School ofPractice

Professional Education
3

102605 Professional Practice Community Engagement - Reflection

Pre-service Teacher Details

Pre-service Teacher Name: Jasmine Breeze Pre-service Teacher ID: 18036116

Pre-service Teacher Phone Number: 0420 574 790 Pre-service Teacher Email Address:
18036116@student.westernsydney.edu.au

Placement Details: If you haven’t complete 60 hours face to face you must provide a detailed statement of
how your experience meets the outcomes for Professional Practice 3. Attach evidence.

Placement Name: Placement Phone Number:

Kellyville High School Learning Centre 02 8824 5955
Placement Address: Placement Email Address:
Cnr Queensbury & York St, Kellyville Kim.graham@det.nsw.edu.au
Contact Person:
Kim Graham

AITSL Standards

The criteria for pre-service teacher reflection focus, the first, second, third and sixth standards.
 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of
abilities
 2.2 Content selection and organisation
 3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
 6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice

This form is to be completed and submitted to the notes/docs section of your profile within InPlace.
Students who do not submit on time (TBA on vUWS announcements) will receive an FNS.
 The practical experience from Kellyville High School Learning Centre
Kellyville High School learning Centre is a welcoming centre for students with linguistic, cultural,
religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. This centre provides for these students through extra
support within classrooms, extra-curricular activities and modified programs for individual students
who lack the academic skill level of the state average. In working for this centre I have learnt that
these students showed characteristics no different to students classified as ‘mainstream’. The only
differences noticeable was behavioural as they struggled to get the support they needed. Students
with learning difficulties would often counter balance their actions through means of distraction in
search for the needed support and attention. Often I found in practice that teachers would expect
the student with disabilities to participate within class like other mainstream students which is great.
Although there was no extra support or guidance given to enhance the student’s participation or
improve the student’s understanding of the lesson content. Differentiation was only present within
some teacher’s pedagogies and often catering for specific learning needs involved quick thinking with
solutions thought of on-the-spot rather than planned in advanced.

A goal that I set for myself within this practicum was to keep an open mind and always be persistent
with the more difficult students. In order of achieving this goal I worked with students to develop an
effective teacher-student relationship. Where students knew as soon as I entered the room that I was
here to help not just the identified student but the students within the whole class. This became a
challenging goal as I worked with mainstream and students with disabilities to overcome problem
solving and challenging tasks. The implementation of modifying lesson content to a more simplistic
way of thinking was very challenging as you had to interpret your own understanding, ask the
students questions using techniques that did not give the answer away, but engaged with their
current knowledge and thinking to look at the wider perspective. For example; How maths may relate
to English, or how activities on the weekend like running or riding shows an example of how energy is
formed especially in Science lessons.

In reflection of this experience I would state that I have never had an experience quite like this one.
The KHS Learning centre provided me with the opportunity to collaborate my ideas with other
educators within our own staffroom. It allowed me to understand the students through a community
perspective of support through guidance which will result in growth. In the three weeks I was present
at KHS Learning Centre, I witness the potential and growth thrive within the students I assisted. I
watched students attempt challenges that they were so hesitant to attempt in my first days. They
showed more confidence and resilience to their learning, and most importantly became motivated
and committed to their learning. This surprise me the most. The amount of growth that can happen
with the right support and within the short time frame is unforeseen. Students with disabilities are
still amazing kids willing to learn and I believe that teachers are often too consumed in meeting
objectives that we forget that communication is our most vital and resourceful tool in teaching
students. Understanding each other, our beliefs, views and prior knowledge provides a starting point
for teachers to develop from. This experience has provided me with insight to how I can ensure
inclusion and differentiation within my classroom through the simple idea of communication with the
students. I would recommend this experience to all educators as a step backwards to remind us of
what we are here for, and that, is the success of the students through a long developing process
where students will annoy us, confuse us and make us reminiscence on why we chose this profession
in the first place. Acting as a learning support teacher has supported my own learning and
acknowledges what I have signed up for. I feel more confident in providing an inclusive learning
approach in my future teaching career.