, and reflecting on their implementation. To improve my
skills in this standard of achievement, I will read relevant literature,
have conversations with other teachers in ECE (visiting surrounding
primary schools), and attend professional development courses.
Literature I plan to review:

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

(2014). National Literacy and Numeracy Week. Retrieved
from:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/events/Pages/litnumwe
ek.aspx

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

(2012) Standing Tall in Literacy and Numeracy. Retrieved
from: https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/pages/View.aspx?
id=4e4b7588-f61c-4d8e-87e7cf3d85ab548d&Source=
%252fpages%252fResults.aspx%253fs%253dindigenous
%252bliteracy%2526p%253d9

Professional Development Courses:

Department of Education and Training: Embracing Digital

Technologies in Schools (1st November 2014)

Seminar for Improving Student Literacy and Numeracy
Learning (May 2015)

Standard 3: Plan for and Implement Effective

Teaching and Learning
Reflective Commentary:
It is essential for teachers to be able to plan and implement
effective learning and teaching programs using a wide variety of
resources and strategies. During my professional internship, I was
able to plan and implement teaching programs effectively through
constructing achievable learning goals, providing engaging lessons,
integrating ICT in my programs, using a range of resources,
involving parents in the educative process and engaging in the
teaching, learning and assessment cycle.
Standard 3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative
process
Situation: As educators it is essential to establish and maintain
effective relationships among schools, families and communities. As
partnerships we collaborate to share information, solve problems,
guide students learning and celebrate academic success. As a
graduate teacher, I have always been reserved when interacting

with parents and family members. Recognising that establishing and

maintaining effective relationships with families and communities
directly benefits the students schooling and influences educational
outcomes, during my professional internship I endeavoured to
involve and engage parents in the educative process to the best of
my abilities (Barbour, Barbour & Scully, 2005).
Action: The first action I undertook in creating and maintaining
relationships with parents was building an inviting classroom climate
of open communication and respect. This involved being sensitive of
cultural and spiritual values, attitudes and different perspectives on
education that family members might have, and be mindful of body
language, tone and pitch of voice when having a conversation with
parents (Barbour, Barbour & Scully, 2005). During my professional
internship I offered many opportunities for parents and family
members to participate in their childrens schooling and reached out
to parents with early communication including; emails, telephone
conversations, letters, informal and formal conversations, and
invitations.
This resulted in the parents engaging in the educative process in a
number of ways:

Attending the excursion to the Fremantle Fire Station

Attending the incursion about Princess Margret Hospital
Parent and Grandparent presentations about olden day toys

and games
Daily parent helpers involved in the everyday running of the

classroom
Parent assistance in four cooking activities using our own

grown vegetables
Parents assisting with group projects
Parent engagement in my special interest topic presentation
Parent assistance with the running of the sports carnival
Involvement in the pre-primary assembly, prop creations and
students learning their speaking parts

Parent and family members attendance and involvement in

the Fathers Day and Open Night Art Exhibition for our
classroom

The Fathers Day and Open Night Art Exhibition for our classroom
was of particular importance. During my professional internship, I
recognised many fathers were unable to be involved in the
educative process due to work commitments. While the larger
school held their open afternoon during the hours of 3:30pm4:30pm, I organised for the early childhood classrooms to rearrange
the date and time to 5:00-6:00pm. This alternation was created
specifically so fathers would have the opportunity to be involved in
the students schooling context. The Open Night went brilliantly,
receiving a 95% attendance of fathers on the night, and many
positive comments about the fantastic standard of work the
students were producing.
Outcome: Providing an inviting classroom climate, interacting with
parents using various forms of communication and creating
opportunities for parent involvement within the classroom was
incredibly successful during my professional internship. As a result
of the implemented practices, parents, carers and family members
were largely involved in the educative processes of the classroom.
Parental, family and community involvement during my professional
internship was exceedingly valuable and rewarding. The
involvement of parents and family members will be an essential
component to my future classroom practices.
Action Plan: To improve my skills in this standard of achievement I
intend to broaden my resources. I believe that broadening my
resources will assist in planning and implementing effective
teaching and learning, especially when using ICT in my programs. In
order to broaden my resources I will:

