Olivia Moxon 15531157

Tutorial time: 1pm

Tutor: Margaret

Part B: How they may learn best – a critical moment of learning.

The task: Following the practicum students will have a number of experiences they
may wish to share with other students and lecturers. In this piece of reflective writing,
students have to apply the set of learning principles they developed during the case
studies and elsewhere in the subject to a critical moment of learning experienced
during practicum. Students should choose their own critical moment. Examples of
critical moments could include students not doing homework, how students study for
a test, student effort when drafting a piece of work…

Students will identify and describe a critical moment of learning, define a purpose for
their response, and then write how they would seek to influence student learning in
their context, drawing on the set of learning principles.
The critical moment: Identifying the problem.
During my placement at Eltham High School, I had the pleasure of teaching three
Year 7 English classes. I was instructed that the Year 7s were currently studying the
text “Tales From Outer Suburbia” by Shaun Tan and mentor wanted me to centre my
lessons throughout my placement on reading and responding to this set text. The
students were not informed initially but this was all leading to an assessment task at
the conclusion of the unit. I was asked to base each lesson on a story from within the
text (it was an anthology of short stories) with the intention of base the students
writing activities around it. For example, one lesson we read ‘Broken Toys’ in which
the students identified the writing techniques that Shaun Tan used, and following this,
constructed a story of their own using one or more of these techniques.
However, the for the first couple of lessons I was encouraged to put the Shaun Tan
text study aside so that I could focus on preparing the students for the NAPLAN
testing. My very first lesson involved teaching students to use planning strategies
when story writing to enhance the way they go about the writing process. We worked
specifically on mind-mapping and using ‘writing prompts’ to create an idea. The
lesson was based predominantly on discussion, centred on how and why we would
use the two tools for writing. Following this, students were asked to plan their own
story, using one writing prompt to create a mind-map.
Prior to this Rai introduced students to the NAPLAN assessment criteria, and had the
students assess a model-student’s short story from the previous year.
The following lesson was conducted after the NAPLAN test, and involved students
using their own NAPLAN short story (we were able to make a photocopy of each
students test for this specific reason) to critically assess their work, with the NAPLAN
criteria rubric, with the intention of improving it for future use. Throughout this first
week, I found while there were definitely some students who were motivated and
engaged throughout, the majority were difficult to keep on task.

This is a reflection I wrote after conducting my first class:

“Thursday 6th May, 2010 - 7E English
I felt that my lesson went as the stereotypical ‘first lesson’ usually goes. I guess I
went ‘okay’, but I could definitely see room for improvement. The front row of
students were definitely engaged with the task I gave them, but were responding
individually, and not discussing the questions presented to them as a class. There were
boys in the back corner mucking around, throwing paper planes and chatting
throughout the discussion instead of contributing. There was also a group of girls in
the correlating corner, chatting amongst themselves.
I demonstrated that I am capable of ‘teaching’ but really need to focus now on the
fine-tuning that will enable me to progress from a ‘teacher’ to somebody capable of
fostering a productive ‘learning’ environment. Some things that I must work on to
develop this are:
- Pausing and insisting on listening
- Explicit instructions
- Student accountability so that they stay on task.
- Think about positive language
Essentially, I’ve grasped the appropriate content for the level I am teaching, it is just
about the delivery and ensuring the students are gaining something in being in my
classroom.”

After a discussion with my mentor, we both identified and agreed upon the areas in
which I needed to improve. Rai (my mentor) placed particular emphasis on my
classroom “presence” and students’ engagement to ensure students stay on task which
in turn would increase their aptitude to learn. If I wanted my students to value what
they were learning within my classroom, I had to make these changes! The question
is, how would I implement them? What would be the most effective way?

Rationale For Study:

I feel that this critical moment of learning which happened on practicum is a suitable
case to study, primarily demonstrate that over the course of four weeks I was not just
aiming to teach my students but learn and understand how to become a better teacher,
who constantly refines their teaching practices in accordance with the students that
they teach – essentially a teacher that never stops learning. I definitely felt I learnt
and developed as a teacher over this period of time, and would like to explain how I
achieved this: by applying learning theories and pedagogical models to fit my class,
as well as researching a little about adolescent behaviours, I was able to improve my
own teaching practices so that by the end of practicum my Year 7s were definitely in
a better position to the one they were in at the beginning.

As I stated above, after meeting with my mentor and reflecting on how the lesson
went, we both felt that it was appropriate to act in the way that would both develop
my skills as well as enhance students’ ability to learn. As students did not appear to be
using class time effectively, my teaching practice had to be questioned since as
statistics prove 50 per cent of students’ ability to learn is affected by what happens in
the classroom. (Review of Research in Education: 2008) We decided to implement
the following teaching principles and practices to ensure that both my professional
development education as well as the students’ full learning potential was addressed.

