EFFECTIVE TEACHING

It is recognised that effective teaching involves planning. When we plan a lesson as

teachers we decide what to teach and how to teach it.
Critically discuss how these decisions are determined by the following factors:
1. The Syllabus
2. Diverse student learning needs
3. Previous assessment data
4. National Professional Standards for Teachers

Planning is vital to the process of effective teaching and is instrumental

to the success of students within the classroom. Effective teaching occurs

when a teacher utilises a plethora of resources, which inform their lesson

plans to achieve certain educational outcomes. These resources rely on the

professional expectations of the teacher as well as student needs and

knowledge. Therefore, when teachers construct lesson plans, they must

consider four important factors. These factors include the syllabus, a

document released by BOSTES (Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational

Standards), which contains the educational outcomes that all students

should meet within each subject. Likewise, teachers should consider the

National Profession standards for teaching, these standards dictate the

knowledge, skills and values relevant for all teachers that are committed to

effective teaching.

In addition to the professional requirements of teachers, student needs

and knowledge are crucial to lesson plan development. All students are

diverse and therefore have disparate educational needs, such as issues with

differing learning styles. The last factor that influences lesson plans is the prior

learning and previous assessment data of students. Without understanding,

the level of a students prior learning it is impossible to engage in effective

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teaching. The purpose of this essay is to critically discuss how these four

aspects of effective teaching are taken into consideration when teachers

plan what to teach and how to teach it. This will be done by exploring

current literature evidence. As well as, critically analysing how a year 9 history

lesson plan on the technological changes during the industrial revolution,

succeeds or fails to encompass the four factors of effective teaching.

The first of the four factors that influence lesson plans and effective

teaching, relates to the syllabus. The syllabus is not to be confused with the

curriculum. The Australian curriculum is developed by ACARA (The Australian

Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) and contains general

content statements about what all Australian students are expected to learn.

The syllabus clarifies these general content statements in order to provide

direction and maintain consistency between all NSW schools (BOSTES, 2015).

It is developed by BOSTES who collaborates with in-service teachers and

other educational stakeholders who outline content markers and create a

series of learning outcomes.

Cavanagh and Prescott (2015, pg. 99) state that the syllabus is the first

document you should read when planning your lesson. It is important to

consult the relevant syllabus for your teaching area to determine the specific

outcomes and content you are required to achieve and teach within your

classroom. Therefore, the syllabus is critical to how you decide what to teach

and how to teach it. The new K-10 NSW syllabus contains additional

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significant information such as the aim, objectives, and assessment criteria of

each course. For example, the aim of the K-10 history syllabus is to;

stimulate students' interest in and enjoyment of exploring the past, to

develop a critical understanding of the past and its impact on the present, to

develop the critical skills of historical inquiry and to enable students to

participate as active, informed and responsible citizens. (BOSTES, Outcomes,

2015)

Also beneficial, the syllabus draws important links to how the course

can incorporate life skills (BOSTES, Outcomes, 2015). Without a syllabus, it

would be impossible to create a structured lesson plan, likely resulting in

ineffective teaching.

Through a critical analysis of a year 9 lesson plan on the technological

changes during the industrial revolution, it is easy to see the influences of both

the Australian curriculum and the BOSTES syllabus. The lesson plan clearly

references a direct link with the Australian curriculum (ACDSEH017) (Australian

Curriculum, 2015), which refers to the technological innovations that led to

the industrial revolution. At first glance, it only infers the content markers and

outcomes of the NSW syllabus. This may be because the lesson is available

Australia wide and may be adapted to individual state syllabuses.

However, when explored the lesson plan does in fact consistently

follow the NSW syllabus. The lesson plan is part of a unit called the Making of

the World (BOSTES, Content, 2015). During this unit, students must briefly

outline the nature and significance of the Industrial Revolution and how it

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affected living and working conditions, including within Australia (BOSTES,

Content, 2015). The syllabus notes that this unit must cover a minimum of 50

hours teaching time. The syllabus also states that this unit can be extended

as part of depth study 1, which is called Making a better world. During this

depth study, students can specifically study the new ideas and technological

developments that contributed to change during the industrial revolution

(BOSTES, Content, 2015).