Investigate the following relevant websites for free resources in

early childhood:

www.starfall.com
www.youtube.com
www.bbc.co.uk
www.abc.net.au
www.storytellingonline.net

Subscribe to a number of various websites that share and sell digital

resources:

teacherspayteachers.com

www.earlychildhoodteacher.org/teacher-tools

teachstarter.com

tes.co.uk

scootle.eu.au

www.pininterest.com

Standard 4: Create and Maintain Supportive and

Safe Learning Environments
Reflective Commentary:
As a graduate teacher I recognise the importance of creating and
maintaining safe and supportive learning environments. During my
professional internship, I achieved the criteria of this standard by
implementing strategies to support inclusive student participation
and engagement, providing clear directions during classroom
activities, managing challenging behaviour, recognising the
essentialness of maintaining student safety, and implementing
classroom practices that use information communication
technologies safely, responsively and ethically.

Standards 4.1 Support Student Participation & 4.3 Manage

Challenging Behaviour
Situation: Academic learning occurs successfully when you take an
active approach to behaviour management. As a graduate teacher,
my professional internship was a perfect opportunity to implement
strategies to support student participation and manage challenging
behaviour over a long duration of time. Through this internship I was
able to build inclusive practices and implement practical approaches
to manage behaviours, establishing practices that were successful,
and those that still needed improvement.
Action: To create and maintain a safe and supporting learning
environment, I; created a learning environment that supports
children to be successful in developing appropriate behaviours, set
expectations that were appropriate to an early childhood setting,
implemented a positive approach to behaviour, and created an
environment that supported a partnership with parents and carers.
An environment that supports children in developing appropriate
behaviours is crucial to creating a safe and supporting learning
environment. Endeavouring to promote a sense of belonging, trust
and respect, I tried to make all interactions positive and structured
my program to be play-based, enriching and varied. This strategy
supported student participation and recognised the importance of
childrens play in learning. Behaviour management cannot be
separated from meaningful academic learning, and active
supervision of learning and play activities in my classroom is key to
this approach (instead of waiting for the wrong behaviours to occur).
Setting clear expectations that are appropriate to the early
childhood setting is equally important. My approach to behaviour
management is to be firm, fair and consistent and this expectation
was explained to students at the beginning of my professional

internship. Children were provided with the opportunity to have

ownership over their learning, collectively creating their own
classroom rules. Children mentioned rules including: listening when
other people are talking, being kind, sitting on the mat with
crossed legs, not hurting others and using inside voices when
we are writing. Student responses in combination with my own
behaviour management techniques formed our class rules.
Supporting childrens behaviour using a positive approach was an
essential strategy in maintaining engagement and managing
challenging behaviours in my classroom. I utilised the use of verbal
and non-verbal cues to keep children engaged in activities, modelled
problem solving, social and commination skills, and actively praised
students using the appropriate behaviours through positive
reinforcement. A whole class approach to behaviour management
was used, with a traffic light system to deter negative behaviours
and a whole class reward chart to reinforce student engagement
and positive behaviours.
During my professional internship, one of my students
demonstrated challenging behaviours including: a refusal to
participate in activities, disruptive behaviours during mat time, and
hitting other children. As a whole class approach to behaviour
management did not work for this student, I modified my behaviour
management practices to support participation for this student. The
first step in this process was speaking to his parents about
behaviour in the classroom and encouraging them to contribute
ideas to collaboratively design a special behaviour plan. His
behaviour plan involved a sticker/stamp reward chart, recognising
triggers, and identifying possible ways to avoid the unwanted
behaviours before they occurred. At the end of every day I would
discuss improvements and setbacks with the parents to improve
outcomes for the next day. The sticker/reward chart was extremely