Solution:

After the discussion with my mentor, I went home and felt a little deflated. What had
gone so wrong? How could I improve for next time? I did not want to be one of those
horrible teachers I had had during my schooling that just yelled over the top of the
class and made us take notes off the board! Immediately I went to my textbook, and
started searching for a learning theory that suited my way of thinking, that I would be
happy to implement in my classroom. Behaviourism? No, too basic. Socialism?
Sounds like an idea, but there seems to be something missing. And then I came across
‘Constructivism’. “Aha!” I thought, “This definitely appeals to me.”
Constructivism “focuses on cognition as a collaborative process (Rogoff, 1998)
involving social processes, interactions with the environment and self-reflection.” It
puts onus on the learner as they “both mentally and physically” ‘construct’ their own
knowledge and understanding of a topic. (Krause: 2010:188)
Students bring their prior knowledge of the world, the environment and their social
space with them; drawing on these they link their previous knowledge to new
knowledge in order to seek understanding. This approach relies heavily on social
interaction with peers and adults for support and scaffolding of learning.
There are two types of constructivist theory, psychological constructivism and social
constructivism. The former focuses predominantly on Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development and how the individual learner constructs knowledge, beliefs and
identity throughout the learning process. (Krause: 2010) However, the latter “draws
heavily on Vygotsky’s belief that social processes are integral to learning.” (Krause:
2010: 188) A combination of both should be seen within a classroom setting, to
ensure that the teacher is considering the individual as well as the group collectively.
Constructivist teaching principles focus on three broad categories: providing and
encouraging learner-centred experiences and activities (a), providing opportunities for
learners to work together (b) and assisting novice learners to develop expertise (c).

A. Providing and Encouraging Learner-Centred Experiences and Activities.

Krause suggests that to provide learner-centred experiences and activities, the
teacher’s “starting point should be the knowledge, attitudes and interests that learners
bring to the learning context.” (Krause: 2010: 189) The teacher needs to identify what
current constructions and understandings are in order to cater for all. So what kind of
experiences and activities could be provided for my Year 7s?
Krause proposes that discovery learning, whether ‘guided’ or ‘open’ discovery,
encourages the learner to “manipulate materials or ideas in the learning environment
and discovers connections among them.” (Krause: 2010: 190) Guided discovery
(when the teacher directs or “guides” the activity) is most commonly used within the
classroom as open discovery has proven to be less effective. Inquiry learning is also
another option. Learners are asked ‘guiding questions’ and find the answers or
solutions to the problems by themselves. As this method was already being used
within the ‘Inquiry Program’ at Eltham High School (it involved a combination of
English, SOSE and Science with 75 Year 7 students, I was highly discouraged to use
the solid English blocks in the same way.

B. Providing Opportunities for Learners to Work Together.

As the title suggests, this allows for students to work together. First, students need to
know how to work with each other and how to build on knowledge and experiences of
diverse people with different perspectives (Krause: 2010: 190). Group work and
whole class discussion is highly recommended for constructivist teachers.
Cooperative learning, collaborative learning and peer-assisted learning are some of
the techniques that can be used to enable students to work together. When using any
of the above strategies, the rules and instructions for students must be made very clear
so that everybody is considered.

C. Assisting Novice Learners to Develop Expertise.

Krause argues that the “primary aim of constructivism is to help novices develop
expertise in a particular area of knowledge so that they may become more
independent, autonomous and self-regulated learners.” (Krause: 2010: 192) this
method provides the learners with the basic structure or “scaffolding” without
providing direct information, “prompting students to expand and clarify their
thinking” (Krause: 2010: 193) which therefore fosters “higher levels of reasoning and
better-quality explanations.” (Krause: 2010: 193) A good method to develop these
skills is by using Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) or the revised edition, “Anderson and
Krathwohl’s Taxonomy” (2001). Both describe a “hierarchy of learning objectives” to
“enhance student learning and thinking processes.” (Krause: 2010: 194)

After reading and interpreting this, I then began to implement changes in my

classroom. I used ‘guided discovery learning’ to direct students with what I wanted
them to achieve by lesson’s end, but still ensuring there was flexibility so that they
could make their own judgements and understandings. Every lesson time was put
aside for whole-class discussion (relevant to the text of course), individuals were
encouraged to read, and students were allowed to work in groups or pairs to create
stories for their writing portfolio (anthology).