While the syllabus clearly outlines the content that must be covered

during this unit, it also contains a number of outcomes that must be

achieved. The lesson plan fulfils a number of these outcomes including, but

not limited, to HT5.1-2, HT5.5 and HT-10 (BOSTES, Outcomes, 2015). This means

that students should be able to explain and assess historical forces that

shaped the modern world i.e. such as the creation of the steam engine;

sequence and explain patterns of change, which is discussed during the

transition of medieval times into the industrial revolution (HT5.1-2) (Australian

Curriculum Lessons, 2014). Outcomes HT5.5 and 10 are clearly achieved by

the use of source and analysis and digital interaction Outcomes, 2015). In

summary this lesson plan closely follows both the Australian curriculum and

NSW syllabus which promotes effective teaching.

The second of the four factors that should be considered when

designing a lesson plan that incorporates effective teaching is the Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers. Louden (2000) explores several evolutions

of professional standards for teachers. He asserts that there are currently

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three waves of standards for teachers. The first starting the 1990s began a

monumental shift in the way that teachers thought about educational skills

and values. They became standardised across all teachers and were notably

competency based. In 2003, the second wave of professional standards

were better honed and more specific to certain subjects. Lastly, the third

wave (2010-2011) represents the current Australian Professional Standards for

Teachers. The Australian standards are broken up into three domains of

teaching: professional knowledge, professional practice and professional

engagement (AITSL, 2015). These three domains combine to create

standards in which all teachers must conform in order to engage in effective

teaching. This means that the standards must be considered when writing a

lesson plan.

Professional knowledge, the first of the three domains refers to a

combination of knowledge of the subject area and how to teach it

effectively, as well as, knowledge of students and how they learn. This is vital

information when developing a lesson plan as you must be able to back up

what you are teaching with how and why you are teaching it in a certain

way (AITSL, 2015). For example, you may teach history using visual aids

because it both represents the learning styles of the students and the best

medium of information.

Secondly, a teacher must follow professional practice. This refers to

how teachers plan for effective teaching, create and maintain safe

supportive learning environments and assesses and provide feedback on all

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student learning (AITSL, 2015). This results in effective teaching strategies in

which students are engaged, valued and supported throughout all stages of

the learning process from introduction to assessment and beyond. This

domain is incredibly important to lesson planning for effective teaching, as

students will not learn in a dull, unsafe or unsupported environment.

Neglecting this could have long term cascading effects.

Lastly, professional engagement alludes to a teachers personal

engagement within the learning community and their dedication to lifelong

learning (AITSL, 2015). Knowledge is dynamic. It should be continually added

to. When a teacher commits to the teaching profession they need to be

aware that they have to maintain certain level of knowledge, as well as,

interact with many aspects of the learning community such as; parents and

other teachers. This is beneficial to effective teaching as it means lesson plans

stay up to date and provides teachers access to an assortment of teaching

resources with colleagues.

When you apply the National Professional standards for teaching to the

year 9 lesson plan on the industrial revolution, it is clear that the lesson plan

only moderately engages with the National Professional standards.

Professional knowledge involves knowing your students as well as your

content. The lesson plan fails to refer to the level of physical, social and

intellectual development of the class and assumes that all students are

capable of engaging with the classroom activities, eg. a student with social

issues such as Aspergers may find it hard to participate in the think/pair/share

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activity . Likewise, it fails to provide alternative teaching strategies for students

with diverse needs such as LBOTE or indigenous students. Students with a

LBOTE may not be able to engage in class discussion surrounding the source

analysis, as subtle meanings from images are hard to pinpoint in a second

language. To correctly account for students with diverse needs or students of

a certain physical or social level the lesson plan may need to be adapted for

a specific class as shown above. However, the lesson plan does reflect an

extensive knowledge of content and effective teaching strategies, such as,

the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

Likewise, the lesson plan effectively aligns with the professional practice

goals. The lesson plan efficaciously establishes challenging learning goals

such as studying the effect of historical causation of the steam engine, as

well as, provides a sequential lesson outline, which uses a variety of teaching

strategies such as think/pair/share (Australian Curriculum Lessons, 2014). The

lesson plan also successfully engages with appropriate resources, such as,

ICT, and video documentary. One critique could be that the plan fails to

provide a source for analysis; however, it creates opportunity to pick a source

that may be relevant to a specific class. A downside of the lesson plan is the

inability to establish professional engagement. There is little evidence to show

engagement with parents or other learning communities. Overall, the lesson

plan successfully adheres to the National professional standards; however,

further information could improve the effectiveness of the plan.