successful, and the student participated effectively for the

remainder of term three.
Outcome: By creating a learning environment that supports
children in demonstrating appropriate behaviours I maximised
student participation successfully in my classroom through a playbased program, active supervision, and creating an environment
that promotes a sense of belonging trust and respect. Modelling
appropriate behaviours and using positive reinforcement worked
fantastically to maintain engagement and involving parents in the
classroom practices developed essential partnerships. Managing
challenging behaviour was successfully achieved by responding to
behaviours quickly, and developing a special behaviour plans with
parents.
Action Plan:
Maintaining student safety (standard 4.4) is one area of this
standard that I need to improve my knowledge and understanding
on. While I was exposed to duty of care documentation during my
professional internship, I believe it is of uttermost importance to be
familiar with all documentation regarding maintaining student
safety. Of particular interest to me, is the duty of care when
organising student camps and excursions.
To improve my knowledge and comprehensively understand a
teachers duty of care requirements, I will be reviewing the
Department of Education duty of care for students documents. The
documents I plan on reviewing can be found on the Department of
Educations website and include:

Duty of Care for Students

Excursions Policy
Outdoor Education and Recreation Activities
Students Online
Child Protection

What other procedures could I adopt to ensure that student time is

spent on learning tasks?
What professional support or mentoring can you identify that could
improve or redefine your classroom management behaviour?

Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on

student learning
Reflective Commentary:
Assessment is designed to discover what children know and
understand, based on what they make, write, draw, say and do.
Early childhood professionals assess the progress of childrens
learning and development to determine what children are ready to
learn and how they can be supported. During my professional
internship I was able to assess, provide feedback and report on
student learning in a variety of ways.
Standards 5.1 Assess student learning, 5.4 Interpret student
data, & Report on student achievement
Situation: Reflecting on my practice prior to the commencement of
my professional internship I identified assessment as one of the
areas requiring improvement. This was due to a lack of opportunity
to implement informal, formal, diagnostic, formative, and
summative approaches to assess student learning over a period of
time. Deciding that my professional internship would provide the
perfect opportunity to assess student learning, I revised my
knowledge of various assessment techniques and endeavoured to
implement a number of assessments over the eight-week practical.
Action: The first step I took in rectifying this area for improvement
was speaking to my mentor teacher about assessment techniques
and practices. These conversations provided new knowledge and
resources on implementing assessment effectively. In the Pre-

Primary classroom I undertook my professional internship in, the

Diana Rigg program is used to cover literacy. This program provides
an abundance of assessment resources (so I didnt find myself
recreating the wheel).
On the second day of my practical, I assessed student knowledge on
letter sounds, and letter names using a checklist (see evidence 5.1).
This formative assessment played a part in the teachers ongoing
assessment of students literacy progressions over the weeks, term
and program. Once I assessed all students, I evaluated the data I
had collected and recognised that many students were unsure of
the letter names and sounds for the letters f, g, j, w, j, z, y, q, and x.
My mentor teacher informed me that letters were leant in a
sequence and for the majority of these letters the students hadnt
only practiced for a month. At this point, my mentor teacher
suggested that I take on the task of assessing, interpreting and
reporting on student achievements in the Dianna Rigg program.
During the next two weeks I informally assessed student progress by
observing students during literacy activities, quizzing students on
their letter names and sounds, and collecting, analysing, and
providing feedback on work samples (see evidence 5.2). In this
process I noticed that many students were using a combination of
capital letters and lowercase letters in their writing. I created an
assessment that required students to write the letter that they
heard (letter recognition) using lowercase letters. Through this
assessment it was evident that students were not only combining
capital letters with lowercase letters, but were also writing letters
using the incorrect letter formations (see evidence 5.3). After
interpreting this data, I created a whole class focus on using
lowercase letters in writing and explicitly teaching letter formations
using jolly phonics.