I felt that my “persona” or “presence” developed as a result of this. In having a clear

idea of how I would like my classroom to be, I became more confident in delivering
instructions, engaging the students with fun, learner-centred tasks and developing a
good working relationship with them or rapport with them. My mentor commented
that she really seemed to notice a significant change within the last week of my
practicum and I am proud to say that I agree wholeheartedly. However, my mentor
suggested that to build upon my “presence” and successful classroom management, or
teaching strategies, she advised that I read a book written by Glenn Pearsall, one of
the teachers at Eltham High School, “And Gladly Teach” (Pearsall: 2010) for it had
some relevant adolescent research that would help me.
Pearsall recommends that different forms of praising can help manage a disruptive
classroom. “Research tells us that when classes are disruptive, teachers are less likely
to identify, acknowledge and praise good behaviour or generate positive
developments in relationships that make better behaviour possible (Lewis 2006).”
(Pearsall: 2010: 35) He discloses several positives for praising which are noted here:
• It allows teachers to model the kind of supportive behaviour that we want
students to demonstrate.
• It acknowledges the good practice of the “silent majority” of students who
routinely observe classroom protocols and who can feel annoyed when the
teacher focuses a lot of time and attention on those who don’t.
• It provides teachers with a means to constantly reiterate, in a positive manner,
the agreed values of the classroom.
• It “clears the decks”, limiting the amount of time the teacher spends on low-
level interventions and freeing up the teacher to concentrate on more
substantial issues such as students with learning problems or those whose
unproductive work habits are more entrenched. (Pearsall: 2010: 36)

Pearsall finds that in using praising, the lazy or reluctant students are more inclined to
switch on, and begin their work. It is all about “low key interventions”. He also states
that it is imperative to have appropriate classroom management terminology because
it allows the teacher to properly identify behaviours, deal with them and allow
students to reflect on their own behaviour. (Pearsall: 2010) Pearsall lists a series of
important terms following this statement.
Further on in the chapter, Pearsall recognises the importance of ‘power’ within the
classroom. He developed five states of power that the teacher has over their students:
Legitimate power (1), coercive power (2), reward power (3), expert power (4) and
referent power (5). (Pearsall: 2010: 44) He argues that one through to three are fairly
limited in that they are “dependent on students’ acknowledgement of their legitimacy
for them to be effective” (Pearsall: 2010: 45), emphasising rather that four and five
are more successful to implement in the classroom. “Small investments of time in
getting to know your students and building up a rapport can be enormously
rewarding. Frequently it will lead to risk taking, reflection and personal
transformation.” (Pearsall: 2010: 44)
I feel that using praising is definitely something I can work on and develop, while
developing ‘power’ or ‘presence’ is something I have already acknowledged as
something I need to build and felt that I did develop throughout my four week
practicum. However, I will now look at these different modes of ‘power’ and try to
employ the most effective strategies throughout my next practicum and my teaching
career.

After receiving my mentor’s report, and discussing the areas I really need to
work on for next time (which was primarily ‘engagement’) I decided to read Pearsall
further as he had a chapter on the very topic. Pearsall says “students who are engaged
in their classes work and behave in a radically different manner from those who are
not.” (Pearsall: 2010: 11) Engagement is what we are all striving to achieve within
each class, for if a student is engaged and excited by the topic, there is more chance
that they are learning or wanting to learn. Pearsall identifies that a new teacher will
often lose sight of their objectives “amidst the volume of work they are expected to
cover.” Which results in content-heavy, teacher-centred lessons. (Pearsall: 2010: 11)
His advice is to frame lessons around guiding questions, this way students are pointed
towards the “inquiry at the core of the task you are doing.” It is important to remind
yourself (not just the students) why the lesson is important- what do you want your
students to learn?
Pearsall has a very constructionist approach to teaching, so I feel implementing
‘guiding questions’ into my lessons would be a good approach for developing my
teacher practices for a learner-centred, learner-friendly environment.

Across the course of my practicum, I truly believe that I honed in on developing my

teacher presence and classroom management skills, as well as implementing various
constructionist learner-centred activities. However, as my mentor and I agreed, the
following practicum I will really need to work hard on developing these skills further
as well as now concentrating on developing engagement (such as really scaffolding
my lessons around guiding questions) and praising skills.

WORK CITED:

Krause. K, Bochner. S, Duchesne. S, McMaugh. A: Educational Psychology For

Teaching and Learning, Cengage Learning (3rd Edition): South Melbourne, Australia
2010.

Pearsal. G: And Gladly Teach: A Classroom Handbook: TLN Press: Abbotsford,

Australia, 2010.