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The third factor that influences effective teaching practices when

planning for a lesson is the diversity of student learning needs. In Australia,

classrooms accommodate a number of culturally diverse backgrounds.

Additionally, there can be significant intellectual and social differences

between students. This means that students will respond differently to certain

teaching strategies. This is where the concept of differentiated instruction

becomes important. Differentiated instruction is where a teacher changes or

adapt the way they teach in order to cater to the needs of their students. For

the purpose of this essay, only learning styles within the diverse learners

needs framework will be examined. There are three main types of learning

styles, auditory, visual and kinaesthetic.

Tileston (2011) contends that schools of the past have failed in

providing adequate instruction to a variety of students. Teachers

predominantly delivered information in lecture format, in which, all students

were expected to learn auditorily. Only 20% of students benefitted from this

type of teaching/learning style. This means 80% of students were missing

appropriate instruction (Tileston, 2012, pg. 36). Tileston (2012, pg.38) continues

that lessons should be broken up into smaller manageable activities in which

all learning styles are catered for, where possible. Auditory instruction should

be limited to 15-20 minutes at a time, stopping prior to students losing interest.

Visual representations are also important within the classroom; they are fast

and effective ways of presenting complex information. They can come in

many forms such as organisers, charts and patterns. They are easily fit into

daily lessons and provide appropriate instruction to visual learners. Lastly, are
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the kinaesthetic learners, these are students who learn best by movement

and touching. Tileston (2011, pg. 46) recommends that students should be

given a chance to move around the classroom or engage in hands on and

cooperative activities. To effectively teach, a teacher must plan for differing

learning styles.

The year 9 history lesson plan adequately caters to both auditory and

visual learners but fails to provide stimulation to kinaesthetic students.

Auditory learners will benefit from oral tasks such as think/pair/share and class

discussion (Australian Curriculum Lessons, 2014). Furthermore, the lesson plan

limits teacher instruction to under 15 minutes which means that students will

stay on task and assimilate the information more readily. The lesson plan

extensively supports visual learners as the main tasks centres around visual

source analysis (Australian Curriculum Lessons, 2014). Students will be

expected to extract information or patterns from images that have historical

significance. At the beginning of the lesson plan, the teacher also facilitates

the creation of a mind map, which consolidates previous knowledge and

organises new information, which is an example of Piaget and Vygotskian

theory, in which new information is assimilated into old schemata. The

conclusion also heavily reinforces visual learning; the use of ICT stimulates

visual learners as well as the documentary contained within the extension

activity(Australian Curriculum Lessons, 2014). The lesson plan fails to provide a

differentiated learning strategy for kinaesthetic learners. However, the

structure makes it easy to adapt the plan. During the think/pair/share activity

is possible to move students around the classroom, giving kinaesthetic

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learners a chance to refocus before entering the next activity. The lesson

plan effectively uses auditory and visual strategies to cater to students with

these learning styles, but could give more consideration to kinaesthetic

learners.

The last factor to acknowledge when establishing a lesson plan that

encourages effective teaching is, previous assessment data or information

collected by teachers about student performance and understanding

towards skill development. It is extremely important to get to know your

students; Wagner (as cited in Cruickshank, D, & Jenkins, D, & Metcalf, K, 2003,

pg. 88) believes that knowing students deeply, teachers are far more able to

coach, nurture, and demand excellence from each one. The first way of

getting to know your students is to take advantage of already existing data

records. This is called a cumulative record, and will contain information such

as previous assessment results as well as previous school reports (Cruickshank,

D, & Jenkins, D, & Metcalf, K, 2003, pg 88-89). This may be conducive if a

teacher is experiencing significant difficulties with a students behaviour or

sudden changes in attitude. It is possible another teacher has experienced a

similar situation. Another way of learning about a student is by looking at

previous standardised tests. These tests may give a teacher an idea about a

students ability towards a certain subject in comparison with the class.