During the semester I regularly jotted down anecdotal notes during

literacy activities, used checklists to assess students knowledge of
letter names and sounds, and collected work samples to monitor
progress. At the conclusion of the term, I was required to report on
student achievement in literacy, and keeping an accurate record of
student progress made this very easy.
Outcome: My professional internship provided me with various
opportunities to evaluate student learning and modify teaching
practices. During this particular unit of work, I identified that
particular letters required revision, and a whole class approach on
using lowercase letters and correct letter formations was required to
achieve unit outcomes. At the completion of term three, majority of
students knew all their letter names and sounds, were writing in
lowercase letters and were using the correct letter formations.
Overall, I was able to assess, provide feedback and report on
student learning effectively.

Standard 6: Engage in Professional Learning

Standard 6.1 Identify and Plan Professional Learning needs

& 6.3 Engage with Colleagues to Improve Practice
Situation: During my professional internship I embarked on a
journey to improve my practice through reflection and engagement
with colleagues.
Action: In order to improve my practice during my professional
internship, I engaged in professional discussions with my;
colleagues, mentor, other early childhood educators and education
assistants. These discussions were rewarding, as they provided
opportunities to seek and apply constructive feedback to improve
my practices. Engaging with colleagues to improve practice during

my professional internship involved attending early childhood

cluster meetings and general staff meetings, discussing lessons
plans/programs with my mentor teacher and education assistant
before they were implemented, and asking teachers from other
areas of the school to observe my lessons.
After conversations with my colleagues, I would reflect on ways I
could make improvements or target a specific area of my practice
by creating a reflective journal. Self-reflection is fundamental to
learning: for teachers as well as students. The process of creating a
reflective journal provided an opportunity to reread reflections and
track where I was at the commencement of my internship, and
where I am now. I began my professional internship with a list of
areas I believed required improvement and during the term I was
able to tick some of them off, and add ones that required further
learning and reflection (see evidence 6.1). As a graduate teacher I
recognise the importance of acting on feedback, and this is one of
the commendations I received from my mentor teacher throughout
my placement (see evidence 6.2).
Unfortunately, I had limited opportunities to engage in professional
learning through professional development days, however I was able
to read relevant literature on reflecting on practice. Additionally,
observing my mentor teacher along with other early childhood
educators perform in the classroom allowed me to take on ideas and
reflect how I could use them in my own teaching style. The
opportunity to observe other educators in the teaching and learning
process was invaluable to my professional development as it
exposed me to a wide range of situations that commonly arise in
classrooms and the school context.
Outcome: At

Action Plan: The areas of my teaching practice that I would most

like to improve include:

Standard 7: Engage Professionally with Colleagues,

Parents/Carers and the Community

Standard 7.2 Understand the relevant legislative,

administrative and organisational policies and processes
required for teaching according to school stage
Situation: As a graduate teacher, it is essential to be conscious and
consistent when engaging professionally and acting in an ethical
manner. This professionalism includes the ways educators engage
with colleagues, students, parents, family members and the
community. The Department of Education and Workforce Relations
provides a code of conduct for educators to provide guidance in
making both professional and personal decisions. This document
provides guidelines in maintaining high standards of behaviour
including: personal behaviour, communication of official information,
fraudulent and corrupt behaviour, use of public resources, record
keeping and use of information and conflicts of interest.
Action:
References:
Armstrong (2010). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from:
http://www.institute4learning.com/multiple_intelligences.php
Barbour, C. Barbour, N. Scully, P. (2005). Families, Schools, and
Communities: Building Partnerships for Educating our Children (3rd
Ed). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

Department of Education and Workplace Relations. (2009).

Educators: belonging, being and becoming. Retrieved from:
http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/educators_guide
_to_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
Sailor (2010). Learning Styles of Children. Retrieved from:
http://www.education.com/reference/article/childrens-learningstyles/
Teaching Tolerance (2011). Differentiated Instruction. Retrieved
from: http://www.tolerance.org/differentiated-instruction