However, it is not viable to receive an entire picture of a student this

way. Students will respond differently in subjects or to certain teachers. Tests

more often than not, only test how much information is retained or the

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literacy skill. Tests also may not reflect a students potential if they do not test

well or have had a bad day. This means it is important to make a number of

observations, both informally and formally on the achievement of students

within the classroom (Cruickshank, D, & Jenkins, D, & Metcalf, K, 2003, pg. 90).

For example, a teacher may plan to formally assess a student on certain

content markers found within the syllabus, or they may set spontaneous

activities. They can then make note that some students excelled at one type

of activity over the other. This means that future lesson plans will be adapted

due to prior assessment data or observations in a previous lesson.

It is hard to apply the concept of previous assessment data to the year

9 lesson plan, as you do not know anything about the ability of the students

that originally took part in the lesson. This means teachers must be critical of

lesson plans they find and must be able to assess whether it is appropriate for

the students they are intending to teach. If it utilises activities which go

beyond the ability of the students it will cause frustration and disengagement.

Likewise, teachers must be able to adapt and be flexible as every class

they teach will be different with different learning styles. The history lesson

plan does provide an extension activity, which is constructive for students

who may be gifted or talented or enjoy a visual medium(Australian

Curriculum Lessons, 2014). The plan does not provide a formal assessment of

outcomes, nevertheless there are opportunities where a teacher can observe

and provide feedback such as during class discussion. This suggests that a

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teacher must use assessment data to determine how effective their teaching

was or how successful a lesson plan may been.

In conclusion, the four factors: syllabus, national professional standards

for teaching, diverse student needs and student ability/assessment data are

essential to all teachers committed to effective teaching. Each of these

factors should be consulted in turn to design structured lesson plans that

achieve positive learning outcomes for all students.

The year 9 history lesson plan successfully assimilates all of the four

factors into its outline but at varying degrees. It is clear that the lesson plan

heavily draws on the syllabus for content and outcome markers. The lesson

plan has incorporated most of the National professional standards for

teaching but could focus more on professional engagement and the

professional knowledge of the students. Furthermore, while the lesson plan

accommodates students with different learning styles it fails to provide

alternatives for students with physical or intellectual needs. Lastly, the lesson

plan demonstrates elements of informal assessment such as observation but

could use some formal assessment.

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Bibliography.

1. AITSL. (2014). Australian professional standards for teachers. Retrieved

from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-
teachers/standards/list

2. Australian Curriculum. (2014). Australian History Curiculum. Retrieved from

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-
sciences/history/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level9

3. Australian Curriculum Lessons. (2014). Technological changes and the

industrial revolution lesson plan Year 9 depth study. Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculumlessons.com.au/2013/08/16/technologi
cal-changes-and-the-industrial-revolution-lesson-year-9-depth-study/

4. BOSTES. (2014). History K-10 syllabus outcomes. Retrieved from

http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/hsie/history-k10/outcomes/

5. BOSTES. (2014). History K-10 syllabus content. Retrieved from

http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/hsie/history-k10/content/

6. Cavanagh, M., & Prescott, A. E. (2014). Your professional experience

handbook: A guide for preservice teachers. Frenchs Forest, Australia:
Pearson Australia.

7. Clarke, M., & Pittaway, S. (2014). Marsh's becoming a teacher (6th ed.).
Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson.

8. Cruickshank, D, & Jenkins, D, & Metcalf, K. (2003). The act of teaching (3rd
ed). New York: McGraw Hill.

9. Louden, W. (2000). Standards for standards: The development of

Australian professional standards for teaching. Australian Journal of
Education. 44(2). 118-134.

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10. Russell, M, & Airasian, P. Classroom Assessment (7th ed). New York:
McGraw Hill.

11. Tileston, D. (2011). Differentiating for different learning styles. In Gayle H.

Gregory, Differentiated instruction (35-48). London: Corwin.

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